Day 210 - Desiree

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $75, this marina does not accept the manufacturers length designation. They want to add on the bow pulpit and swim platform. Simple math for the dockhand - no tip. Daily high temperature 76°fOn our way up the ICW CL managed to bump a sandbar and suck a cubic yard of sand into the raw water intake strainers. We knew this because the temperature alarm went off on the starboard engine. A few hours were spent in the bilge cleaning them up. The sediment in the strainers had several levels of sediment and the sand just topped it off. We need to inspect the strainers more often.  There are two types of Loopers. Those that have bumped and those that will bump.  We made it 209 days without a bump.  No damage just sand in the raw water strainers.We arrived at the South Harbour Village Marina in Southport, NC around 4:00 pm.The Dead End Saloon on Fish Factory Road in Southport, NC is the place to be on a Wednesday night. $6.00 hamburgers brings in the customers from miles around. One of the cooking choices is Old Bay. Dale asked what is Old Bay. Our waitress Desiree advised she was part Creole and she liked the Old Bay spices that were low country spicy. The dining room was packed and very noisy. Dale ordered his hamburger with Old Bay and so did I. When Desiree brought the burgers mine was Old Bay and Dale's was not. Dale, gracious to a fault as always, asked for a serving of Old Bay spices he could add to his burger. She brought enough Old Bay spice to serve a small village. We chatted up Desire and she mentioned she speaks five languages including Arabic. She had deployed to Afghanistan with Special Forces for two years.On Thursday our Looper harbor host Robert picked us up and took us food shopping at WalMart. I have not seen Walmartians in a few months. It was a spiritual experience.We are on a face dock on the ICW. Not all boats respect the "No Wake" signs for the marina. There have been a few occasions when CL was not quite doing no wake going past a marina. The radio chatter goes like this. "Changing Latitudes slow down, this is a no wake zone, you are responsible for the damage caused by your wake. Slow down, slow down. thanks for nothing. You jerk!" I guess this is called payback.On Friday we have a short 25 mile cruise to Wrightsville, NC. We will stay one night and move on. Our plan is to be in Norfolk, VA for the Looper Rendezvous around April 30. We will cruise on the Dismal Swamp canal instead of the ICW because it sounds way cool.It's Captain Jack's Thursday poetry contribution.Closer and CloserAt any rateit's getting latewe're closer and closerto the Bear's launching datethere's an engine to runand some painting funand lots of other chores to get doneit's now warm and wetand you can betanother dry spellwould be welcome as hell.Cap'n Jack4-21-16Bonus photoCarl (Chef) Wooden - quote of the day."I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't make it to heaven. Well heck, I don't care where it goes, as long as it ain't here (Vietnam)."Chef - a quote from Chef - Appocolypse Now.Frederic Fenimore Forrest, Jr. (born December 23, 1936) is a retired American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Huston Dyer in the 1979 musical drama The Rose. However, he is more known today for portraying Chef in the epic war film Apocalypse Now released the same year.