Velcro

A lady at the coffee shop told me this morning that this town has a 'velcro effect' on boaters. It's all about the people we meet, the stories they tell, and the help they offer. I'm sitting in the wheelhouse looking across a  harbor that is smaller than between Fishermen's wharf and MacMillan wharf. Boats come and go on a daily basis, yachts, sail, and fishing boats tie to the town dock or the commercial pier or the private marina, here it's boats, boats, boats. It's a stopping off point for those heading south in winter and north in spring and I can see why. Its safe and friendly. Dave is in his element. He goes to the local coffee shop every morning and talks with everyone who comes in, locals, fishermen, and those just passing through. This is the first vacation he's had in over twenty years. We took the Richard & Arnold to Stonington ME back in 1980 visiting Peter and Pat Morris and stayed a week. Now we've already been away for three weeks and we're so relaxed its hard to stay awake. We have spent the past 5 nights tied to Sherrill & Phyllis Styron's commercial fishing dock alongside the offloading facility. We watched a boat unload a catch of jumbo shrimp this morning, I hope to buy some this afternoon and stuff my freezer full.  Mr. Styron is away but his son's have told us its ok to spend time tied to the wharf at no charge. Many people have stopped by the boat to let us know that she's not only good looking but looks like she can work as well. To the local fishermen the boat is a bit of an oddity: small with the lines of a schooner, with the wheelhouse in the stern. The shrimp boats have a classic look with the wheelhouse up front, big and beamy. They are beautiful, practical and sea worthy, but there are stories of loss here just as in most harbors. Five years ago a shrimp boat named Miss Mary was lost with all hands. The town of Oriental has a population of 900 and yet thousands of boats stop here each year.  Well the day is flying and I've not done a thing so I guess I'll get up and make some lunch then I can go back to do nothing again for awhile. We are planning to leave, I just don't know when. It must be the velcro effect.