Anchor up and under power at 5:50 after a wonderfully calm and peaceful night. It is very cold and a mist hangs over the water. Water running past the crab pot markers tell me I have a helping tide. 6:30 still in the shade of the trees along shore and I shiver in the morning chill.
Sun finally up over over the top of the trees, it feels good. GPS shows I'm getting about an extra knot with the tide. Just after 7:00 pass ICW marker 195. 7:50 on Core Creek leading into the Newport River, round up and raise full sail.
A steady N wind and making 4.0. 8:45 following the winding path of the channel as it curves to the east then turns southwest between Gallants Point and an oyster farm where watermen are doing some harvesting.
9:00 pass under the new high-rise bridge and glad to not have to wait for an opening of the old lift bridge.
We round near the marked shoals at the west end of Taylor Creek, drop the sails. There's a running tide and I have to compensate for it as we pass a big boat heading into the docks. 9:30 tied up at the small boat docks. I walk down to the dock house, pay for one night in the slip and get my two wooden nickels in exchange.
I get rid of the trash, top off the water bottles and clean up SPARTINA. Lots of people on the boardwalk and I spend lots of time answering questions about the boat and the trip. Crab cake for lunch at Finz on the waterfront. In the afternoon I trade a wooden nickel for a beer at the deckhouse and catch up on the log while sitting at a picnic table in the waterfront park. I check the tides for tomorrow. Ebb tide at dawn, perfect to carry me out out Beaufort Inlet and then catch the flood tide into Cape Lookout Bight.
Dinner at Ribeyes steak house, and I crawl into the sleeping bag.
14.26 NM for the day
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