Weather

Beaufort is a great place. A little sleepy and quiet, but lovely. The marina is adjacent to the "main drag" so we have been able to walk everywhere. On Tuesday we visited the North Carolina Maritime Museum after we had a nice lunch on the water. We also walked around town and saw lots of the historic homes (from the outside). Like everywhere, there are a ton of homes for sale - it seemed like every other home (historic or not) had a sign out front. Bill and I popped in and out of some of the shops before heading back to the boat.

On Wednesday we did errands. There is a great laundromat right across the street so I was able to do three loads of laundry at once. We also borrowed the marina courtesy car and went food shopping and to CVS. Wednesday night we had steak and salad on board and watched TV. We have been having early nights lately. 6:00 feels like it is 11:00 for some reason....

So, Thursday (today) is the day that Tommy was supposed to fly into New Bern from Boston to help Bill and me take Mary Elizabeth on the outside straight from Beaufort to Charleston. However, earlier this week, after repeatedly checking the weather forecasts and talking to Cap' Dave, Bill decided that the timing just wouldn't work and we will continue south via the ICW and skip the Atlantic Ocean (for now). The winds were predicted to be a little too strong (20-25), and the waves just a little too high (5-7 ft) at small interval (every 7 seconds). It would have made for a less than ideal trip. And we really are in no rush. Our only goal is to be in Boca around the third week in December. Why push it. We are disappointed that we will not see Tommy (and thank him even though things didn't work out), but I am glad that Bill decided to continue our journey via the ICW - I am enjoying it!

So we had plans to leave early on Thursday morning and try to make it to Wrightsville Beach, NC (which would have been a fairly long day for us) via the ICW. We knew going to bed on Wednesday that it might be a "no go" since the weather was supposed to be bad, although we decided if it was only rain we would suck it up and go. Early Thursday morning when we woke up the radar showed an awful lot of rain and thunderstorms heading our way. We agreed to stay put in Beaufort for another day. The weather for Friday and Saturday is not supposed to be much better, so we'll take it day by day.

We have pretty much spent the entire day below since it has rained hard all day -- so hard that we couldn't see past the entrance to the inlet. And at least one boat on anchor was dragging. the big excitement for the day has been a large (10+) pod of dolphins apparently feeding on something in the harbor. They have been around all day swimming and playing. When it hasn't been pouring, we have sat topside to watch them and have been thoroughly entertained.