Saturday – Wednesday, May 18 – 22, 2019
We departed Myrtle Beach on a hot, sunny Saturday morning. Lots of sandbars and some that turn into small islands at low tide. There were many boaters along there picnicking, relaxing, playing, and fishing. A group of young kids at one sandbar were pumping their arms shouting “Honk! Honk!” as we approached so Brian gave a quick honk-honk on the horn and they all squealed and cheered with delight!
So, now we’ve left South Carolina behind and entered North Carolina. We arrived at Southport by mid-afternoon in under 6 hours. Shortly after, we received a visit from the local AGLCA harbor host who came by to say hello and offer assistance, if needed. He is a really nice guy who lives on the main path between the harbor and restaurants along the waterfront and invited us to stop by when we see him out on his porch.
Being a beautiful Saturday, there were long lines for the first two restaurants of choice so we went to the 3rd choice, Frying Pan, and only had a 20 minute wait. Food and drinks were good and we were able to experience the other two places in the next couple of days: Fishy-Fishy and Provision Company – both had good food & drinks too!
You would think the Frying Pan restaurant had something to do with using frying pans for cooking. Not so fast there, buckaroo! At the NC Maritime Museum in Southport, we learned that this is the name of the frying-pan-shaped shoals surrounding the entrance to the Cape Fear River near Southport and Wilmington. Since there was no lighthouse back in the day, they used “lightships” or “lightvessels” to mark the entrance and shoaling area. This lightship was named Frying Pan after the shoals here. Lightships were used from late 1700 to the mid-1900s in waters that were too deep to construct a lighthouse. Though most have now been replaced by lighthouses, about 15 are still in use today in the US. The Frying Pan, lightship number 115, was a proud member of this fleet of vessels from 1854–1964, and is now docked in New York Harbor at Pier 66 in the Hudson River Park.
As we waited out the weekend for the local (and recommended) boatyard to open on Monday, Brian got our bicycles functioning again and we worked on our other daily life & boat chores and projects. There were a lot of historic homes around town that were identified by a plaque on the front of the house with the year built and the original owner’s name. Most were nicely painted with porch decorations and lovely landscaping. Other than the Maritime Museum and Brian taking a test ride on his bike to the Post Office, we didn’t do much other venturing beyond walking Bo or playing ball with him in the marina’s dog area. Bo prefers short trips outside when it’s sunny, humid and in the 80s! That worked well for us too!
On Monday, the Zimmerman boatyard manager came by to evaluate our transmission seal leak. After planning and re-planning, and calling their other boatyards further north, by Wednesday they had come up with a plan to avoid waiting here longer while the part was ordered. He referred us to their boatyard on the Chesapeake so they’d have the part ready for the seal replacement when we get there. We liked his plan since it’s a very minor leak, and not urgent. Yay – tomorrow we can move on to Hampstead, NC