We're in Carolina Beach, NC, for two nights; Meeting friends for dinner

Hi all. Got up early to take a shower at Swan Point Marina, which was like being in a campground. I got locked in the shower! They door was a wooden door like a bedroom and the door knob kept spinning around and I couldn't get out. The one time I didn't take my cell phone with me! I escaped after a few minutes of turning the knob and pounding on the door. By then, it was 6:50 a.m.

We left for Carolina Beach at 7 a.m. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but a little brisk. We motorsailed for a while, but winds were 0-5 knots. With our motor at 2800 rpms, SOG was 6 knots. There was a lot of current against us.

We went through several bridges today, some only opening on the hour or half hour, so sometimes we had to wait. We tried for reservations at Wrightsville Beach, but all marinas were booked. My friend, Mike Loch, made reservations for us at Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach, formerly Oceana. It is about 10 miles south of Wrightsville and was just remodeled. Very nice.

On the way here, there was severe shoaling between markers 153 and 155, so we stayed close to the green as recommended by Skipper Bob. Boaters were talking on the radio that someone with a 6 ft. draft bumped, so we were glad to have that information.

We arrived at Joyner at 3:15 p.m., got pumped out and fuel and pulled into our dock, A7, about 3:30 p.m.

We're waiting for Mike and Joan to arrive. We have dinner reservations for 7 p.m. at a restaurant they recommend called Michael's.

Another boater told us we can walk to the beach from here and the guys have to change the oil tomorrow, so Patti and I may take the dogs to explore. Mike and Joan are leaving us a car and I want to get to visit Crescent Moon, their new business venture, and pick up a few groceries.

We're here for two nights. Our next planned stop is an anchorage, so we may not have signal. Don't worry if you don't hear from us for a few days.

We were happy to hear from Ryan today that our friend, Freddie Green, won council-at-large in Absecon, with the help of our absentee ballots. He was behind by three votes before the absentee ballots were counted and won by about 50.