This is Ralph and Linda's dog Chewy being really cute.

Coming thru the channel at the entrance to Bald Head Is.

Coming into the harbor.

The lighthouse at Bald Head Is.

We are at Bald Head Island.  We are actually kind of stuck here.  Weather is not good.  We are sitting tight in paradise.  Got here 2 days ago and have been having fun but now that we want to leave we are watching tropical storm Julia, now down graded  to tropical depression Julia.  She is hanging around and dumping rain on us.  Some wind also but just enough to interfere.  We shall see what tomorrow brings.  Sun is kinda shining right now.
We rented a golf cart yesterday and cruised around the island which was so much fun.  Also walked out to the beach yesterday and let this little dog run wild.  He was in heaven.
We haven't got any plans yet for today.  We shall see.

We got an early start this morning, 7am.  The sun was just rising as we started our move out of the harbor and into the river that is the icw. 

The clouds are phenomenal  so I took some pictures.  We have only the catamaran behind us right now.

Maybe you can see some houses in the distance.  We are on a river but these houses face the Atlantic ocean.  We are near Topsail ( pronounced Tops'll).  The story goes that in the 1600's and 1700's the big sailing vessels would anchor in this area to come ashore.  The very top sail of the ship could be seen from the ocean.  The ship was slightly hidden in between the grasses and marshes and the pirate ship could see that top sail.  Also the pirates could be seen approaching.  More later.

Leaving Spooner Creek this morning.

These are a few of the boats from our group following behind us in the rain.

Captain Ralph ready for the rain.

We had a lovely time at Spooner Creek last night.  We took advantage of the wonderful swimming pool at the marina.  After a hot and humid day on the water the pool was so refreshing.  We had cocktails and munchies at the pool then went back to our boats and a had dinner on our own.  Got an early start at 8 am and were  on the water of the icw  (intercoastal waterway) for over 7 hours.  That included some time waiting for our 2 bridges to open.  We are now at Harbour Village marina.  It is just north of Wilmington, N.C.  We saw lots of dolphins and many many birds.
We are planning to leave here at 7am tomorrow morning.  It's going to be a tricky day with 2 bridges to catch at the right times and then to get into Bald Head Island at slack tide.  They have apparently got a big current so it is important to arrive when the tide is changing and has it's least strength.  We have also been following a story that has developed over the last day where some big boat (must have been very big) lost its rudder at the entrance to Bald Head Island causing a navigational hazard.  They had divers down today trying to remove it but we have not heard if they have been successful.  Should be an exciting day.
Today was cooler on the water and raining off and on with lightening and thunder.  They are predicting rain again for tomrrow.
They have a really nice boaters lounge here at the marina and we all got together for drinks and had pizza delivered.  Very fun time hanging out.
More tomorrow.

Pulling away from Ralph and Linda's house this morning.

Linda and Chewy relaxing on the water.

Captain Ralph at the helm.

One of the boats traveling with us.

I am on the water again.  Dick has to work so I got invited to go along with friends Ralph and Linda and their dog Chewy.  We are on the tug boat Mazel Tug.  Left Fair Field Harbour this morning (outside of New Bern) and were on the water for over 5 hours.  We are now at a marina called Schooners Creek.  There are 8 boats in our group.  We will be out for a week, heading toward Bald Head Island.  So far the weather has been perfect and the company wonderful.  Time for docktails.  More tomorrow.