DAY EIGHT -- September 24, 2009

7:30 am -- we are up having breakfast -- making preparations to get underway --  Mary Ann and I go to the store -- get our coffee -- finish doing laundry.

9:30 am -- the Navigator is hauled and the parts are being installed.  Our car is returned to Avis.  Things are looking good.

11:09 am -- As I sit in the lounge (where the internet connection works better) editing yesterday’s blog -- MaryAnn comes to the door.  I expect her to say “Pack-up, we’re on our way.” instead she says, “They have found another problem”.  I am stunned as are Mary Ann and Ed.  There is a cracked ball bearing that was discovered as they were installing the new rudder -- does this ever end?  The parts are being shipped to arrive before noon tomorrow.

11:45 am -- Ed is frantically trying to get the car back from Avis so we can leave the boat yard.   There’s only so much time one can spend in an Adirondack chair.  Mary Ann is making lunch (ham sandwiches from Smithfield). 

Ed takes a taxi to Avis returning with another rental car --- we enjoy a delicious lunch and decide to go to Nag’s Head, NC for the afternoon.

3:17 pm -- we are on the Outer Banks of NC enroute to the Currituck Heritage Park in  Corolla, NC. where there is a lighthouse.

3:36 pm -- arriving at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse we see an imposing brick structure whose light first brightened the North Carolina coast on December 1, 1875.  At Captain Ed’s insistence we climb the 214 steps to a height of 162 feet.  The view from the parapet is well worth the climb -- but I must admit we are all huffing and puffing by the time we reach the top.

After coming down to earth -- we decide on a nature walk until I read the warning telling us to stay on the boardwalk as there may be green snakes hanging in the trees and water moccasins in the water.  We are out of that nature walk in a flash.

4:24 pm -- Mary Ann has a better idea -- the Whalehead Club -- still in the Heritage Park -- is described as a “restored architectural masterpiece”.    We walk over the wooden bridge arriving with a half hour till closing.  Audio ear pieces are used as tour guides for this magnificent 21,000 square foot mansion.   Built in 1922 by Edward Collings Knight, Jr. as a “utopia for hunters” this house has five chimneys, an elevator and a copper shingle roof.  This was a lot more enjoyable than the nature walk.

5:26 pm -- leaving the Outer Banks we encounter a torrential rain storm which continues even as we approach Coinjock, NC for dinner.   Coinjock is on the Inland Waterway and  is akin to a truck stop --- for boaters.    A lot of Captains bringing vessels north in the Spring and south in the Fall stop here for their cheap fuel and good food.

8:02 pm -- as we arrive back at the boat yard we notice that the Navigator is out of the shed but of course -- still in the boat yard.

A quick game of Rummikub -- Mary Ann wins again -- and it’s off to bed.

If we don’t get out of here tomorrow -- we will all start swimming.

Thanks for reading.