Days on Cruise: 27
Miles Today: 42.2
Travel Time Today: 5 hours, 6 mins
Total Odometer: 833 statute miles
It was a shorter journey today than usual. We were the first boat to arrive at yesterday’s anchorage in Camp LeJeune (Mile Hammock Bay), and by the time we went to bed there were 3 sailboats and 2 other trawlers anchored there. We were the last to leave this morning at 8:00. Four miles into today’s trip we encountered a bridge with only 12-foot clearance (we need 19 feet), so had to time our every-30-minutes-bridge-opening, and we figure with that, plus the shallow waters through 25 miles of Bogue Sound (at high tide early, but low tide later) meant that all the sailboats needed to get an early start with their deeper drafts. One trawler larger than ours admitted on the VHF radio that they had trouble yesterday finding the center of the channel and touched bottom at one point, so they followed us for the first 30 miles today, perhaps figuring if we didn’t have any trouble, they wouldn’t either. And we didn’t.
Bogue Sound was another one of those strange (to our West Coast eyes) places where we were in the very wide ICW channel all day with depths of 6 – 18 feet beneath our hull, but JUST outside the channel, it’s charted at 1-2 feet deep at Mean Low Tide. The photo above depicts how unlikely this seems! We’ve seen several “fishing shacks” like the one below.
We settled in at Beaufort Docks marina for two nights so we can experience another historical, lively city. For the first time, we used a “courtesy car”, one of the benefits offered by some marinas: a free loaner car usually available for an hour or so to make a run for groceries, West Marine or the hardware store. Take a look at this rig! The photo makes it look good, but this car has seen a long life already!
When we returned the car, we told the guy they should hand out Dramamine along with the keys, as it took us for quite a ride! But we were very, very appreciative for its use.
We ate dinner in town at Clawson's 1905 and couldn’t believe the check: $27.52 for two dinners and three beers! Can’t get that in Olalla, WA where we live. And it was even tasty food with decent beer.
Too bad the rest of the city is not similarly value-priced. The City Marina is $2.30 a foot, plus electric, and most of the resturants here seem quite pricey for cruisers, mid $20-$40 per entrée.
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