Today's boat ride and some incredible osprey photos

My daughter and dad, off Masonboro Island

The wind was blowing steadily out of the northeast today making the inlets and the offshore seas to rough to fish unless one has a much larger boat than my dad.  So we stick to the waterway and run up to Topsoil Island, coming back and stopping at Wrightsville Beach for some Trolley Stop hot dogs for lunch, then on to Masonboro Island for a swim before getting back home in time for my mother to be dropped off from adult daycare.   The trolley stop has been around since I was in high school.  Their dogs are no longer 50 cent each, but $2.75.  They’re still good.  This really was trolley once, but the trolley stopped running in 1940 as people started driving more and more.  It ran about ten miles, from downtown Wilmington, out Wrightsville Avenue and the across the causeway to the beach.  Where the hot dog stand is was the first beach stop.  The trolley continued south along the beach a ways, it’s last stop being at the Luminia, a dancehall/recreation pavilion that was torn down when I was in Junior High, to make way for condos.  We have such screwed up values!  A number of years ago, I wrote a poem about the Lumina and posted it here.

At Topsoil Inlet

 It’s always good for my dad to get out like this and he always acts younger when he is on the water.  The highlight of the trip was finding an osprey nesting on a waterway marker.  Obviously, the bird didn’t read (or didn’t care to heed) the Coast Guard warnings to stay away from such navigational aids.  When we turned around and slowly motored close to the marker, the bird began to squawk and then took to flight, showing his talons in a threatening manner.  At least I got some good shots and didn’t get my eyes gouged out.  I also spotted another osprey fly across the waterway, holding a ten or twelve inch flounder.  The bird struggled to remain airborne.  It was such a big fish for him, but a good thing a game warden didn’t see him as flounders have to be over 15 inches to be legal. 

This evening, and every Thursday evening, my dad takes my mom out to the Pirate’s Table, a local seafood restaurant, where they have dinner with some folks from their church.  They’ve been doing this for ten years now.  It’s not the best restaurant around, but they have decent seafood.  The best part is that the place knows my mom and her limitations and is more than willing to help out.  The same goes with those who gather to eat with them.  Tonight, my daughter and I will join them.

Below are some incredible osprey photos.  I have also posted photos of my last post on Montreat.