Arrival in Beaufort, N Carolina, USA - 28th May 2011
Nimue
Sat 28 May 2011 23:05
|
It was a long night dodging thunderstorms, but during the early hours we
eventually arrived at the Beaufort inlet fairway buoy. As we waited for
Scott Free and Loon to join us, we were joined by a few playful dolphins, which
brought an immediate smile to our
faces.
Arriving in USA waters
One of the many dolphins
Beaufort Inlet
Beaufort inlet fairway buoy Although not planned, we happen to arrive in the USA on
Memorial week-end; which marks the start of the summer holidays. As a
result, the harbour entrance was extremely busy, with all kinds of water craft
milling around (a bit like the Hamble on a busy week-end). Dodging around them
and encountering strong tides, was a but of a shock to the system especially
after a lengthy crossing, but it was also a lovely welcome to the USA and we
were most definitely on a high! We followed Loon into Taylors Creek,
a river about as wide as the Hamble, with holiday homes on one bank and grass on
the other. We were now in tidal waters, so found a suitable spot before
dropping the anchor up tide.
Once through the inlet we ran quite close to the shore
Nimue anchored in Taylors Creek As it was late afternoon, Kenny and Sarah from Loon suggested
a nice little place in Beaufort to celebrate, which didn’t take too much
persuasion! That night, we slept like logs, but were woken the next
morning by Kenny banging on the outside of Nimue. He had arranged a
time for us and Scott Free to meet with one of the customs officials ashore, but
first we needed to provide some details to one of the lady officials over the
phone. This all went very smoothly and then Kenny took us to the arranged
meeting place in Beaufort at 1100hrs, where we were immediately invited to sit
down by the lady official we had recently spoken to. After a few more
questions, she stamped our passport and issued us with a year’s US Cruising
License and also gave us a big welcome to the USA. Thanks to Kenny for
making this a very slick and un-cumbersome process, but he did mention this was
the easiest time he had encountered when entering the USA.
Ashore in the USA (Me, Sarah & Chris)
Steve, Kenny & Michael
Clearing US Customs We spent a few days enjoying Beaufort, which is a smart town
and beautiful looking houses. Of course, we also managed to find
interesting shops to look around and our main purchases were pilot books for
transiting the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).
Photos of Beaufort
Wondered where we were for a minute!
Wild horses on the riverbank near where Nimue was anchored!
In company with Scott Free, Loon and Moonbeam Beaufort quickly returned to normality after the holiday
week-end and Chris and I volunteered to walk in the heat to the nearest
Supermarket a couple of miles away to re-provision for our journey up the
Intercoastal Waterway
(ICW). |
