Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Beaufort was a lovely town situated on the water’s edge. There were lots of cute shops and amazing restaurants. Once again the guys got up early to listen to the weather report to determine our next weather window as we move northward to Norfolk.
After coffee and of course, diet coke for me, we went into town to look for some lunch. Along the boardwalk were the city docks where pleasure vessels from sailboats to yachts were moored. Ferries and tour boats left frequently to take people to the outer bank island beaches and the fort. The stroll through town took us to Crawfords where we had a fabulous seafood lunch.
We spent some time perusing the maritime museum which included information about Blackbeard and the Queen Anne’s Revenge that they were excavating outside the inlet.
Next we took the boat around to Homer Smith Docks and Marina for fuel and ice. John did a super job inching us along the side tie from one cleat to another until the deck hands came out to secure us properly. While they offered free ice, we were not sure of its cleanliness as John had to shovel it out from a pile of loose ice. So we planned to use this ice for cooling our drinks but not for drinking.
Once we anchored, we completed some boat chore like wiping the caked salt off the stainless. Every time you touched something on the boat, you came away with a handful of salt. The whole boat needed a bath but that would have to wait until we get to a marina in Norfolk.
A dinghy from another catamaran SV Destiny 2 stopped by to admire our boat and introduce themselves. They were trying to head north also. The plan was to move out to Lookout Cape on Saturday and then leave early on Sunday morning.
We ate dinner on the screened in porch at Aqua. The wait staff were fun and very attentive. The food was amazing from the appetizer to the deserts. I would say the guys were served the largest cream brulee that I had ever seen—12 inches long, the size of a rugby ball.
Then we wandered back to the boat through the silent town. Evidently by 21:00 this town becomes a sleepy little village.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
We went into town looking for another lunch spot and found a quaint restaurant on the water’s edge called Finz. One thing I can say for this part of the world, you can have fresh seafood at every meal! Krissy had a maui salad and I had a shrimp sandwich.
We spent some time shopping on our way back down the street and the guys finally got their ice cream fix at the General Store. We had planned to uber to the grocery store but couldn’t get anyone to pick up our request. So finally we went back to the boat and took it over to the docks to fill up with water and buy some ice. Then the guys decided to take the scooters to shore and ride to the Piggly Wiggly while Krissy and I relaxed on the boat.
They had a fun ride and came back with everything on the grocery list, and then some. They had to leave the scooters on shore and dinghy the groceries to the boat. Then they went back to get the scooters. This was boat life!
Tonight we were eating at Moonrakers. So we all cleaned up as it had been a hot day. We didn’t get to eat outside at Moonrakers but they did seat us near the window which was nice. Ben and John had Shrimp and Grits, and I had an interesting mushroom and chicken dish with a side of “corn fritters”. Krissy had some fresh maui with saffron rice. She said hers was excellent. I think the rest of us decided that we enjoyed Auqa’s more. We ordered a flourless chocolate cake to share at the table. We took a slice of carrot cake and pineapple cheesecake back to the boat for tomorrow night.
When we returned to our dinghy, we found that it was stuck in the mud as the tide had gone out and it had floated closer to shore when other dinghies had moved. Another couple who lived in Hampton came along, and with their help, we got the dinghy and motor moved out to deeper water. They were on SV Dreamweaver.
We chatted with them about the weather changes we had seen in the afternoon email and they were thinking along the same lines as us that we would NOT be able to leave on Sunday as we had hoped. There was a system off of Bermuda that was spinning up, and it was forecasted that the swells were going to be crazy.
So as we went to bed, we were wondering when we would get to leave.
Friday, May 21, 2021
After listening to the weather this morning, it looked like we would not leave for Norfolk until at least Tuesday. So John and Krissy began exploring their options for returning to Fort Worth. It looked like they were deciding to fly out of Wilmington on Monday.
So we decided to go on out to Cape Lookout and hang out for a few days before they left. Then we could bring them back to Beaufort. It was a pleasant but fast sail to the cape as it took less than two hours to get there.
The Cape was gorgeous as we were surrounded by islands and white sand beaches, one of which housed an adorable lighthouse. Several other catamarans also joined us in the bay. There were a multitude of fishing boats and people on the beaches. Evidently the ferry boats bring people out from Morehead and Beaufort throughout the day.
Ben and I decided to nap for a bit while John and Krissy went exploring the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. They said there were lots of trails around the lighthouse as well as trees.
For dinner we grilled some chicken, had roasted broccoli and salad. We finished off this awesome day with our desserts from Moonraker and some Prosecco. It truly doesn’t get much better than this—sitting in a beautiful bay, with cool breezes while visiting with our wonderful friends.
Saturday, May 22, 2021
So after reviewing the weather again, it appeared we will have a weather window (fingers crossed) to leave on Tues. Thus, John and Krissy decided they could make the journey with us as long as they got on a plane on Thursday. Since we were not going back to Beaufort now, it looked like I needed to find some more diet coke.
So we set out in the dinghy for Harker Island which John said was only 10 minutes away. The tide was going out and we had to dinghy around several sand bars as we tried to stay in the minimally marked channel. At one point John had to get out and walk us across a sandbar to get us back into the channel. Nevertheless, we ran aground again before finally making our way to the Fishing Center on Harker Island. We used 1.5 gallons of gas, fighting the waves and current to the island.
The island was charming though. The Fishing Center allowed us to tie up at their pier while we had lunch and went to the grocery store.
We ate at the Fish Hook Grill. Our waitress was a hoot and could not believe we had gotten here by boat from Texas. She went around and told everyone.
On the way to the store, Krissy and Ben imbibed in creamy delicious snow cones. Billie’s store was a hardware store and a grocery. They had quite the assortment of accoutrements. However, we found some diet coke and a new ice chest to replace the broken one on the boat. Back at the Fishing Center we bought some ice and climbed into the dinghy to begin our return trip through the islands and sandbars. We almost ran aground once more but we made it through that shallow spot by following some other boats. We believed we have a leak in the lower floor of our dinghy which made it difficult for us to get up on a plane. So the dinghy ride took even longer than we expected. We were all glad to make it back to the boat with only a little frustration!
We had instant pot spaghetti, ceasar salad and garlic bread for dinner. Then we sat outside and enjoyed the lovely sunset and visited until everyone headed off to bed.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
This morning Ben and I slept in while John and Krissy took the dinghy over to the island. The tide was out so when I awoke, it looked like the dinghy was floating in the middle of the bay, but they had anchored it in two foot of water and walked to shore. It was so weird how shallow it can be at low tide.
This afternoon, Ben, Krissy and John dinghied over to the point while I relaxed and worked on the blog.
In the evening we went over and visited with some new boat friends where we enjoyed conversation, cocktails and nibbles. Two of the folks on SV Keltia were professors from Chappell Hill University, Mabel and Mustofa. They were heading back to port in the morning because they had to get back to work. The folks from SV Destiny 2 also were present, Doug, Helen and Cathy. Destiny 2 plan to head north on Tuesday too as they were going to Connecticut. They indicated that they had made the trek north 4 times and had never had to wait for weather windows this long before.
We had a simple dinner of BLTs and fruit salad because everyone had chowed down on the snacks at happy hour. Most of us didn’t last long after dinner before we were ready to hit the sack. Tomorrow hopefully the weather forecast will indicate that we can head for Norfolk on Tues. Fingers crossed.
Monday, May 24, 2021
After listening to the weather forecast this morning we are still hopeful that we will be leaving tomorrow mid-morning for Norfolk. It will be sad to leave this pretty cape but I believe we were all ready for the next leg of the journey.
For our last day, we decided to have lunch at the beach on the Atlantic side to enjoy the surf crashing against the beach. Thus, we made sandwiches and dinghied over to the lighthouse. There we met folk from SV Gratitude, Perry and Lynn. They had arrived last night and plan to leave tomorrow also.
After anchoring our dinghy in the water, we hiked over to the Atlantic side of the island. The site was beautiful with a white beach, blue water, and foamy waves. The sand was super hot as we exited the boardwalk so the water felt good. We had a picnic lunch on the beach watching the surfers and children play. Then we headed back to the dinghy and made our way back to the boat where we took showers to cool off.
The many faces of the Lighthouse! Beach Lighthouse; Sand Dune Lighthouse; Tree Lighthouse! Spectacular!
It will be sad to leave this beautiful Cape Lookout tomorrow, but we are all ready for the next leg of this adventure–Virginia here we come!!
