Beaufort, NC

We have struggled with the pronunciation difference between Beaufort, NC, and Beaufort, SC. I did a Google search to learn the difference.

"Beaufort, North Carolina, is pronounced "BOW-fert" or "BOH-fert". It has a similar pronunciation to the one you find in the old-fashioned name “Beauregard.” It calls for the pronunciation of “beau” that we associate with the word's definition as “an admirer” or “a sweetheart.” I was excited to see the old-fashioned name "Beauregard," as my grandmother, Rita B, was Rita Beauregard before she married my grandfather, John Cellucci. It made me smile :)

Beaufort, South Carolina, is pronounced "BEW-fert." This pronunciation is similar to that of the word "beautiful," but with a slightly stronger emphasis on the "BEW" sound.

We left Beaufort, South Carolina, on Tuesday, April 29, and traveled 115 miles and 10 hours to Georgetown, SC. This was our first time in Georgetown, and we liked the downtown. We met Kim and David from Bonafide (another PDQ) and had dinner at Rollin Local. The food was delicious; we would recommend it! Fried corn on the cob was a new one for us!

On Wednesday, April 30, we traveled 82 miles and 7 hours to Southport, North Carolina. We ended up in a marina while Bonafide went to a free dock at the Provision Company. We will do that next time! We met lovely people on the boat behind us, and we sat together for dinner at Joseph's Italian Bistro. They had recently purchased a sailboat and had spent the winter in the Bahamas. We shared our experiences travelling over a great Italian dinner of linguini and clams.

Our engine issues continued, and it was starting to wear on Gerry and me.

On Thursday, May 1, we traveled 96 miles and 8.5 hours to Beaufort, NC. On the way, we had to travel under a few bridges, and when we reached the first bridge, the engine stalled because we had to go from forward to reverse quickly. As AdventureUS was queuing up to go through the bridge, the sailboat in front of us called a Pan Pan on the VHF radio, sharing that he had lost his transmission and was anchoring in the middle of the channel. Talk about non-work-related stress! We made it through without issue and then approached the Onslow Beach Bridge, which continues to be under construction and was only open for passing before 8 am, between 12 noon and 1 pm, or after 5 pm. We timed it well and only had to kill a few minutes before passing through at noon. Once through, we looked at each other, threw in the towel, and said, "We cannot continue working our way home with this engine issue."

We asked a few friends, and Gerry referred to a blog called The Hull Truth, and found a mechanic in Beaufort, NC. Gerry explained that once the engine stalled, it would not restart for an hour, and the mechanic agreed to meet us on the dock and check it out as soon as we arrived. We were not very optimistic that he would show up, but he did !!!

JJ (the mechanic) took a few hours to test various things. Eventually, he determined (believes) that the fuel injectors are dirty. We recalled that on the way down, we had a minor issue with fuel and a clogged fuel filter on that engine, so we are somewhat confident that it could be the issue. We ordered four new fuel injectors, and JJ will install them. We will take the old injectors, rebuild them in CT, and keep them onboard for spares.

We are now hanging around Beaufort, NC, a great and beautiful town. We had a day of pouring rain, attended a small wooden boat show, bought produce at the farmers market, watched the Kentucky Derby, used a courtesy car to pick up groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly (Gerry likes to say "Piggly Wiggly" LOL), cleaned the boat, fixed screens, and I even went out for a couple of 3-mile runs and saw horses on Rachel Carson Reserve, which is across from us.

We hope to have the repair complete on Tuesday or Wednesday, so we can continue on our adventure north.

Here are some other pictures of things we saw along the ICW.

We did see alligators along the way, and much like dolphins, they are very hard to photograph.

The second two are of a dock and a road in the middle of nowhere!

This first picture is of the “Rock Pile”. On the ICW just north of Myrtle Beach, SC, (mm 350-353) is a narrower-than-normal section of channel. Normal underwater dredging would not work due to the rock/geology. The narrow channel “looks” normal. What you don’t see is where the underwater channel is, and where the uncut shallow rock is. It can be unnerving if another boat overtakes you or passes you in this area.

The other two are a cool tree just out in the water and someone's dock, just over the top!

The first two pictures show an odd floating swing bridge at MM 411.5,the Estherville-Minnim Canal Bridge. It is usually open, except when a vehicle needs to cross (infrequently). Watch for flashing yellow lights on the on sign. This is a floating swing bridge. When in the open position, the bridge rests against the east bank of the river.

The third picture is of one of the many fishing boats, and I always say, "Where are Lieutenant Dan and Forrest Gump?

It was pretty low tide on a few of our travel days. In the first photo, you can see the mud in front of the dock, the second, a houseboat that was on land in the fall and we can see an American flag and water pumping out, so maybe someone lives on it. Finally, it's just a cool house on an island.

Check out these cool bird houses!

Camp Lejeune is along the way, watch out or you will get blown up! :)

Not sure what we see in this third photo, strange things along the ICW.

We see huge barges and more cool docks along the way.

While on a walk in Beaufort, NC, as Gerry and I were walking up to the end of the harbor, Gerry identified this yellow Huckins on a dock from its distinctive look. Fortuitously, the Captain and his wife were walking down the dock. He gave us a history of their travels with the owner and said they were heading to Newport, RI this summer. He asked why the interest in the Huckins to which Gerry showed him the "modern" version of the same 65' we run for the Dog Watch Cafe in Stonington, CT. (picture on the right) He has plans to stop by along the way when they pass through the Mystic/Stonington area.

Until next time! Thanks!