Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Day 58 - Oct. 12

Four boats left the Visitor's Center this morning at 7:45 to make the 8:30 bridge and lock opening, with Peace & Quiet among them.  Jill and Tim from the cat were up to send us off.  I'm so glad we had the opportunity to meet them.  They are the kind of people you can't help but take an instant liking to.  [And Jill... I'm not just saying that because I know you're reading my blog... ;)  ]
About two hours out we started to overheat again.  This happened yesterday as well.  We're hoping the winds will be with us tomorrow and we can sail to Alligator River where we will have a mechanic take a look at it.  Greg has changed the impeller, checked the water intake, and tightened the fan belt without seeming to have any affect.  Keeping our fingers crossed that it is nothing major.
Coming in to a dock at home is usually pretty simple.  It's either a finger dock or a wharf.  Almost every place here has four tall posts set in a rectangular box shape in the water.  You bring the boat into the center of the box and then lasso two posts on one side of the boat, then the two posts on the other side and then tighten and loosen the lines until the boat is sitting in the middle without touching any of the posts.  Well let me tell you, it's harder then it sounds! Lucky for us, when I brought the boat in, "Gus" and another boater were on the 3' dock in front of the posts to help and give us instructions on what to do.  Other then coming in just a tad to fast, I think I did pretty good for my first time.  Even Gus said so.  Now let me tell you about Gus.  I believe he said he was 78, ( I could be wrong) and he comes to the wharf every day, for 13 hours to help the boaters.  He said it was like a family reunion for him to have the boaters come in and he loves to help by supplying information even if he doesn't have the physical strength to help.  One of the trawlers, Andirondeck, arranged a gathering at 4:30 for the boaters on the dock, and along with getting some good information about getting to the Bahamas, Gus entertained us with some of his stories and things his Grandpa told him.  I'm not sure that we can believe everything he told us, but he is a such a sweetheart of a man.  Elizabeth City should be honoured to have Gus as their representative for boaters.