We started our day with a visit to the North Carolina Maritime Museum which is located right on Beaufort's waterfront. Our first surprise was their was no admission fee. That led to our second surprise that the museum was pretty good. There were two main exhibits -- one on Blackbeard and one on the history of the fishing industry in NC. I did not realize how large Blackbeard's pirate ship was. The wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge is located just outside of the Beaufort Inlet and many salvaged artifacts are on display. Barry was interested in a side exhibit devoted to the history of sextants.
We grabbed a quick lunch in town and then loaded onto a tour boat to the Cape Lookout National Seashore. On the way we passed Shackleford Banks and spotted a few of the wild horses grazing on the dune (photo taken with iPhone so I was pleased the dark spot even looks like a horse). The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is in wonderful condition and looked as if it had been freshly painted. The black and white diamond pattern popped against the blue sky. The ferry dropped us off on the dock for a two hour visit. We followed the boardwalk across the island to the Atlantic Ocean.
We then climbed the 207 steps to the gallery of the lighthouse. We laughed that this tower was as tall as our last two lighthouses combined (Old Baldy + Elbow Cay). The view from top was spectacular. On this clear day we could see for miles and miles, looking north and then south.
A unique feature of this lighthouse is that black diamonds align north/south, and the white diamonds align east/west. This makes the tower appear to change color depending on viewing direction. A few final pictures and it was time to load onto the ferry.
We came in the other end of Taylor's Creek on our trip back to the home base. We passed the new Beaufort Convention Center and many large waterfront homes. There were huge houses of brick, glass, and those that floated.
We've enjoyed our stay here and will spend one more day in Beaufort. Tomorrow we'll explore the town's history and the Rachel Carson Reserve.
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