Going down the "ditch" for a while

Best laid plans.....we'd planned to depart yesterday morning and head offshore straight to Jacksonville, Fl like last year.  But by noon it became pretty clear that the thunderstorms and heavy wind/waves offshore would derail that plan.

So we pulled off the Intercoastal Waterway at Beaufort, NC to regroup for the night.   Had a lot of trouble getting the anchor to set and finding a spot in the crowded anchorage.  More on that in a minute.

Ed and Cathy treated us to a fun but rainy afternoon as a "thank you" for letting them use our dock.  Unnecessary, really!!  (Ate a Clawson's - really enjoyed it and the company, of course).

I stole these two photos from Cathy's Facebook page since my photos were not good ones.

At the Beaufort dinghy dock with What If and Sojourn in the background.

The two Mantas - you'll probably be seeing lots of photos like these!

So, off to bed for an early night....then at 11:30PM we were awoken by a tapping on our hull.  The current and wind oppose each other at times in this anchorage and it makes it extremely difficult to anchor.  We had apparently anchored too close to the next boat and had actually touched each other.  The captain of the other boat gently woke us and was very nice about it.  We pulled up the anchor and departed to an anchorage about 3 miles away that we had used in the past.  Had no trouble anchoring there but it was 12:45AM before we were all settled and in bed again.  Ah, the joys of cruising!!

View from the new anchorage at sunrise.  Not as scenic!

 Woke this morning and got underway.  We'll see areas on the Intercoastal that we've never seen before.  We'll make lemonade!!