Onward to Morehead City

Swansboro to Morehead City, North Carolina – 21 nautical miles sailed, 10 kilometres walked, 2 miles in dinghy

It seems we might be outpacing the good weather. We were off anchor and headed up the ICW by 6:15 am and it was cold. So cold that I needed to pull out my Peter’s Café Sport bunny hug, Moosehead toque, Carhartt long pants, socks, and slippers. All these garments had been long since retired to various hidden chambers in SeaLight, but I had to dig them all out after stepping into the cockpit in shorts and seeing every single one of my leg hairs instantly needle. The cold put me in winter meal mode so I ate instant oatmeal and toast for breakfast, a cold weather meal if there ever was one. Despite the temperature, it was an enjoyable run with clear, bright skies and little boat traffic. I spotted many dolphins as I looked out over the waters, enjoying the sounds of my favourite trip hop playlist oozing from the cockpit speakers.

Four hours later we arrived at an anchorage near Morehead City to a 30-knot wind that had been slowly building for the last couple hours of the trip. Morehead City is directly across from the town of Beaufort, connected by a high bridge. The last time through this area we had anchored near Beaufort, so this time we wanted to try the other side of the tracks in pursuit of our goal of covering as much new ground as possible on the ride home.

Our plan today was to do laundry. Yep, when cruising, doing laundry is the only plan you need for a day. I did not like the look of the water as the high winds were hitting the opposing tidal current creating large standing waves. I knew the dinghy could handle it, and the ride into shore wasn’t too far, but I expected we were going to get a little wet. Surprisingly, we remained dry, found a dinghy tie up at a waterside restaurant, and were soon walking down a busy commercial street and I was almost immediately herded into a thrift store by my good lady wife who was pining for some retail therapy and human contact after being stuck on the boat for days. I usually just wait at the door of these places, but today I had a look around and found three great books for two bucks each: Stephen Hawking’s answers to ten Big Questions, a Stretching Journal (Ana agreed to stretch daily with me), and a novel called Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx. I thought the accordion itself was a crime, so we’ll see what kind of spin she puts on the old squeezebox.

While the clothes were spinning in the washing machines we walked over to Loretta’s Pizzeria and ordered the daily special of a medium pepperoni and cheese for twelve bucks, plus a buck or two for drinks making it the cheapest lunch we’ve had in months. And it was delicious. While we waited for the drying cycle Ana picked up a few things at the Dollar General and I bought a fuel funnel at the local hardware store as the one I usually use had gone missing. On the way back, we stopped at a thrift store on the other side of the street where I found a comfy couch to read my book while Ana browsed. One thing we noticed about Morehead city was the abundance of public art - elaborately decorated benches, fish sculptures, murals, all of which had been incorporated into busy commercial areas. We liked the town more than Beaufort, which felt too much like a tourist trap.

Our final retail stop was at a marine canvas place. Remember the other day in St. Augustine when we got a heart-attack quote of $800 to replace two of the Strataglass panels in our bimini enclosure? Well, since then we’ve been on the hunt for Strataglass material we can use to do it ourselves and have had no luck as none of the canvas makers want to sell it. But today, a lovely lady named Missy who runs the Salty Penny canvas shop with her husband listened to our story and sold us an entire roll of the Strataglass material we need, which will be enough to replace the two problem panels plus spare for two or maybe even four more. 

Before returning to the boat with our treasures, we stopped for a drink and a snack at the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant where we’d tied the dinghy. Our table had a radiant heater overhead and it felt divine as we enjoyed our drinks and platter of cheese and bacon French fries and chatted with the staff. The folks here in North Carolina have a very strong southern accent and it’s a little tricky to pick up when they are saying sometimes so you really have to tune your ear.

Back at the boat Ana got to work testing her sewing machine and getting it tuned for the job (yes, there was some swearing and puffing of breath), but we ran out of time to start work on the panels so saved it for tomorrow morning and instead finished up the day with a great call to our buddy Andrew, who was hiding out in Fort Myers, also avoiding the rotten weather in Canada.