Beaufort, North Carolina - 34 42.9N 076 39.9W

OOJAH's AWESOME ODYSSEY
Peter & Christene Tanner
Sun 27 Apr 2014 23:04
We very much enjoyed our extended stay in Charleston despite some fender crushing winds in the marina. Our next stop was Winyah Bay Inlet - we anchored in a beautiful but deserted spot with islands & water all around but little chance of getting ashore as the shoreline was very low lying & looked boggy. The next objective was Beaufort NC but Cape Fear lay in our way so we decided to dip into the Intracoastal Waterway saving 40nm & giving us a chance to try the waterway & check whether we could get under a 65' bridge.
With the VHF aerial turned upside down our air draft is 63.5' which is not a lot of clearance! The waterway is a series of natural inland lagoons & rivers interlinked by canals. The navigation was full on as a grounding will certainly follow if you leave the centreline. However, scary as it was, we got under the bridge & made it to Wrightsville for the night. After a day off to get our breath back we had a lovely sail 70nm up the coast to Beaufort. Although a relatively small waterside town it was buzzing on our arrival so we enjoyed a very relaxing day ashore - a charming & deservedly popular watering hole.

There's now just 240nm to Norfolk in Virginia 240nm at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay but between lies Cape Hatteras. This is the most significant headland on the Eastern Seaboard with a reputation for bad weather & rough seas, with nowhere to shelter on the way if the going going gets tough. Fortunately this is one of the better dredged sections of the ICW & it's a bit shorter but there's still a risk of grounding & we would have to undertake a 64' bridge with only 6" clearance - we're now debating which way to go!

Love to all from Peter & Christene