At 11:30 a very friendly older lady locked us out of Windmill Harbour and we turned east in the ICW toward Beaufort. For the first time on the trip we had an escort -- a 98-foot motor yacht. I could relax and follow "Lady Pat" without watching the charts so closely. By the way, her hailing port was Memphis, TN!
After a few miles we entered the Port Royal Sound and the forecast came true. The 25-knot NE winds whipped up an ugly chop, so we decided to follow in the wake of Lady Pat and hope that she would break up the 2-foot swells coming down the sound.
After we turned the corner into the Beaufort River we opened the throttles and passed Lady Pat going into the wind to Beaufort. When we arrived at the Beaufort Municipal Marina we had a very tricky docking -- backing Invictus into the river current with a strong crosswind, into her berth for the night.
Defying the forecast, the sun came out and we enjoyed a stroll around Beaufort with Olive. There was a funeral underway at the Anglican Church and we watched from a distance. It was not hard to imagine that we were there in the 18th Century. The slow tolling of the church bells gave me another reminder of why we are here. I want to make the most of every healthy moment.
In the late afternoon the thermometer hit 68, the so-called high for the day. We sat in a swing on the waterfront watching the Lady Island swing bridge.
The ladies at the Marina store told us that the gnats were the "State Bird" and they offered to sell us some all-natural spray to repel them. We weren't too worried about them in all this wind. We went to dinner at Griffins (with surly waiters) and fell into our V-berth after cranking up the heat for a cool spring night.
Damn, we are having fun.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment