Camp LeJeune to Beaufort NC (Bow-fort)
Beaufort>Beaufort
Long day. Good day. Almost every day I sit at the helm and think to myself how fortunate we are to do this every day. I love boating.
A week ago we were in Beaufort SC. A very
nice town. I'd go back. It was great. But it rained when we were there and was windy.
nice town. I'd go back. It was great. But it rained when we were there and was windy.
Beaufort NC, is also a quaint downtown with a shops and restaurants and a great boardwalk. Plus lots of other things to do... And wind.
Did I mention it's been windy on this trip?
ALMOST EVERY DAY.
This morning we left our anchorage at Camp LeJeune at 7am. We needed to make the 8am opening of a bridge that only opens once an hour and SOMETIMES closes for the day because of live firing. No practice at the camp today (it's Saturday).
The coast of North Carolina is stunning.
And less populated (in some areas) than Florida or South Carolina.
Eventually we traveled through Morehead City (a big port) and even saw an Algoma ship (seen very frequently in the great lakes especially Sault Ste Marie..)
After some really thin water (nervous sweat, need it quiet kind of thin water) we made it to Beaufort and tried to anchor.
And then tried to anchor. And then tried to anchor. Getting things to set and just right in a busy populated anchorage is difficult.
We managed with the help of a neighbor dinghy and our dinghy. Now we have fore and aft anchors holding us fairly straight in the channel and away from other boats.
Tonight we had the choice of a $205 slip, or a free anchorage about 300ft away. We chose the free anchorage. They raise the rates exponentially in some of these marinas as they get more full and boats get larger. At some point we can't pay for a slip.
Budgets ... (Which we haven't done well at following AT ALL). I'm running double to triple what I thought I'd spend on this trip. It sure would be nice if my other boat would sell....
Anyway... The big difference at anchor is we need to run the generator some to keep the batteries up (fridge etc) and when it's cold we need heat. Three of us aboard also use CPAP. I can run mine from the 12v batteries I have aboard but not three of them....
Once we got anchored sufficiently we ran ashore at the Rachel Carson Reserve across the river from the city. This is one of few places that wild horses still exist.
We hiked a mile or so and saw a few..
Beautiful creatures.
... and what a setting.
Then we ran the dinghy over to the dinghy dock in town and did some shopping. I bought what I usually do - nothing, except Ice Cream.... It was ok. Better than no ice cream.
And dinner.... Pizza, for maybe the 4th time since leaving home in October. And a beet spinach salad to make us feel ok about it...
And now we've returned back to the boat to watch the NCAA final four and the sunset....
(Ok that picture was from yesterday but it's a good one to show what it's like on the boat in the evening...)
45 miles today. That's just about right to travel and still have a day to do something. We need to do more days like today. Perfect, except the wind....
My wife on the other hand.... She doesn't love anchoring.... She's about done with anchors that don't set the first time and where we put them. And wind that changes direction immediately after the anchor is set.
But we get this at the end of most days at anchor....
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