Back in the Saddle … Monday 18th June 2018

Back in the Saddle … Monday 18^th June 2018

“Would the person who is walking round with their pants round their ankles please return to security to collect their belt” … I so wish that this had been the real announcement, it might have livened up our time at the airport. With meticulous planning we drove to Providence airport on Saturday afternoon and picked up a rental car so that we could return on Sunday morning in time for our 6.30am flight without getting friends or family out of bed at some ungodly hour. We had a lovely evening at Rod and Sue’s, managed several hours of sleep and made it back to the airport in perfect time. Our flight to Washington had just announced that group 6, our group, could board, when they changed their minds, brought everything to a halt and disembarked those passengers that had already boarded. Apparently the flight lacked the appropriate paperwork to leave and the central computer system was totally screwed up, as it had been for the previous five days, leading to hundreds of AA flights being cancelled. Yes, let’s name and shame them … American Airlines, Awful Airlines, Amazingly Archaic, Absolute Assholes … In fairness the lady at the desk was quite helpful and quickly re-scheduled our flights and gave us a coupon so we could catch a taxi to Boston and re-start from there! The rest of the trip back went smoothly enough and we got into Wilmington around 3pm following a connection at La Guardia.

Our time away was a mixed success. Mike had a great time in the UK visiting family and friends (thanks everyone!), whereas Gloria’s aspirations of a relaxing week at home fell somewhat short. The long hot showers never materialized when our hot water tank failed to start and couldn’t be fixed quickly. In fact the repairs have still not been completed. The convenience of having a car again was tempered by being pulled over by the police for an out-of-date vehicle registration. Apparently, the renewal forms are one of several mail items that the post office won’t forward. In the face of this adversity Gloria did what any self-respecting American would do – she went hunting. Using her refined knowledge of animal spoor and keen tracking skills she was able to determine that a bunch of mice had moved into our garage with occasional forays into the house itself. With fanatical determination and little concern for her own safety she set about laying traps and by the end of the week had caught four of these ferocious beasts. Reluctantly, this campaign must be put on hold until we return in July, but the break will give Gloria time to order a fully automatic assault weapon from Amazon so that she can exercise her 2^nd amendment rights and hunt down these daring infiltrators more effectively.

Anyway, we are now back on-board Cotinga. Whilst away she was hauled out of the water and the bottom cleaned and re-painted with anti-fouling so she should be pretty slick through the water for our final section of this journey. We plan to leave tomorrow morning and request a 10 am opening of the Isabella Holmes bascule bridge so that we can make our way back down the Cape Fear river and over to the Masonboro inlet. From there we aim to go off-shore to Beaufort, NC then through the intra-coastal waterway to Norfolk, VA, thereby avoiding having to go round the infamous Cape Hatteras.

Before I finish, I want to recount a funny story the service manager at the boatyard told me this morning. “Bob” (not his real name) described his wife as “an insanely jealous woman” and when she saw the name Isabella Holmes in his phone contacts she feared the worst and decided to call the number. At that time the Isabella Holmes Bridge had a female operator and when his wife got through she was met with a lady's voice announcing herself as Isabella Holmes, at which point she would hang up in horror. This went on for months until she finally challenged “Bob” and he was able to reassure her that the number was in fact that of the Isabella Holmes Bridge operator!

The Cape Fear river has some major shipping. This is the container port south of Wilmington

This afternoon an enormous tanker (maybe 800ft) with two tugs came through the Isabella Holmes bridge (photo taken from Cotinga at dock)

The tanker continued past the railway bridge and then docked  (photo taken from Cotinga at dock)