Monday, January 13, 2025

Enjoying the Colors of the Day

Beaufort    

I opened my eyes to a pink glow coming through the starboard ports in the master. I quickly grabbed my phone and scrambled up to the pilot house to check out the scene. The sun rising in the east was coloring the western sky in a soft cotton candy pink. Instinctively, I opened the door, stepped outside, and snapped a few photos. As I walked down the exterior steps, I heard an unusual sound of lapping water. I leaned over the caprail only to come face to face with a large duck. We were both startled and snapped back to reality. The duck decided its breakfast was not that important. I realized it was too dang cold outside to be barefoot and in shorts. We both scurried to other locations.    

We left Crossroads around 10:00 with the ultimate goal of returning the rental car by noon. One stop was planned along the way -- a trip to Atlantic Beach for a beach walk. We had attempted to take this walk last week at the public beach, but never got our feet in the sand because of rough conditions. Today we had success. We visited our favorite access spot from last year and crossed the dunes to the sand. I must say we were a bit surprised by what we found. The beach was wide and flat, with hard-packed sand. The most shocking discovery was that there were absolutely no shells on the beach. During our many trips to this spot last year, the sand was always thickly covered with shells. We walked toward the pier, but because of time limitations didn't reach it. 

The ocean was flat and waves gently lapped at the edge of our path. We saw several boats transiting offshore. Today would have been a good travel day, but we had other commitments. The morning was chilly and both of us walked the beach with hands in pockets and upturned collars. There were a few shells up high on the beach and I picked up three quarter-sized specimens to add to my shell jar. We assembled two quarters of a sand dollar (half dollar?) but left them in the sand.

Back in the rental, we turned up the heat and headed back across the ICW to Morehead City. A short train passed on the tracks that run between the two directions of Arendell Street. Enterprise dropped us back at the marina in the early afternoon. Barry worked on our starboard navigation light, which has been finicky thus far on our trip south. After checking that project off the To Do list, he began checking the weather trying to identify a window for us to jump offshore and quickly make some miles. I continued to unpack and put away all the "stuff" we brought back with us yesterday. As the sun moved lower in the sky, the rowers of the Beaufort Oars scooted alongside us. A little research found this is one of four 34-foot wooden Crestwood Gigs built by hand at Beaufort's North Carolina Maritime Museum. The group's goal "is to provide an affordable community-based rowing club that encourages enjoyment on the water, social activity, and exercise. No experience is required."

I watched the rowers for a while as the sun set behind a large cloud bank. The day that began in pinks went out in oranges. For us, however, we were both delighted to see the shining green of our functioning navigation light. We're one step closer to departure. Now we're just waiting on weather.


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