Friday was our last day fishing - roughest day I've ever had on the ocean in terms of weather conditions, but also our most successful. I went out with my group from the tournament in Hatteras that night. It was...interesting. They'd gotten the investment back and decided to get rip roaring drunk to celebrate. It occurred to me several times that I had somehow managed to get brought along for the sacred fishing trip with the guys, so I wasn't bothered by the inevitable crude behavior - I figure that's one of the times they get to get all that out of their system before they have to return to the real world and behave. I hung by the captain and first mate for the most part because they were not nearly as inebriated and we spent the night planning out how we can get their charter customers to be cool with me being on the boat if I want to run out with them next time I'm in town (high compliment, imo).
Saturday I started to make my way home via NC ferry. Spent some time during the wait wandering around and exploring in okracoke and got to know a bunch of locals. I never really spent any time there but after five hours of meandering and chatting people up, I was in love. It's now my fav outer banks island, too bad there's no dive shops (or good thing, if there was I'd probably want to move lol). I helped two fellow hatteras-to-okracoke ferry passengers get networked with local okracoke people who were involved in their industry (one was a musician, one wanted to work on a fishing boat), ate amazing shrimp and grits with fresh local seafood, had a couple of drinks on a deck by the water, got on the ferry, slept the whole way to cedar island.
Once back on mainland I stopped by the tournament end banquet for a little bit, then drove four hours south to my sisters house (got in at 12:30am, fell right asleep. I was wiped from four days straight on a boat). This morning I gave my mom a gigantic hug (first time I've seen her in a couple months), went to church with her, my sister, my sisters kids, and their dad. We went to lunch at a seafood place on the water where there was a fantastic cool breeze offsetting the heat, but my seafood quesadilla was a greasy disappointment and I barely took four bites of it. I earned a bunch more cool points with my nephews after showing them some pictures from my fishing adventure. Then we went back to my sisters house, I called my dad, then took a nap. I'm currently sitting in the living room while sister and mom watch 60 minutes (now the daytime emmy's) and the dog snores at my feet.
Really solid weekend overall...I enjoy being able to have those days by myself like I did on Saturday. I'm nothing close to an introvert but there's something relaxing about being able to experience something completely at your own pace, only engaging in conversation when you want to, only doing what you want to. I'm able to dump a lot of unnecessary emotional junk while enjoying small pleasures without concerns about whether anyone with me is having as good of a time. I've rarely known people who matched really well with my vacation style. Either they drank too much, planned to much - or not enough, didn't have as much of a sense of adventure or willingness to be spontaneous when something fun, different and random presents itself... Some people will find this weird but I could see myself going back to okracoke for a few days just on my own for a little stress cleansing lol.