an anniversary

I was emailing with my friend Paul yesterday when I remembered it was our anniversary.  Don't expect flowers, I told him, but it was a year ago and Spartina - crewed by myself and Bruce - shared a trip in North Carolina with Paul's Dawn Patrol - crewed by Paul and Dawn.

I won't go into details about the trip - they are all there just to the right under "Tag Team 200 Daily Logs" - but I did go through the logs and pulled out some of my favorite photographs.

At the top is Spartina crossing the Pamlico River in a nice, stiff breeze on the first day of the trip.  Below you'll see Bruce, Dawn and Paul relaxing on Bonner Bay as we rafted up on the second day.  Early in the trip and we were already fast friends.

We stopped in Oriental on the third day.  That, for me, is one of the best towns in coastal North Carolina.  Nice harbor, great coffee shop and very friendly people.

The fourth day was the longest day of our trip, and, I think, the most interesting.  Almost 50 miles of travel, wind on the stern, wind on the bow, no wind, open water, canals and a brief encounter with lightning.  That is a day I will remember for a long time.

And then Cape Lookout on the fifth day.  My biggest mistake in planning was not building an extra day into the trip just to hang around Cape Lookout Bight.  I can't wait to get back there.

We took the back road to Beaufort on the sixth day, Paul and Dawn leading the way with some great sailing.  That trip, finished by 11:00 a.m., was fast and furious.

Day seven ended with ice cold beers on Beard Creek.  A heat wave, long day on the water and a dinner of anchovies, cheese, crackers, fruit and a six pack of Carib -  does it get any better than that???

And then a nice run to Beaufort on a cool, comfortable morning.

The trip was just a year ago, but seems like it was too many years ago.  I'm glad for all the photographs we took, I'm glad for this log where I can look back and remember the trip as if it were yesterday.

To steal a thought from writer Louis L'Amour in his book "Off the Mangrove Coast", these are things that can't be bought, things that get in the blood, things that build the memories of tomorrow and give us the hours to look back upon.  I'm very glad for these memories.

steve