Beaufort - Gateway to the Atlantic

This morning was a day of work on the boat to prepare it for our first trip into the ocean.   Yesterday, when putting away the mainsail, one of the lines on the 'Dutchman' system which helps flake the sail broke.  Upon examination all of the other dutchman lines were about to go also.  Richard figured the best thing to do was to put 'lazy jacks' on the boat.  We stopped at West Marine and pickup some supplies.

First the jib came down to repair some of the sun protection panels that were flapping in the breeze.  Then Richard put on his harness and I hoisted him to the top of the 55' mast.  Up top, he removed the 'Dutchman' system and lubricated the track from top to bottom.  He also checked all of the cotter pins and connections all the way down the mast.  He also rigged the lazy jack system.  He is very resourceful.  I hope it works as advertised since he said it was the first one he has done.

We installed 'jack lines' on both sides of the boat to enable us to remain 'clipped on' wherever we are on the boat.  We checked out the emergency tiller to see that it was working in case we needed it.  We were done by noon and pushed off to Beaufort by 12:45.

As we approached Beaufort, coming down Adams Creek, we started noticing a difference in the air and the water.  The air started to smell like salt, like the ocean.  There were dozens of dolphins in the water.  There must have been lots of fish and we were seeing 3 or more at a time come up and out of the water.  Really cool.

We tied up our boat at the Stillwater Restaurant where they told us we could tie up while we ate our meal.  We told them our plan to leave in the early morning and they said that was fine. A little before 10 PM we were told we had to leave and after telling the person there about the previous discussions, he didn't want to hear about it and demanded a dockage fee.   I explained that we could have paid a dockage fee anywhere and no eat at their restaurant.  I headed off to bed in the boat.  About 1/2 later, I found they had called the police and were told we were trespassing and had to leave the dock.  We headed off 500 ft into the achorage agear and slept a little before our heading of for the Carolina Beach Inlet just above Cape Fear.  We should be there before dark on Wednesday.