Docs Holiday Coming Home: Morehead City to Oriental, NC

     I looked up and a wall of water was crashing over the windshield. I could hardly stay on the helm seat as the bow of the boat crashed up and down over the the six foot waves. They really looked like ten footers to me. The windshield wipers clacked back and forth at full speed and the boat was rolling from side to side.  Somewhat surprisingly, there was no rain or thunderstorm. In fact, the sun was out and the sky was blue with just a few fluffy clouds that I could see when the nose of the boat was pointed skywards. I wanted to jump down off the seat and go pee, but I didn't think I could walk to the back of the boat without falling and I was feeling a little sick.
     The day started out fine.  Everyone was up early as usual. I heard the camera click repeatedly as I stopped to leave my mark on the few fire hydrants interspersed by a trees lining the sidewalks .We walked around Morehead city admiring the fishing village's quaint art shops and the posters advertising the Marlin fishing tournament in progress this week. There were lots of large sports fishing boats with lots of people drinking, talking loudly and patting each other on the back. Everyone seemed happy as I heard them joke about escapades on the boats, but they really weren't paying attention and I was quick to jump to avoid them stepping on me.

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       Docs Holiday at the Morehead City Yacht Basin.......Marlin Tourney in process

Serious Business.....they come from all over!

Getting ready to pull out.

                                   Floyds Seafood Restaurant.......Yummy fresh Grouper!!


     I thought as I found a nice fresh piece of grass to pee on, even Mommy and Daddy seemed to be getting along now. We went back to the boat and they prepared the boat for departure. Docs Holiday was pinned to the dock with a breeze, but with a roar of the motors and billowing black smoke we got out without hitting any of the big expensive sport fishing boats. As we headed out to the ICW the breeze abated and we had a slow relaxing river ride.  Passing several smaller marinas and many small farms on the way up the river, I heard them talk about going all the way to Palmico Sound, since it was such a nice day.

                                                  Our tax $'s at work keeping us safe.

         Bird Houses on a pole????? Canadian Geese feeding....Better here than up       North???


     Everything changed though when we pulled out into the Neuse River. The wind increased to 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots out of the northwest. This caused the water to build up into steep waves at this end of the river. I heard Daddy curse saying something like,"This is Bull Pucky! We can't go 15 miles in this, we are going to go into Oriental. It's only 2 miles away." With that Daddy turned the wheel and headed with the waves towards the other shore. The movement of the boat was much calmer as the rolling and pitching subsided and I could finally jump down to go to my cage and pee!

                                            Mother Nature getting ready to stir the pot!

     I watched as Mommy told Daddy where the crab pots were as we entered under the bridge into the harbour and they found a nice place to "drop the anchor".   Wow, the sun was out and the boat was almost motionless. I found a nice warm sunny spot on the back deck and as my eyes got sleepy I drifted off listening to the birds chirping and the occasional splash made by those things swimming under the water.

love Spencer