Note – this town is pronounced “Buuufort” and not “Booofort” like that other town in North Carolina. Just like in North Carolina, the penalty here is death if you get it wrong, but the method of execution is worse.

Today’s adventure began in the wee hours. Tom and I slept in the cockpit last night, so we could wake and assess the anchor’s holding periodically during ebb and flow tide. Another starry clear night was suddenly interrupted around 1:30am by a growling, growing engine noise and a single eye-like spotlight aimed at our bow, suddenly flooding the cockpit with light through our dodger ‘s windshield.

Our anchor light was on, but Tom ran topsides with our spotlight and shined it on our deck, lighting us up once again. We wanted to be certain that the “cyclops” grinding through our anchorage saw us clearly. Once we could see that it was a tug and crane-bearing barge weaving their way down the ICW past our “pull-off” anchorage, our heart rates returned to baseline. They were using their searchlight to find the channel markers, one of which was right near the entrance to our anchorage. When they turned at the channel marker, we could see what it was. They likely had a dawn job lined up some miles south.

We were able to get back to sleep, and awoke just as the sky was beginning to turn from gray to blue. A few wisps of fog burned away quickly, and we pulled the anchor. We wanted to get to our first shallow area while the tide was still relatively full, as we had no desire to repeat the thrill-a-minute thin water passage from yesterday.

That accomplished, we then needed to dawdle to make sure we arrived at Beaufort Marina when the current was least strong. No one likes to pull up into an unfamiliar docking situation with strong current pushing the boat into the dock at speed.

The route today was again very scenic, salt marsh, woods, homes in the woods, and lots of fishermen. The Ladies Island Swing Bridge opened on demand, and we had an easy tie-up at the marina-right on the outside and just at the end of the face dock. This will make leaving tomorrow easier. We are one of the smallest boats on the face-dock, and the 70-100 foot yachts we are moored near make C Ghost look like a miniature. We found that the Nonesuch catboat who accompanied us through the shallows yesterday was docked in a slip here as well, and we got to say hello.

Beaufort is beautiful and well-populated as this is the weekend of their fall “art-walk” which features the multiple galleries and boutiques that line the main drag. Several children’s Halloween activities are taking place, as well as an outdoor wedding and a group of children dressed in finery for an older girl’s Quinceañera. Again we found beautiful historic homes and churches. The popular Waterside Park abuts the marina. Grassy with paved paths and multiple wooden benches and swings that face the water, it is a gathering spots for couples, families, dogs, guitarists, and fishermen.

On the advice of the marina store staff, we ate at Saltus, a restaurant right on the waterfront, a short walk from C Ghost, and were very glad we did. We sampled mild local oysters and briny ones from Massachusetts, had crab bisque and tomato soup. Tom had flash fried whole flounder, and Paula had wood-grilled scallops with Bearnaise sauce. After dinner we walked around town a bit more and convinced ourselves we had room for ice cream: Butter Pecan and Salted Caramel Candy. Now stuffed, Tom is putting the last bits of timing and strategy together for our next few days. Paula is putting together the blog text and listening to the music and conversation coming from the adjacent big yachts.