Tom and Cathy

The Provision Company, Southport NC
No LL

Well, it was another great day. Our plan was to stop in Carolina Beach to visit our friends Tom and Cathy. However, when we got there, we found that the state park marina has only 4.5 feet of water at low tide; not enough. We went back to see about anchoring in the Carolina Beach basin. But the houses surround the basin with such density that there would be no place to go ashore with the dinghy. Finally, we were forced to abandon that plan and to motor across the Cape Fear River to Southport. When we got here, one of the free docks at the Provision Company was open, so we took it.

Fortunately, Tom and Cathy were not daunted by the change in plan. They took the ferry across the river to meet us here. We had great fun, the four of us catching up on news from back home. Tom and Cathy are from Scotia where we used to live. We have many mutual friends. After getting the captains's tour of Tarwathie, they drove us to beautiful downtown Southport where Libby and Cathy did a bit of Christmas shopping. Then, best part of all, they treated us to dinner at the Provision Company.

Always before, when we visited Southport, the fabled Provision Company was always closed for the winter. This time we're earlier and they are still open. They lived up to their reputation; the food was delicious, and the atmosphere and the view were great.

Thank you Cathy and Tom for a great day. Please do fly down to meet us someplace in the Caribbean and we'll go sailing.

By the way, our decision to do an overnight sail from Beaufort to Wrightsville Beach was a good one. We had good and gentle winds and gentle waves the whole night. As the wind speed varied, we did as little as 3 knots and as many as 7 knots on a close reach. It was very enjoyable sailing. At the end, I even had to do something I rarely do. I loosened the sheets to spill wind from the sails to slow us down so that we didn't arrive at Masonboro Inlet before dawn. I would never attempt to enter a strange inlet in the dark. We did 70 miles in 12 hours, not bad.