Distance: 21 nm/Time: 4 hrs
I departed Northwest Creek Marina just before 9 am on November 25th, a sunny, calm day spent motoring down the Neuse River to abeam Oriental, then a turn down Adam’s Creek to the Royal Thurman anchorage. This was purposely a short day. The weather forecast looked favorable for an offshore run from the Beaufort Inlet to perhaps as far south as Charleston, but getting to the inlet was more than a single day’s journey, especially when I needed to wait for the marina to open in the morning so the dockhands could help me get out of the slip. So, I would need to find an anchorage somewhere halfway.
And, because it had been two weeks already since I’d had the bottom professionally cleaned at the marina, I wanted to give it a quick rub down and needed time in the afternoon to do that, so picked an anchorage that was only four hours away.
The water was quite cold by this point, and I could only spend about 20 minutes underwater, despite wearing a shortie wetsuit and hood which I had ordered while in Ohio (and without which I would not have been able get in the water). The limiting factor wasn’t so much my core as much as my fingers starting to go numb to the point I worried I would not be able to pull myself up the swim ladder. To myu surprise, in just two weeks the boat had already accumulated scattered small barnacles which required mild scraping to get off. I made sure the prop and rudder were clear and cleaned about 75% of the rest of the hull before I had to get out. I then spent a couple of hours under the electric blanket trying to bring my body temperature somewhere back to normal. Some soup for dinner and then to bed.