Beaufort North Carolina

Beaufort Our fridge died. Our last morning in New Bern NC, Janine went to the fridge to get milk and as she opened the lid she was met with a wave of warm, scented air. Well…. 4 days at Oriental’s “Sailcraft Service” boat yard, and a couple of “boat bucks” we are the proud new owners of a new fridge compressor and evaporator. We have yet to make ice cubes, but have frozen some chicken, and cooled a few beers. Leaving Oriental was bittersweet, we had been in the area for 2 weeks. Jimmy, the owner of the Inland Waterway Provisioning Company, had decorated a flat deck trailer for Halloween, and taken about 30 or so kids out trick or treating. The kids loved it! The night before several of us left, a bunch of boaters gathered for a drink. In all there were 16 boat kids between 3 and 15 yrs old. It was cold, everyone was wearing jackets and fleece, and sox!!! Rebecca was even wearing a fleece scarf. I hope we will stay in contact with everyone, and see all the kids further down the road. The next morning, on the way to Oriental NC, Adams Creek contained a small pod of dolphins. The kids were up on the bow watching, but none of the dolphins wanted to play. Later in the day, in Russel Slough close to Beaufort, we saw a bunch more dolphins, and in the anchorage at Beaufort, we saw Andy from San-I-Ti rowing his dinghy with dolphins all around him. He was very excited, and so were we when the dolphins came very close to our boat. Shackleford Bank, also known as Carrot Island, is home to a herd of wild horses, we were moored right beside it and were able to see a few of them grazing on the sea grass. Beaufort is one of the towns that I would like to spend more time at. The local who rented us the mooring said “Where else can you have a cold beer with a pretty girl and look out and see dolphins, wild horses and a beautiful sunset all in the same line of sight……. It just doesn’t get any better than that.” All too soon it was time to go.