A couple weeks back I departed New Bern, NC and headed south, sad to have missed meeting up with my friends Matt and Joyce...and, of course, their dog, Loki. Ah, well.
First night was windy and rough. Second night far worse... and the jib refused to furl and, for some reason I can not now recall, I decided not to heave-to. In the morning I found various damage to the boat... and water in the fuel tank... and almost zero wind, so I took two days to limp into Winyah Bay to drop anchor and make temporary repairs.
Dusring the first night, something buzzed around the boat, struck the cockpit windows several times, and then landed: a moth as mig as half my little finger. With it's curled wings and decaying-leaf coloring, this little critter would blend invisibly into the forest. I am guessing it is a hawkmoth, but unsure of species.
The next day, the moth wings had flattened out considerably, so it had probably just emerged from it's pupa and immediately flown out to visit me. It moved to a safer location, on the canvas of my windows, up near the ceiling, and remained there during the chilly days I worked on the boat and awaited better weather and the sail down to St Augustine, FL. There, it departed into the warm night.
An osprey also visited, standing on my masthead for a while and screaming at it's mate.
And Matt, Joyce, and Loki arrived and visited! Very nice...
As I write this, I am approaching Cape Canaveral and expect to anchor in Ft Pierce tomorrow morning. There I will purchase a few materials and make repairs for a week or two, then we shall see.
