Beaufort, North Carolina is your quintessential small southern town. It is the 3rd oldest town in North Carolina and as you walk through this quaint small town, you can’t help be taken a back by it’s charm.
As we came ashore there were two monuments to local heroes within feet of where we landed. The first was Michael John Smith who gave his life for the pursuit of space exploration. Michael was a NASA space astronaut. Like so many, I believe that every human owes a great debt to astronauts who risk their lives so that the human race may have a better chance at surviving this hostile universe. They take risks that many of us might think too great. Michael was aboard the Challenger space shuttle when it exploded only 73 seconds after launch. The entire nation stood in horror at that moment, Like so many of you, I recall the shock and disbelief of this tragedy. The whole nation was forced to mourn the loss of these 7 heroes.
The second memorial stone was dedicated to a local oceanographer named John G Newton who discovered the U.S.S. Monitor using side scan sonar technology. Side scan sonar is an improvement on the DSM (Depth Sounder Module) that MV Simple Life uses to determine our depth as we came into Beaufort.
Leaving Beaufort was as tricky as getting in. The currents here in Beaufort are swift. When we arrived, I had to swing MV Simple Life into a narrow fairway with an extra strong 3 knot current directly on our beam. Simple Life’s full keel gives that current a flat surface to push her down-current quickly. With some fast movements at the helm and some help from the thrusters we landed her gently into our assigned slip. The trip out of the slip was made easier by the fact the strong current was on our bow. I nudged her out of the slip and simply swung the bow a few degrees off the current and she quickly pointed out of the fairway.
The currents can be seen pulling this green can under as we were exiting Beaufort and rounding the Southern point of Radio Island.
Currents are brought on by the tides and our friend Rebecca informed us the the movie “Prince of Tides” was filmed on location here in Beaufort. Knowing now that the movie was fillmed in Beaufort, maybe it’ll make a good first-time watch while on anchor?
Our last night in Beaufort was a late one and the morning’s light was unwelcomed. We had a long trip ahead of us if we were to make Sloop Point anchorage by sunset.
We needed to make up time so we used the fast currents to our advantage and raced westward through Bouge Sound.
Bouge Sound is an East-West body of water trapped between main land North Carolina and a set of barrier islands. The sound has a narrow channel and marshy islands that abound. While the ocean was lumpy, Bouge Sound was a flat and reflective, like a mirror.
The only boat traffic we passed was a tiny little tug and barge with a piece of heavy equipment on it as well as one of those awkward looking front-loaded boats where you drive from the bow.
A little further South and we were reminded that Camp Legune is around us. Signs along the river warn of possible live fire events.
This picture of a shelled APC (I’m just guessing this was an armored personnel carrier, military expertise needed here) reminds me of a Monet or maybe a watercolor painting. The marshy grasses in the foreground simply mush together while the island and threatening clouds in the background appear to bleed and wash out the watercolors on a canvas.
With sunset approaching we had to race to make it through the restricted Onslow Beach swing bridge.
Every morning we research where the shoals are along the ICW. It seems the ICW’s bottom is in a constant state of evolution. You need to use sites like activecaptain.com/livemap/ to be able to use the knowledge other ICW boaters have posted to avoid running aground like this poor sailboat did.
We anchored in Sloop Point behind green daymark 15 and it was a peaceful night as we listed to the rain pitter-patter on the boat. The perfect background noise as we whisked off to the master stateroom.
Yesterday morning we awoke before sunrise and got underway to Beaufort, NC.
The first & last supermoon of 2017 was helping slice through the dark as we pushed away from the dock.
Supermoon Reflecting the Sun’s Rays
Supermooninfographic
Supermoons happen when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon’s perigee, or a point in its orbit at which it is closest to Earth. This makes the moon appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual.
December’s supermoon is actually the first of three back-to-back supermoon full moons to come in the next two months. On Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, the full moon will also occur near the moon’s arrival at perigee, according to NASA, which billed the line up as a supermoon trilogy. The Jan. 31 supermoon is also the second full moon of January, making it a Blue Moon, and also occurs during a total lunar eclipse.
As the sun got ready to sneak over the horizon there was a beautiful orange-pink hue reflecting off the water.
Before Sunrise
Today’s leg of our journey takes us from Hobucken, NC to Beaufort, NC
The Beaufort of coastal North Carolina is “BOH-fert”. The Beaufort of South Carolina is pronounced “BYOO-fert”. Established in 1709, Beaufort is the third-oldest town in North Carolina.
Beaufort Leg of Journey
As we made our way out of Goose Creek and into Pamlico Sound, the only traffic we passed was a tug pushing a barge.
YATPB – Yet Another Tug Pushing Barge
The dominant wave set was coming from the NE and that meant we had a following sea as we turned and made our way down the Neuse River. A following sea that is slightly to one side of the stern can be annoying when you are at the helm. The waves catch up to the boat from behind and lift the stern pushing it to port or starboard. This can swing the bow as much as 30 degrees at times and it starts to feel like you are pointing the boat all over the place. I made a quick adjustment to increase the autopilot’s response rate and the bow heading deflection lessened considerably. Being a slow boat (6-9 knots) you are often at the helm from sun-up to sundown to make your destination. Autopilot is an electronic device with some firmware loaded on it that drives a hydraulic pump which turns the rudder. There are many settings that you can control but the response rate is the one you will want to adjust so that the rudder position changes are swift or slow enough for how you want the boat to point.
Autopilot Control
Autopilot Display
As weekend boaters, we were boating in destinations like Block Island, Nantucket or Provincetown. These locations are anywhere between 6-12 hours from our home port in Warwick, RI. We would be forced to run the boat at 8.5 knots and only get about 1 MPG. Now that we are full-time boaters, we slow the boat to about 6 knots and get 4 MPG. You can go 4X farther if you simply reduce your speed by 2.5 knots. (Recall 1 knot = 1.15 MPH so approximately every 6 knots you would simply add 1 to get the speed in MPH).
Even knowing this, we made the decision to up the speed to 8.5 knots and reduce the amount of time spent in the following sea.
Happy and Chief Martin Brody appreciated that we burned a a bit more fuel for their comfort.
Chief Martin Brody and his Big Sister HappyWake in the Neuse River
As we turned into Adam’s Creek the ride smoothed out and we dropped back down to 6 knots. The current in Adam’s Creek was swift and the DSM (Depth Sounder Module aka. Fish Finder) was showing asymmetric rippling of the creek bottom. I believe this is caused by a swift bottom current.
Asymmetric Rippled Bottom of Adams Creek
The fish finder was also well, finding fish. The DSM uses sonar or high frequency sound generated by a device that protrudes through the hull and is sending a column of sound waves straight down beneath the boat. These sound waves not only reflect off the bottom but when they hit a fish the sound resonates in the fish’s swim bladder (a small air-filled sack that helps control a fish’s buoyancy) and this echo is detected and colored sharply to allow you to spot fish on the screen.
Look Swim Bladders
Adam’s Creek is a lovely place with lots of sights to see.
Bonus Points for Parking Your Helicopter in Front of Your Mobile Home
Boat Slip only $75K
I’m Pretty Sure The War Over Slavery Ended?
Adams Creek spills out into the Newport River and it’s marshes and shallows are something that you will want to avoid.
Newport Marshes as you Head South to BeaufortKelly & I Often Joke… “If You Want to Know Where it’s Shallow; it’s Where the Birds are Standing”
As we pulled into our slip in Beaufort we hailed the dockmaster who warned us about the swift current running transverse to the slip we were assigned. As we pulled in to the fairway the current slammed into our full keel and began to push the boat toward the bows of the boats across the fairway. I was forced to back out quickly and reposition so that I could now take the swift current into account and position the boat for rapid spin and quick back into our slip. Kelly was quick to toss lines to the dockhands and soon we were checked in and given the keys to a “courtesy car”. Up North, I’ve never stayed at a marina that offers a fee courtesy car to marina guests. The car was a welcome treat and we put it to good use re-provisioning the boat with more food & beer.
Courtesy Car – We Got Wheels!
With all our chores completed we quickly made off to the marina bar for happy hour and spent time chatting with Bartender Kristen and fellow bar patron, Dan. Dan was an amazing fellow who told us stories of his solo sailing around the world in a small boat. He offered us some local knowledge about wild horses that roam the islands around here. I KNOW more wild horses to find!
Kelly & Sailor Dan
After I consumed as many 50 cent pork sandwiches as a man can eat and washed them down with a great local IPA it was time to retire to the boat.
We were no sooner readying for bed when we were accosted by “Monkey Bird”. This vile creature had a penetrating stare and an awful cry. I spent sometime staring into this monster’s gaze and knew it was time to lock the door and keep the crew of Simple Life safe.
MV Simple Life 
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