Dear Anchorage Inn Marina,

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay with you the past few nights.  Your facility is clean and your staff is friendly and helpful.  However, I must speak to you about the Gremlin/Trolls that live under or near your docks!

This morning prior to our departure for Manteo, I told my First Mate to stop worrying about the BZZZT thing that we had been stressing about the past few days.  I fibbed that I had had a revelation during the night that the BZZZT noise was NOT coming from within our boat, but despite what your dockmaster said, had to be due to something in your marina.  She looked unconvinced, and asked, “And what might that be?”

I had to come up with something quickly, so I told her that since we had completely exhausted every “on board” alternative, I was reasonably certain there were some kind of little Trolls or Gremlins that lived under the docks where we had been berthed for three days.   She looked dubious, so I expounded that I was fairly certain that the Gremlin/Trolls had been hired by Apple to test their new underwater iPhones, and that was precisely why we had had the random BZZZT noises.  The little devils had been placing them against our hull, and driving us nuts for three days.

As Admirals are known to do, she rolled her eyes, shook her head, and ordered me to the fly bridge as it was time to shove off.  It was pretty obvious that we would continue this discussion in Manteo, thankfully a seven hour cruise north.

The 78 mile trip up Pamlico Sound was awesome.  A wise boating friend once told me to pick your weather…the rest is easy.  We did well in that regard today, and pulled into the Manteo Waterfront Marina around 3 PM.  We tied off, showered, and enjoyed a great meal at “1587”, right on the waterfront.  We plan to stay a few nights and are looking forward to seeing the sights of the surrounding area, including Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Museum…but I digress…

We are sitting here at 9:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, and we haven’t heard a BZZZT since we arrived.  Grrr’s, beeps, rumbles and (thank God) thunks, yes, but not even one BZZZT!

So, I am sticking with the story that I told my bride this morning. 

Please have the Gremlin/Trolls removed before we return.

Sincerely,

Captain Frank

M/V Once Around

PS  To Pat in Michigan:  Had I received your suggestion sooner that the BZZZT was Once Around “complaining” about salt, and yearning to return to the fresh water of Lake Michigan, I might have gone with it…but now I have to stick to my original story!