The lovely thing about cruising is that planning turns out to be of little use.

So lets see.  We last left this post leaving Swansboro, NC and happy to report we made it to mile 278.2 despite the cold front that blew through.  Lucky to make it thru Onslow Bridge - they shut it down 1/2 hour after we passed through it because of high winds.  They debated letting us through the Figure Eight Island Swing Bridge due to high winds, but offered to open, if we could proceed rapidly (this we cannot do) they were not sure how long they could hold it open, whew we made it.  Next day the current was with us and we had good speeds averaging 10 MPH.  We had arranged for a part to be delivered to Barefoot Marina, North Myrtle Beach, SC - so while waiting on the arrival of the UPS package we decided to get a rental car and retrieve our vehicle from Oriental and bring it further south.

Our UPS package was to arrive on Wednesday the day of our arrival at Barefoot Marina.  Needless to say UPS screwed with us and the package did not arrive until Friday at 4:00. For the moment we have lost faith in the UPS system.  

Bright Orange house along the waterfront.  Love the fun colored houses in the area.

More sights along the way - thanks to one of the hurricanes in the area.

Barefoot Marina, North Myrtle Beach - a great place for Izzy and I to stretch our legs. 

 We have seen lots of dolphins playing along side the boat - still not growing tired of them! 

 Last night we anchored at mile 395 behind Butler Island.  Severe weather with rain and strong winds gusting to 30 MPH blew through, but we survived the storms and our anchor held tight. 

Our Christmas Tree is up and......

Stockings hung with care.

We cannot seem to satisfy Izzy's energy level when we go a few days without touching land - everyone is exhausted.

For every one's sake we are taking more land breaks this trip.

Tonight we we are just north of Charleston above the Ben Sawyer Bridge and all is well (despite the skinny water most of the way here).
We saw a lot of 6 feet or less - lots of bun puckering for the Captain.

 Sunset at anchor - Mile 461 Inlet Creek
Just the idea of being in South Carolina makes us feel warmer.

    

GLIDE "to move smoothly and continuously along, as if without effort or resistance".

And that is what we are doing now after the prop, rudder and bottom fix. As promised Sailcraft Services splashed us on Saturday and we have to say we could not be more pleased with the job and their entire crew.  In the past 13 years of cruising - this is our first 10 Star boatyard. The owner, Alan, allowed us to stay on the wall plugged into 50 amp service and water until the cold front blew through the area.  Both Saturday and Sunday turned out to be hang onto the dock days so we took advantage of the "free" offer and stayed until Monday.

    We completed a few more projects including hanging our Christmas lights and digging out our decorations.

Monday morning looked like a low wind good day to head out of Oriental, NC.

However, no wind means the conditions are right for fog and of course it won't blow off.  Coming thru Morehead City with radar working and a series of zig zag bouys/markers and fog so heavy we couldn't see the pulpit, we finally decided it was time to pull off the channel and anchor for an hour waiting for clearing.

Once the fog burned off we had good weather and found a lovely anchorage at Swansboro,NC - sunset on Bogue Sound.

Anchorage at Swansboro, NC Tuesday morning.  Tidal current was very manageable and no wind made it a comfortable stay.

View across the sound from our anchorage.  We woke to fog and enjoyed a cup of coffee while waiting for it to blow off.  Looks like a go - start the engine.

Oops - it's back.  Looks like a second cup of coffee.

Just some sights along the way.  Hope to make Wrightsville Beach, NC tonight.  Another cold front coming thru today - on the backside NW winds gusting to 25.
  Hope the three swing bridges we need to navigate thru will cooperate with the winds.  A half hour after we went through Onslow bridge it shut down due to mechanical failure, whew.  We pulled into a small anchorage, mile 278.2, just after the third bridge, Figure Eight Bridge, at 1630 and knew we could not make the 1700 bridge at Wrightsville, so pulled in sharing the anchorage with a southbound sailboat.

A good ending to a blustery rainy day.