Dolphins & Thanksgiving in Beaufort

After 10 days in the ICW, Lucas and I were getting a little grumpy. We had been struggling to balance the desire to make progress south with the desire to explore the various places along the way. With this struggle in mind, we decided to stay in Beaufort, NC for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This decision was made exponentially harder as we knew that this would mean we were splitting from our friends on SV Pokey at least for a few weeks. After a sad goodbye over drinks and chocolate cookies, Pokey set off the next morning. 😢

We started out our Beaufort stay anchoring in Tyler Creek. This would instantly become my favorite anchorage. Why was this my favorite? It was a literal dolphin highway! We saw dolphins as we entered Tyler Creek on our first night and I knew we were somewhere special. As we dropped anchor we could see wild horses on the shore of Carrot Island (seriously, how perfect of a name?!). Rowing the Margaret P. over to SV Pokey that first night, another cruiser warned us about the dolphins getting frisky and jumping in dinghies…I’m sorry, what?! (This myth was later busted by sailors who had been in the area for weeks without seeing any frisky dolphin jumps).

We stayed in Tyler Creek for a few nights; enough time to meet some new cruiser friends, visit Beaufort’s wonderful farmer’s market; walk around the historic sights, do laundry and spot more non-frisky dolphins.

The start of the Thanksgiving week brought some strong winds our way. So, we hauled up the anchor, temporarily said goodbye to the dolphin highway and headed back up Adams Creek, seeking more protection from the high winds forecasted Tuesday and Wednesday. We found a great spot in the middle of nowhere. It was very well protected from the winds and waves but unfortunately had zero cell phone reception. We solved that issue once a day by sending my phone up the mast with the hot spot on…worked like a champ to contact our parents and get a weather forecast.

While riding out the storm, we worked on a few boat projects including, mounting our new watermaker and cleaning up the cockpit lazerettes. We also played lots of Rummy and Tetris. I had just finished reading an incredibly boring book about the invention of Tetris and now we’re hooked on the game again. So far, I’m winning the Kizer Tetris Challenge but Lucas is not far behind.

On Wednesday, we were ready to head back toward civilization but Mother Nature had other plans. We tried three times to haul up the anchor only to be hit with rounds of rain/wind. The last unsuccessful time we had pulled up and cleaned nearly 100 feet of chain before we looked up and saw a massive wall of rain coming our way. I believe my quote was, “Lucas, we’re about to get F***ed” (sorry, Mom). Lucas quickly dumped all the chain back out and we went below to wait out the wind. Good thing because it gusted up to 40 kts and rained like crazy for about 30 minutes. While waiting for this front to pass, I assembled my first boat pie, ready to be baked later that day.

With the skies finally clear, we got the anchor up for good this time and headed south, stopping at Safe Harbor – Jarrett Bay for the night. A few minutes after our arrival, we were welcomed by Bruce, the dockmaster, who was a wonderful host and made us feel right at home at the marina. We really appreciate everything he did for us that weekend!

I baked my pie in the toaster oven in the evening and we caught up with our friends Lisa, Richard and Ginger on SV Wind Gypsy who happened to be at the marina for the holiday too. SV Wind Gypsy left Toledo Beach Marina a few days before we did and we hadn’t crossed paths since Dunkirk, NY. It was great to swap stories and baked goods.

Thanksgiving was much quieter for us this year but we still had a lovely day eating, playing video games, exploring the massive boat yard near the marina and dolphin watching. For dinner, we had turkey slices, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus and apple pie. Earlier in the week, we tried to find a turkey breast small enough to cook in our small crockpot. We struck out at the local Piggly Wiggly. The smallest turkey breast they had was HUGE. Lucas offered to cut it in half with our hack saw to fit but luckily, we found some turkey slices that would work instead. We certainly missed family and friends, but it was nice to start some new traditions too.

The weather turned much colder on Friday and Saturday, so we extended our stay at the marina. Lucky for us, Bruce let us borrow the Safe Harbor courtesy car on Saturday and we drove into Beaufort on a mission to find a place to watch the U of M v OSU game. We walked into Queen Anne’s Revenge, a bar in downtown Beaufort and were pleasantly surprised to find other Michigan fans (and an OSU fan) there. Even our bartender was from Northville, MI! Lucas spent the afternoon watching the game while I spent the afternoon chatting and debating the OSU fan seated next to me. I got to learn a lot about local politics. A great day for both of us!

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Beaufort, NC. It was a wonderful place for some salty sailors away from home for the first time over Thanksgiving.