October 29th, 2020

We stayed in port today as planned. Sunrise was beautiful as I walked around to an area behind the marina that we hadn't seen yet. It was very windy and when we looked out to the open water, we were really glad we decided to stay put. We took care of a few chores on the boat and took a little time to go over to the two hundred year old lighthouse and climb to the top. 

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Martha counted 129 steps to the top. It was good exercise and we got a great view of the entire island as well as the ocean path we took to get here. Seeing the weather conditions, we were glad that we did it yesterday and not today. The small chapel was out final stop before heading back to the boat.

This is a very interesting island. Many people come over from the mainland to work during the day and then go back in the evening. The ferry runs very frequently. I am sure it is much busier during the season. A large vehicle ferry stopped here this morning and unloaded a bunch of service trucks and other vehicles. I suppose it was due to the weather, but the ferry did not return to take the vehicles and their workers back. The trucks are lined up ready to go and all the workers were taken home by smaller boats. I guess they are used to this and will get back to normal tomorrow.

Check-out time is 11am and hopefully the winds will have died down enough for us to get out of here, get through the Cape Fear River inlet and back into the ICW. Next stop is Grand Dunes Marina in Myrtle Beach, but we have to go through a notorious section of the ICW called the "Rock Pile." We'll let you know how it goes.