On Wed Nov 2, we continued to Beaufort, NC which is located along the coast.  It’s pronounced bo-fert not to be confused with Beaufort, SC which is pronounced bew-fert.  This marked the end of the inland portion of the ICW as the rest of the route is along the coast. 

It was windy (20-30 kts) when we arrived at the anchorage in Town Creek just north of Beaufort.  While looking for a place to anchor, we found the bottom for the first time this trip.  Fortunately, it was soft mud and we backed off easily with the knowledge of where not to anchor.  For non sailors, there are two types of sailors, those who admit to running aground and liars.  Because of the wind, we did not want to leave Island Time at anchor so we stayed aboard.

On Thursday, Nov 3, we put the dinghy in the water and went to Beaufort, NC.  There is a nice dinghy dock for cruisers.  The town houses an impressive maritime museum which is free.  There were many exhibits on the different types of boats used in NC along the coast, life saving exhibit which showed the equipment used for rescue people from ships wrecked near the shore and artifacts from the recently discovered wreck of “Queen Ann’s Revenge” which was the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship.

We had a great lunch at Spouter Inn along the waterfront.  As the day was warm and sunny, we sat outside on the deck overlooking the harbor.

We left Beaufort on Friday to continue the journey south.  This next section of the ICW passes thru Camp Lejune, which is a large Marine boot camp.  There are warning signs at the camp entrance to stop boats when there is live fire training along the beach area.  Fortunately for us, there was no live five training that day.  We anchored for the night in Mile Hammock Bay which is actually part of Camp Lejune where the Marines train for amphibious landings.  There is a mock up of a ship in the bay that is used for training.

The next stop was Wrightsville Beach on Saturday, Nov 5.  We were in our fist traffic jam on the trip.  The bridge at Wrightsville Beach opens only on the hour so there was a backup ahead of the bridge, but it was nothing compared to the backup after the bridge where there is a marina located along side the ICW.  We needed to turn left to go into the channel to the anchorage at the beach and thought we needed a traffic light to get across the ICW into the channel.

Wrightsville Beach is a good stop with a cruiser friendly dinghy dock, grocery store and Pizza store.  We ate at Vito’s Pizza on Saturday evening.  Finding a Pizza shop has been rare, so, this was a treat.  We met a cruising couple from Mass., who spent the last winter in the Bahamas and they gave us many suggestions for a successful cruise.

Sunday was grocery shopping after a long walk for exercise.  There is a sports bar in Wrightsville Beach, so I went there to watch some football (with $1.50 16 oz. draft beers).  Of course, the Carolina Panthers was the featured team but this place had about 10 tv’s showing other games along with NASCAR and the NYC Marathon.  There was a NY Giants fan in the place so I had a good time.  Genie stayed on Island Time and finished her book.  Unfortunately, I did not get to see the Giants win their sixth game of the season.  Go Giants!!!

Monday morning Nov 7, we left Wrightsville Beach to continue our journey.  We went down the Cape Fear River for about 10 miles with a current of 2 kts against us so that was a slow trip.  That night we stayed at St James Marina near Southport, NC.  The weather was beautiful with warm sunshine and temps in the 80’s.  We decided to give Island Time a good cleaning on the exterior to remove the salt and dirt from the decks and hull.  This took up Monday afternoon and Tuesday.