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| Bombs bursting in air! |
We had our third annual 4th of July celebration on board Elixir this past weekend! For the second year in a row, we were fortunate to have our son and his wife onboard to celebrate with us. They live about 3 1/2 hours away so it is nice that they take the time to drive that distance to be with us on the holiday.
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| Ken & Josh watch from Solemar as the fireworks are set up |
We also had Marie's brother, Ken, visit Elixir for the weekend. It was the first time he has seen Elixir so of course we had to take him out for a quick cruise on Friday. We chose Driftwood Beach as we had heard good things about it but had never been there. It takes about an hour to travel to the beach from the marina and Ken got to try his hand at the helm. He actually did very well and I let him stay in command until we reached our anchoring spot.
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| Horseback riding on Driftwood Beach |
One of the great things about Driftwood Beach is how close you can anchor to the shore. The beach falls off very quickly to 30 foot depths and you can anchor so close that you can almost jump to the beach from the boat!
So after we dropped anchor, we kicked back and relaxed, ate some lunch, and just watched the world go by.
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| Ken & Marie by one of the larger pieces of driftwood |
Eventually, we dropped the dinghy over and headed to the beach. We spent several hours at the beach walking around and getting our feet wet. We saw quite a few turtle nests which were protected by mesh to keep predators from digging them up. It was a beautiful day!
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| Turtle Nest |
The next day was the 4th, and for awhile we thought the fireworks were going to be called off. A severe thunderstorm rolled in and blanketed Brunswick with rain. At one point the wind got so strong it was rocking us all over even though we were in a slip! The next day, we discovered that a tree in the marina was blown over. Good thing there were no cars there when it happened!
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| Elixir fared better than this tree |
For the second year in a row, Steve and Benita hosted the party on their boat, Solemar. They put out a big spread and we all gathered chairs on their upper deck for a bird's-eye view of the fireworks. We all had a great time and we are thankful for Steve and Benita's generosity!
