“She –Lowe’s”

“She –Lowe’s”

Friday November 13, 2020

We will get to the She-Lowe’s in a minute...

We left Carolina Beach at about 8:30 this morning.  When we entered Snow’s Cut our speed declined from 6 knots to nearly 4 knots as a result of opposing current.  In contrast, once we got out into the Cape Fear River, we had current pushing us along at speeds of 9 to 10 knots.  We also got to enjoy plenty of LARGE BOAT traffic—yikes.  We re-joined the ICW at Southport and motored along to the St. James Marina.  When we called on the radio about coming into the fuel dock, we were told that the fuel dock was occupied and we would have to ”wait” in the ICW.  This involved slowing down and then making U-turns in the waterway until we got the radio call that the fuel dock would soon be available. Our instructions were to proceed into the marina and “hang” at the end of G dock.  We no sooner got tied to G dock then we were instructed to move to the fuel dock.  Skillful driving by the captain got us off G and onto the Fuel dock.  We were able to fill with diesel and pump out simultaneously thanks to the help of Jason (a Coast Guard retiree who had worked on a buoy tender in Rockland, ME).  Then we had to move over to our slip—back to G dock.  The captain managed to back the boat into the slip beautifully.

Before we left Carolina Beach this morning, Mike remembered that our friends Jeff and Kim had bought a house in the St. James Marina complex.  (Jeff was Mike’s boss at Astra Zeneca for most of the time that we worked at the Waltham site in Massachusetts.) He e-mailed Jeff who was unfortunately away in Maine on a hunting trip, but happily Kim was at home and she very kindly came down to the dock to meet us in the afternoon. She took us to their house and gave us a tour of her studio where she does amazing stained glass art-work … fascinating! Afterward we went out to the “Frying Pan” restaurant in Southport for dinner (so called because it’s a fish restaurant and is named after the Frying Pan shoals off Cape Fear).  On the way back to the marina we stopped into a grocery store for a few items.

The grocery was called Lowe’s.  Kim informed us that locally it’s referred to as “She-Lowes” to distinguish it from the DIY place “He-Lowe’s”.  Once inside, I started to question this distinction, however.  She-Lowe’s has a beer den—a bar serving beer and wine to the husbands who can sit and drink while the little woman does the grocery shopping.  Is that a She-Lowe’s or another (and perhaps better) He-Lowe’s?  What a concept!  

Gloria

33 55.584 N, 78 07.587 W

Container ship "Faustina" in the Cape Fear River ... we stayed well clear just outside of the shipping channel

Similarly, the container ship "Andromeda" in the Cape Fear River

Dredging operations in the Cape Fear River ... silting up of these waterways is a huge issue