After four days in Beaufort SC the gale had subsided and it was time to leave. Needing to be in Annapolis around June 20 but still not wanting to go east of Cape Hatteras,Beaufort NC was a good option meaning another 260Nm offshore passage.

We headed for St Helena Sound and inlet meaning 3hours on the ICW before reaching the North Atlantic. Passing Charleston inlet in darkness meant dealing with some traffic but the rest of the passage was a pleasure with comfortable seaway and beautiful sunsets.

Upon approaching the Beaufort NC inlet the wind increased to near gale force although from SW meaning downwind. These waters have a notoriously bad reputation due to shallow and silting sandbanks in combination with a high ratio of bad weather and strong currents.Five thousand wrecks are on the bottom of this area and we had our own struggle steering Dora Mac on surf waves in darkness making landfall between the sandbanks.

We had a place in Homer Smiths Marina but the US many marinas are like hotels where you have a check in time.For us check in was 11.00 and we made landfall at three in the night. Subsequently we needed to drop anchor on the sandbanks NW of the US Coast Guard station at Fort Macon.

After a couple of hours of sleep and a fast bath we weighed anchor and headed for our berth in Homer Smith Marina. When landing we had a strong southerly wind forcing us to overuse the bow thruster. The thermal protection shut if off and once up working again the electric motor doesn’t seem to have contact with the propellers.

We may have some new repair work to do…..