Body Surfing Dolphins

We left Holden Beach, North Carolina early yesterday.   There was no fog, but it was overcast and gloomy.

I decided to back out from the dock.  The dockmaster said we'd have deep enough water for our five foot draft if we wanted to go forward, but there was a pretty strong current running and I didn't want it to push us into the bridge pilings on the left, or into shallow water on the right.  I can't see much when I back up, so we use walkie talkies and Pam guides me.  I came a little close to the bridge pilings, but a miss is as good as a mile. 

Just past the bridge, we saw this sad sight.

It wasn't too long until we had dolphins!   Four of them, playing in our bow wave.

And then Pam and Chevy did something strange.   They both looked aft.

The four dolphins left the bow and were now body surfing on our wake.

A photo doesn't do it justice.  Check out the video.

Dolphins are awesome animals.  Like people, they love having fun.

A bit further down the line, we left North Carolina.  Thanks to my Navi-Nut (patent pending) I knew exactly when we crossed the border from North to South Carolina.

Navi-Nut 1.0 (patent pending) has performed flawlessly.  No breakdowns, no glitches.

Many of my sailor friends like to run down the outside of the east coast of the US to get to Florida as fast as humanly possible.   I don't see the attraction to that.   I like to take in the scenery.  Such as...

A large pair of "Aqua Sinos", floating casinos that probably go outside the US's three mile limit to gamble.

Houses built on top of houses line the ICW.

Followed by miles of desolation.

Followed by a UFO.  What is that thing?

This bridge has 31 feet of clearance.  I measured Drift Away at 22 feet.  I think.  We can clear this bridge, right?  It wasn't 32 was it?   No, that would be silly.   Umm...

We made it.  We soon passed Maggie Moo's Ice Cream and Treatery.

And gondolas that, I believe, ferry golfers from one side of the ICW to the other.  If you look closely, I'm pretty sure those are golf bags on the stern of the gondola on the right.

We passed more wildlife...

which didn't interest Gertie in the least.  She looks like she got into that box of wine to help pass the time.

We arrived at Osprey Marina at 2 PM for a total run time of 5 hours and 59 minutes, averaging 7.2 knots and traveling 43.2 nautical miles (which is about 50 statute miles for my landlubber friends).  That's a good speed, considering that much of the time was spent at a no wake or low wake speed in congested areas.   We had a good push by a favorable tide most of the day.  So far we've traveled 1,052 nautical miles since leaving Stamford in September.

Gertie took the opportunity to look for a new boat.

The weather is pretty rotten today (Friday) so we're staying put.  We think we'll stay here to recharge until sometime next week when we'll cast off for Charleston.  It's now 3 AM and 68 degrees here, warm even by South Carolina standards.