Beaufort, NC (Nov 14, 2025 - Nov 17, 2025)

    Beaufort (pronounced BO fert, not BEW fert which is the one in South Carolina) is a delightful stop for sailors.  In two of the three trips we’ve made around Hatteras we kept on going further south because we had crew on board.  In the other, everything had gone wrong and we more or less fell to the ground and kissed it when we landed.  This time the main factor driving us into port was weather and hoping that the cats would adjust to life at sea more quickly if we kept the sailing trips fairly short.  When we checked in with the dockmaster, he told us in a disgusted tone that the town was full of pirates and we had picked a terrible time to stop.  He told a tale of raucous debauchery and streets filled with thousands of miscreants not much better than motorcycle gangs.

Beaufort is one of those tiny little seaports where you can tie your boat up right in the center of town and be in the thick of it.

    The truth was a bit different.  It was a fairly small gathering of mostly pleasant folks singing sea shanties and showing off their crafts for sale.  Some of the crafts were rather shabby, but honestly they were at least as well behaved as the average sailor, probably better.  We met our first trickle of pirates the first night at dinner and shared some grog with them.  We were thinking that the whole hassle of pirate weekend was overblown.
This pirate was actually a pretty nice guy.  He did lead me astray into an overindulgence in rum.  I think he may have been trying to set me up with a press gang.

    However, we were sipping our morning coffee when several pirate ships cruised past us towards the main convention ground which was approximately 20 feet from the boat.  Once on station, they proceeded to enthusiastically fire their cannons at one and sundry.  I was entertained for a while and took some action video which I hope to link below, but I eventually grew tired of the incessant explosions so close to the ship.  The cats grew tired of the explosions 12 nanoseconds after they began.  The pirates never tired of them.  In fact, they were still firing cannons the day after the festivities ended.  I thought I might have board one of them cutlass in between my teeth to make it stop, but that proved unnecessary as someone on the radio who was either an authority or masquerading as one prevailed on them to knock it off sometime Sunday.

    Lisa has been making small little notebooks and seeking out little free libraries which are a kind of book exchange with cute little birdhouse style boxes to hold the books.  She doesn’t usually take any books although she sometimes does, but she will add a nice handmade leather notebook to the collection of paperbacks like a book making Johnny Appleseed.  At the stop closest to the boat, we met another sailing couple and made a new pair of friends who we saw a few days late in Charleston as well.

This Little Free Library isn’t so little.

    We’ve been trying very hard to be more outgoing and make more friends as we travel and we were very succesful at the local pub on Saturday night.  The crowds from the festival caused the venue to be overcrowded and we were more or less forced to share a table with another couple who turned out to be from Winston Salem and very charming.  They have a second home in the area and we had a long conversation and exchanged numbers and they offered to check in on Lisa’s mom Gail for us should she ever need some help and they were very sweet and entertaining.  Soon after they left, we met another couple who were also delightful.  They were very interested in our story, asked lots of fun questions and told us all the spots we absolutely had to try in town.  They insisted we go to a restaurant confusingly named Beaufort Grocery for brunch on Sunday and it was in fact absolutely delicious.  Beaufort also has an ice cream store called General Store and another restaurant called Turner Street Market.  I assume they enjoy befuddled tourists.

These guys were more of a local band in costume than pirates, they didn’t even know any sea shanties.

    The cats recovered from their offense at the cannons and wandered the boat fairly freely and we harbored hope that they would have a smoother trip to Charleston.  We had about five possible destinations in mind for our next stop and Charleston was a bit longer than the rest, but the coming weather window was a very good one where the winds would eventually be very light and the seas very smooth.  Everyone we spoke to in the bars and at the docks was all planning to leave with us.  Probably most of them were using the same weatherman, to be honest.

If I’m honest, all Boris really seems to want to do is lay on me as often as possible.





Comments

  1. CandiNovember 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM

    It sure seems life in your stops can be crazy! I'm glad the cats are seemingly coming out of their shells and at least walking around outside! I think that's fantastic for both of them!

    ReplyDelete

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