On our way !

Thursday night was predicted to be windy and cold, therefore a good night to be tied up at our home dock at Northwest Creek Marina, so we delayed our departure until Friday, 11/11/11.  We jokingly said we were going to leave at 11:11:11,  but at that time we were still wondering if the wind would lay down enough for us to go.

At noon we decided it was time to go.  Dawn and Paul helped us by tending the dock lines.  Everyone else was tucked away at home because it was chilly.  We were very thankful for our full cockpit enclosure to keep the wind off.  The wind was behind us and gave us a little added speed.  We put up the main (our smallest sail) until we made the turn into Adams Creek.  The Genny would not stay full so we took it down.  The current was favorable as we went down Adams Creek.  Adams Creek is where we join the ICW from the Neuse River.  We had our fastest time ever and made it to Town Creek in Beaufort and had the hook down by 5:00.  New engine, sail drive and Otto all working well !!!

It is always fun to watch the dolphins in Adams Creek.  They were with us again today.  Old sailors say they are lucky !

After not anchoring for over 2 years you always question if you will still be able to do it...but we did just fine.  It almost looked like we knew what we were doing.

We were both tired after a busy day.  It was a calm night.  The hook held well.  Although it was cold outside, our berth was cozy.

Saturday we were up and ready to go in time to go through the 7:00 AM opening of the Beaufort Bridge.  We have never been through this bridge before in Born to Cruise.  It is the best way to go if you are going out in the ocean, but taking the waterway like we normally do, we prefer going under the high rise bridge and avoiding the traffic in the busy part of the yacht basin. Below is the bridge as it opened for us this morning.

It was chilly out this morning, but the water was like GLASS !   Saw lots of dolphin and pelicans. Lots of fishermen were also out and about. The good anchorages are limited on this part of the waterway, so we had a short day. We are now anchored in Mile Hammock Bay near Camp Lejune, NC.   Pat said we should change the oil in our "new" engine after about 10 hours just in case there was a sliver of metal or something that got in it during the rebuild.  The engine now has 12.2 hours, so this is a good time to change the oil.  Wayne is also changing the port engine oil now so we can keep them on the same schedule.

It is great to be back out on the water !