January 4-5, 2023 Beaufort

By
At sunrise the wild ponies were grazing on the salt grass just in front of the boat. They would appear several times during the day only a short distance away. 
Sam and Brent went ashore near by being careful to maintain separation from the ponies. Sam was pretty much oblivious of the ponies, focused on other dog business. She did find an octopus washed up by the tide, and squeezed in a quick shoulder roll before being reprimanded. Great way to start the day. 
Next up was taking advantage of the very nearby laundromat. Our practice is to never pass up a convenient laundry.  So we loaded up the dinghy and headed to the opposite shore and into the town of Beaufort. The laundry is in the back of a clothing store. Brent got the laundry running then went for coffee and a pastry in the shop next door. Here the coffee shop is the business in front half of the building and a distillery is in the back as separate business. See the trend here?  There is a quite a variety of businesses tucked into a few blocks of Front Street in downtown Beaufort. At the laundry we met Donna, a sister cruiser doing exactly what we are doing. We also met Ariella and Scott, with their tike Silas, young cruisers anchored not far from Second Star, out for their morning expedition. 

After taking the now clean laundry back to Second Star we immediately returned to town for the 2 mile walk to Piggly Wiggly for a few misc sundries.  
Sam had now been walked all over town and was ready for a nap. We had developed our plan for tomorrow and spent the afternoon getting ready for our next offshore hop.   There's still a lot of organizing to do in the galley. We've been able to find everything we need, but there's always a better way to grojp or store the food.

Sam wanted another trip ashore late in the afternoon,  then got returned to the boat while Lois and Brent went back to town for dinner. We close the companionway and she happily stays in the starboard hull laying in the bunk with a toy, even if she's miffed that she didn't get to go along to town.

After returning to the boat from the fifth trip ashore today the dinghy was hoisted onto the davits and made ready for offshore.   We will mix up a small casserole that can be popped into the oven tomorrow while we're underway and nobody really wants to be down in the galley.  It's always good to keep the captain and crew well fed!

We have enjoyed our time here “relaxing”. Beautiful weather is calling us back to sea. 



Comments

Jane said…
So happy to hear that Sam is adapting to the sailing life!
January 6, 2023 at 11:06 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 2-4, 2023 Myrtle Beach to Cape Lookout

By
Image
 We slipped away from our place on the dock after three nights at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and turned into the ICW heading north. An hour later we turned into Little River Inlet to pass into the open Atlantic Ocean.   We sailed north about 30 miles before returning to the ICW via Cape Fear River.  The Cape Fear River was in flood tide, which was very helpful making 15 miles north to Carolina Beach.  We took a mooring provided by the city of Carolina Beach after talking on the phone with Larry the Dockmaster who is just about the friendliest guy you ever met. He was very welcoming.  Sam was anxious for some shore time, so we dinghy-ed to the town dock and walked 1 block to the ocean beach. She seemed happy to ve back near the surf. On our last visit Larry told us the best burger in town could be found at the gas station next to the dinghy dock. We enjoyed it last time & it seemed like a good way to shortcut dinner while also filling our fuel jugs. ...
Read more

Fri Sept 11 Patuxtent River to Little Choptank

By
Image
We woke up to a ruckus.  These two were being quite chatty and apparently we were anchored near their tree.  They would jabber to each other, fly off to do some fishing, then come back to the tree to brag about their catch and, undoubtedly, the one that got away. We had some nice sailing leaving the Patuxent River, light rain with the sun peaking through now & then.  The skies began to darken and the wind picked up about 3 hours into the sail.  We ended up skating though 4-6 foot seas with 17-20 kt windsfor the rest of the day.  Lots of waves over the bow, a few crashing up over the cockpit windows.  We received a text message from friends Ed & Lynn that they were anchored in the Little Choptank River.  We were not far (as the crow flies) from there, and decided to join them. A few more hours of navigating the rough water and we dropped our anchor 100 feet away from them just at dusk.  They kindly invited us over for snacks ...
Read more

Day 22 & 23 Glouster, Mass- A Brief Intermission....

By
Image
When we arrived in Gloucester, MA Sunday afternoon it was incredibly hot, part of a heat wave involving most of the nation.  We turned on air conditioning; it was lovely. Monday we had planned to relax and not move the boat, waiting for more favorable winds to allow us to move north.  That turned out to be a good call, because I was feeling under the weather and slept most of the day.  Brent made me some pizza for dinner and we played a couple rounds of cribbage. (He won as usual.)  Sometime in the evening it started to rain, and continued to pour down all night. We needed to pull out a quilt to sleep under. Tuesday morning the rain had washed the boat thoroughly, and instead of being unbearably hot we were digging into our cooler weather clothes for sweaters and wool socks. What a change! We grabbed a lull in the rain to take Shelby ashore and explore.  We walked for a couple hours in a mostly light rain.  We toured downtown Glouchester, enjoying th...
Read more