Day 16: Beaufort, NC, to Belhaven, NC

Some easy cruising today. On another bright and calm morning, Preston cooks hot (spicy) sausage and Graeme cooks the eggs, before we fire up, untie, and slip away beneath the Beaufort Highrise Bridge and upstream into the Newport River thence due north along the Adams Creek Canal, the Adams Creek estuary, and out into the broad Neuse (say NOOSE) River. Our Nebo trip-logging software goes on strike for this portion of the run, so doesn't show us between Beaufort and the Neuse River.

I was able to get some good steering practice ('mostly/sometimes' sticking to the channel) but now it's onto auto-pilot for the 30-mile run downriver to Pimlico Sound before--following a plotted course--45 North turns to port, into the Bay River and then Gale Creek, for access to the Pimlico River canal that takes us through to Goose Creek and the Pimlico River proper. We cross the 5-mile wide river and enter the Pungo River, for a further 25 miles up to Belhaven for the evening.

A breeze has sprung up and we have one-foot waves in the Pungo, but Graeme is not disturbed from his nap and Lorraine does not drop a stitch!

We pass several sailboats and one, surprisingly, has no sail up (in what we consider to be perfect wind conditions) and is motoring along and tolerating the rolling motion (which Preston tells me would be a lot less if they had some sail on).

The stiff breeze challenges us in docking, but the dock hands are there and take our lines. The young couple on a small sailboat beside us are also docking and are grateful for the timely shelter we provide them from the wind. For the first time on our pelagic peregrination, we require a forward cable connection to shore power AND the use of our sausage fenders (see photos).

Safely docked, Graeme and I stroll over to the nearby brewery, just to scout it out, you understand. Sadly, the beer's not great, but gladly, we have some lively repartee with mine host and the young yachtie couple. Lorraine has gone for a walk around town and brings us back some great images for the blog.

Graeme and I return to the ship and to the fragrance of a leg of (Australian) roasted lamb. Preston joins us for a roast dinner of magnificent property and proportion prepared by Lorraine.Lue lisää