Feelin' Alright

Beaufort  

It took a while to formulate today's plan. I did my morning reading from the pilothouse and looked out to a bright blue sky with plenty of sunshine. I did so, however, with wool socks on from under a blanket. It was another cold and blustery day. "What do folks do at the beach in the summer when it is either too hot or raining?," I wondered. Answer: go see a movie. That option sounded great. We did our research, had an early lunch, and headed to Atlantic Beach for the 1:00 showing of Bob Marley One Love. I am familiar with Marley's music, but knew very little about his personal story. This was an eye-opening look at his life which was cut short by cancer at age 36. After the movie, we had plenty of afternoon left and couldn't pass up the opportunity take a walk along our favorite stretch of beach. The cloud cover had increased, but made for a serene backdrop to the dunes as we worked our way to the Atlantic Ocean. We couldn't believe how calm the water was. All of the wind was being blocked by the oceanfront houses. With no fetch, the ocean was docile with only a minimal lapping of waves onshore.

Once again, the beach was covered with shells. Beautiful olive specimens were once again plentiful. New today, probably the result of the gentle wave action, was an abundance of intact clam shells. After I took my photo of the open bivalve, a little sandpiper followed looking for an afternoon snack. It was a beautiful walk to the pier. Without the wind, the temperature was surprisingly comfortable.

We walked through the shells pointing out interesting finds to each other. The pier cast a strong reflection in the calm water. We took advantage of the pleasant conditions and walked further than we had on previous trips. We turned around and we were treated to a spectacular view as the sun backlit the clouds. When we returned to the spot of the broken orange whelk shell, we got a sense of how far the flood tide had advanced. 

The decision was made to visit a local restaurant for dinner, but we had to occupy some time. We returned to Fort Macon to visit a new-to-us area of the park. Aside form the fort's role in the Civil War, it was also occupied by the US Army in Word War II. From 1941-44, the "Harbor Defenses of Beaufort Inlet" protected the North Carolina coast from German U-boats. The standard long-range mobile field artillery could fire a 6.1-inch (155mm), 95-pound shot up to 11 miles offshore at a rate of four per minute. This emplacement lies beyond the walls of Fort Macon, closer to the water. We took the beach trail back to the parking lot and received a rude awakening as we rounded the point and were exposed to  the full effect of the wind. Even Barry was cold and eager to return to the parking lot. We had noticed on a previous trip that the park was collecting Christmas trees to be recycled as part of a dune renourishment program. For over 60 years, discarded trees have been used to help stabilize the beaches. The trees trap sand and eventually get buried where they will decompose and return nutrients to carry on the cycle of life. Our final destination of the day was Island Grille, a restaurant highly-recommended by my Aunt Wrenn way back during our first week in Beaufort. Oh, my gosh. My shrimp and scallops and Barry's mahi were so delicious. We have already decided that we will celebrate our final days in Beaufort (whenever that may come) with a return trip to this little gem. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our day which was capped off with another amazing sunset. With echos of Marley's One Love in our head, we were definitely "Feelin' Alright."