Yes, Virginia, There Is A Sawnsboro, North Carolina!

SHIP'S LOG:

One thing I forgot to mentioned in yesterday's blog was the dolphins. Not the pilings they tie boats to but the mammals that swim in the sea. You know, like Flipper. I would have to surmise that there are some that are partial to rivers and bays because Morehead City has a bunch of them.It is a little freaky the first time you encounter them. you just catch a glimpse and you can figure out quite what they are. Then they come by the boat in pairs or in a group and it is really delightful. Of course you have to be careful less you slip out of the channel and go aground. One dolphin stopped by for a visit when I was aground awaiting my good friends from Towboat/US and I even got a "call" from it or whatever they call the sound they make. I don't know what it meant but. considering my situation at the time, it probably wasn't all that complimentary.

Last night was uncomfortable. The wind kept shifting and there was a lot of rolling and yawing. I found that the anchor rode and the anchor weight had become entangled. I evidently let the weight down to far and with the wind shifts the entanglement was easy. I was watching the GPS plotter and the track showed that we were dragging if ever so slowly. I had to go up on deck in the cold dark, pull in the anchor weight, untangle it from the anchor rode, play out the rode and back down the boat to be sure of a good bite, and then reset the anchor weight on a short length. I still was not that happy with the way the boat was ridding and didn't sleep all that well. There really must be some current running through Bogue Sound and the Harbor at Morehead City/ Beaufort. The boat wasn't so much laying to the wind and quartering it. It didn't feel right, it didn't ride right, it didn't look right. But ABISHAG was still where she had been the night before when the morning came so it really wasn't that bad.

The other sailor who had gotten stuck in the place where I got stuck was getting an early start as I was sitting in the cockpit having my morning coffee and watching the sun come up, wondering how many people remembered to set their clocks back an hour. I called out to him and told him that I had gotten stuck in the same place an hour before he did. He said he couldn't understand the problem. The inlet had been fine the last time he used it . . . . 20 years before!

I was up and off the hook by 9:30 and found that yes, there is one heck of a current in Bogue Sound. With the engine barely running above idle, the GPS said we were doing 7knots. The wind was gust to 20-25 and with Bogue Sound boasting a depth of 4feet outside the ICW, it wasn't a day for sailing, nor sunbathing. Man, it was cold. I had on so many layers I could hardly move.

The trip down Bouge Sound was interesting. On one side you had the mainland and a lot of nice homes and small "villages. If you want to fish, this would be the place to live. The other side wasa series of small sandbar islands that lined the the ICW. Beyond them was the sound itself.It was picturesque and peaceful and you really got taken in by all you saw around you.

Encountered the Coast Guard Zodiac stopping to help out a Towboat/US response boat. That's different. The Coasties then sped of and I encountered them a mile further on where they had "pulled over" a boater for a safety check and I don't think he was doing too well.

I finally got to Swansboro about 2pm and pulled in and anchored just beyond the channel and in front of a low highway bridge. On this part of the ICW, the anchor spots are few and so you mark them on your chart and you set your day's goal as the first post noon anchor spot you can get to that isn't overwhelmed with boaters. The boats with speed go from marina to marina. we slower boats go from anchorage to anchorage with a marina thrown in. The next few days the anchorages are thin, few in number. I have a feeling that I am going to come up short one of these days and then it will be interesting to see what i have to do for the night. The good thing is that it is headed up into the the 60's & 70's next week. Bad news is that I have to pass the Camp LeJeune ( Marine Corps) firing range which crosses the ICW. They flash amber lights when you should go past a certain point. Good planing that!