Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018

Good morning, Y'all.  (Mary & Bill, on Always 5 O,clock, from Greensville, SC, are starting to influence our speech!)

We woke up to a cold, windy, rainy morning, but after coffee, we got going "On the Road Again"....

In case you don't know -- when Cap'n Rick gives the order to "Cast Off", I have to jump.
And so it went again this morning.
BACK STORY:
When we tie up to a dock, Zingara has two stern-lines & two bow-lines  (keeping the back/front of the boat from 
shifting right & left) and a Spring-line (keeping her from moving forward or back).
When we cast off, these 5 lines are uncletted from the dock, and then thrown onto our decks. 
As Rick steers the boat away from the docks, I run around the outside of Zingara,  making sure we don't hit 
anything as we pull away.  Then, once Cap'n Rick is all settled, and the course confirmed, I return out to the decks
to coil & stow the lines.

Well, this morning, as I was coiling a bow line, a dolphin began swimming with us, right underneath our bow!  He was swimming 
so closely to Zingara  that I was afraid we would run over him. His tail  looked as if it was hitting the boat. 
And he stayed swimming with us for 5+ minutes!  So amazing! 
Then, about an hour later, we sighted more dolphins,  and two of them started swimming off our bow again! 
Such magical creatures! 
Rick got great videos of the dolphins, but no pictures.  
We'll have to show them to you in person!

So, we left Wrightsville Beach, not far from Wilmington,
continued down the Intracoastal towards Carolina Beach, and into the Cape Fear River.

Here's a photo of one of the many inlets opening up into the Atlantic Ocean, 
and one of the amazing houses we saw along the way. We can only imagine how gorgeous this would be in the sunshine! .



We continued south, past Southport,
 then turned west (inland) down towards Myrtle Beach.
 Around 2:30 pm, we crossed the state line.  We are officially in South Carolina!


Fabulous homes along the waterway to Myrtle Beach.
Brightly colored homes -- reminded us of Rainbow Row of Charleston

House-lined, Man-made Canals along the Intracoastal
 
Just a little vacation home!  -- yeah, right!

We docked at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.  As we were motoring our way to the fuel dock, we passed a diver on another dock.  He had just
gotten out of the water.  I don't think I mentioned it before, but we hit something in the water, a few days ago, while travelling along the Dismal Swamp.  
We've experienced a vibration from the port-side engine every since.  So once we docked, Rick searched for the diver, who luckily came over to 
check out our propeller.
While Rick met with the diver, Bill, Mary & I went into a nearby restaurant, Clarks, to enjoy their Happy Hour specials -- $2 drafts, $3 wines, 
$5 martinis, and fabulous seafood & Southern appetizers.  As was a given, Bill asked the bartender were he was from.  Ended up, Rick-the-Bartender
lived in the same suburb of  Greenville as Bill & Mary, and that Rick-the-Bartender's wife grew up in Islip, Long Island, NY, were Rick grew up.
Once Rick (Dishaw) joined us at the bar, conversations continued, and it was discovered that Rick-the-Bartender's wife is the niece of Joe Klecan,
 a good buddy of Rick's, whom Rick had just talked to a couple days earlier.  
SMALL WORLD! Bill Burns, (Fred)Rick-the-Bartender) & Rick.






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