22 April 2021. Still windy and a twofer today.

 

27 SM; 4.6 hours

Anchor held great in the blow last night.  Wind calmed just before the front passed then the winds clocked around to the NW and blew 15-20 with gusts to 30.  Unsettled sleep as boat rocked, rolled and swung around.  Not so bad at sunrise but wind remained constant 15 mph all day.  Slow and lazy morning because it was cold!  42 degrees on the water with wind chill in 30s.  Small craft advisory ending mid morning so we were in no hurry.  anchor video  Anchor up and underway at 0930.  AICW choppy but somewhat protected due to narrowness.  While studying the Waterway guide, just happened to read that up ahead was a private condo association run marina that sold diesel and a super Walmart was an easy walk.  I called the dock master and asked if we bought diesel could we secure Serenity for a few hours while we walked to Wally-World.  No problem he said.  Yahoo.  Narrow and shallow channel into the marina basin but easy with a good approach to the floating fuel dock.  

Topped off with 48 gallons of diesel, dumped the trash, gathered our backpacks and off we headed to the store 0.7 miles away.

I was able to get the Rotella diesel engine oil I will use for the up coming oil change.   Additionally,  we bought groceries and personal items. Kim got her glasses fixed.  Easy walk back to the boat.  We repackaged a lot of the items into reusable containers and dumped the boxes and plastic in the marina trash receptacle.  Underway again at 1530 we retraced our electronic bread crumbs to the AICW where it was quiet angry.  A strong 15 mph west wind was in opposition to the flood tide and we had two foot choppy waves at our stern.

Interesting 60s ranch vs McMansion on the waterway

Our intent was to cruise the Morehead City water front, then exit and proceed toward Beaufort inlet before taking the narrow channel to Taylor creek and view historic Beaufort, NC waterfront by boat.  

Morehead City water front was reasonably protected and was enjoyable, but upon exit at the commercial port and ocean ship turning basin the incoming ocean swells combined with the wind driven chop was extremely uncomfortable for us.  So we made a loop around the turning basin and commercial port  then entered Calico creek and proceeded to a reasonably protected anchorage.  Calico creek

Walmart rotisserie chicken and salad for supper; under a very clear Carolina blue sky while the sun slides into the western horizon.

3297 SM traveled; 1617.6 hours hobbs