If you're going to be stupid...

...you have to be tough.

That was the lesson I learned today. My friends Randy and Dianne have been visiting, and Dianne really wanted to go to Portsmouth Island. I remembered that Steve Wilson, who owns the Miss Ocracoke, had told me that he would take me over there if I wanted to go someday. So I called him yesterday and asked him if he would take us today. He said sure, and we set a time to meet at his dock.

The weather recently has been beautiful - warm, very little wind, sunny. Today, there was a decent wind, and it was decidedly a northeast one, which cooled things down considerably. Did that stop us from our planned trip to Portsmouth? Of course not! We came home from church, changed clothes, and got ready to go. We packed a picnic snack, beach chairs, the portable hammock John gave me for my birthday last year, towels, and beach reading. We were ready! We loaded all our gear and ourselves into Steve's boat, Net Income (the Miss Ocracoke is not quite ready for the year yet), and set out across Silver Lake. Dianne and I were sitting in the beach chairs in the middle of the boat, and Randy and John were sitting behind us. The first few minutes were idyllic. We saw several dolphins swimming in the harbor and enjoyed the sunshine.

Steve warned us that it was a bit choppy and that he would try to not get us too wet. Well, he did his best, but we all ended up soaked! Shortly after we went through the Ditch, John and Randy moved forward to try to escape the waves crashing over the sides of Net Income. Dianne and I scooted our chairs further forward as well. Pretty soon, the four of us were huddled in a bunch, trying just to keep our heads down and not get completely sopping and frozen.

We were troopers, though, and hung in there. Steve dropped us off on the beach, where we found a reasonably un-windy spot near a hilly area, settled into chairs and let the sun begin to warm and dry us. We drank an entire bottle of wine, enjoyed the fruit, cheese and crackers we had brought, and then Dianne and I went shelling. I found my first whole scotch bonnet! (Yes, that did make the trip completely worth it!)

Steve came back for us shortly after 4:00 as we had agreed. When we saw him pull up in the boat, dressed in his fisherman's wetsuit, I said "we are in deep sh__". He had told us on the way over that it would be even worse on the way back, so we thought we were somewhat prepared for the experience, but we were unpleasantly surprised by just how wet and cold we got going home. We were all freezing and drenched (except Steve, of course!) by the time we pulled into the harbor. That didn't stop my heart from lifting at the sight of home, and I still even sang the song which often comes to my mind when returning to Ocracoke, even after only a short time away:
Home sings me of sweet things
My life here has its own wings
To fly over the mountain
Though I'm standing still
I sang it very quietly, to myself. I knew no-one else was in the mood for song!

We came home and all immediately took LONG, HOT showers (thank goodness for hot-water-on-demand continuous hot water heater systems!)

But before we got off the boat, Steve expressed the lesson of the day: "if you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough". We took it in the manner it was intended and laughed at ourselves. It was pretty stupid of us to still head over to Portsmouth when the weather was windy and turning cold. I don't regret it, though. I found a scotch bonnet and had an adventure with good friends. One we will certainly never forget!

Related link: Miss Ocracoke