Relaxing at Cape Lookout

 I wrote this a few days back, but am just now getting ready to post it...

Hello from Cape Lookout! I've been anchored here for three nights so far and have loved my morning and evening long beach walks. Today I may even swim!

After two days of WIND and one of "wind", this morning is glassy calm.... and WAY too many fishing boats at sunrise! The low wind and heat wave are encouraging people to get out here and I sure can not blame them... but I miss the peace and quiet. And the bugs come out to my boat... I should anchor farther from shore.

I woke around midnight this AM and saw lightning beyond the cluster of anchor lights in the popular anchorage, so rowed ashore (wonderful phosphorescence!) to take a nice four-minute video compressed into a single second.

I also took a shot of the center of the Milky Way..

Conditions have delayed the mast job: it seems that all the boat yards in the New Bern to Oriental area have 5' to 5.5' of depth in "normal" conditions and depend on a north-ish wind to bring in extra water for boats like mine. And that does not happen often this time of year... and I'd probably get stuck in New Bern during this heat wave. So, I'm going to sail north with my wood and see what I can do in October.

I'm thinking about switching to a ready-to-go new sailboat, one with a shower and less wood, one ready for the sail to the Caribbean..or already down there. I'd love to find a good boat at a good price. Perhaps in the 35-45 foot range... I've been spoiled by some aspects of this boat: a good aft deck where one can land fish or put out the carpet for the dog, the sunroom over the cockpit, the loads of storage space. Anyway, if anyone sees a really good deal that might fit my needs, let me know!

In the meantime, I'll wait for the heat to moderate and enjoy the beaches, sunrises, sunsets... and interesting discoveries, like turtle bones!

Deadly and lovely

Pandora is now singing some song about a man-o-war. Coincidentally, I am TRYING to put down the words to talk about the Portuguese man-o-war jellies washed ashore on the Outer Banks. Jellies are utterly beautiful: colorful, translucent, transparent, nearly invisible. All of the tentacled sort kill prey by shooting venom into them, but only a few harm humans.... and these are one of the more dangerous. So, I keep a sharp eye out and try not to step on them: I saw six last week down on Cape Lookout on my sunrise walk..

In other news, I took my final night sail with my beloved wooden masts, lightning occasionally flashing in the distance. I'm now back up in New Bern and am going to replace them with used aluminum masts over the next couple weeks. I have a lot of other things I should do on the boat, but am so darned tired...