Today was mostly rainy as a cold front came through Beaufort.
I took advantage of the weather to relax, catch up on blogging, investigate what hurricane Beryl was doing, and talking with Nicholay about the threat it posed to him in Isla Mujeres. I also called the Oriental marina to see about slip availability, and was able to reserve a slip starting tomorrow for a few days or a week. There is going to be some kind of big “Croaker” festival there on the 5th and 6th, so I’ll probably stay at least through that.
I’m getting a slip there for a few reasons. The first is that Oriental has always been the intermediate goal for me when heading north, so it’s a way of celebrating me finally making it there. Oriental is a very cool, VERY sailing-oriented town, and I just want to hang out there for a few days. I also have friends there. Additionally, I need to clean the boat, top off my freshwater, do laundry, get groceries, and a few other things that it’s just easier to do at a marina. I’ll also be able to treat myself to a few days of air conditioning. Although the passage of the cold front left it in the upper 70’s here today, it’s supposed to be in the mid-90’s this week in Oriental.
I did sneak a quick trip into town this afternoon to visit the North Carolina Maritime Museum, which was recommended to me (and was free), so it seemed obligatory to visit before I leave. It seemed very nice,
with a bunch of stuff about pirates in general and Blackbird (who operated out of this area) specifically. But I found that I was suddenly very tired and couldn’t really concentrate on anything. Then I noticed in a back corner, the library!
A whole library (including a second, balcony level that is not shown here), all dedicated to nautical history (which I’ve been “into” for quite awhile, now). It was totally overwhelming! I didn’t know where to start. So instead, I sat in one of the chairs and just went to sleep. Lol. I could spend in year in that library! So much knowledge to gain! Libraries have always been a contradiction like that for me: amazing places that I like because I love to learn, but also frustrating because there’s too much there to ever absorb.
After waking up, I grabbed an ice cream cone from one of the four (4) ice cream places in town and paddled back to the boat to start prepping for a morning departure up to Oriental. It’s only about a 4-5 hour trip (20 miles) up Adam’s Creek. I’ll stop about halfway at a marina to top off my fuel, and arrive to my slip in Oriental late afternoon.
Hopefully, my anchor will come up clean!
What an amazing adventure, Barry!
🙂