Jump to content

2016 B and B Meaasabout Mini-cruise


Recommended Posts

                                               2016 B and B Meaasabout Mini-cruise

 

At around 1:30 Sunday afternoon, Summer breeze and I decided we’d like to go for a little cruise just by ourselves. We haven’t had a chance to be alone together much since she was conceived. So where should we go? Miss Debbie is expecting us home Tuesday afternoon, so it would have to be a short one. We could head down to the Neuse River and maybe go across to Cedar Island, or just follow the northern side of the River towards Oriental. I didn’t have a chart or GPS and didn’t know how far Cedar island was from us. Or how about going North from the Bay River Towards the Pamlico River. Summer had no opinion on the matter, so I decided on the northern route.

 

We headed out of the creek where the messabout was held, and proceeded toward the mouth of the Bay River. I tried setting the sails “all wung out”, but the light breeze kept switching direction on us, and the main kept swinging across to join the mizzen. I’m kinda stubborn and just pushed the main back. Then I switched  both sails  to opposite sides from where they were. After messing around like this for awhile, Summer exclaimed “Now, cut that out”, so I just let the sails swing where they wanted to.

 

Eventually we reached the mouth of the river and things settled down to a broad reach. We sailed along at about 4 or 5 knots following the shore line of the low sand banks extending out from the river. My goal was to poke into a little bay, Jones Bay, before heading on around to the Pamlico River. Oh, by-the-way, don’t get the Pamlico river confused with the Pamlico Sound. The sound at this point is way wider that we could see across. Ocracoke is pretty much across from the bay River.

 

Because of the light breeze, and all of the fooling around with the sails, it was beginning to get too late to go back out of the bay to head for the Pamlico. We found a little cove in sight of the Hobuckin bridge that crosses the Intracoastal waterway. I dropped the anchor far enough off of the banks to be out of range of the skeeters. Hey, speaking of skeeters and Ocracoke, did ya know that some of the biggest skeeters anywhere on the outer banks live across the inlet from Ocracoke in Portsmouth village? I was over there a few years ago in Princess, my princess 22 sharpie, anchored near the shore, when I saw these two skeeters coming down the beach carrying a big daddy coon (raccoon to you Yankee folks) between them. One turned to the other and said “Let’s hurry and get him home before the big boys come and take him away from us.” I was told once by an old time resident of one of the old fishing villages on the banks, that the kids were given the job of collecting dried “cow pies” and stacking them on the windward side of the village. At night, they were set afire and the smoke would keep the skeeters away.

 

Well, back to the story. When we were settled down for the night, I heated up some water for my Ramon noodles. (Bet y’all didn’t know that I’m a gourmet cook, did ya!) That along with a can of grape soda to drink, and a Little Debbie cakefor desert, constituted dinner. Well, actually, supper. Dinner is eaten late afternoon, and supper in the evening. We watched a beautiful Sunset across the sand banks as we ate. No, Breeze didn’t eat. Only I ate. I don’t know what boats do for food. Then it was off to listen to Glenn Miller on my cassette player, and read a bit from Flotsam and Jetsam by Robb White. Who’s Glenn Miller? If you have to ask, you’re too young to appreciate his music anyway.

 

During the evening, the breeze had totally died away. It was pretty cool listening to all the sounds of the seaside. Speaking of cool, it WAS getting a bit cool out. We heard fish jumpin’, birds callin’, and bugs buzzin’. When we finally went to sleep, a light breeze had sprung up. I woke up several times during the night, and each time it was breezier, then windier, then, by the time I finally got up around 7:30, it was really a-blowin’! Summer piped up and said, “Isn’t my name Summer BREEZE? Not FALL GALE? And aren’t you a fair-weather sailor? And isn’t this our first real time out together? I don’t think I like this a-blowin’ business!” I admit, I had to agree with her. I had a couple of cheese crackers for breakfast, then I double reefed the sails, stuffed everything in a safe place, and then weighed anchor amidst some amount of fear, trembling,  and trepidation. It was off to face the elements.

About the time we got a good start back toward port, the wind began to settle down. Before long, I had to shake out a reef, and then, before much longer, the second reef. No, wait. you shake out the second reef first, and then the first reef second. Now I AM confused. Anyway, you get the idea. We rounded the tip of the sand banks and headed back. It was a perfect day for a sail. The breeze had settled in to a comfortable range, and we took a series of long tacks, each one carrying us along first one side of the Bay river, then the other. On the way out, we were pretty much in the center of the river, and didn’t see much of what’s on shore. On the way back, we saw many interesting houses and things.

 

As we passed the Goose Creek Canal entrance, there was a long line of sailboats coming out and heading towards the sound. There were all kinds and sizes, along with a couple of power cruisers and a shrimper. Most of the sailboats were motoring, or only had there genoas raised. All of these boats came out a a group. We wondered why, but couldn’t come up with a reason there would be so many different kinds and sizes traveling together on a Monday morning. Finally we reached the exit from the canal through Gale Creek. As we had been approached, we were mystified at a large, block-shaped building on the southern point of land, right at the entrance. Was it a packing plant? Government building? Submarine pens? (The last was summer’s suggestion. Silly girl.) Turned out that it was a large house under construction! What a view of the waterway.

 

As we sailed along, on up the river, we marveled at the many different sizes and types of homes. Everything from mobile homes on stilts, to large polygonal houses, also on stilts or enclosed parking areas. These are all designed to allow the free flow of high storm waters during the gales and hurricanes that pass this way every now and then. There were a few older homes still at ground level. I’d hate to clean up the mess each time my hme got flooded. My parents used to have a little vacation home at Snug harbor, just off of Tampa Bay in Florida, that was flooded once. Had to replace carpets, appliances, and some furniture. They were concerned about mold in the walls and the electrical wiring, but no problems ever seemed to arise. We poked into the harbor at Vandemere to get a picture, and also passed close to the River's Edge family campground, where several of the messabouters stay each year, for the same reason.

 

Along the way, we saw several duck hunters blinds either on shore, or on stilts, just off shore. They were pretty dilapidated now, but during duck season, their owners will have tree branches, camouflage netting, and such to hide them from the ducks. The hunters will set out decoys to attract Donald Duck and his friends to land ther, or at least to fly close enough be checking-it-out to allow a few shots. I was reminded of the old days in the 19th. and early 20th century, when hunters would use punt guns to kill hundreds of geese or ducks in a single shot. These monster guns were up to twelve feet long, and could weigh two hundred pounds. They were usually carried on a skiff, or “punt”, that was rowed or towed to where large flocks of birds were congregating. They were not held against the shoulder, but were braced in the boat, which was sixteen to eighteen feet long. The boat was “aimed” rather than the gun. The dead birds were then taken to market, and sold for sometimes $3.50 a pair, according to one account I read. These guns were outlawed in 1918, but many families kept theirs hidden in old stumps or chimneys, and brought them out in the dark of night to carry on as they always had. The guns were named with a specific name-Bundick, Snead, Cheseldine, Dutch Mike, etc.-generally the name of the family who originally built and owned the gun. 

 

Finally we arrived back at the dock, and so ends the first official cruise of the good little ship, Summer breeze. Summer and I hope you’ve enjoyed this short account of our adventure. We’re looking forward to your joining us next time.

post-1823-0-49000500-1477744506_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-24116700-1477744512_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-17977500-1477744515_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-43392500-1477744518_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-56232400-1477744521_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-76993200-1477744524_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-07811800-1477744528_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-22953600-1477744531_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-30941800-1477744534_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-30776200-1477744537_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-98254000-1477744575_thumb.jpg

post-1823-0-40340800-1477744579_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Thanks Robert. Getting Summer to hold still long enough to take decent pictures was a challenge. Had to void quite a few out. In a steady breeze, she would settle down and steer herself, but with the wind swirling around as it came off the land, she wanted to just go every which way.

 

Get busy and write that adventure up!!! Dang it! It's getting mighty lonely on this page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hey, Tiger, you said: "Dang, this reminds me I still need to write up the punt launch adventure." So hows about it, really want to hear about your punt launch. Other adventures too. It's Winter here in the mountains. Too cold to be out on the water. Gotta have some stories to warm up with! How 'bout you other guys, too. Surely y'all have something ya can write about!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chick,

Boy I been working on it. Me and my buddy even got together to compare notes and all. I'm really working on it. See, it is sort of convoluted, and we have to word it carefully, so as to avoid both blame, and outright lying. :)

Meantime, I have done a really stupid thing.

Good stupid, not bad stupid.

I will post a picture tomorrow of the dumb thing I did, and then I'll get back to typing.

Peace,

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uh-oh. Looks like Mr. Bolger's Sneakeasy. Whatarya up to now/ ANOTHER project? take some time off and WRITE about your adventures! By-the-way. I've started a little ditty about my boat racing years. The first installment coming to a forum near you real soon. I hope. If I can remember that far back. Heck, if not, I'll just make something up---you guys will never know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. This is my wife's new boat. We rescued it from certain death. It needs a little work, but nothing big.

Lots of logistics involved in retrieving it is all. And, I've been really busy with actual money making work, too, which is always a double edged sword.

The Sneakeasy is going into a slot in the garage to wait until spring. I just may drag it out to Appalachia to hang out with some old boys I know out there, though...:)

And, I promise you I will get this story up. It is a long one, though. I can also put up,some adventure stories about the kids in the boats. I'll do some work on them.

I really am slacking, sorry. :)

Peace,

Robert

Yep. This is my wife's new boat. We rescued it from certain death. It needs a little work, but nothing big.

Lots of logistics involved in retrieving it is all. And, I've been really busy with actual money making work, too, which is always a double edged sword.

The Sneakeasy is going into a slot in the garage to wait until spring. I just may drag it out to Appalachia to hang out with some old boys I know out there, though...:)

And, I promise you I will get this story up. It is a long one, though. I can also put up,some adventure stories about the kids in the boats. I'll due some work on them.

I really am slacking, sorry. :)

Peace,

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.