NC: Beaufort

Day 335
June 23, 2016
NM Today: 57
NM To Date: 5328 (6131 statute miles)


Given we had an estimated eight-hour drive today to reach Beaufort, North Carolina, I decided that it would be a good time to defrost the refrigerator. Before I could start that job, however, I wanted to be sure Clark was all set on the upper helm and would not require my assistance.

Harbour Village Marina
(as seen from the bow of our boat at dock)

Although we targeted an 8:00 a.m. departure. we actually left the Harbour Village Marina about 8:20 this morning. We had a hard deadline of reaching the Surf City swing bridge to the north of us by 9:00 because the bridge only opens once an hour on the hour. I was concerned with the delayed start about making the bridge opening about five miles up the waterway.

I decided to wait until after we passed through the swing bridge before going below to start my chores and was rewarded with the sighting of an osprey nest full of young ospreys. How adorable!

Favorite Spot for an Osprey Nest - on top of a marker

As we made our way towards the swing bridge, three fast boats came up on us and requested that we let them pass. As Queen Bee II and the two other boats passed us, I watched a man on a stand-up paddle board who would need to deal with the wakes we all made. I was amazed to see that he handled all the wake that came his way without falling. In fact he seemed to paddle purposefully towards the wake so he could "ride the surf". He must have some kind of balance skills!

Because of their speed, the three other boats moved well ahead of us rather quickly. We were both a little concerned that the bridge might open a bit before 9:00, let those boats through, not know we were coming and close again before we got there. Clark could tell I was nervous about making the opening, so he used his rare wild card option and kicked up the speed to put us on plane for a few minutes to catch up with the other boats.

Whether it is dealing with locks on the western rivers or swing bridges on the ICW, the end result is almost always the same, i.e. "hurry up and wait". We all arrived at the swing bridge around 8:52 and then had to sit and drift until the bridge opening.

Waiting for the Surf City swing bridge on the ICW

Of course because we were afraid the bridge would open early, it opened a few minutes after 9:00. The bridge pivoted on the center island, and we started our parade through the opening.

Parade through the swing bridge just after 9:00 a.m. 

I asked the captain's permission to go below and start my chores. That given, I went below to tackle the fridge defrost job. As a result I missed some interesting sights along the waterway. The first of those was alligator bay. Clark said he did not see any alligators however.

Alligator Bay - like a swamp but different

Alligator Bay

Alligator Bay Landmark
pink building with pink lighthouse - used for dead reckoning 

Later, Clark passed through the military restricted "firing range" - Camp Lejeune. This section of the waterway is closed periodically for target practice. Practice is scheduled in three-hour segments and the specific hours of firing are announced at 9:00 a.m. each morning. Given the schedule is not advertised in advance, it is hard to make travel plans. We were fortunate today as no firing was scheduled for the day.

When we traversed this area, I was busy below making lunch. I had totally forgotten about this potentially exciting portion of today's route. I missed the whole thing!

Beginning of the Camp Lejeune Firing Range area 

A variety of objects litter the waterway

The Atlantic Ocean can be seen in the far background

Wonderful - "Danger Unexploded Ordnance"

Clark got a kick out of this ...

Sign says "No anchoring, beaching, disembarking, or other
bottom / ground disturbing activity from
Freeman Creek to Bear Creek" on the ICW in NC

The boat in front is anchored next to the above sign
that says "no ground disturbing activity". Really!?
It probably should say "no anchoring". Oh, wait, it does say "no anchoring".

"Big Brother" is watching
Lookout Tower at Firing Range portion of ICW

Maybe it was because I still had not had that nap I was looking for yesterday, but today I had a lot of trouble mustering up energy to do the chores that needed to be done and even more trouble keeping my eyes open when sitting on the fly bridge. Finally after lunch I succumbed and laid down on the bench seat and closed my eyes for a while.

Clark said I dozed through a very long and tedious section of the ICW - Bogue Sound. I guess that was good timing on my part.

Bogue Sound

We finally arrived at Beaufort just before 4:00 after seven plus hours of travel. I did some reading about attractions in Beaufort and found that Blackbeard's pirate ship Queen Anne's Revenge went down here. Given this notorious pirate plundered this area, it is no wonder that the tourism business here flourishes because of it.

Not quite the Queen Anne's Revenge
... Pirate Tours of Beaufort

As we walked down to the dock office to register, as well as later when we walked around town, we saw other pirate boats and pirate-led tours of the city.

The walk to the office was longer than I hoped. Meaning once again it is a very long walk to the restroom / showers. By the time we got to the end of the boardwalk where the office is located, we decided to just keep going for a walk around town to get a feel for the area. Besides restaurants, we scoped out the location and hours of the Maritime Museum for something to do tomorrow or the next day.

As we wandered around town, we found a store called Scuttlebutt selling "Nautical Books and Bounty". After a short look around, I decided it looked like a place that could take a long time to explore. I was hungry and had a headache and managed to convince Clark to go get some food before doing further study of the book store. When we left the store, I found someone local and asked for the "best ice cream in town" and was told to go to The General Store. We headed there for a treat.

Afterwards we went back to the book store and spent a good long time looking around. I found so many nautical fiction and non-fiction books there I could not decide which to buy. Other than historical romance novels, my favorite is historical nautical literature. I finally decided that I definitely wanted the story about Blackbeard.

I am not sure how much time we spent in the store, but by the time we came out, we decided to make our way to a pizza shop for dinner. The town dock gave us a book with menus for many of the restaurants in town. I found one of interest called "No Name Pizza" advertised as selling pizza so good it did not need a name. The fact that they had gourmet pizza with eggplant topping sold Clark on the idea of going there.

Walking the several blocks to the pizza restaurant, we passed a number of historical homes. Most date to some time in the 1800s, but some we saw were even older than that. I was somewhat fascinated by the smaller dwelling on the right side in the picture below. It is clearly used as an upstairs apartment today, but my question is what was it in the past. The building's roof is shaped something like a barn's roof, but the overall shape of the building seems far too narrow to be a barn.

C. 1860 home in Beaufort NC

We took a different route back to the boat from the restaurant and passed more interesting houses along the way.  Given the shapes and design of many of the homes we passed in this part of town, it appeared that the houses began as much smaller buildings and grew via extensions added over time. Some, however, were clearly large from day one.

Note the Widow Walk on the roof
where a sea captain's wife could watch for the return of her husband

As we walked back to the boat Clark walked faster and faster to try to get to the docks in time to grab his sunset picture. He barely made it back in time.

Tonight's sunset as seen from the stern of Sea Moss

We traveled a goodly distance today to get to Beaufort, North Carolina before tomorrow's predicted foul weather. We plan on staying put for a few days to let the bad weather pass. Every once in a while I like to convert our total nautical miles traveled to statute miles to put our distance travel into a measurement that I can relate to more easily than a nautical mile. A nautical mile equals 1.15 statute miles. Our distance traveled on the boat to date of more than 6100 miles is roughly equivalent to driving from Maine to Los Angeles, California and back again at approximately 10 miles per hour.