Mid-morning we drove to the other side of Wrightsville to meet the guide from Hook, Line and Paddle for our kayaking tour. Neither of us had kayak'd before and I was a little nervous just because I didn't know what to expect. It didn't help that our guide, Dan, said it was going to be a little rough going at the beginning because the wind and the current were pretty strong. Of the six participants in our tour, Dan shoved me off first. I was out in the water by myself without a clue, so I started paddling in the direction he had pointed. He said it was going to be hard so I paddled fast. I got way out in front of the others and I didn't slow down until I heard someone yell "Dolphin!" There were dolphins in the water with us! We slowed down to watch them and then Dan reminded us that we were letting the current take us back so we started paddling again.
D had the camera, so most of the pictures of me are from far away. Which is fine with me. Life preservers are not flattering on me. At all.
We entered the salt marsh and went around oyster beds that were visible only because it was low tide. Dan said they were not edible because of the water quality. We didn't need to fear falling out of the kayaks. In some places the water wasn't even a foot deep. I was amazed at that. The kayaks floated along just fine but you would hit the bottom when you went to paddle. I began to develop a blister on my left hand until I remembered what Dan told us - don't pull the paddle, push it. I had to keep repeating that to myself.
Dan found an area that was completely exposed so we beached the kayaks and got out to stretch our legs. He shows us living oysters and clams and crabs. It's amazing what's out there in the mud. D pulled out a scallop. I was game to keep it for dinner but then I remembered about the water quality. D also amazed us all when he pulled up this huge whelk. It was so beautiful. Our place might be called Shell Island but the shells are all small and broken. D finds the one gorgeous shell in the area.... and it's occupied. D said we should call the Whelk 'Larry' so we did. We put Larry back in the mud.
The tide was coming in and the water was taking the kayaks so Dan hustled everyone back in the boats. But not before distributing band-aids for those of us with blisters. I wasn't the only one!
On our way into to the harbor we passed by the Wrightsville Beach Yacht club. There was a sailing camp going on and over a dozen little sail boats were all moving in a small circle. At a pretty good clip too. It was exciting to watch the kids. Our tour was 2 hours long. My arms were shaky and I was a little tired, but not too bad. We didn't have any set plans for the rest of the day but we both agreed we had had enough sun. D reminded me that we hadn't yet seen any angels so we decided to go hunting for one. We went to the Visitor's Center and asked the ladies there if there was a Christmas shop in the area. They chatted amongst themselves for a little bit and then directed us to Southport.
We reached Fort Fischer and got in line for the ferry. We missed the first boat by a few minutes. D got up to the window to purchase our fare for the next ferry and was informed that it was cash only and we didn't have any. In order to backtrack to the ATM we had to pass the NC state aquarium. I can't pass up an aquarium! We had an hour to kill and figured we could get cash in the gift shop so we went inside. It was, by far, the fastest I have ever gone through an aquarium. It was a small place with small exhibits. Let's face it, it cannot compete with places like Sea World and Ripley's. But it did have one exhibit I have never seen before.... Jellyfish. They were so mesmerizing. And very difficult to photograph. D did a good job with this capture.
The gators looked so bored. They were in a very small enclosure.
There was a huge pond filled with turtles and only one little log to sun on.
The gift shop had pressed penny machines and wallets. Which is fortuitous because my current wallet is completely full. D bought me a new wallet and a penny to go into it. It turns out the gift shop would not give us cash for the ferry so we had to go find an ATM anyway. We arrived at the ferry in enough time but there were already enough cars to fill it. So we had to wait. Again. The third time was the charm and the Kia had a spot on the boat. Thus we crossed the Cape Fear River!
We arrived in Southport. Nobody told us it was a hippie commune. Everywhere we went there were crystals and herbs, massage therapy, readings and soy candles. And eventually, with the help of a few locals, we found The Christmas House.
The ladies assured us that The Christmas House was the mecca of Christmas shoppes and that we would spend hours in it. They obviously have never been to The Great Christmas Place in Gatlinburg, TN, where I cut my Christmas shopping teeth, so to speak. I was not impressed by The Christmas House. But, I did find an angel almost immediately after walking in the door. She's beachy and yet she's different enough from last year's angel from Tybee.
So that was our big adventure. I was absolutely drained and kept falling asleep in the car on the way back to Wrightsville. In all the rushing around we never did stop to eat lunch. My cheese and crackers were gone! We stopped at a burger joint called Kohl's and devoured these huge, messy burgers. They weren't anything to write home about. They certainly weren't Bogart's burgers (I still want to go back to Waynesville!). But, I will say that the Banana-Chocolate milkshake was very good. I would get it again.
We were so tired. I plopped myself on that lovely King-size bed and dozed to the Food Network. Sometimes I really miss Bobby Flay and Alton Brown.
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