Sep 23 - in the boat

Boating was the major activity of the day and it was an interesting day.

First off there were dolphins everywhere it seemed. As we left the inlet from the launching ramp to come into the main channel a dolphin, obviously happy with life, jumped right out of the water -- straight up 3 feet. It was like being a Sea World, but this dolphin was free ... and happy.

The wind was from the northeast and strong -- the waves were crashing over the north-side breakwater and this was at low tide ! We couldn't go very far because the waves were so huge. Over at "disappearing island" the water was high -- as if it was high tide. What's happening is that the wind is pushing the water to create very high tides so that even the low tide is high.

There were only three vehicles and trailers parked at the boat launch and the ICW showed a similar dearth of traffic. The wind, the forecast for scattered thundershowers and the fact that it was mid-week combined to keep boaters off the water, but not us !

We let Abby play on the island for a long time and she raced around chasing the minnows showing the same exuberance displayed by the dolphin. We went to Inlet Harbor for lunch again and our timing was perfect. Before we were served there was a downpour, but we were under the hard roof, having seen it coming, vs under the umbrellas. They mixed up our order and Sandy was completely finished her seared tuna wrap before my blackened grouper sandwich even arrived. No matter, we were not in a hurry and we needed to wait out the rain anyway and it was interesting to see what was happening with the tide.

We got to Inlet Harbor at slack tide -- low tide with absolutely no water movement. The ramp that normally slopes down from the fixed dock to the floating dock was level -- that's as high as I've ever seen it. As we ate (or waited as the case may be) the tide started coming in and soon was at high current. The ramp started rising to the floating dock and the water was hitting the bottoms of the 2x8's that support the dock extension where people sit and fish.

Based on the tide charts that I'd looked at in the morning, the difference between low and high tides was predicted to be a little over 3 feet. By the time that we left it had risen less than a foot -- another 2 feet would leave about a foot of water on that dock. That would have been interesting to see but we were not hanging around.

We went to disappearing island and yes, it was gone. The grassy areas had grass sticking out of the water and the front edge of the island where the sand is high had 4" of water and quite a current. We pulled in and let Abby out -- there was no way of fixing the anchor safely so I just held the boat while Abby ran around a little in the water, and then we got in the boat and left. Areas where it was normally 2 feet deep showed 8 feet on the depth finder -- and the tide was a long way from high !

On the way back we headed for the open ocean, since, as usual, I wanted to see what it was like. Well, with the tide on the rise the water was just flowing over the breakwater, crashing of course because it was shallow -- but at high tide you wouldn't be able to see the rocks ! Foam everywhere, huge surge -- we didn't go very far. We made it back in the sunlight, stopping several times to watch dolphins feeding, arriving back home after 3pm. While I cleaned the boat Sandy went to the fish store. After she got home she bathed Abby.

We had two types of tuna for dinner -- the usual yellowfin was excellent; the Hawaiian tuna was terrible. I don't know whether it is normally a stronger fish or whether it was just not fresh ... but most of it went down the food disposal. We had a full meal of the usual and she had bought a small piece of the other so that we could try it.

That was it ... another day done.

Today it's even more windy than yesterday and still from the northeast. I want to walk over to the ocean and see the waves which must really be something. I should go biking but it would be a struggle in 20+ mph winds. We got a lot of rain overnight, finally. I guess that it must be time to leave.

Speaking of leaving, our plans are now set for the trip back -- early Friday from here to Lexington VA, visit with Linda Wilder, on to Philly on Saturday and visit with Jeffrey, back up north on Sunday. I've exchanged emails with Frank Tetz and we'll go down there either Oct. 1-3 or 7-9. We'll finalize that today, likely, so that we're not keeping him on the hook.

That's it for now ...