Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. This is a very different holiday for Dave and me. The family is far away and I miss them as I do everyday. I can picture everyone preparing for the feast, baking, cooking, cleaning, but this year we won't be a part of it. We have every reason to give thanks and we do everyday. I am thankful for my family and their understanding our wanting to go away for the winter. I am thankful for our health and the health of our loved ones. I am thankful for my husband, his uniqueness, his love of boats and his support of me. I think I'm the one who talked him into leaving our home and hitting the waterways. If I'd said, "No way" we never would have left. So this Thanksgiving I am cooking shrimp and fluke along with veggies from my garden: squash, tomatoes and potatoes. My oven is too small to roast a turkey and since we wanted to do something different this year, why not go all the way. I bought local fresh shrimp yesterday and my oh my aren't they just wonderful. We've had them a number of times since we landed in Oriental. One of the local fishermen gave us a pound right from his boat and we've eaten them at local restaurants. I had coconut shrimp the other night, wow was that something. I've got to find the receipt. As you may have guessed we are still in Oriental, NC. We've studied the charts and it seems because our boat draws 7 feet we may not be able to get through the ICW without going aground. That may not seem like a big deal to some but it can be an awful experience for a 50 ton vessel like ours. And even if we stay in the channel and never touch bottom while in the Inter-Coastal Waterway, there are almost no places to anchor where the water is deep enough for us. That means we'd be looking for marinas all along the way and that can get very expensive. For us to tie up it costs about $100 / night. That would drastically cut our winter budget. It has been explained to us that the Army Corp of Engineers was responsible for the ICW, dug most of it, and maintained it up until a few years ago when federal budget cuts put the control into the hands of individual states. NC mostly keeps up with dredging because many parts of it are used commercially. But in places where commercial use is non-existent such as portions of South Carolina and Georgia there is little or no dredging. The waterway fills in and is left to currents, winds and tides. Vessels with less than 6 feet are said to pass without difficulty. And so the conundrum: stay here where we are safe warm and dry or risk no anchoring areas for us and the eventuality of going aground.  Whatever we decide will be ok with me. I'm back writing, love the town and have almost everything I need. Just need a grandkids fix.
Still I'm thankful, I guess I'd have to say I'm thankful for life itself and all the goodness it contains.
If you have the time check out towndock.net there is a great shot of the Richard & Arnold