Morehead City, N.C.

    The winds overnight were 15 to 20 knots but we remained well secured at the Wrightsville Beach anchorage.  Even though the boat swung on the anchor 180 deg with the tide change, our 65 lb Delta anchor held firm and there was not a squeak out of our anchor alarm.  We have 2 anchor alarms now. One on our old Garmin chartplotter and I recently downloaded "Drag Queen" to my iphone. This was recommended by Active Captain, so we will try it.
     Plagued less by vacationers pulling kids on floats we were able to make a little time, the main slow down being waiting for the bridges that open only on the hour.  Since we had the bridges timed, we could slow down to 1000 rpm which, depending on how we hit the channels with incoming tide, either pushed or pulled the boat between 5.5 and 7.5 knots.  The time was made up with being able to cruise the long distance up Bogue Sound at our customary 8 to 9 knots.
 

                    Palm Tree and Parking Meter just outside of Wrightsville Beach Anchorage

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                            

     The winds increased to 15 with gusts to 25 knots but with the size and weight of Docs Holiday we easily glided through the short choppy waves.  Salt spray occasionally came over the bow necessitating the use of the windshield wipers but it was a comfortable ride, though not a day for driving from our open fly bridge. A low pressure had settled in, dropping the overnight temperatures down to the 60's, which meant not having to use the air conditioner (hence no generator noise) overnight.
     Even though it was a relatively less stressful day both of us were tired and short tempered.  We argued about everything. Beth felt that I was ordering her around and that I was unappreciative of all that she did. If I didn't like what she was doing I could just do it all myself. 
I thought I was just making suggestions about what pictures she should take and just "quit hollering at me!" It peaked with my suggestion that she could just get a taxi at our next stop and take a plane home.  I would damn well take the boat the rest of the way by myself!
      Sometimes its better to just not talk when everyone is irritable, so we didn't. ( Besides Spencer, the dog doesn't like it when we argue and told me he thinks we're nuts!)

                                                   
                                                  Camp Lejeune Live Firing Area 

                                                
                                                    U..S Air Force keeping an eye on us.
                                                 

                         
We lucked out...apparently ICW can be closed for a couple of hours when practicing their exercises.                                                      

                                                                             
                                                    Atlantic Beach Bridge  MM 206.5  

      Hmmmm! --maybe it was time for a little break.. it wouldn't be impossible to complete this trip by myself but who wants to be a lonely little sailor? We have been pushing it a little. Even when we stop, we are so anxious to see the sights and "get the flavour" of the place we are visiting that we are exhausted by the time we get back to the boat. Add the fact that I only require a few hours sleep with quick short naps, (thanks to the years of interrupted sleep being on call!) and Beth needs at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and its easy to see that we need to change our routine if we are going to complete this adventure. So instead of anchoring out we will get a slip at Morehead City and try and relax for a couple of days.