After a lengthy stay in Oriental, we were finally able to cast off on Sunday morning at 11:00 and headed to Beafort, NC out into the Atlantic for a planned 193 NM sail to Charleston, SC.

We arrived in Beaufort at 3:50 PM and rode the ebb tide out of the inlet. There were many large sport fishermen coming into the inlet which made for a rocky ride. Shortly after we got the sails up we saw two dolphins swimming next to our boat. However, we did not see much through the first night other than a boat passing our bow about 3 miles out at 6:45 PM. (I) Deb saw what I thought was a very well lit freighter, but then realized it was the moon. It was a little eerie because up to that point it was pitch black. You have no choice but to trust the chart plotter and radar. The next day was pretty uneventful. We had 15-20 knot winds with 4'-6' waves. At around 1:00 in the morning, Ron was sleeping and I was on watch. All of a sudden I heard a lot of high pitched noises and splashing in the water. We were surrounded by a pod of about 20 dolphins. It was so neat. They were snorting and chatting and splashing. I swear, if I put my hand down I bet I could have touched them. They stayed with us for about 15-20 minutes. At some point we had to put a second reef in the main and position it in the center of the boat so that we could slow down the boat. We did not want to arrive at Charleston in the dark. To burn off a little more time, we had to take a little shot out to sea and then turn back towards Charleston. Ron admitted that he needs to do a better job at estimating our travel times. The bottom line is Scheheradade is sailing faster than anticipated. We could easily have been going 6.5 to 7 knots. Oh well, live and learn. Eventually the winds dropped from a steady 15-20 knots to under 10 knots so we took down the sails and motored the rest of the way into Charleston.

We arrived in Charleston Bay at 10:00 AM. It was a foggy morning which made it difficult to find the Charleston Maritime Center. But we found it and tied up at the dock. Then we took a well deserved nap after out 48 hour trip. That evening we went to a really nice bar and grill, The King Street Grille (304 King Street). Great food and good prices too. We would go back there again. If you ever go to Charleston I recommend it. We truly loved our dinners.

We plan on staying here today (Wednesday) and leaving for Cumberland Island in St. Mary's, Georgia tomorrow morning. This will be a 149 NM overnight trip. So until next time, we wish everyone good health and lots of happiness.