Charlie and the Pirate Factory

We managed to back our boat into a slip at the Beaufort City Dock thanks to protection from the screaming south winds by an 80 foot mega yacht tied alongside the outside on the outermost pier. This marina is the only marina in the historic district (all small towns are historic nowadays) and close to the Post Office where we are expecting general delivery mail (thanks to daughter Jacqui).

The trip from Oriental was uneventful. We simply crossed the Neusse River and proceeded down Adams Creek followed by the Adams Creek Canal which brought us to Beaufort.

Charlie called soon after we docked and said that he would come down to the boat at about 6:30 pm. He said he might bring a friend or two. At 6:50 pm --Charlie is notoriously behind-- Charlie and eight boat yard rats showed up with gallons of booze and a bag of chips. We sat on the boat exchanging "Charlie stories" for a while. Mandy and I have hospital stories and his friends have boat yard stories. Later, we all went to the local waterfront pub and had a bite and more libations.

Charlie led us all down a street leading away from the waterfront. We turned behind a few old buildings to a backstreet bar that has been in business for forever, I think. We stepped back in time to the days when local musicians brought their guitars, banjos, mandolins, and fiddles then commenced to have a hullaballoo (or was it a shindig?) just like back in the 60s. Soon after having yet another brewsky, we came back to the boat and crashed.

This morning we cast off lines and took Foxglove out into the harbor to anchor for the night. We would have stayed another night in the marina but at about $80 per night we decided that an anchorage made more sense. We'll hook up with Charlie again tomorrow morning for a while then we will continue south. We plan to go into a marina in Surf City on Saturday and find a Halloween party at a local bar.