Crashing Waves!

Sun, 3/22, Southport to Hampstead, NC

First off, Happy 85th Birthday to Dad and 2nd Birthday to his great granddaughter Marin in MN!

Second, I’m using some of Courtney’s pictures. They are marked by C:

Yesterday’s correction. Little River was in SC not NC.

After we docked for the night, this guy swam by. Then a dolphin came right behind him. This wasn’t even telephoto!
Sadly, Courtney was taking a shower – what poor luck!!

C: Jim and Courtney sat upstairs while I finished blogging then showered.
Then she showered while I got the above picture. We both stood at the end of our/this dock trying to see the gator. No luck. I had bugs in my nose, eyes, and hair so we didn’t watch for long!

This video gives you a feel for how rough the ride first thing in the morning was going crossing the very large Cape Fear River Inlet. Jim had to go up top to secure the crane since it was flopping around a bit and making a lot of noise. He said the entire upper helm was drenched by the wave splashes.

C: Without windshield wipers, it would have been a tough go!

C: I can’t recall seeing a tug pulling a barge. Hope the chains don’t snap.
Also, interesting is the loading platforms behind the barge. They had really long piers connecting them to shore and were well out into the water.

A google earth screen shot showed this. Each of those fingers (looks like veins on a leaf) had a set of tracks in it and bunkers? Along/at the end. However, you can’t see any finger piers or crane decks off the shore in the picture.

LOL, the reminder for today’s birthdays at the top!

All the houses. Hard to get good ocean, beach shots given the weather. It was too chilly (50s) to be up top.

Now for the yard art….

Most unique yard art. Sara – a stunning centerpiece in the mulch bed between you and the golf course?

Not to be outdone, the house next door had this?
The tin woman/mermaid – Goddess of the beach!

My favorite!
This is in Courtney’s back yard that is so nicely done. Her house was wonderful too. She definitely has an eye for decorating. Wish I did!
We had a great time looking at her albums. So neat to see Courtney, Brandon, and Sara in there much younger days. Dinner was awesome too.
Thanks Courtney for being a great visitor and a gracious hostess!

Note the Freddy Kruger face!

While still strange – it isn’t evil looking up close!

C: Whew, just made it!

No worries about office contamination! However, the walk from your car is a bit daunting on a really hot, cold, or wet day (OK, really any day)!!! Recall, there are marshes everywhere to get past!

Warning: Courtney knows birds and got great pictures!

C: A gorgeous loon!

C: These have the silhouette of a flying heron, but aren’t!
Courtney, what were they?

C: All the various birds were on these two docks. Then a couple docks later there was one poor solitary guy – he was the only one heeding “social distancing” warning!

It looks like the top osprey is looking over it’s back at us.
That’s some flexibility!

Tomorrow (ok today we are) we will head to Beaufort (like BOW-Fort, not BUUU-fert that was in SC.)