Tuesday, May 8, 2018

St James Plantation - Dinner Party

Jim and Eileen's wonderful house on the ICW
I passed through traditional shoaling areas yesterday (Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly) so I had to update Waterway Guide and Active Captain with the latest routes through and depths. Lockwoods Folly was down to 6.4 MLW now and it will have to be dredged like Shallotte in the near future. For the moment, there's still a way through at low tide if you draw less than 6.4 ft.

The view from their porch
The rest of the day was spent in traditional boat duties. A house doesn't take care of itself and neither does a boat. In fact, a boat requires even more maintenance or at least more personal attention by the owner. Did someone say they didn't do windows, well that was never uttered by a boat owner. Likewise for woodwork (teak) and a host of other mundane chores that never seem that important in a house (or at least you can put them off almost indefinitely).

Very nice dinner
Jim came by and picked us up for dinner around 5:45 for a ride to his house for dinner. He and his wife didn't know us at all but took us in during hurricane Matthew two years ago when we were holed up in the marina to ride out the storm. Due to their kindness, we slept in a dry room at night while the boat rocked in the slip. The boat came through fine and we came to know Jim and Eileen as good friends who we now visit every year we travel the ICW.

View on the way home, the brightest star is Jupiter (no, it's not an anchor light, it just happens to be in the same place)
A fine dinner was served with a pork tenderloin brazed on a BBQ grill. The view of the ICW was perfect, an ever-changing scene to be enjoyed from the third floor porch. After a night of too much food and wine, we returned to Fleetwing. On Wednesday, we headed to Carolina Beach for a mooring in town.

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