April 28, 2016 – We left Beaufort in great weather after returning our rental cars.    Donna got to drive the city dock courtesy car – a 1991 Buick Roadmaster station wagon that is about as long as the boat!    Quite the ride what with the broken windshield, steering wheel peeling apart, destroyed interior, and –  did I mention the lack of brakes until you pushed the pedal about 6 inches down????

We did get the anchor stuck while waiting for the Beaufort bridge to open.   Bye Bye anchor to escape.   Ouch – we did miss the small sign saying “don’t anchor here” that is strategically placed for optimum viewing in the middle of the bridge and parallel to the direction of travel.   I’m sure this is done to warn and frustrate those that have just lost their anchor due to the HIDDEN SIGN and total lack of chart warnings.   We will get a new one in Norfolk or thereabouts.

We passed a bunch of boats, and got to Oriental NC, our original destination.  After a brief visual tour from the boat, we decided to keep going to Bellhaven.  A great choice – we are staying at River Forest Marina, which features an old manor house built in the late 1800’s by a Norfolk and Southern exec.  It’s a pretty nice town with a cute downtown street, and a beautiful setting on the Pungo River.

Normally, we catch our meals by fishing on the boat, and making dinner ourselves in the fully equipped galley – NOT!    We went to a place called Spoon River and Artworks.   It was fabulous, Donna particularly liked the white sangria………as she sleeps it off beside us on the couch.

Tomorrow we head to either Elizabeth City or Manteo NC.   The decision isn’t made yet, as we plan to check tomorrow while enroute to determine which will be the cooler town to stop overnight.