It was a great week in Beaufort despite temperatures and wind chill that had locals shaking their heads and which we would have considered normal back in upstate New York this time of year.
Friends of Dreameagle’s drove up from Wilmington our first day for lunch. On the second, Jibes138 and his wife drove in to take us on a driving tour to Harker’s Island. The National Park Service Cape Lookout visitor center and the museum next door are well worth a car rental for anyone stopping in this area.
Standing on the museum observation deck, we watched the front which brought freezing temperatures sweep in on “wrath of God” clouds and then dashed through the rain to the car. We got a thorough briefing over beers and dinner about the whole area which puts spending at least a week here next fall on Plan A.
The following day was too cold for walking around, even after our spending the depth of the winter in Albany. We rented a car and took a driving tour out to Cedar Island. Driving back to Beaufort and looking across Core Sound at the outer banks islands, I kept glimpsing large white objects on the dunes. I knew there isn’t any development or large buildings out there so I pulled the car over for a better look. The objects appeared and disappeared. We realized that we were looking at solid spray thrown up by the swells from the huge low that just pummeled Cape Cod. These were about the size I would have expected a four x story building to appear from that distance.
We then drove back across the ICW and over the bridge to Atlantic Beach for a walk in a little visited nature preserve and tour of Fort Macon.
The next day was slightly warmer with beautiful sun but we had the rental car so spent it doing laundry and re-provisioning. The holding tank needed to be pumped out so, after dropping off the car, we made the fifteen minute voyage over to the town dock. After pump out, we moved to the fuel dock where a couple who had been walking around the waterfront came down to help us dock. I’m normally wary of docking “help” since well meaning bystanders tend to grab a line and heave it tight, messing up the whole operation. These two did it remarkably competently which was appreciated in the strong current.
This turned into a very strange encounter. The fellow asked if I was Roger Long. I admitted as such and we invited them aboard. I have in the cabin, a picture of a woman I knew long ago which was taken at sea just a few days before the wooden ketch was rolled in a Gulf Stream storm and severely damaged. They got blown past Bermuda and worked the vessel into Green Turtle Key in the Bahamas. About six months later, the woman disappeared at sea while out alone on another boat. It turned out that the fellow who picked up our docklines took the picture!
We returned to Jibe138’s slip pondering the strange improbabilities and possibilities of the universe.
Friends of Dreameagle’s drove up from Wilmington our first day for lunch. On the second, Jibes138 and his wife drove in to take us on a driving tour to Harker’s Island. The National Park Service Cape Lookout visitor center and the museum next door are well worth a car rental for anyone stopping in this area.
Standing on the museum observation deck, we watched the front which brought freezing temperatures sweep in on “wrath of God” clouds and then dashed through the rain to the car. We got a thorough briefing over beers and dinner about the whole area which puts spending at least a week here next fall on Plan A.
The following day was too cold for walking around, even after our spending the depth of the winter in Albany. We rented a car and took a driving tour out to Cedar Island. Driving back to Beaufort and looking across Core Sound at the outer banks islands, I kept glimpsing large white objects on the dunes. I knew there isn’t any development or large buildings out there so I pulled the car over for a better look. The objects appeared and disappeared. We realized that we were looking at solid spray thrown up by the swells from the huge low that just pummeled Cape Cod. These were about the size I would have expected a four x story building to appear from that distance.
We then drove back across the ICW and over the bridge to Atlantic Beach for a walk in a little visited nature preserve and tour of Fort Macon.
The next day was slightly warmer with beautiful sun but we had the rental car so spent it doing laundry and re-provisioning. The holding tank needed to be pumped out so, after dropping off the car, we made the fifteen minute voyage over to the town dock. After pump out, we moved to the fuel dock where a couple who had been walking around the waterfront came down to help us dock. I’m normally wary of docking “help” since well meaning bystanders tend to grab a line and heave it tight, messing up the whole operation. These two did it remarkably competently which was appreciated in the strong current.
This turned into a very strange encounter. The fellow asked if I was Roger Long. I admitted as such and we invited them aboard. I have in the cabin, a picture of a woman I knew long ago which was taken at sea just a few days before the wooden ketch was rolled in a Gulf Stream storm and severely damaged. They got blown past Bermuda and worked the vessel into Green Turtle Key in the Bahamas. About six months later, the woman disappeared at sea while out alone on another boat. It turned out that the fellow who picked up our docklines took the picture!
We returned to Jibe138’s slip pondering the strange improbabilities and possibilities of the universe.