4/28-4/30 Myrtle Beach to Surf City, Topsail Island, NC

4/28  Myrtle Beach to Southport
Today must have been sailboat day.  We passed one after the other, all heading north.  This has been one of the prettiest parts of the trip since we left Florida. We saw several sunken boats, probably as a result of Hurricane Matthew last fall.  On our first wak on shore we met Bailey and his owner.

What an adorable dog!

Long time friend, Patsy Conrad is the harbor host for Southport.  She has been at AGLCA Rendezvous in New Bern all week and just returned this afternoon.   We made contact and she picked us up for drinks at a local place called American Fish. You pay $1.00 for a lifetime membership.  Then we went to dinner at Olivers.  It is really hot and humid...more like summer weather

4 /29
This morning I did chores..laundry and cleaning. Patsy and I met for shopping and lunch. We ended up joining Patsy's friends George and Paula Burn at their table.  It was a pleasure meeting them. Patsy took me to Walmart for groceries, took me back to the boat, picked up Pat and Joe Apicella at St. James Landing, took us all to Sacred Heart for mass, and then back to her house to prepare dinner. In the meantime, Ron took Apicellas to Walmart.  Patsy had a wonderful meal for us at her place. One of her neighbors, Mike, whose wife was out of town, joined us.  After dinner, she took all of us back to our respective marinas.  Needless to say, she deserves a reward for taking care of us!

4/30  Southport to Surf City/Topsail Island
It was a short night.  We were  up at 0600 and left before 0700.  Since it is Sunday, all of the weekend boaters were all over the place. We timed the bridges well.  Wrightsville Bascule Bridge,  noted on our chart as 20 feet, was actually less than 16 feet, so Ron quickly lowered the antennas and we breezed right through. Our timing at the Surf City Swing Bridge allowed us to go through with a commercial fishing boat.

Otherwise, the bridge only opens on the hour.  Ron and I were tired, so we both took naps. When I woke up, I looked at a Facebook post telling me that Robert and Kay Creech were in the slip next to us, so we went over and had a nice visit.