Pecans

Whether you pronounce them "pee cans" or "pee cons", they are one of natures most wonderful gifts and we just love them. 

This year was not the best year for pecan production, but we managed to get about 23 pounds off of the old tree that my father planted 60+ years ago. Thank you dad. This will probably take us through to next year. 

Thanks also to Ronnie Fish who cracked and cleaned them. He recently bought the Johnson equipment and moved it from Dunn to his home east of Angier on NC210. 

Island Time in Pine Knoll Shores

The stars were aligned today. Contractors at the beach are notorious for not showing up on time or not showing up at all. We call this working on island time. Today I had two contractors scheduled to do some work here at the house. One was to demo a bathroom that we are fixing to remodel and another was to set a couple of pilings for mooring the boat.

 The demo contractor showed up at 9:00 just as promised. The piling contractor came around 10:00. At the same time the landscape contractor started their work and the guy that was originally to install the pilings showed up to ask when he could start. Sorry dude, the other contractor just started and is charging $500 less. 

Barge, pile driver and mini tug. 

Four men and a pile driver and the job was finished in no time. The pilings are driven 18 feet into the bottom. 

All the work was finished and they were gone by 2:00. Now that's the way I like to see things happen. 

Headed Back

The trip was cut short due to hurricane Matthew. This slow boat will take three days to get to New Bern from Albemarle Plantation where it will be hauled out. 

The first leg was to the Alligator River Marina. This is the boat tied up at the marina. Nothing to see here. The marina is located behind a convenance store in the middle of nowhere. They have a grill inside where you can get a good breakfast. 

The next day we make the trip to Belhaven. Paula is driving the boat while Doug looks on. 

One of the fine homes in Belhaven. 

Had dinner at the Spoon River Restaurant again.  Those are ten count shrimp. 

The next leg was to New Bern. The Pamlico was rough. This shot was taken in the Neuse after going through the Pamlico. 

Feeding the seagulls. 

Hauled out and safe from Matthew at Duck Creek Marina. 

Following are a few photos from the trip. 

This is why I hope to return to the Albemarle someday to visit all the sites we missed on our abbreviated trip. 

Edenton and Albemarle Plantation.

The leg of our trip took us across the sound from Plymouth to Edenton. It was a very foggy morning and we had to postpone our departure for the fog to lift. The crossing took a couple of hours and was uneventful except for low visibility due to the fog. 

Here we are tied up a the Edenton Town Dock. 

We had some friends from Garner join us in Edenton for the rest of the trip. 

One of the old colonial homes that was relocated to the waterfront. You may recall that Edenton was once the state capital. 

The Edenton Peanut Festival happened to be the Saturday that we were there. 

Another lighthouse. This one is original. It also was relocated to the waterfront and restored. 

We departed Edenton Saturday afternoon for Albemarle Plantaion, a retirement community not far from  Edenton. They have a nice golf course, expensive homes and a huge marina. 

We were docked so far from land that we had to rent a golf cart. 

We had been following Matthews path and we're getting nervous about where it was headed. Next day we decided to cut the trip short and make the trip home to safe harbor. 

Columbia and Plymouth, NC

This post covers days three and four of our Albemarle Loop trip. Day three was spent relaxing tied up at the Cypress Cove Marina.  Nothing much to do here but to chill. 

Here we are docked at the marina. The owners are extremely nice and accommodating. 

The town of Columbia is located about a mile up the Scuppernong River from the marina. It's a very small town with just over 800 residents. There are a couple of restuarants, so we took the boat there for lunch. This is a view of the city docks as we approached. 

It's a very picturesque little town with a small town dock. 

This is a picture ot the downtown district.  It's just a couple of blocks long. There appears to be an active artist community here. We didn't have time to visit any of the shops, but the artwork displayed in the windows was beautiful.   http://pocosinarts.org/

Day four was an early departure from Columbia on our way to the Town of Plymouth. 

Becky took this picture as we were cruising down the Scuppernong River on our way to the Albemarle Sound and on to Plymouth which is located about 5 miles up the Roanoke River. 

This is a house that was built on a barge on the Roanoke between the Albemarle and Plymouth. 

This a replica of the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle at the Plymouth. The original was used in the battle of Plymouth which was won by the Confederates. Plymouth was a strategic town in the war because the Union had to pass here to get to Weldon where they intended to cut the Wilmington-Weldon rail line used to supply Lee's troops. 

Museum. 

On the other end of town is a replica of a lighthouse that stood in the sound when Plymouth was an important port of entry. 

Plymouth is a town that has lost population over the years. The population is estimated to be 3658 now. It once had a population of over 4,700 in the 1970's. 

The town is very visitor friendly. The town mayor came to greet us at the town dock when we tied up. Sorry I didn't get a picture. 

Albemarle Loop

It's the fall of the year and it's time to take to the water. North Carolina is a boater's paradise. We have many great places to see from the water.  It is my intention to see them all. I may have mentioned that I recently bought a trawler that I found in Charleston, SC. Over the past few weeks, I have been preparing the boat for this exploration of the eastern NC coast. 

For those that don't know, a trawler is a boat designed for economical water travel. They are able to cover long distances in relative comfort. Think of a trawler as a motor home on the water. Although they are slow, they are still faster than your typical sailboats. We cruise our boat about 8 to 9 miles per hour. Top speed is around 14 miles per hour. 

Our first North Carolina voyage is to the Albemarle Sound. You may ask why the Albemarle Sound. The answer is that the Albemarle Sound has lots of interesting things to see. There is Edenton, Hertford, Columbia, Plymouth, Elizabeth City and Manteo. Lots of history. The other reason I chose the Albamarle is because there is a thing called the Albemarle Loop. It is a way to promote the region by offering free marina use for boater's who visit the region. 

It's about 140 miles from our base in Pine Knoll Shores to the Albemarle Sound. That's a two day trip for a trawler.  For the first leg of our planned 12 day trip, we left Pine Knoll Shores at 7:30 Monday morning. We arrived in Belhaven at 4:30 pm. A total of 70 miles and 9 hours. Following are a few photos taken along the way. 

You see a lot of this along the way. This is the Intracoastal Waterway heading from Morehead City to the Neuse River. You got to like nature. 

Spoon River Resturant in Belhaven. A little bit up scale for a country boy, but a good place to eat. Also it was the only restuarant open on Monday night. 

Belhaven is a beautiful little town of about 1500 people. This is a picture of the River Forest Manor event center about four blocks from downtown Belhaven. The marina we are staying in is directly behind the manor. 

That's the back of the manor house on the left and the marina office on the right. 

We departed Belhaven at day break on Tuesday. We arrived at our destination of Columbia, NC at 5:45 pm. That is a lot of boat riding. It would not have been so bad if the scenery had been better. The trip from Belhaven takes you up the Pungo River to the Pungo-Alligator River canal. Probably the most uninteresting 55 miles I have ever seen. Nothing but marshes and swamps the whole way. 

That's a view of the sun rising over the Pungo River as we departed Belhaven. 

Even the color of the water in the canal was ugly. Definitely brown not blue. 

This is a view of the Alligator River swing bridge as we approached. This was probably the highlight of the day. Not very exciting. 

The only things redeeming about the whole day was that the weather and the water were great. A 50% chance of rain was in the forecast, but we didn't get a drop. The sky was overcast which made for a comfortable ride.  There was just enough breeze to keep us cool, but not enough to make the water rough.  I just wish that the scenery had been better. 

Overcast skys late in the day as we approached Columbia.  

This posting pretty much covers the first two days of the trip. Becky and I will probably stay in Columbia on the boat for two nights before going elsewhere. We have friends that will be joining us on Saturday for the rest of the trip. More postings to come. 

Tina Don't Care

We have a turkey in our neighborhood. This is the kind of turkey that has two legs and two wings and goes gobble, gobble. We have other turkeys too, but they are the human variety. 

Our family tends to give things names, both animate and inanimate. My daughter has named this female turkey Tina. Tina the turkey. 

Tina has been around the neighborhood for some time now. We first saw her last fall. She is not afraid of humans. If a dog comes near she will take wing and fly to a safe spot. Tina don't care. Tina rules. 

Tina has been spotted in several locations in Pine Knoll Shores. Here she is about a block from the house. 

She seems to have free rein of the place. Quite a beautiful girl. Hope she makes it through Thanksgiving. 

Birthday Week

Both of my daughters and two of my grandsons have birthdays in August or September. It has been a tradition to celebrate the birthdays at the beach. This year we were not able to get both daughters and their families at the beach at the same time due to scheduling conflicts. 

My oldest grandson, Eamon, turned 14. Hard to imagine. 

He wanted to take the boat to Shackleford as part of his celebration. 

Here they are jumping in the water for a swim. 

Very few people on the beach at Shackleford today. The water was nice. 

Eamon insisted that we all have matching captain hats. Left to right is Eamon, me and younger brother Brendan. 

Brendan and Eamon now have their own smart tv for their room. Brendan will be 12 years old on September 3. 

The last birthday celebrated this week was my 42 year old daughter, Kristen. "Now where do the batteries go, Dad". 

Journey to New Home

We departed Charleston, SC early Friday, July 29 to take "At Last" to its new home in Pine Knoll Shores. I was planning on a four day trip, but we made good time and were able to make in three. I had never piloted a boat of this size and was a little intimidated to start on a 270 mile trip on a unfamiliar boat. Luckily I had a good friend, Doug Taylor, with me to help with the job. Everything went well. 

At Last at its old home in Charleston. 

This a view of Charleston taken from the Intracoastal Waterway where it crosses the Cooper River. The first day of the trip was a 70 mile leg up the ICW to Georgetown, SC. 

This is truly low country. This house can only be reached by boat. No electricity. No water. A great place to get away from everything. 

We had quite a few of these friends join us along the way. They like to ride the wake. 

Georgetown Landing Marina as we departed Saturday morning. 

Sunrise over the beautiful Wacamaw River as we head north from Georgetown. 

The Wacamaw River has been named as one of the top four rivers on the ICW. We are headed toward Myrtle Beach and points north. I was hoping to make it to Southport, NC before dark. Fortunately, we were able to make all the way to Carolina Beach. 105 miles and a 12 hour day. 

Here we are departing Joyners Marina in Carolina Beach on the third day. I called classmate, Larry Spivey, before we arrived. I knew he owned a house there. It turns out that his house is only a block away. He was waiting on the dock when we arrived. 

Some of the fine homes in Wrightsville Beach. 

The weather was threatening on the final day. It finally caught us as we approached Morehead City.  The lightning persuaded us to move to the lower helm. 

At Last at her new berth in Pine Knoll Shores.