34°23′10″ N 77°38′16″ W

At 4:30 yesterday afternoon we arrived at Harbor Village Marina, our destination for the day.

We lost almost an hour on the way because two of the bridges that we had to pass under only opened on the hour & we arrived at each one at about 25 minutes too early. All we could do was go into a holding position until the bridge was ready to open.

Oh well, this is life in the slow lane – need to remember to spontaneously chill in order to stay sane.

During the last 90 minutes of our journey we were being chased by a rainstorm that was just off the coast. Fortunately we made it to the marina before any rain came & by the time we were tied up securely to the dock the sun came out & it got hot!

We checked with the marina manager about nearby shopping & restaurants but the closest place was 6 miles away. So, home cooking again tonight!

I put Ed in charge of the BBQ while I made potato salad. It’s amazing how you can work up an appetite while just sitting down & watching the world go by for 6-8 hours at a time.

Last night was the first night we were able to leave the air conditioner turned off & sleep with all the windows open. It was very refreshing after so many days of hot, muggy weather.

We have also noticed that the vegetation along the shoreline looks much more like what we see at home. There are no more “wild” palm trees & lots more low scrub brushes & deciduous trees.

This morning when I went up to the flybridge to get ready for the day’s journey I discovered that we had another passenger on board.

That has got to be THE biggest fly I have ever seen! He must have just flew in from Texas!

I put the tablespoon down beside him so you could get some perspective. I don’t know if this kind bites & I sure don’t want to find out.

We left the dock at 6:45am this morning & headed north east on the ICW towards a beautiful sunrise. Our course today will be another 59 nautical miles & the chart plotter tells me that we will arrive at our destination around 4:00pm this afternoon.

This morning we saw several Ospreys nesting on the channel markers. The birds build their nests in between the sign board on each side of the post – so you can’t really tell if there’s a nest until you are right beside the marker. We missed several opportunities for great photos with 2-3 birds on the nest. I finally managed to get a photo of one with my iPhone but could not zoom in very close.

Cheers everyone!