Happy Thanksgiving!

A Sporting Day

Burning It Off and Packing It In

Our first bridge was a swing bridge and opened on the hour and the half hour. We waited for the 10:30 opening. There was a sign (an oversized ruler sticking in the water) at the water level to show that the bridge had 20 feet of clearance. Thinking Slowly's mast went to 21 feet, we waited for the bridge to open. After 8 minutes of waiting the bridge started to open. On our way through we thanked the bridge keeper on the radio and wished him a happy holiday. Unfortunately, he was not in the friendly spirit and instead of a "you're welcome" we got told that we were not 21 feet tall and that we need to throw out our old ruler. It wasn't that the sign read 20 feet that made his remarks completely unnecessary, nor was it that we wanted to make sure it wasn't a close call, it was mostly that the bridge is supposed to open on the hour and half hour. And there was no traffic. But we ignored his comment and took our time going under his bridge. [Hey, are you talking about me? -Ed.]

On the short jaunt over to the next bridge we had another show of physical activity when we cruised past a pair of wake boarders, (which is similar to waterskiing). We were surprised that they were practicing so close to other boats but it was fun to watch him jumping the wakes of the boat pulling him. Unfortunately since we didn't get through the Figure Eight Bridge on the half hour we missed the Wrightsville Bridge opening by a few minutes and had to spin circles and pace up and down the channel for an hour checking out the wildlife around us. Our destination was just on the other side. We got in touch with Andrea and Chuck on "Celebrate" and they were on the opposite side of the bridge getting ready to anchor themselves.

After passing through the bridge we made a quick left into the narrow channel that led us past the big beach houses and marinas of Wrightsville and into the anchorage. It took us a few tries to get a good hook which usually doesn't happen. We moved from space to space, always trying to keep a good distance from the other boats, mostly because we don't have much experience with anchoring in close quarters. "Celebrate" called us and told us we should anchor next to them, reminding us to let out a lot of line when the holding isn't great because the angle helps the anchor dig in to the bottom. They gave us reassurance that we could anchor there even though we were going to be closer than we were used to. Everything worked out well and it was nice to know we wouldn't have to row far.

We set to work baking. There were two pies to make in three hours so we worked together in the small space, chopping the pecans, slicing the ginger and putting things away right after they were used. We then awaited the results. The pecan was the first out. It looked a little dark, but smelled great and we hoped for the best. The moment the pumpkin pie was out we wrapped them up and rowed ourselves over to "Celebrate" (pun intended).

Chuck and Andrea spoiled us with a set table (candles and all!) and a fantastic dinner. It was great to be able to spend time with them, and to spend time with other people on Thanksgiving. Two birds with one turkey. We all stayed up past our bedtime and after having tried both pies, which turned out quite well, and digesting awhile, we rowed the short distance back to Slowly. We soon fell asleep after having a very nice holiday.