Heading Out Beaufort Inlet To the Atlantic
26 July 2008
by Keith, sunny and clear
The land we anchored near last night is called Carrot Island. There are wild horses there brought by the spanish hundreds of years ago. No horse sightings, but we did find evidence of their presence. Jake has taken to jumping out of the dingy when he thinks he's near enough to shore to swim. He pretty much swam from the sailboat to the beach this morning and Anne and I followed him. We walked around for a bit but it was getting hot already and the weather was perfect and I wanted to get going while the going was good. 15 minutes later we were off to tonight's anchorage at Cape Lookout. To get here we traveled out the Beaufort inlet into the Atlantic and then along the coast for 10 miles to the inlet. It was an uneventful cruise, except for the rocking caused by all the powerboats exiting the inlet. I lost my good 1 gallon gas tank that I keep on the dingy when a particularly big set of wakes hit us. I have another one, but it isn't as good as the one that went overboard. I probably should have turned around and retrieved it, but I didn't know if it was going to get worse and just stayed my course out the inlet. It was a bit overwhelming when I started feeling the swell of the open Atlantic, but Tropical Dreamer handles it excellently and just cruises along. I put out the jenny sail (that's the foward sail - the big one) but of course the wind was coming from the direction I was headed, so I powered all the way here. It is a beautiful area, almost completely sheltered harbor. There are tons of boats here, but the harbor is probably two miles in each direction so there's plenty of room. A lot of people will be gone by sunset. Soon Jake and Anne and I will go on a long walk along the beach to the lighthouse and museum across the way. Then perhaps an afternoon nap. I can't believe I get internet here. It's pretty far from town.
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