St James Plantation Marina - We dine with Eileen and Jim McKay

A view of Eileen and Jim's house from the ICW

With both the Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly inlets being dredged, the trip was uneventful. Now it's just a straight path through both inlets and they are well marked. I'm sure that they will shoal up again sometime in the future like they always have, but I'll enjoy the lowering of tensions with the extra water while I can.

We had intended inviting Eileen and Jim over for dinner on the boat but did accept their counter invitation which also included touring their new house. They just had it completed over the last month or so, everything was new. The house sits right on the ICW and the view off the front porch oversees the ICW right outside. When Matthew came through last fall, they graciously invited us to spend the night of the hurricane with them. We took them up on the offer and spent a relatively quiet night on land. The eye passed directly over the marina and we went outside during the calm of the eye passing, eerie.

Just a great view off the porch, good for relaxing

We arrived late but declined the offer to ride their elevator up to the dining area. The house is four stories high and the elevator comes in very handy for carting supplies up to the kitchen. Later, we enjoyed dinner with two of their friends, Harry and Brenda, As I've said before, a big attraction of touring the ICW are the people you meet along the way. On Tuesday we're headed for Carolina Beach State Park Marina for one night.