Day 8, Bauefort, NC to Southport, NC

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Yesterday was our first day off from traveling. We would have continued the trip, but the weather did not look good for an ocean run. So, we stayed put in Beaufort for Day 7 of this trip. I caught up on some work. Ann did a little shopping, and Gimel seemed pleased to be in one place for more than 24 hours.

 

The "Boat Office"

Between meetings, I saw dolphins in our marina. with sailboats anchored behind. Kind of made it hard to concentrate.

We got a very early start this morning because we knew it was a long ocean run. Around 66 miles across from the Beaufort Inlet to Mansboro Inlet near Wrightsville Beach. Then we did another 3 hours in the ICW until arriving at Southport. We were already an hour into our trip when we were treated to a beautiful sunrise.


We were a bit concerned about the waves. They were mostly around 4 feet today, but on our stern quarter, so really not too bad. Ann was nervous because she can get seasick in rough seas, but she took some bonine and was totally fine. As we got towards the end of our ocean run, the seas calmed a bit. Empty Nest handles beautifully in the chop, and the stabilizers did their job today.

As we approached the inlet at Cape Fear (where we will go offshore tomorrow), the sun was getting ready to set, and the view was serene. 

It's a busy time of year for marinas on the Southbound route, and they packed us in tight. The boat behind us practically had their anchor in our living room. The owner joked with us that he wanted to come a bit closer so that we could polish his anchor from our cockpit. He said I looked very nervous when they were tying him up behind me. He was right.

A little too close for comfort

It was a short walk into town from our marina, and we decided to eat at a place called Fishy Fish Cafe. Of course, Ann had the eggplant dish, and I had the chicken dinner. There were about 7 or 8 seafood restaurants in town, and nothing else, so us non-seafood eaters were a bit out of place. Our lack of tattoos and mouthes full of teeth also contributed to our outsider status in parts of North Carolina.


The food at Fishy Fish Cafe was actually pretty good, and this was our view from our table after the sun set. Not too shabby.


Tomorrow, we have a 77 mile ocean run. We picked an inlet that is halfway to Charleston because at our cruising speed of 10 knots, we can't really get there in one day. I found an anchorage there that should work out well for us. However, to get Gimel to go potty, we'll need to put him in the dinghy and go to the beach. It's quite cold out here, so that's going to be an experience. Why can't he just poop on the boat, like a normal dog?!? 

Weather tomorrow looks fine, although seas will also be 4 feet give or take, like today. We'll plan on running close to shore to minimize our discomfort.

We hope to stay a few days in Charleston at anchor. I need to get more work done, and we also hope to hit some of the great restaurants there. It's probably optimistic to think we might get in a pickleball match, but you never know. Crazier things have happened.

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