Tuesday morning arrived bright and sunny. The weather report promised only the possibility of scattered and or isolated storms, so we decided to take the boat and venture out to our deserted wild beach. Our current rental property is on the ocean side with a great view of the ocean from the lovely kitchen/living area on the top floor. It is also in close proximity to the houses that are situated on the canal system at OIB that was devised to create more waterfront property. Since we were planning to ferry some folks out to the remote beach, and we had 6 lifejackets for 10 folks (Greta had a dedicated midget lifejacket) we looked around at the closest canal to us to see if there might be a dock we could utilize to facilitate the transfer (the boat ramp dock is not quick walking distance from our house). We found a vacant lot just down the street complete with dock. The nice lady next door said the owner (a builder) would certainly not care if we utilized the dock so we were all set.
We loaded up everything in the boat and with the first wave of folks, headed for the remote beach. We easily beached the boat and headed back for the balance of the crew. Cell phones came in quite handy for this endeavor. We turned one canal too early, so I got some additional practice in “advanced low-speed jet boat maneuvers” in order to turn around and head back to the correct canal to meet our waiting party. With everyone transferred to the beach, we picked a smaller crew and decided to try some water skiing. We spent some time trying to get folks up on the skis, and only once managed to suck the ski rope into the boat impeller. Needless to say yours truly was a little embarrassed by that particular event, but the operation of a jet boat does have somewhat of a learning curve. The convenient clean out port allowed us to quickly untangle the rope and we continued. Mostly what we found out was it is pretty much difficult to ski on the ICW during July 4th week---the boat traffic is pretty busy. Next time out we are going to try going up the Shallotte River a ways and see if that’s not a little better.
We spent a nice afternoon hanging out on the remote beach—looking for shells, swimming, sun bathing, and just generally having a big time. Finally the weather started threatening a little so I suggested we probably ought to start the return trip. As it turned out, about the time we got to the dock, it was pouring down rain. But then we were all wet already and wearing swimming suits, so other than being a little cool it wasn’t a big deal. We off loaded most of the gear, and then headed back to the boat ramp. We had one couple we wanted to let try some tubing if we could (Creston and Cary, Emily’s sister and her husband) since they had to leave Wednesday. We hooked up the tube rope and they got on it in the water. We took off pulling them and they were having a big time. We managed to use a sharp turn to slingshot them enough that they actually were moving faster than the boat for a short period of time. Fun with angular velocity! After a while it started to rain a little, then it started to rain a lot. We got them back in the boat and headed again for the dock. We got most everyone off loaded (in the downpour) then the boys and I headed for the ramp to get the boat landed. It was really crazy driving the boat through the pouring rain.
We got the boat trailered OK and headed back to the house. The plan for that evening was to go to a restaurant to celebrate the various anniversaries/birthdays/whatever that had happened in the last couple months. (just another way of saying both sets of grandparents took everyone out for dinner) We went to Captain Nance’s in Calabash. What trip to the beach in this part of the country would be complete without a trip to Calabash? A wonderful time was had by all, and appetites were well sated with all manner of fried crustaceans. (I remarked that this particular restaurant had a Lipitor dispenser in the bathroom instead of a condom dispenser). I seem to remember ice cream somewhere on the way home as well, all in all a wonderful day at the beach. I was dead tired when we got home and crashed for a while with a book on my chest.
More later,
Wes
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