Oriental, NC!!

 Catching up on the past 3+ days at sea!

Staging at Great Sale, one of the northernmost islands in the Abacos.  Since this is the first opportunity for sailing across to the U.S. in the past while, there are lots of boats staging there as well.  I counted 27 boats in total!

 

We lifted anchor at about 7AM and had the sails up right away.

Leaving the beautiful shallow water as we aim west....

 

We got in the groove for the next few days.  Three days of mainly reading books on our Kindles.  We had the Starlink running in "offshore mode".  We didn't do a lot of "surfing" on the internet since we have to pay for each extra GB we use.  Was nice to have access to real-time weather though!

Not a lot of boat traffic - almost no other cruising boats visible.  We did see a few cargo ships and several got fairly close to us. 

And of course, beautiful sunrises and sunsets!

 

The conditions were - pretty breezy and pretty "lumpy"....big ocean swells and some wind-driven waves/chop.  Not easy, fun sailing, but we sure had a fast ride.

 

This is a snapshot showing us going 12.5 knots - surfing down a wave.  I actually saw 13.5 knots one time but wasn't able to get a photo....that's roaring fast for our boat!

 

 Just a little video to show a bit of the conditions that we had for 2 days....I know, the camera flattens it out a bit but it was bouncy enough that we had to be very careful to hang on to something as we walked around on the boat.

 We ate well though and had a nice visit from a pod of dolphins!

 Arrival to the Beaufort Inlet was good timing as we had the tide running with us.   We heard from Bluejacket and Three Score - both of them traveled over the same timing are staying the night in Beaufort We'll see them soon.

 

 

Always fun to see what ships are over at the terminal in Beaufort.  Side view.

 

And view of the bow as they are loading cargo.

 

As we are avoiding a cold front that sweeps by tonight, we kept on moving up the ICW....passed a few fishing boats.

 

And the usual small craft out fishing in the marsh.

 

Lots of scenery as we travel the last few miles.

Great trip - since Wednesday morning - we traveled 583 nm over 78 hours for an average of about 7.5 knots!  That was pretty cool.  Glad to be tied up at our dock in Oriental.  Time for a much needed nap and showers!!!