Do you know where this is?

Neither did we! About as far off of the beaten track one can get but a delightful little town, Swansboro NC, just West of Beaufort NC our next stop.

It has been a great week as we continue to move from the boondocks into semi-civilization.
On Saturday early we found a quaint little broken down marina hidden behind a postage stamp sized island OFF of the ICW. the perfect and only place to hide from the gazillion jet skis and plastic wake makers.
Sunday we attended church at Socastee Baptist Church actually in south Myrtle Beach. Neat church with a fine young pastor. Monday we dropped into the marina at St James Plantation a mega development, four golf courses much like San Destin only bigger. Lovely marina in a man made basin off of the ICW. Tuesday saw us anchored at Wrightsville Beach a suburb of Wilmington, threatened all afternoon by kamikaze jets skis and fast boats. Wed we ducked into a marina at Surf City, bet you haven't heard of that either, on Top Sail Island to ride out an all afternoon thunderstorm. We were nicely snug and enjoyed walking in the rain through the 2X4 beach village. Wall to wall "Wings!" style stores. Today, Thursday, we are docked at Swansboro, a fishing village where most downtown homes date to the late 1700's. The weather front passage yesterday brought cool dry air and the run up this morning was blissful including a 20 or so cannon salute from the Marines at Camp LeJeune.

From the Admiral: At St. James Plantation and Wrightsville we did not even get off the boat as we were a bit "road weary". Coming through a pass about an hour out of Swansboro the depth sounder went from 12 feet to 3 in a heart beat. With bells ringing on every instrument, I want it noted in the log that the person at the helm did not loose her cool but acted in an orderly manner and ran aground ...... real easy. With the swift action of the Captain .... his pay scale ... we easily backed off with only one observer ... a sailboat on the stern who was advised of the situation. He had indeed witnessed the sudden stop and assumed the canal would be closed for hours while SeaTow was called to the rescue. Also a note for the log .... It is now two to one. Wonder who is ahead.

This mornings departure from Surf City was a bit shaky as the Admiral was to help head the boat out and get it turned. The instructions were to make a flying leap at the last moment. This is not a good picture. Larry ended up rescuing the Admiral from a certain morning swim. From now on we will work on another way to get the back end around.

North Carolina has a number of historical seaports that are about 40 miles or a 5 hour run apart... just right to fill up the day. Each day has been full of new sights and lots of fun.

Pictures from this week will have to wait for a faster cell, maybe tomorrow at Beaufort.