Day 314, Friday May 2nd, An uneventful trip to
Beaufort
We are up early as there is a possibility the ICW will be
shut for live fire practice by the Marines so Active Captain recommends you
head out by 7:30. There is a swing
bridge about 30 mins up the waterway so we want to time our arrival for 7:30 so
we start to up anchor at 15 minutes to 7.
Good thing we did as it is a full 17 mins to get the anchor on board due
to muck on the chain and anchor. We now
have to push to make the bridge. Just as
we enter the waterway from the anchorage we meet a catamaran named Rollick who
we had last seen in Georgetown. This
cruising is a world of re-meeting boats as you travel.
Abandoned military stuff |
We enjoy a very uneventful trip as we motor sail along the
waterway. It is quite scenic, with lots
of things to see. At one point we pass
some tidal marshes where a number of old armoured personnel carriers have been
strewn around so the marines have an artificial battle field to train on. It is scenic but it takes a long time to get
somewhere, we both referred to the metaphor of “it’s like driving on the I75 at
5 mph”. When we come down again it will
be via a series of ocean hops. By 1:00
pm we enter the harbour for Beaufort and Morehead City, lots of boat
traffic. We are to meet up with Bruce of
Mamba here so based on his recommendation we have taken a slip at the Nautical
Maritime Museum docks for $1/foot. We
could not have timed our arrival at Beaufort better if we had planned it as it
is slack water as we enter the creek up to Beaufort, there is a strong current
on the ebb and flood, and we arrive at the drawbridge at 12:55 for its 1
o’clock opening. By 1:15 we are tied up alongside Mamba. We have beer with Bruce and get the lay of
the land from him.
Beaufort fishing fleet |
Based on his advice we drop the dinghy in the water and take
our “wheels” into downtown Beaufort.
Beaufort is a “quaint” little fishing/tourist town. It also turns out to be a good weekend to
arrive as it is the 40th Annual Beaufort Wooden Boat show. The 1st event is a kickoff party
at the Nautical Museum’s Boat Shed which starts at 5:30 and features all the
Wings and Rings you can eat along with Beer and Wine all for the low price of
$10 each. We sign up and tour Beaufort
as we wait for the Wings and Rings. By 5
o’clock we have had a good look around Beaufort having seen a lot as well as
done the recon to enable us to plan for tomorrow. As the Wings and Rings won’t be ready for a
half hour we head over to the Beaufort Coffee house.
At 5:30 we are back at the boat shed, get our wrist bands
and are all set for dinner. The shed is
quite neat itself and is used by the museum to put on boat building
classes. We arm ourselves with a beer
and a glass of wine and then head over to the wings and rings. They are good but being all you can eat we
eat too many, oh well at least we have a vegetable with our meal. We meet some people and then see that there
is a ship in a bottle display complete with a craftsman giving
demonstrations. We decide we have found
our new hobby. Around 8 the party
starts to clear out and we make our way back to the boat after what we consider
a long day.
Bruce and Dawson |
We are just on our 1st cup of coffee when Bruce
and Colleen knock on the hull and ask if we want to come into town for drink,
so we are off. It turns out that the
coffee house we stopped at during the day becomes a busy wine bar in the
evening so we are back there for our second time. We meet quite a number of Bruce and Colleen’s
friends, Bruce having 1st come through in the 80’s during his first
trip south. By 10:30 we are both worn
out and Bruce gives us a ride back to the boat, 10:30 is a full hour and half
after boaters midnight. We pile off to
bed with our plans of enjoying the 40th annual Wooden Boat show in
our head.
Cheers
Dawson and Julie
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