We had a beautiful sail from cloudy Cape Lookout to sunny Beaufort. It’s always strange when two places so close together have such totally different weather. Of course I know it’s not exactly a rare phenomenon, but it’s odd when you experience it in such a pronounced way. It was a beautiful, lazy, slow sail with just our jib out (and we’re realizing that poor jib really needs to be replaced – it’s impossible to get good sail shape out of it anymore), and it was just the kind of lazy day sail that I miss. On our way over, a sooty shearwater circled Windara, and my inner bird nerd was pretty excited to see it so close up.
Apparently there’s a marlin tournament next weekend, and all the marinas are packed, so we were very lucky to get a slip at Homer Smith. The marina was redone in 2021 after COVID really shut down the local fishing industry – this used to be primarily a fishing dock, but during COVID, there was nowhere to ship the fish, and the marina was converted to focus on recreational vessels. It’s an easy walk to town, they have a nice clubhouse with captain’s lounge, clean bathrooms and showers, free laundry, and a courtesy car.
We had a late lunch at Black Sheep and wandered around town, and later took Squall over to the Rachel Carson Reserve and saw four horses feeding close to the channel – of course I only brought my phone. We took a nice walk on Bird Shoal before heading back to Windara.
We’d hoped to make shrimp & grits when we were in Southport, but Potters was out of shrimp… so we couldn’t pass up the chance to stop in at Darden’s Seafood. Joe Darden sells shrimp and oysters in season at his home, and he’s one of the few remaining local fishermen. We bought a pound and a half of big shrimp that were caught just a couple days before and frozen, and had a nice chat with Joe. I love being able to support locals, especially fishermen, and we’ll definitely stop in again in the fall for some oysters. If you come through Beaufort, you can find Darden’s on Cedar Street (parking off Turner).
When we started cruising, I was missing good bakeries, and Chris found Les Ciseaux, a popular French bakery, in Beaufort. We’ve been trying to go ever since, but they have limited hours and we’ve somehow managed to end up in town right when they’re closing for vacation every time. But this time, we FINALLY got to go, and it was so worth the wait! We both got pain au chocolat and we picked up a brioche loaf. The pain au chocolat was the best I’ve had outside Paris.
We ran into Gordon and Candice from Caledonia – they were our neighbors in Lucaya – and it turned out that they were right across the dock from us. In an even weirder small world moment, it turned out that they know our friend Heath.
They invited us over for happy hour, and that evolved into drinks on the boat next door, Bravado, who does charters and sailing instruction. We met one of the students who had just gotten his basic sailing certification, along with some of the slip owners in the marina and a couple that were just in from Savannah and had a really fun evening. Of course, as soon as we all went home for the night, the (very drunk) guys on the boat down the dock decided they were going to bust out a guitar and “sing”. I’ll never hear The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” the same again… and I don’t mean that in a good way.
We always enjoy our time in Beaufort, and I’m always sad to have to leave. I look forward to the trip around Hatteras with a bit of trepidation but some excitement too – our next stop will put us in the Chesapeake, and then we’re really not all that far from home.