Oriental to Beaufort, NC (B long O - fort)

Friday, Oct 29
Oriental, NC

It cooled off last night, which is a relief considering how warm and humid it was yesterday.  Tom and Bev Love met us about 945am and took us out to breakfast at Gantley's Restaurant in town.  We had such a good time with them and wished that we had more time to visit, but Bev had an appointment at 12 noon.  They were kind enough to take us to the Town & Country grocery store and then drop me off at Nelda Coats' house that was close by.  I met Nelda last night at the Potluck and she had offered me the use of her washer and dryer, which I took her up on.  Her house is very nice with a creek behind that they have their O'Day 25' sailboat tied up at a dock.  The deepest the creek gets is 4 feet, so you have to have a shallow draft boat there.  Nelda has a 9mo old miniature Australia Shepherd dog named Molly.  Molly is so cute and very rambunctious until she calms down after about a hour. :)  It was good to be around a dog again. Nelda also had an appointment so was able to get both loads washed and only one dried before she needed to take me back to the boat in her car.  Not a problem as I was able to hang them on the lifelines and they dried just fine.  I appreciated very much her use of her machines and her company.

Phil and I did things around the boat in the afternoon and we received a call from Bev inviting us over to their house for dinner.  We were glad about this as we wanted to spend more time with them.  They have a lovely log cabin house that Tom built 20 years ago when he retired and they moved down from Ohio.  They lived in a 28' trailer on the property while he built the house.  It's just the right size for 2 and is on the Brown Creek which can be reached from the Broad Creek where we anchored on our way down to Oriental.  We would have to go further up Broad Creek and then may be able to go down Brown creek a little ways, and then go the rest of the way in our dinghy.  We may try to do that in the spring on our way back home.  We had a great evening.  Bev and I have a lot in common as she quilts and crochets, and she also does stain glass.  Tom and Phil also have a lot in common so there was no lack of topics to talk about.

After Bev drove us home, there was a Halloween party going on at the Tiki Bar of Oriental Marine, but we were tired and after putting in ear plugs, the music being played didn't bother us a bit.


Saturday, October 30
Distance Traveled:  24.87 nm
Total distance:  1126.79 nm

When we woke it was cold - gentleman docked in front of us on S/V Louise M from Brooklyn, NY said it was 45F at 530am inside and outside his boat.  We had condensation on all the hatch and port windows.  At 730am it was 55F inside the boat.  Time for all the layers once again.  We we left about 8am, Changes wasn't on the bottom so we were able to back up without any problems and left the harbor at 815am.  The wind was N 10kts and Phil was at the helm.  Since the engine was running, I took advantage of the unlimited electricity and got on the computer to do some research about the Froli bed system and check email.  We continue to have problems with condensation and the mattress getting wet on Phil's side of the bed and though the new mattress is comfortable, it wouldn't hurt to have a little spring action.  It was on sale at the boat show and now that I have offered to split the cost of it, Phil's willing to go ahead for us to get it.  I'm going to try to see if I can get it at the Annapolis Boat Show sale price so have to wait until they are open on Monday.

We have heard about the town of St Mary, Georgia putting on a big Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner.  They provide the turkeys and any of the cruisers that come provide a dish to share.  Last year there were 200 boats that participated.  We are going to try to get to St. Mary, GA to participate this year.  There were 2 couples at the Potluck we went to that are also going to be attending, so will be good to see them again.  I also found that there is a SSCA Cruising Host in this town so could be another location that may accept mail for us.  Will have to contact them and see if that's possible.

Back to our trip today:  While I was at the helm, we reached Mile Marker 200 of the ICW at 11am and went throught the Beaufort and Morehead RR Bridge at 1142am.  Phil took the helm again as there were many fishing boats and we had to take the right channel to get to Beaufort, NC that veered off to the left.  We dropped anchor in Turner Creek Bight (indent in the river) in front of Beaufort, NC.  After we were settled, we took the dinghy into town and walked around.  In one of the stores, I found different "shoes" called Five Finger Shoes.  Check out their web site to see what I'm talking about.  They are shoes you wear without socks and they are designed to make the muscles in your feet work and get stronger, while providing protection. I understand that once your muscles get use to them, they are very comfortable and help with balance and coordination.   They have a sole that is good for on sailboats and can be worn in the water.  The company is having a hard time keeping them in stock.  I've been looking for new shoes to wear that would be comfortable for the long distances that we walk as my walking tennis shoes are getting old.  We walked down Front Street and saw some of the Historical homes of the area.  Phil looked through the Maritime Museum while I read a book.  In another part of the Museum in a boat shed/barn (huge building), they were decorating inside for a wedding reception. 

Before we came back to the boat, we filled up a gallon jug and a 2.5 gal jerrie jug of water that we could add to the Sun Shower.  We came back to the boat and had showers.  We should have done that before we went to town as by this time we got back the wind was cold and the water had cooled off.  Phil thinks I over exaggerate things at times, so when I told him that the water was cold, he didn't believe me ---  until he took his shower.  It felt good to have clean hair and body and we warmed up quickly.   I cooked supper of baked acorn squash, sweet potatoes, and biscuits with steak.  It had been cooling down, so all the baking helped to warm up the inside of Changes really well.  After supper we read and went to bed about 10pm.

I wanted to talk to you about the pronunciation of Beaufort.  You see there is Beaufort, NC and Beaufort, SC and they are NOT pronounced the same, as any local will correct you if you say it the wrong way.  The Beaufort in NC has the long O sound after the B and in SC it has the long U sound after the B.  I seem to have a hard time remembering and get it mixed up all the time.  sigh.  

Sunday, Oct 31
Beaufort, NC (long O)

We woke to the wind continuing from the West but sunny skies.  Phil made pancakes for breakfast and I washed the dishes.  You may notice that I was able to put our current location from the Spot GPS at the top of the blog.  I saw that Missing Link had it at the top of their blog, and they sent me a comment telling me how to do that.  It was a little tricky, but Phil was able to help me with the last piece and so now you won't have to go somewhere else to look.  I am going to leave the link on the side bar so that if you do want to go to the full-size page you can easily.  Let me know what you think and if it takes too long for the page to load with that information there as I could remove it if it's too cumbersome.

We are planning on continuing on the ICW tomorrow and trying to have longer days since we can go south of Morehead City starting tomorrow.  Longer days are 40 - 50 nm so we can make some progress getting south.  Phil said that the town has closed for Sunday, will have to see if the open up in the afternoon.  S/V Haven, the Krogen 38 we met in Elizabeth City is anchored here so may go over in the dinghy to chat with them later.   Hope all is well at home.