A mom and baby right whale

These shots where taken off of Shackelford Banks on April 20th. If you look closely you can see the young whale right next to the mothers head. We all also saw a Humpback Whale but it was too fast to photo. We also saw six loggerhead turtles that day. It just does not get any better.

Right Whales off the beach

It has been very windy in April. We did manage to get out to Cape Lookout around the 10th. To our surprise, a whale sighting was in our future. We sailed into the Lookout bight and hove too for a lunch break. The wind was increasing to 20k so the jib was released, sheeted to Leeward and we set a course back to Beaufort inlet. Hundreds of birds and dolphins were clustered together just outside the bight. A blast of water vapor erupted from the middle of the chaos and I immediately realized a whale was the center of attention. We hove too and waited for the whale to rise again, and we where not disappointed. The Right Whale surfaced several more times right next to the boat. The seas where building towards six feet so we once more brought the jib through and headed for the inlet. Wow, This was high adventure. We, just three of us, had a fantastic sail back to Beaufort and landed with great memories.

Good Fortune will be available for the rest of April and first 9 days of May. I will be in the Bahamas with Earlham College working on an iguana project in the Exumas from the 11th to the 21st of May. I will reopen back in Beaufort around the 22d of May.
I hope every one enjoys spring and all the new life it brings.

4533 sandhill cranes

That's a lot of tall birds in one place. I went to the White Water Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Douglas Arizona this winter to see a gathering of Sandhill cranes. Boy, did we see a lot of birds! Yellow headed black birds and more gave us a great thrill. The photos where taken the third week of February 2010. The "bird on the rock", is a Mexican Jay waiting for us to pass the nuts to him.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WINTER?

Spring refit is under way between Spring showers. Lots of wood work on the cap and rub rails and paint and varnish every where. My ankle/foot is getting better. No crutches or canes, just some swelling and a slower captain.
It is not summer yet, Puffins where spotted at Cape Lookout on the 10th of March, but the sun is coming back and by April 1st we will be sailing again out of Beaufort.
I hope all is well with former sailors aboard Good Fortune and I'm looking forward to meeting a whole host of new sailors this season. 2010 is our 30th year of business, time flys when you are having fun. Or, as the frog said; "Times fun when you are having flies".

Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season or Fins To The Left Fins To The Right

So far so good. El Nino has kept the big ones out in the Atlantic and the East Coast clear. My foot is much repaired but not quit back to normal. I have yet to make it to the beach, but with the help of a fine mate, and some great weather we are back in business. There are lots of dolphins off the beach, and the water is still very warm.
Good Fortune will be at the Beaufort docks until mid October and then back to Peltier Creek, in Morehead City, for the Winter sailing season.
The cessation of the Menhaden fishing industry, three years ago ,allowed millions of fish to survive to adulthood, and in time to reproduce. The increased number of menhaden has replaced the "missing link" in the food chain that has been over fished for eight decades. The benefit of all these fish is, of course, more fish of all kinds. That means more marine mammals, birds, and "game fish" for all to enjoy. When I arrived in the Beaufort area, the use of DDT, to control crop pest and disease carrying mosquitoes, had wiped out the fish eating birds. Over the last 37 years, the affected bird populations of herons, terns, ospreys, pelicans, cormorants, and gannets have rebounded. Now its time for our fish populations to do the same.
The photo was taken by Scott Taylor from and aircraft flying between Beaufort and Shakelford Banks. This occured in late August of 2009. Sharks like to get together at the end of the summer to to compare notes on the success of the tourist season. How was your summer?

August and Rehab the sailor

I fell out a of a tree and landed on one leg on the 20Th of July. This has put my right leg out of commission and I'm now living the life of a mono pod. The Ortho. Doc. has assured me that I will walk on all two's by the fifth of August. With me at the helm barking orders, and Capt. Peggy womaning the for deck, I think we can, again, provide charters until the snow flies.
I may not be on the beach for a few weeks but Peggy is more then able to take up the slack.

SPRING 2009

The summer is just around the corner. Most of the winter birds have left except for a few Greater Cormorants and Loons. The summer residents, turtles, dolphins and a whole array of birds are arriving every day. The water temperature is 72 degrees F, and still very clear.

The photo is a hundred, or so, Northern Gannets feeding off of Atlantic Beach in late April. You will have to increase the size of the photo to actually see the large numbers of birds. The Gannets spend the winter along the south east coast and then fly to Newfoundland for the summer. They never break a sweat.