Monday November 4: Carolina State Park, NC

First things first. Our satellite dish has been having some issues - Browns play Sunday. No signal means no TV and in particular the NFL package. Which is the ONLY reason we like Directv.

Matt gamely stayed Saturday night to redo connections and troubleshoot. We were glad he took the time to work on the system but sadly it must be something wrong with the dish. Time to call the satellite company ....

So we missed seeing the game. And what a game to miss seeing!! First time we've beaten the Ravens since 2007 - GO BROWNS!!! But we did listen to the game live on a Cleveland station over the internet so that was fine :-) Connecting with Matt and Becky during the game was fun as well - shared anxiety and then finally happiness!

Anyway, we left Dudley's in Swansboro at the crack of dawn on Sunday - literally. And that meant leaving at 6:30 now that Daylight Savings Time is gone. I think this boat may just stay on DST anyway. After all it just means that we get up an hour earlier because we still needed to leave when the sun came up! 6:30 just doesn't sound as nice at 7:30. Plus now it's dark at 5:30. Man, we need to get south .....

The day itself was very pleasant with sunshine the whole day and literally not a cloud in the sky. This travel day though was a day of timing the bridges. 4 bridges total. One opens on the hour and 1/2 hour, one opens only on the hour, the next we fit under unless it's high tide, the last opens only on the hour.

We saw lots of closed bridges. Somehow it just seems that we should be able to make the two bridges that open on the hour in a two hour time period. But they are 22.5 miles apart. Which means we would need to average 11.25 mph. The math just doesn't lie even if we have the current the whole way. Instead we had to kill about 40 minutes waiting for the last bridge to open. Very sad. We definitely needed to see more open bridges!!

As we approached Wrightsville Beach, there were the oddest things in the sky.

Finally figured out they were kites!! Turns out it was the Cape Fear Kite Festival which was yesterday and today. Really all kinds of fun kites including a squid, whale and shark!

The paddleboarders were out as we passed through Wrightsville Beach. It had been a long day but we opted to continue for another hour and a half to the state park near Carolina Beach.

We bid a fond farewell to the last bridge for a long time as we caught the current coming in the Caroline Beach Inlet.

At last - made it to the Park. It was a long but pleasant day.

The sunset was something else - again.

The tides are getting higher and higher. Here it's probably about 4 feet - which means the currents are also getting stronger and stronger.

Nice that the docks here are floating docks. Tie the boat to the dock and we just go up and down with the tide!

That was last night. It was so nice here that we stayed another day. Rest day. Right.

But the inverter is finally working correctly so we are able to have power to run the fridge and freezer while underway (and cook in the crockpot!). The battery charger died but it's under warranty and we can live without it for a while.

And finally the fishing poles have found a home other than lying on the aft deck - new decor in the aft cabin. I term it the Early Fishing Era :-)

Tomorrow we're off to Southport. Short day but down the Cape Fear River (the name ALONE is enough to instill fear!) so timing the current with the wind is important.

7:33 and it seems like it must be midnight ......