A calm, peaceful night. Two brief pre-dawn showers. 6:20 raise anchor and under power.
Working agains the wind and the tide. Sunny and surprisingly warm for this time of year. Three large power boats coming up the canal from Beaufort, each one slows down to reduce wake as they pass. I tip my hat and say thanks to each one.
7:50 I look to the stern and see a tug pushing to side-by-side barges on the canal. They are moving faster than SPARTINA and will probably pass us a mile or so up ahead where the canal narrows at a bridge. Just then I see a sign for Sea Gate Marina, a nice compact marina just off the west side of the ICW. I take the turn into the marina, tie up for some gas and maybe cold drinks, and to let the tug and barges pass by.
8:35 cast off from Sea Gate. Back on the canal the traffic has cleared. Dark clouds to the south so I check my storm app and see it is an isolated thunderstorm that should be gone by the time I reach Beaufort.
9:45 leaving the south end of the canal and entering the Newport River. Windy and lots of chop, plus a series of power boats coming up from both Beaufort and Morehead City. I need to round up in the narrow channel to raise sail but can't find a break between the string of boats. It is low tide and there is no room to raise sail outside the channel.
I keep looking for a gap between boats and can't find one. Dark clouds are moving in, the wind building and a steep chop rolls across the channel. I finally resign myself to getting to Beaufort under power.
10:30 the dark clouds slide off to the east, blue skies and calmer. Pass under the bridge to Beaufort and slip by the shrimp boats along shore. Docked on the Beaufort waterfront 11:15.
At the dock house I pay for two nights and get my two wooden nickels, each good for a beer.
Lunch is right there at the dock house, a nice burger and fries sitting up on the second story porch overlooking the waterfront.
After lunch I walk across the street to a little shop that sells hats and does custom embroidery. I've long resisted getting anything with SPARTINA's name on it. But after 17 years and thousands of miles of sailing, maybe SPARTINA has earned her props.
The kind woman at the store uses a computer to choose fonts and design the embroidery. And I am very pleased with the results.
14.38 NM
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