Morehead City and Beaufort NC

Hamish enjoying the rain.

Morehead City and Beaufort are right next to each other and quite a destination for boaters and commercial boating traffic. We sailed into the big river and turnaround there for big boats. At one point we had a para glider try to commit suicide on our mast. Idiots. This was the second time someone tried to commit suicide on our boat. The first was a stupid 18 year old boy skiing who thought it would be clever to 'scare' us.....he came within 5 feet of our boat going as fast as the tow boat would drag him........geeesh.

Anyway we pulled into Town Creek Marina where they were very nice....a bit of a problem with their communication but all in all was a nice stay. As we approached their transient dock, as promised there was the dock hand waving at us. Barry had the approach perfect...this was going to be a great docking.......wait! Where is the dockhand going???? He was there one minute smiling at us and waving us on and now he is......he is at another dock helping some trawler named Bubbles position spring lines on their already secured trawler. Granted the dock hand was just a kid, someones kid and I could see what had happened. Bubbles owner demanded help and the kid was too polite to say hang on while I get this (our) boat (with no bow thrusters like the trawler) and as I suspected and found out later, the owners were obnoxious, demanding YANKEES. So we had to circle, call the marina back on the radio which they did not answer........I was patient for a while but after our third circle in shallow water, Barry was losing it and I with my bow line in hand started doing the Sami Is Pissed Off Dance. We had to call on the phone to get them to figure something out and the kid felt terrible. We did finally dock safely but not after we got a dirty look from the fishing charter captain when I asked him if he could catch our bowline. He looked at me like I had asked him for money. There was an incredible lightening storm one night that went on for hours. Way up behind a thick cloud cover but quite the show. The locals said they had never seen anything like it before and neither had I.
Great food at their restaurant and Friday nights appetizers are half price so that's what we had! There was a huge fishing tournament going on that weekend so lots of fishermen and fishing boats. We enjoyed Beaufort the next day and did some exploring. The second day it rained and we enjoyed just sitting in the cockpit listening to it glad we were not out in it. Hamish enjoyed it immensely.

We pulled into this marina because is where we asked to have both of our computer batteries sent. Barrys was there waiting for him but mine was not and did not get there till 10 days AFTER we left. They are going to send it to our next for sure destination in VA. Then maybe Ill be able to keep up with the blog! So since I do not have my computer to work on this.....and we have not had decent cell phone reception till today, because Oriental is notorious for non coverage.......Im not going t be very thorough till my computer is back up and going.......
but in the meantime I will try to post as many pictures as possible and video too. Im taking lots of short videos because everyone seems to enjoy them. Here are several dolphin videos I caught. Not an easy thing to do.

Yesterday we went thru Albermarle Sound and it was miserable. I was scared to death because the wind was out of the west for most of the trip at sometimes 20+knots and the waves were4- 5 feet on us broadside for most of the trip. Needless to say it beat the snot out of us for almost 5 hours. No one got sick but honestly I was hanging on for dear life. Barry said after it was all over and he realized how scared I was that he was not, and after all the fast horses and big jumps etc. I have done he was surprized I was so scared. Hey......give me an off the track Thoroughbred foxhunting for the first time ANY day over yesterday. Stuff got tossed below including EVERY bottle of spice we have on board and luckily the only things to break were the vanilla and sesame seeds.....it smelled good. But the kitty litter went flying and every liquor bottle (all plastic) went flying but the only thing I came down to save was this laptop because obviously its paying the bills!! Barry has to have it to work. So I took my life into my hands and grabbed it off of the dining table and put it on the sole wedged so it would not move. I was never took a picture. I was too busy holding on to the dogs and plants!

We are in Coinjock Marina tonight and tomorrow night. Its great. Small but transient friendly with a GREAT restaurant nearby. I did laundry today and googled at a 144 ft 60million dollar yacht which looks very out of place here! It has a permanent crew of at least 6 people and probably more......
The only reason we can come up with why she is here is the other boats make her look that much better...OR its taking that long to fill her fuel tanks! I will have a picture of her tomorrow.