Deep Point Part 2 - A Place Where People Come For A Short Time But Stay For Years.

So much happened this week in Southport that it needed two blog posts. If you've been following along, you'll remember we had a wonderful visit with my mom and Ed this week. Here's are some other events from our stay at Deep Point Marina. It seems impossible to do this post in chronological order, so bear with me.

The Bald Head Island Ferry leaves from the same port area as Deep Point Marina. Sometimes the wake from the ferry rocks us a little on the dock. The ferry blows its horn each and every time it leaves the dock and it leaves the dock hourly from 6:00am to 11:00pm. Sometimes the horn may startle you, but for the most part it's just something you get used to. Most of the time, the ferry's horn blast warning of its departure sounds like it has a rusty sore throat.

Our brand new fridge/freezer unit, the one giving us trouble, finally just quit on us the afternoon of the day Gord left. We moved what we could to the small fridge unit on the bridge and we had to throw out what had spoiled. There were some frustrating calls with the manufacturer, but in the end, Gord arranged for parts to be sent to the marina. They should arrive and be installed before we leave here.

Gord and I had one night together at Deep Point Marina before he left for his conference. Part of that evening was spent with mom and Ed. The other part was watching a movie. This may be the first movie we watched together on this trip. We are in the area of Cape Fear, and because of this, Gord thought it would be a great idea to watch the movie. I've never watched Cape Fear, and now I know why. What a great movie to watch with your wife before you leave her and your children in Cape Fear for 4-5 days. Have you seen it? If you haven't, don't bother. I hated that movie and he is still laughing about it.

The morning after Gord left, I met a treasure hunter. His name was Rick. It actually isn't, but Gord called him that for days, so "Rick" just called Gord whatever name came to mind when he saw him. Rick is actually Kurt and I happened to run into him on the dock one morning. Kurt is a super interesting man and we had a nice chat. He said he was leaving the next day, before the crack of dawn, to go out for a few days. He said he'd be back on Monday and if we were still around to stop by the boat. He also said his generator blew and he had a freezer full of ice cream treats that were not going to last, so to send the kids over to eat as much as they'd like. Kurt filled me in on some local history and spots to visit during our stay. He also told me that this stretch of the coast, from Cape Fear to Cape Hatteras, is referred to as the graveyard of the Atlantic because of the great number of ships that have wrecked here. This, along with that fabulous movie Gord had me watch, makes me wonder why we stopped here at all.

There is a beach at Deep Point Marina. It's not a fabulous swimming beach, in fact, you shouldn't swim there at all. The current has been known to take things out quickly and not return them. Most days, the kids and I make the walk around the docks to the sandy path and wander out to the beach. The shells aren't impressive for collecting, but each day something interesting had washed up for us to look at. The dogs loved the off leash opportunity, so we usually brought them with us. We always pass Kurt's boat on our way to and from the beach. On this particular morning, the kids wanted to get over to the beach first thing. On our way back, Kurt spots us and calls the kids over for icecream. They scrambled on board and raid his freezer then pranced down the dock with their treats, which they'd already starting eating. I reminded them they hadn't even had breakfast yet, and I think this delights them even more.

The next morning, I was up early and walked out to the back deck to a serene setting. It was quiet and too early for the ferry. It's also a little misty out. The kind of mist that sits above the water in the early morning hours before the sun burns it off. I saw the stern of Battle Wagon, Kurt's boat, silently leaving the dock and secretly wished him good luck. I hoped we were still here when he returned.

The next couple of days were spent with mom and Ed (Gramma and Pappy). During these days and before Gord arrived home from the conference, Amy arrived and installed the back canvas on the helm. Amy is a master of her craft and they are beautifully done. I knew Gord was going to be thrilled. We can't believe she pulled this together on such short notice, and are very thankful she was willing. When Gord arrived home that night, he asked about the canvas and was looking forward to seeing them in the daylight the next morning.

In the morning, Jaxon woke up quite early and came into our room to whisper, "Mom, the treasure hunter is back!" I replied that I didn't think so because it was a day early, but sure enough, Kurt was tucked back into his slip. Later, when I saw him on the dock, he told me it was a hard trip back into the marina in rough waters and high winds. He had arrived around 1:30am that morning. He said if the kids were around, to have them stop by later. In the meantime, he was going to deal with some things with the geny.

After Gord had admired the canvas install, he and Jaxon decided they would see if they could get the horns working on Holy Cow. The horn is hooked to an air compressor, so they had a few things to consider regarding the problem. I was inside the boat cleaning up and folding laundry and could hear them working together on the bridge troubleshooting the problem. I could hear the "try this," "can you see if," "did that just click?" Two peas in a pod they are, both of them loving the process. As I was bringing an armload of folded laundry down the steps to the staterooms, the ferry horn blasts its horn so loud it genuinely startles me. I mean the kind of startle that I almost dropped the armload of laundry I had. I was a bit grumpy in that moment and thought that blast from the ferry was excessive and unnecessary. It hadn't blasted like that all week. As I made my way into our room, Gord came trotting in with a wide-eyed, goofy smile on his face and said "Jaxon and I fixed the horn. Did you hear that!? I laughed and said "That was you? It scared the bajeebers out of me!" He said, "Yeah, that was really loud. I didn't expect it to be that loud and it doesn't take much air from the compressor to make that noise!" The two of them were quite pleased with themselves for solving the problem and scaring me. Jaxon desperately wanted to blow the horn just one more time, but Gord and I thought it wasn't a good idea.

After breakfast and clean up, the kids wanted to do the daily trip to the beach, Gord came with us. He hadn't been out to the beach yet. He also hadn't met Kurt. As we near his boat, Battle Wagon, on our way to the beach, Kurt and John are outside on the back deck. John is busy scrubbing items in a bucket, but they invite us on board. Kurt is a fun guy and tells the kids to go inside and raid the cupboards for treats, which they do. There are a lot of cookies on Battle Wagon. We chat a little about our morning and Gord mentions that he and Jaxon fixed the horn on Holy Cow. Both Kurt and John said they heard that. (Fun fact, everyone at the marina we chatted to that day mentioned they'd heard the horn was now in working order. It would seem I wasn't the only one that jumped at the blast.)

We spent over two hours with Kurt and John. He had buckets of Megalodon teeth and other fossilized treasures he'd found in the great blue. The kids and I are amazed. Gord is too actually, but probably no one more than me. I'm like a child on a field trip and ask a hundred questions about what they've found and how they do it. We root through all of his buckets and the items laid out on the table. Kurt shares stories of his dives, finds and adventures. He and John teach us about the different kinds of teeth they've found and the different parts of the teeth. They've also found fossilized whale ear bones. It's absolutely fascinating. We soak up every word. We learn how to measure a Megalodon tooth. We learn that each inch of tooth correlates to the Megs length 1" of tooth is equal to 10-11 feet of shark meaning the tooth Jaxon is measuring belonged to a shark approximately 60 feet in length. These teeth are 2.5 million to 30 million years old and can be different colours depending on the minerals they absorb during fossilization.

Kurt makes the kids a deal and says if they commit to doing at least two hours of research on the Megalodon and email him a report of what they had learned, he would give them a tooth. Their eyes widen, and they look through the options presented to them. They pick their favourites with the approval of Kurt and John and shake on the deal and commitment they had made. Kurt is great with the kids. He both spoils them, and has them earn their keep. Because he'd just come back from a few days at sea and a splashy drive in, he gets the kids to wash down Battle Wagon. The kids run and change their clothes and Gord and I leave them to it. We can see them from the stern of Holy Cow, so we tell them we will keep and eye on them to make sure they do their best work.

Later that afternoon, Tim and Jaime arrived with kittens she's fostering. Their boat was on the other side of the finger from us and they invited Brooklyn on to visit the kittens which she was super excited about. She's never seen a real live kitten before. She instantly falls in love with Teddy and they are inseparable until later that evening when a group from the marina invite us to join them for dinner.

The people here are so friendly. We learn that several people came to this marina pre-Covid and have been here ever since. Some were unable to get home, some are still waiting for parts for their boats, some have sold their homes and are living on their boats. Whatever the situation, the people at Deep Point Marina welcomed us with open arms. Everyone was helpful and kind. Those that had cars were willing to let us borrow them to run errands if we needed to. We met Paul, who looks like a wizard and our dogs like to bark at him. We met John and his dog Morgan, but truly, John is really known as Morgan's dad. We met Brittany and Deven who are recently engaged, Danielle and Dusty and Tom and Judy who have been living on their sailboats boats here since Covid locked them in. We shared some great stories and even greater laughs with this group before making our way back to the marina and calling it a night.

In the morning, the fridge technician arrived to install the parts that were delivered while Gord was away. How did it go? I'll save you the suspense. The install wasn't successful and the replacement fans they sent didn't function. There were more frustrating calls with the manufacturer. Truly, I just want a new unit, but because of the supply chain issues, that's just not possible. After some firm discussions, it was agreed upon that several more components would be sent next day delivery, as well as functioning fans, and Kevin would return on Tuesday or Wednesday to try again. At this point, it seems everything will be replaced except for the actual fridge. The parts do arrive and Kevin comes to do the install. I was up at the marina office doing laundry and saw someone walk down the dock to Holy Cow with a reciprocating saw in hand. Another hole!? Really!? Steve V isn't here, so why is there a hole being made. As it turns out, another access /venting hole would be ideal for the function of the fridge unit, so now we need two fancy access hole covers. However, all complaints aside, after this overhaul of parts, it seems our fridge/freezer unit is functioning as it should. Later in the day, Gord and I took Kurt up on his offer to borrow his car and were very thankful to be able to get some final things done as we hoped to leave in a day or two.

Brooklyn had hit the megalodon research project pretty hard and was excited to show Kurt, so we headed over to his boat again. When we arrived, he and John were up to their necks in the bowels of Battle Wagon. They were hauling out the geny for repair. Kurt sent Brooklyn to the galley to see what treats she could find that day. It wasn't long before she was making popcorn and took a seat on the couch for a front row view of the generator extraction. Gord had wandered over as well and was all too happy to help. All three men were involved getting that pig of a thing out. When it was finally out and loaded into a dock cart, Kurt and John were relieved. We were glad to be of assistance, especially after all they had done for us. We gathered up our kids and went back to our dock and left Kurt and John to put Battle Wagon back together. Brooklyn wasted no time finding Teddy to cuddle with. Tim took Jaxon under his wing to show him the ropes of fishing here in the south. They use fancier bait than worms and hotdogs here. A little while later, Teddy had to leave and it broke Brooklyn's heart. She crawled into our bed with Grinch and cried. She looked heartbroken, but on the other hand, Grinch looked delighted to see Teddy go.

Kurt came to see us a little later and asked us to join them for dinner as a gesture of thanks for Gord's help. It truly wasn't necessary. He'd been so kind to us already and pulling generators out of boats is sort of Gord's gig. Kurt took us to Southport Smoke House and we had what they call BBQ here in the south. It was amazing, and so delicious, it was even a kid pleaser.

We headed back the marina, stuffed full and in danger of having the meat sweats, but it was so worth it. Later that evening, the amazing group of people that we had met this past week, congregated dockside by Holy Cow and we shared another night full of stories and laughter.

In the morning, Holy Cow's engines are started. There are some hugs goodbye and we untie. For the first time since leaving Marco Island, I shed a little tear as we pulled away from the dock. I could see how it would be easy to stay in a place like this, to plan for a week and stay for a month, or longer. There were some special memories and friendships made in Southport NC. As we exited the Deep Point Marina channel, we encountered the Bald Island Ferry on its approach into port. It had to standby as we made our way out to the Cape Fear River. Gord yelled from the helm "We are on the move again Jopling's!" As sad as it felt to leave, it also felt good to have the wind in our hair, the waves splashing on the hull and the excitement of the adventure ahead.