Beaufort NC - 2016

--Blogpost written by Bob

We arrived in Beaufort (pronounced "bo-fort") on Tuesday late afternoon (October 18) after a thoroughly confusing time with the channel.  Apparently, there have been a lot of changes since our guide book was published (2015).  The channel that the guide book suggests for coming into Beaufort no longer exists--fortunately, there is still deep water there (even though my chart plotter was showing shallow water in dark blue) or we would have run aground.  There is now a new fixed bridge where a draw bridge used to be.  Adding to the confusion were two tugs trying to maneuver a large barge away from the bridge and blocking all marine traffic while doing so.  Several southbound sailboats were in a holding pattern waiting for the barge to get out of the way.  We called Beaufort Docks where we had a reservation for a slip and they helped talk us through the confusion and get us to the marina.

There was quite a tidal current pushing us sideways and then into the slip
and I had to throw it into a high-speed reverse as we entered our
assigned slip but we got in without a scratch, thanks
to some knowledgeable  dock hands.

The high temperature today was 85 degrees F (10 degrees higher than normal) and we enjoyed the warmth as we did laundry, filled our fuel and water tanks, and used the marina's courtesy car (a huge gold-colored Buick Roadmaster station wagon) to replenish our provisions.  

Another little project I did was coat the dodger-bimini connector with 303 Fabric Guard.

I removed the dodger-bimini connector to add a waterproof coating.  The dodger
is the roof over the cockpit with sides having flexible windows while the
bimini is the fabric roof over the cockpit.  The dodger-bimini
connector connects the two roofs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

I cleaned the dodger-bimini connector (dark blue fabric piece laying on dock)
and then coated it with two applications of 303 Fabric Guard.  I allowed
the coating to cure 6 hours in the full sun before reinstalling it.

It was really nice taking a break here in the nice warm weather, even if the slip did cost us $100 per night ($2.55 per foot).  The town of Beaufort has lots of neat little shops and restaurants, all within walking distance of our rented slip.  We had dinner at the Spouter Restaurant (we both had crab cakes!) and lunch at Queen Anne's Revenge (Maggie had a salad while I had a Queen Anne's burger).  We spent about $500 for these two nights, not including fuel and provisions--we can't afford to do this too often. 

Tomorrow, we leave Beaufort at slack low tide (7:30 AM)...

Hurricane Nicole

Hurricane Nicole (now Tropical Storm Nicole) is going safely out
to sea and will not interfere with our trip south!

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