Cheryl's Notes:

We left early this morning, and proceeded carefully, as there was still some fog on the water. We made good time and had an uneventful day. We got a call from Denali, and they left Charleston and are right behind us. If not tonight, they will be in Beaufort tomorrow morning. I think that the two Irish guys just want to watch some football together.

For those who aren't from the south, there is a Beaufort in both North Carolina and South Carolina. In NC, it is pronounced Bo-fort, but in SC it is pronounced Bu-fort. They know that they you are a Yankee if you pronounce it wrong. We are hoping to spend some time exploring the town.

John's Notes:

Just another day of intense navigation. We are sort of getting used to it. How I long for those days on Lake Superior when you could sail for hours on the same tack. Maybe dodge an occasional island. Never worry about how deep the water was or whether you were going to sit on deck and watch the rust build on everything that is metal.

Thinking about going to shore to see what is there.

Later:

Straight out of Casablanca. Out of all the gin joints in all the world, they have to walk into ours. Here is how it happened. We take the dingy to town and end up in a dock side bar. We are having a drink watching college football. We had been there about half an hour and another couple comes in and sit down at the bar next to us. They could have sat anywhere but chose to sit by us. Cheryl is sitting next to them and the guy asks her if we are on a boat. Cheryl tells them that we are anchored in the harbor. I'm watching the game and not paying much attention at this point. Somehow the other couple mentions that they spent some time at Solomon's in the Chesapeake this summer. What a coincidence, so did we. Cheryl tells them about all the great people that we met there. Cheryl asks them where they stayed at Solomon's and they said that they stayed at the marina by the Comfort Inn. Cheryl tells them that we met a guy who was at the same marina and that he had a van loaned to him by a friend who went back to Montana for a visit. Our friend, Steve took us to a Laundromat and to Walmart. Surprise! The van belonged to the guy sitting next to us. What are the odds of that happening. I know that the cruising community is rather small, but not that small. What if they had decided to sit on the other side of the bar. We never would have met them. Some really weird things happen out here. They have been here two weeks and the van is in the parking lot here. They have offered to take us anywhere we need to go for further provisioning. Gotta love this community of cruisers.