Sunset over Bogue Banks as we approach Beaufort Inlet.
Things improved marginally Tuesday after we rounded the Cape Romaine Shoal. While the ride was uncomfortable, nether of us wanted to divert to Winyah Bay and arrive in the dark, so we opted to continue on our original route, proceeding direct to the Frying Pan Slue Channel, in the hopes things would improve. We could revisit diverting to Cape Fear at the 0300 change of watch.
We bounced all the way through dinner, with periodic complaints from the cat, who mostly spent the whole cruise curled up in her new Epson Printer box in the middle of the saloon, where the motion was better. After dinner, Louise turned in early, and I settled in for a long night. Of course, the Internet disappeared just as my watch started, and I ended up firing up the DirecTV and watching Law and Order all night.
We crossed paths with USCGC Dependable a few hours out of Beaufort. We were close enough that I had to make passing arrangements by radio; large ships almost never get this close.
Things did improve gradually throughout my watch. I saw no traffic for the entire seven hours, and the only excitement was running into the saloon periodically to clean up after the cat. By the three a.m. watch change the combination of slight improvement and our becoming inured to the motion had us deciding to continue through the slue and on to Beaufort.
When I came back on watch at 0900 there had been a marked improvement, although still a bit of staccato bounce to the ride. But conditions continued to improve throughout the day, and by dinner time it was almost comfortable. We got our Internet back a few hours before landfall, and we ate dinner in sight of the channel buoys. The sun set just as we turned into the ship channel, and we had the anchor down by the Coast Guard station in the last of the twilight, after do-si-doing around a dredge operation.
This morning's view of the Coast Guard Station and Fort Macon Park. Inlet to the left.
The dredge operation provided a bit of schadenfreude entertainment after dark, as we heard the dredge operator trying to wave off an inbound sailboat who was on the wrong side. The dredge had all its light operating properly, and the "danger" side was well off-channel to the red. The dredge kept telling the sailboat skipper to move to the green side, and, I kid you not, the skipper asked "is that my left or my right?" All of this left us with our jaws agape and shaking our heads. We went out on deck as the boat passed us to make sure he wasn't going to hit us.
We only have a short window to cross Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds in decent conditions. Last time through we had to take the inland route instead, and not wanting a repeat, we got under way first thing this morning. We'll be anchored somewhere in Pamlico Sound tonight, or if we can keep our speed made good up, we might even go all the way in to Ocracoke for the night. Wherever we stop, tomorrow will be a long day to the North River, but it's all open water and Otto will be driving.
No trip along this part of the ICW is complete for us without crossing paths with tug Pamlico, whom we've seen now many times. I once posted about her here and we got a blog comment from the skipper's wife.
The Neuse River may be "called" a river; but it's not like any river we were familiar with. It was wide and wild when went through. LOL
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