Company aboard Southern Star is a rare occurrence. Our home away from home is a long way from home so we don't get many guests. This fine late September weekend was an exception. The plan was for our friends (and my cousins) Steve, Donna, Becky and Charles to drive down on Saturday morning and meet us at the boat for a tour of Ensign Harbor and the town of Oriental. Not everyone can count their cousins as friends, but we certainly can. Becky, Steve and I are first cousins and we are all friends. We started planning this weekend about a month ago. It's hard to get three families' schedules to come together for an entire weekend, but we did and it was worth the wait. First for the weather… It was fantastic. It could not have been better if we had ordered it. Thanks, cousins, for bringing fair weather to coastal NC.
Pictures
Friday September 29, 2006
Judy and I left home as soon as I got home from work. It was a long hard 5 hours, but we wanted to be ready for our visitors. We arrived and found cool damp weather and thought it would have been a good idea to bring the cabin heater. We had two blankets, so we were fine. We also found the new furler installed. Now, as soon as I get the sail converted, we will be back in the sailing business. We were both tired and turned in shortly after we arrived.
Saturday September 30, 2006
We got up fairly early because we had a lot to do before our guests arrived. The first order of business was to turn the boat around. We normally dock the boat so that the stern is close to the dock, but we had left her docked with her bow in so that the sail maker would have an easier time of installing the furler. We cranked the diesel, untied, turned around and retied to allow easy access for boarding. Then it was time for breakfast, the usual Southern Star special with toast or oatmeal or muffins in the microwave with coffee. I installed the new bow light that I bought a year ago. We took the covers off and rinsed the loose dirt. It was time to take a shower and go into "relax" mode.
Our guests made really good time. We had barely gotten finished with our sprucing up before they arrived. We provided the "nickel tour" of Southern Star and visited aboard for a while. Then it was on to a tour of the other boats at the dock. We finished by relaxing in the Whortonsville Yacht and Tractor Club cockpit before dinner. We drove over to Oriental and did a bit of shopping and looking around. We had dinner at the Toucan Grille, which was quite nice. The food was good and so was the service. The outdoor dining was especially enjoyable for all. The weather was just right, no jacket required. We had a nice long visit at the restaurant and, among other things, we discussed plans for breakfast. Most readers will notice that we do a lot of visiting and eating. We said goodbye early because it was past my dark-thirty bedtime. The cousins settled in to their rooms and we headed back to the boat.
Sunday October 1, 2006
We got up really early on Sunday because we wanted to meet everyone back in Oriental for breakfast. We had decided to meet at 9:30, and there was a lot to do. We are going to Boston next weekend so we had to leave Southern Star prepared for the storm we hope does not come. We did the usual packing and cleaning when we prepare to leave, and in addition we removed the mainsail and the bimini canvas. Both these items present wind resistance that you don't want when a boat is tied to the dock in a storm. We finished in record time and met the cousins a few minutes early. Breakfast was on the deck at the new Oriental Harbor Marina. It was quite nice. Food and service was good. After breakfast, we did a quick tour of the town dinghy dock and took a few pictures. Unfortunately, it was almost mid-day and time to head back to the real world. We said our goodbyes and we all headed west.
I think our guests had an enjoyable weekend. I hope they had as much fun as we did !
Pictures