Sat Nov 2 - In which we are tourists

RE Mayo to Beaufort, NC marina

We fueled up first thing in the morning.  This is a great place to fuel because the prices are low and the fuel clean and new, since they fuel the shrimp trawlers so frequently.  We took on 172 gallons, which seems a lot until compared with the commercials trawlers, who were taking on 3,000 gallons at a time….  Rick, who can hardly rest as he is always either fixing something or calculating something else, is right now calculating fuel consumption.  

Ouch - sticker shock

We then headed down the canal and out into the Neuse River area.  This “river” is really another big Sound and, unfortunately, the wind didn’t cooperate this time.  We had 2 – 4 foot waves coming off the bow to the left side that made for an uncomfortable ride for the first hour until we turned south west. Awesome… But I didn’t through up, and every new event like this helps us understand and trust our little trawler that much more. 

Leftovers from the hurricanes - very creepy

We passed Oriental, NC and pushed on to Beaufort (pronounced Bow-fort… NOT to be confused with the Bew-fort that is coming up in SC).   Beautiful trip down the river into the Beaufort inlet although the different entrance canals to the area were confusing, so I got practice my radio chatter with the marina to find the best channel to follow.  Rick slid into our slip at the Town Creek Marina like he’d been doing it all his life.  Even the doc hand complemented him!

Once docked I made us put on our walking shoes and we headed off to tour the historic Beaufort old town.  It is actually quite nice with many homes from the original 1700’s and 1800’s.  The area was spared destruction during the civil war as the northern generals decided to make it a headquarters.  Over 400 of the original captains’ houses remain, and those carry an identifying plaque.  If you ask me it would be super annoying to have tourists stopping to take pictures of your front porch every hour of the day.   There is not a lot of the town - lots of little touristy shops and restaurants – but I bet it’s jumping in the summer. 

We walked back to the boat expecting it to be very late as we were so tired.  It was 4:45 pm…. It was a big struggle to stay up to a normal bedtime hour!  Rick watched a bit of college football and then we connected to the marina internet and fired up Hulu on the ipad to watch an episode of Four Weddings and a Funeral.  Off to bed and an extra hour of sleep, bless it, due to daylights saving time.

Sunset through the muhly grass

I'm going to be judicious about sunsets from here on out - but this one was really amazing