Ocracoke Ferry.....Thanksgiving Week

Bridget caught this shot right before the ferry left for another run.....

Fidelis/Ocracoke/Thanksgiving Week

Recent Adventures In Washington

We recently visited Washington, NC on our Thanksgiving week vacation....
this is Fidelis tucked in on the waterfront, which was much more pleasant than I had ever imagined.....
really well layed out, nice bathhouse, and if you like brickwork, this is a great place to find it....

Christmas Day

Fireplace Yule Log Video @ Yahoo! Video

So, all the presents are unwrapped, all the paper has been taken to the trash cans..... and Budge is extracting the family turkey from the brine it's been sitting in for the last 3 days.... soon to be in the oven, filling the boat with yummy smells, and providing an extra amount of warmth! Can't wait. Thanks to our family and friends for all the wonderful surprises..... the boys are completely thrilled!
Here's our fireplace for the day, while we listen to our Christmas music...HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS!

Another View of Our Tree

Our Christmas Tree

 

Deep Breath

So, pictures have been saved, Facebook is now closed, and a bit of a sigh of relief... It was honestly starting to feel a bit strange.... glad to be free of it. So we've got all these pictures now.... some of which haven't been posted to our blog.... soooooo, I'm sure we'll be figuring out what to do with what, soon.... for now, let's not forget Peter and Gail (as well as Perry and Susan) should be getting closer to the keys.... Last we heard they were in Vero (Velcro) Beach, looking for some warmer weather.

Merry Christmas everyone....it's only a week away (almost!)

Old Bell @ The Old Church

From the oldest church in North Carolina.....Bath, North Carolina
Thanksgiving week

 

This is one of the bricks in the oldest church in North Carolina, which we visited while on Thanksgiving vacation, in Bath....

a lot of the inscriptions were so old, they were nearly unreadable....

Recent Activities

Just "recently" went out on Facebook and let everyone know that I'm going to shut down our Facebook account.... it's funny because I just recently had a conversation out here on the dock with big John about Facebook and the security settings, and not long after that they went and made a few new changes that sent me over the edge.... my wife had deleted her account just a week before, so that may have been a little incentive as well.....
Anyway, I said all that to say this.....we're probably going to be redirecting our attention back to our blog, just to "keep everyone in touch" with our whatnots and happenings. Hopefully we'll have a few new friends checking the blog out from time to time....

This blog needs an update anyway!

Another Sunrise

So over the years we've posted many sunrises.....as I was walking to the bathhouse this morning, on the way there I found myself saying I should head back to the boat and grab the camera, before it's gone............so I did....

Sad News About My Favorite Trawler

This morning I was checking emails, with my daily cup of coffee and ran across this message, which shed light on something that I did not know about, and was sad to hear....

Here's the email....

Subject: Thanks for the pictures of my dad's boat "Miss Melodie"
Date: 13th September, 2010


Hey, I really appreciate the pictures you've taken of the "Miss Melodie." The boat was owned by my dad, Steve Raynor, and named after my mom. Just recently the boat caught on fire, on the way to Pamlico Sound and was a total loss. Dad and his crew made it off the boat safely. We don't have many pictures of the boat before the fire and I know your pictures will make him happy. If you do have any more pictures of the boat could you post them please. Again, thank you so much for posting those pictures, and for you kind comments about the boat.
Heres a link to the story of the boat fire:

click here for the story

Casey Raynor


Anyway, this trawler was indeed my favorite of all I've photographed... and I had made note of that in several of the sites that I had posted it on.... Casey ran across it on flickr.com....

The story also has pictures of the boat fire...

Here's to Miss Melodie, it's crew, and the Raynor Family.... She was a beauty!

Set Them Free

The boys found a baby sea turtle @ Cape Lookout last time we were there..... let the little guy go shortly afterwards.... They almost look like little wind up bath toys......

Cleaning The Hull / Caught a Sea Turtle

We beached the boat at Cape Lookout (had a long weekend so we sailed out and spent the weekend watching the Hurricane on VHF and having a blast). The boys caught a baby sea turtle, and shortly thereafter set it free..... Here's some pictures.....

Dragon Boat Race Debut

This past weekend was the 1st ever Dragon Boat races in Oriental....what an intense row that was....

I was on Teach's Crew, we had a parade, and the boys dressed like pirates with their friends Blake and Bailey and were in the parade too....it was an intense competition. Our boat didn't place well, (Deaton Boatyard won the competition) but it was a blast.... here's some pictures of the practice the day before the big race..... towndock.net will show more pictures of the event in a day or two....

Budge Makes A Cockpit Mat

This is a Napoleon Knot....the latest addition to the cockpit floor near the companionway.....I tried to do this last night, and on four different tries, I couldn't "wrap my head around it".

Beaufort Weekend

We went to Beaufort and hung out for the weekend. Were able to anchor really close to the bank of Carrot Island where the wild horses are.....here's a picture....

Went Out w/ Perry on his Catamaran....

Had a blast....check out this short video....

Charter Fishing And The Big One!

My friend Russ invited me out on a charter fishing trip (inshore)....We left Wednesday morning and headed out for a fabulous day catching many Speckled Trout and Drum ( and a few Croaker)....great fun....fish were delicious.....

Crewed To Ocracoke on a new Catalina

Weekend Journey With Friends

Left for Cape Lookout from Oriental on Friday Morning, with Peter and Gail, Harry and Melanie, and Joe and Cherie. Finally had some beautiful weather, lots of fishing, snorkeling, swimming, and fun had by all. Sailed most of the way back. Looking forward to doing another trip with our friends soon!

South River Beach

Weather has been full of fronts packed with threats of thunderstorms, cold evenings (a few down in the 40's) and high winds. We decided to head across to South River, where we anchored off of a quiet beach. We enjoyed some swimming, cool breezes, grilled some hamburgers, and watched a beautiful sunset. Fell asleep in a pile of sails on the deck under the stars. Fantastic sail over there....

Max decided to do some acrobatics in the riggin.....once we got anchored.

Life is Good!

Aurora Fossil Museum

Max, Noah, and I decided to take a trip to the fossil museum this week. Together we found close to a hundred shark teeth digging in the pits...here are some shots of the boys goofin' around in the museum...as you can see we had a lot of fun!

Spring Has Sprung

Well, after a "colder than usual" winter, we are intensely cleaning the boat, and getting into areas that haven't seen a bottle of bleach in a while. Removed our Loran C system (it was taking up valuable space on the Nav Station)....rebuilt our head, repaired our macerator, installed our cockpit table, and did a whole bunch of little things to the boat that are too numerous to mention. Bridget made a canvas compass cover for the Binnacle, and has gotten rid of a number of things that have been on the boat without much use.....they say "if you don't use it in 6 months...get rid of it" and that's seeming to apply to this quite a bit. We've kept some wonderful company with friends that live here at the marina, and have had a lot of fun with the boys. We took them to see Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island, and Jockey's Ridge.
Anyway, we're coming out of hibernation now, working on getting the boat into shape.

Will post some photos soon...

Snow in Oriental!!!

Highway 264

You can't even see the people walking on the dune behind the boys, it's a lot bigger than it looks!

One of the longest stretches of marshland I've ever driven....a few really cool little stops along the way, including Englehard....where I had to snap this one...

After driving all day to Roanoke Island, saw the aquarium there, the Lost Colony and Fort Raleigh, and Jockey's Ridge....

My Budge

Budge's Birthday coming up this weekend!!! Liked this picture (taken by Max)