Southport NC

 We entered North Carolina today - one more state under our belts… We had a pleasant 4 hour cruise up the ICW to Southport and ended up in a parade of 5 looper boats all going to end up in our marina.  As Steve called for a slip assignment since he was in front of us, we heard the marina tell him they didn’t have a reservation for him or for Orion.  Oh no no no - do not mess with me on my reservations. I had a radio conversation with the dock master that we found out later was heard by several boats informing him that we did indeed have reservations and had had them for a week and a half.  They decided they must have mistakenly left us off their board because they had another Orion coming in on Wednesday.  In the end, they were gracious and made it right by finding both boats slips and it all ended well. It is a lovely marina in the heart of town and there are no less than 10 other looper boats here tonight.

Once we got settled the four of us walked over to the restaurant district and had a cold beer and some appetizers at a place called The Frying Pan.  It was named for the famous Frying Pan shoals in the area that caused many boats to sink decades ago.

The great loop association has Harbor Hosts in many of the cities where loopers stop to assist with emergencies, answer questions or offer advice as needed.  The couple here in Southport are the nicest ones you’ll meet - Robert and Kay and they have a house a few blocks from the marina.  They did the loop several years ago and now spend there days helping new loopers and they host “porchtails” on their front porch every evening for the loopers in the Southport Marina.  There were 20 of us on Robert’s porch tonight and we met such fun people! I told Tom I’m a little sad that we are nearing the end of our loop because I would like to travel with these folks…. We stayed for a couple of hours and shared drinks and nibbles and so didn’t feel the need to make dinner. Instead, the four of us sat on our flying bridge to visit and watch the sunset.  These are the moments I’ll miss most….

Tomorrow night we anchor out so we will make sure we have filled up our water tanks in the morning.






Relief map of the frying pan shoals

Robert and Kay


Frying Pan restaurant


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