Taurus Great Loop

 

Artesian Well What is an artesian well?  It’s a well from which  water  flows under natural pressure without pumping. “Several of these wells provided fresh spring water to the community up until the 1960s. Oriental residents built these concrete benches surrounding this artesian well in the 1920s.  Locals gathered here to sit in the shade of the 200-year-old Willow Oak tree and to catch up on the latest town chatter. All that remains today is part of the stump.  Other county and state residents came to drink the cool, healthy waters. Many local boys admit to stealing their first kiss under the branches of the old Willow Oak.”  ~ from the sign at the well  Fred got up early the other day and found an artesian well. In Oriental, NC!   This morning we pulled away from Belhaven. They only have one dock and everyone seemed to pull away in turn. When we left, everyone else behind us had already left, which m...

Today we left quite late compared to our normal start time. This was due to the small craft warning in effect until 11:00 am. So we started at 10:00 am and cruised four hours.  It was quite a different vista than what we’ve been seeing. And cold again too! You can see in the pictures that we had some big water, as well as a canal.  We like getting into big water because we can go at our planing speed of 13 knots.  Of course, with the price of fuel right around $5.00/gal., we have not minded going slower in the ICW.  Better mileage.  Of course, motor boats measure mileage as gallons/mile.  😳  Here’s Taurus all tucked in to the slip I had a problem getting off the boat, and a worse problem when we got back to the boat trying to get back on.  This can happen with fixed docks and the tide height changes while I’m off the boat. However, a very helpful sailor behind us saw the issue and came to my rescue with a contraption called a ladder fender. ...

Remember that huge sailboat that was next to us yesterday?  It turns out they only left to do sea trials on it in the ocean.  When they were done, the wind was blowing too hard to get back in the marina.  So they anchored and stayed up at the ocean inlet.  Then they came back to their slip next to Taurus at 6:30 am this morning.  🤨 Today we cruised three hours - we only saw a handful of other boats. I can think of a couple of reasons others weren’t out boating: 1.  It was 60 degrees when we left.  Driving a  convertible down the road at 45 mph in 60 degrees would be a similar experience.  I only had on two jackets though. It was COLD and  2. WINDY.   Cold and windy! The houses along the water changed again We also saw a tow and barge.  The channel was narrow enough that Fred called to determine which side he wanted us to pass. We passed by a tow I thought this is pretty explicit.  That’s similar to everything in your hous...

Today we stayed in Beaufort, NC so we could visit with Fred’s brother, Mark, and his wife, Julie.  They had quite a drive to see us.  Lunch with Mark and Julie Fred and his brother, Mark on Taurus The town of Beaufort is really cute.  There are several restaurants and boutique shops .  The restaurant where we ate lunch has been there since 1905.  And yesterday I found a store that only sells t-shirts.  Our grandchildren like to get t-shirts, so that was easy.   We went for a walk in the historical residential area.  There are beautiful homes built in the 1700’s closest to the water, while the homes further inland are newer.  It was interesting, though, in that almost every one of the houses is white with black trim.   Historic homes are white with black trim And finally, the signal flags at this marina are very helpful to boaters who are trying to determine the wind direction and speed.

We had a short cruise of three hours to Beaufort, NC (pronounced "boe-fore, just like the French pronunciation) today. Funny how two cities with the same written name are pronounced so differently. The farther we went, the more the water got that beautiful turquoise color.  And we passed by the large Morehead ship port.  There was also a Coast Guard facility. We had one dolphin play in our wake for about five seconds, but then he disappeared. 😔  We passed by two Ocean inlets today, the larger one is near our dock in Beaufort.   Ocean Inlet Isn’t the water beautiful? There are even wild ponies on the adjacent Carrot Island The Town of Beaufort is right at the docks. There are lots of restaurants and shops to walk to.  As we strolled around town, we took this picture of Taurus.   All the boats in this marina are similar in size to our boat. Similar, that is, until 5:00 pm today when this sailboat pulled in to dock next to us:  Kaizen - Super Sailin...