Jan 3, 2023 Point Lookout --> Beaufort

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Point Lookout is earning a spot on our list of favorite places.  Beautiful sunrises, lots of dolphin & birds breakfasting around us, miles of lovely beaches to walk, the charming lighthouse, wild ponies on the shore...... 




We enjoyed a long walk along the beach throwing the frisbee for the dog and looking at shells.  

We're always at the mercy of the weather forecast. A storm is supposed to whip up in late afternoon, so we need to move to a more sheltered anchorage.  Around the corner is the town of Beaufort NC, where we vacationed by land when our kids were small.  

First order of business was to find fuel. We landed the boat on the fuel dock in a raging cross current, then we’re informed that in spite of the large "GAS HERE" sign,   the fuel dock was not selling fuel to the public, only to the ferries. Ok then.  We sat on the dock while making phone calls to find fuel.   One place had only diesel, another nothing, then found a place just about a half mile away that had the gasoline we needed. 

We then spent a few minutes building a plan to get the boat off the dock in the 4 knots of current running diagonally under the bow. We did a test run to see if our plan might work, and then made the decision to go for it. Once that last line was dropped there was no back up plan,  we had to fully commit and go hard. But the plan worked very smoothly and we were away.  

We headed around the corner to the marina that did have fuel. On the phone the marina asked several questions about the boat to make sure we wanted gasoline and not diesel, then asked about our size. They asked to give them a few minutes and then we call on the radio when we were nearing the marina. Turns out they were moving boats out of the way to make room for us. As we talked on the radio they gave us very crisp step by step instructions to navigate us around a maze of obstacles, including shallow water and strange floating obstacles. Next they had us pull up to a bulkhead at the end of long dead end channel.  We rotated the boat 90 degrees to come on to the bulkhead, carefully avoiding the expensive boats on either side. The available bulk head had about 45 feet width to turn our 38 foot long boat in. It was slow and steady, and all went smoothly. 

We filled the boat fuel tanks while chatting with the marina crew, who told stories of oystering on the Rappahanock River. They knew right where our home waters of the Corrottoman are. 

Once fueled we carefully turned the boat again to get off the bulkhead. The marina crew managed a line on our stern to help us twist the boat and then once again we were away. 

We returned to Taylor Creek to anchor. The anchor settled on the second try. We hope to sit here a few days. 

The downtown Beaufort business district is directly opposite our spot on Taylor Creek. On the other side of the creek is an island that is part of the National Seashore, with wild horses grazing along the beach. 

We are still tired from our overnight run, so we were asleep long before "Cruiser's midnight" (i.e. 9PM)

Comments

Lynn and Ed said…
Beautiful pictures! Extreme docking, making sure you don’t get bored.
January 5, 2023 at 7:59 PM
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