Riggs and I are on our own again and are in Beaufort NC (pronounced bow-fort and not to be confused with Beaufort SC which is pronounced bew-fert even though both cities are named after the same guy). Good friend Dave Wyman was aboard for over 2 weeks but drove north from New Bern NC this morning. We had a great time exploring the large estuaries of eastern NC.
Let's see... the last blog entry had us celebrating Thanksgiving in lovely Washington NC up the Pamlico River. Windy weather (and the beauty of Washington) prompted us to stay there 2 nights, so we got to sample some of their many restaurants plus we walked to a West Marine store where Dave bought himself a Christmas present of a Garmin 400c hand-held chartplotter which was on black-Friday sale for half price. It has all US marine charts loaded in it and is an impressive gadget. We had fun playing with it over the last few days.
Riggs really liked Washington since we could play chuck-it only steps from the boat. You've never seen obsession like he has for that tennis ball. Also, by staying an extra day, Dave and I were able to tour Washington's Estuarium which is a great museum based on NC's huge estuaries. Really well done.
About mid-day Saturday we motored down the Pamlico river to Bath NC which bills itself as the oldest town in NC (est 1705). They have a free state-owned dock and some beautiful old homes.
When cruising I like to alternate between longer travel days (say 7 hours cruising) and shorter days (maybe 3 hours), with occasional no-travel days tossed in (usually by the weatherman). Washington to Bath was a short day which we followed by a longer cruise on Sunday to Oriental NC, a sailor's town on Pamlico Sound. They have a small free dock that was occupado so we instead anchored in nearby Green's Creek and took the inflatable (Dave calls them deflatables) to the dinghy dock. The cruise to Oriental included a nice mix of wide sounds and narrow canal travel. When we land at a new town an exploratory walk is usually the first task, and Oriental is a nice town to explore. But I think what we will most remember about Oriental is the great supper we had at the M&M Cafe. Dave says it was the best meal we shared during his time aboard Spray.
If you look at a map of eastern NC you will see the huge areas of Abermarle and Pamlico Sounds, and the 3 arms that stretch westwards: Western Abermarle, Pamlico River, and Neuse River. We had explored the first 2 arms based on sheer curiosity and Dave gave us a good reason to travel up the Neuse since only up there in New Bern could he find a car rental for his return trip. So on Monday it was up the Neuse we went. New Bern is a large town (Craven County seat) with a new convention center, a great waterfront park (chuck-it!), and yes, free town docks. After docking, we did our exploratory walk, then had supper aboard Spray. This morning (Tuesday) I had planned for breakfast aboard Spray but it was sorta cold, so we opted for a restaurant breakfast at the nearby Hilton hotel. It was ritzy but I preferred the diner-type breakfasts we had earlier.
After Dave's taxi picked him up today, Riggs and I fired up Spray's 135 HP Ford-Lehman diesel, and we raced back down the Neuse River (at 7 mph), through the Adams Creek Canal, and arrived here in Beaufort NC by 4 pm, anchoring in well-protected Town Creek, on the back-side of town. We were welcomed into the Beaufort area by several dolphins, which was very cool. At Rigg's insistance, we dinghied ashore and explored the town a bit before retiring back to Spray.
There is a gale warning up for tomorrow into Thursday, so we may be pinned down here. If its not bad in the morning, we may fill the fuel & water tanks, and then cruise 25 miles down to Swansboro, thus moving ever southwards. We'll see.
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