Thursday, April 19, 2012

Wrightsville Beach to Oriental


Wrightsville Beach is old school, a family style beach that has fishing piers, municipal parks, surfing and a whole lot of boating.


We anchored off the ICW next to beach houses as far as the eye could see.


The next morning we head north and we hear on the VHF radio "Captain, prepare to be boarded".


Two young, muscular, Coast Guard guys boarded from our swim platform and were very polite. They asked for our documentation and ID. They casually asked about fire extinguishers, peeked in the engine room and bilge, and gave us the OK and no violations. They said we probably would not be boarded again and if stopped, just show them the paperwork. The next day we were stopped again. They let us go.





As we move north, we have been sharing the waterways with commerical traffic.


The sign says "Live firing in progress when flashing" as we pass through this portion of the ICW which is used as a Marine training base. We continue on and then we hear a gigantic boom as we both almost hit the ceiling! We wondered if we had read that sign correctly.


We pass surplus military equipment that has been fired on. We pick up speed.


We come into Morehead City Marina and take a ten minute taxi ride over to Beaufort, which is a small, historic waterfront town.


We stop into the North Carolina Maritime Museum which has an exhibit on North Carolina shipwrecks.


One section is on "Underwater Archeology" and another is on "Shipwrecks." Photographs and artifacts include what is presumed to be the wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship.


The Historic Beaufort Site consists of 10 buildings, six of which have been authentically restored.


These restored buildings include early residences, a jail, and the oldest wood framed courthouse in North Carolina.


I have received a special request to include pictures of restaurants and the local delicacies, so let me tell you about Clawson's Restaurant in Beaufort, North Carolina. Built in the 1930's the building has served as a drugstore, five & dime, bar, and since the fifties, a local restaurant.


 Bob eagerly awaits another fine dining experience.


For those connoisseurs of Southern Cooking, I ordered a local favorite, "shrimp and grits" which doesn't taste at all like I thought it would. It's delicious. They mix up grits and cheese in one pan and saute onions, peppers, bacon and shrimp in another pan, and then pour it over the grits. How could that not be good?


Our next stop is the town of Oriental, a small port with many shrimp boats. We tie up next to and across from these big boats.


Life is slow here. We will be hangin out waiting for a weather front to pass. It's time to exhale. 







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