A Great Day After a Good Week

April 1-8, 2024

Sometimes everything comes together: our friend Robert was in Beaufort during the solar eclipse – and we had perfect weather AND I had the day off.

Robert travels the country by road- we last saw him in St. Augustine about 16 months ago. You can check out his cool adventures at https://robertthenomad.com/.

Of course we went to Cypress Wetlands to check out all the birds but the highlight was the eclipse, even though we only had about 75% coverage.

We found a good spot on Little Hunting Island to watch the action.

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The birds in Cypress Wetlands have been really active. There’s lots of mating plumage on display – it’s avian spring break.

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Birds are everywhere, grabbing sticks for their nests and hunting for food.

My most fortuitous sighting was of very young gallinules. These chicks were super-tiny. They’re not the most gorgeous things, but I still think they’re cute. Gallinules are really distinctive birds with big yellow feet and a bright red beak.

Spring here also means that prevailing winds are shifting from blowing from the north to blowing from the south. Our marina slip is exposed to the south wind and waves (although the bridge helps break it up). We turned Lailia yesterday so that her bow is facing the south. This should reduce wave slap on our stern (we sleep right over the stern) and allow easier access to our dinghy davits which were bent by the large waves in the last big storm.

The davit repair will be a big job – just removing the davit will take time. It’s through-bolted, and as always with boat jobs, access will require all kinds of contortions.