Manteo Photos

Manteo Waterfront Marina
There are shops on the first floor and condos above.

Manteo's town deck

The white building is the office of a seasonal marina. There are condos behind it.

The playhouse at Sir Raleigh's State Park.

Manteo sunset

We ate at Magnolia's

One of Manteos three blocks by 2 block downtown area.

Before technological advancements, weather flags were hung to let sailors know the current forecast. Although the flag signals are no longer needed it is the duty of the harbour master to fly the weather flag.

The white flag was flown during our visit which leads me to believe the duty is often shirked.

View from the lighthouse deck

Freedom at Manteo Waterfront Marina

Freedom at the dock

Outer Banks (OBX) Nags Head

Nags head

Kitty Hawk's cold water

Kitty Hawk Pier - Only hotel guests were allowed on their crappy pier!

So we took pictures from afar

Memorial to Elizabeth Dare

FORT Raleigh is a dirt mound!

We didn't find the lost colony but we located the garden club's replication of a Victorian Garden

Time to go back to the boat and find out what Tut's been doing.

NC Photos

Awesome NC sunset

Neuse River

Sun almost setting

Another American Tug 'Winter Hawk'

Le Jeume training area

Dunes at Le Jeume

Big red barges

One of 100 marinas on the NC coast that the Captain took pictures of
.

Lime green house - -The owners must be from the Florida keys.

Wrightsville Beach - Check out how these people staked a claim to this spot at low tide. There is a fake palm tree , Tiki hut umbrella and a parking meter. They probably need the meter to remind them to get off the sand bar before high tide. Salt water can really ruin a beer.

Oyster shells and terns or gulls

Pink house with dolphins painted on it.

I liked this house so much I took 4 photos of it.

Manteo History

We stayed in two SC anchorages before arriving in Oriental NC (Calabash Creek and Mile hammock Bay). Then we made our way to Manteo, on Roanoke Island by way of Pungo River and South Lake.

Manteo was the site of the first English colony which “mysteriously disappeared “. The town was named after the Indian Chief who befriended the settlers over 400 years ago. The mysterious disappearance intrigued me so we set out to investigate the colony which lasted three years (1584-1587).

The history goes something like this:

Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) commissioned Sir Walter Raleigh to plan colonies in the New World. Sir Walter never came to North America in fact he was executed (1618) for allegedly plotting to dethrone James I.

1584-Captains Amadas and Barlow return from a new world expedition where they discovered that Roanoke Island has good soil and scenery.

1585-Sir Richard Greenville, Sir Walter’s cousin, sailed with 500 men, 108 were colonist, to Roanoke Island. The colonist left England in the spring of 1585. This is a documented fact. So, why do the pamphlets date The Lost Colony from 1584-1587?

The colonists were dependent on the Roanoke Indians. At some point they began stealing their food. In addition, the settlers brought smallpox and measles over from England which began killing the Indians.

1586 -The colonist who survived (some surely died from the disease), realized they needed to move.

1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh, still in favor with the Queen, planned another settlement on the lower end of the Chesapeake Bay. 110 Colonists included 17 women and 9 children sailed to Roanoke Island. The governor of this settlement was John White. John was an artist. This makes me wonder why people were so surprised when Ronald became president and when Arnold became governor.

White and his crew were unable to find the original colonists. They found that the settlement buildings were torn down. On a tree “CRO” was craved. The White party believed the message; “CRO” indicated that Croatoan, a nearby island, was the Colonists’’ destination. What if, CRO was an acronym which stood for’ crazy royal order’. I imagine the colonist were irked by their situation and angry at the Queen. I bet a lot of us have blamed ‘the person in charge’’ for something going wrong in their lives.

While on Roanoke Island, White’s daughter gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first English person to be born in the New World. A week later he was forced by lack of supplies to return to England. I’m thinking that Virginia Dare was only in Roanoke one week. I’ll have to Google information on her.

Sir Walter made several attempts before 1590-1602 to find the original colonists. An AT & T lineman we met at Fort Raleigh said if we wanted to find the Lost Colony we should look in the water.

Sometimes I think history is written around tourist attractions instead of the other way around.

More on Manteo latter, I'm needed a to assist at a lock.

Myrtle Beach, SC

Tim took picutres of us arriving at Osprey Marina

Monkey Girl is behind us.

Larry helping me with the lines

Thursday 4.29.2010 we docked at Osprey Marina, Myrtle Beach where a 3 day stay turned into 8. We purchased a dinghy and hoped the davit parts would arrived by Friday. Monday they were delivered. Thankfully our friend Tim lives 15 minutes away and was on call to drive us around.

Tim took us to Dead Dogs Saloon in Merrill’s Inlet. The food was good most notably the hush puppies which were served in place of bread. They were the best Andrew and I ever devoured.

Although grim, I enjoyed viewing the collection of dead dog photos displayed in the curio cabinets. Some humans have a deep connection to their pets. I wouldn’t know about that, LOL.

Osprey is an excellent and cat friendly marina. Tut loved it from the moment he jumped off the boat and spotted acres of grass. During our stay he agitated several dogs by refusing to give up his ground which clearly extended from C Dock to the goat farm ¼ mile away.

Yes goats! The neighboring property is a grazing area for goats. It turns out that the Captain is good at imitating a baby goat in distress. Every time we walked or biked pass the pasture he would rile the herd.

We were docked next to fate tempting boaters, Lynnette and John. John was refinishing the exterior teak and had not reinstalled the railings. This detail did not stop them from cruising over the weekend.

Lynnette and John plan to do the loop someday. They own Victoria’s Restaurant on South Third in Myrtle Beach. It’s a meat plus three (sides) southern cooking establishment. If you are in the neighborhood stop by and say hi.

The staff at Osprey is pleasant and helpful. The food at the marina is great and the portions are large. All the boaters we meet, even those with dogs, were friendly. This is a good place to be delayed.

Georgetown SC

04.28.2010 Monkey Girl and Freedom prepare to leave for Georgetown. Actually Laura and I were waiting for Bill and Andrew to dinghy back to the boats so we could leave.

Freedom and Monkey Girl docked at Georgetown's Historic seaport.
.

Andrew and I took the Georgetown tram tour. The tram was a wooden wagon with narrow built in benches. It was pulled by a jeep with the back window removed .

The tram was driven by a guide whose southern accent was intermittently thick. The jeep was equipped with a microphone and rear speakers.

Two Canadian couples were on the tour with us.

The guide, Lloyd, was fun and at least 1/2 of what he said was based in historical fact. Generally any comments he made up started with "they say".

He made all the women on the tour honorary Magnolias which allows us to give the royal wave to people we passed by.

Robert Steward house (c 1750)

Lloyd took us to see several , what a southerner would call, old houses.

The oak tree behind the houses is the oldest in the U.S.A. (c 1600's).

Rice and indigo plantation owners had houses in Georgetown which they occupied during mosquito season. The person who cooked at this residence created a famous southern appetizer. Here's how Lloyd said it happened.

The owners had many dogs and when they smelled her cooking they howled. It wasn't acceptable for the owners to eat while the dogs barked. So, the cook made food for the dogs. She throw it to them saying "hush hush". And that is how hush puppies got their name.

We didn't take a lot of pictures in Georgetown because we were too busy saving lives. You see, Lloyd liked looking directly at us while he spoke and drove.

The Rest of April 2010

04.22.2010 sun set at Skull Creek

Crab fisherman near Beaufort SC.

Buddy boat Monkey Girl anchored at Beaufort SC

Bill and Laura in the dinghy that saved the day for me.

Freedom and Monkey Girl

Tut ready for a high sea adventure.

Pull up the anchor , bring on the waves and lets go surfing!

Anchor rode hitchhiking horse shoe crab

Most photographed house in Beaufort

Same house another view

Low clearance oak tree in Beaufort SC

View from Beaufort to where we were anchored

04.23.2010 This is what happens when you touch a hot glass top stove. Don't try this at home or on your boat.

Thank you Jan R. for the nursing assistance. I love the Internet and digital cameras!
Thanks Bill P. for taking Andrew for ice and Emergency Burn Jel in your dinghy. You both made a very hot situation cooler.

Thank you Andrew for administering first aide.

Thanks Tut for understanding why I couldn't pet you with the burned hand and for changing where you sleep so I could pet you with my good hand.

In case you are wondering , we ordered a dinghy for Freedom.

Bill had an emergency of his own. The dinghy decided to go for a cruise. Within minutes Bill and Laura had their kayak off Monkey Girl's deck and into the water.

Bill showing us how to retrieve a dinghy gone wild.

Andrew taking a break after the hand emergency.

04.26.2010 Ship across the bay from Charleston City park.

Charleston Sky line

Ships

Charleston

Bridge in Charleston

04.27.2010 Alligator cruising with us to Georgetown, SC

Alligator meal