It was just to pretty out this morning to sit at anchor another day even though there was a small craft advisory still (windchill 17 this morning) until 9 am. At 9 we started hoisting anchor and headed out to Southport. We were leaving at low tide and several boats had grounded in the shoal areas leaving so we were careful to pick and hunt out the deepest areas leaving. It was a pretty traveling day, sunny (but cold) and we put into Southport about 3:30 and docked in water depths of 9-10 ft after fueling up and pumping out.

We were in search of a CVS, bank and grocery store, which we were told were in town. Got a map of the town and saw that the grocery store was 2 miles (Walmarts), CVS was about 5-7 miles and bank about a mile. Wayne didn't want to take a taxi so the CVS was out - even though we both need refills. I voted taxi to go shopping, and got vetoed so we walked to the bank, scoped out the convenience store, and then walked to Walmarts for groceries. With our anniversary tomorrow and Thanksgiving this week, I NEEDED to go to the grocery store, even if it meant walking 2 miles and freezing to get my steak for tomorrow and turkey for Thursday... The walk through Southport was cccccoldddd, but really nice. It's quite a historic town and very pretty. A lot of the houses had names with dates on them. The oldest I recall seeing was a house built in 1839 and I don't remember the name associated with it. One of the plantations here has been used in quite a few movies, but the town, the park, etc... are beautiful and historic. Half way to Walmart, Wayne decided it was probably a good idea to get a taxi back. We'd both not eaten all day (how do you forget to eat?) and between the cold and hunger - Wayne was not looking too good. We went into the Subway at Walmart to get a sandwich and I left him there and did my grocery shopping and called a taxi to take us back to the marina. It turned out to be a 2-½ mile walk to Walmarts and with the cold factored in it felt more like a 5-mile hike. The taxi ride back was warm and much appreciated - we could not have carried all the food stuff back in this cold... actually we couldn't have carried it all back period without a car and the taxi was well work the price to me.

This is quite a nice marina - the facilities look pretty new and the women's head area was sterling and scented with something reminding me of the old strawberry/myrtle incense that we used to buy in the 60s and 70s. The shower... the shower was awesome! Hot, hot water with plenty of water pressure and the room itself was decorated with art deco and black tables with granite counters. I'm so not used to this kind of shower facility.

Tomorrow we go through Cape Fear and leave North Carolina and begin our trek through South Carolina. If it were nicer and earlier in the season I'd love to stay and explore Southport. Maybe some other time....