Hampton to Beaufort NC USA

Views of Old Point Comfort.  Top: Fort Monroe.  Bottom: Old Point Light and historic buildings just outside Fort Monroe

We made a fairly early start on Sunday 3 November, not as early as the previous 2 days, admittedly, and we did benefit from the clocks having gone back the previous night too, so the sun was an hour up when we left, but we were clearly the lie-a-beds.  By the time we were raising anchor at 0700EST, the anchorage was virtually empty.

Leaving Hampton Roads.  BV (solid black arrowhead)
passing close in to Old Point Comfort with a fleet
of yachts all heading out of the Chesapeake Bay. 
The chartplotter picture with AIS…..

We motored out around Old Point Comfort, enjoying the views of Fort Monroe, the old lighthouse and the historic buildings and then raised full sail and made chase of the fleet of yachts all heading out of the Bay bound south.  And the fleet was really very sizeable for a couple of reasons: it was the first good weather window for moving south for a week, perhaps more; and many members of the Salty Dawgs Rally, which had been fragged to leave Hampton (just west of Old Point Comfort) on Saturday, had delayed for the better weather and smaller seas on the Sunday.  We were one of many, independents and ralliers alike, who were taking advantage of the good sailing conditions.

……and the picture for real

BV bowled along and we had a satisfying sail past a couple of yachts.  Even wrapped up against the cold we had grins on our faces – a beautiful sunny day, a good breeze and the open ocean ahead – what’s not to love?

Passing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and enjoying the sailing, even if it is darned chilly

Just past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel we received a call from Caribbean Princess, a cruise ship inbound to the Bay in the main shipping channel.  They said that they were coming up astern of us, that the main channel was reserved for vessels drawing 25ft or more and would we get out of the way?  A blatant case of misidentification, which you’d have thought was quite difficult given the clarity of most AIS displays.  Nicky pointed out that we were a sailing yacht, under sail, outbound and outside the channel to the west.  Perhaps they’d care to call {Boat Name}, which was the vessel she thought they were interested in.  They did.  The motor yacht took one look at the behemoth bearing down on them from behind and moved.

Top left: impressively sized barge under tow

We continue to be surprised by the volume of barge traffic, hauled by enormous tugs, that we see going up and down the eastern seaboard and even through the ICW too.  Today’s offering was a fine example of the size of tow these tugs drag up and down the coast, day in, day out.  And it concentrates the mind wonderfully in learning light and sound signals for these big tows too!

Jackster under sail

One of the yachts we passed as we left the Bay was Jackster, another OCC yacht owned by Jackie and David Pemberton.  We chatted briefly on the VHF radio and I promised to send them any decent photos that we took.  I must do that!

Following the fun reach out of the Bay, we bore away to the south, poled out the genoa to port and poddled on much more gently towards Cape Hatteras.  By early afternoon the wind had died away too much, so the iron topsail was called into action and we motored from then until about 0400 the following morning.  We rounded Cape Hatteras’ Diamond Shoals buoy in flat seas with just 4kts of wind, in company with about 12 other yachts.  We then turned southwest towards Cape Lookout.  Some of the other yachts did the same but many continued down the coast towards Charleston or out offshore towards the Bahamas.

Approaching the entrance to Cape Lookout Bight.  The light was fading, as was the wind, but in the smooth seas there was still sufficient wind to sail

During the Monday we had lovely sailing conditions and Nicky noted in the log “Lovely Sailing.  Whizzing along effortlessly on a magic carpet!”, which says it all.  The wind lessened gradually during the day but even after rounding Cape Lookout, where the seas were relatively flat under the protection of the shoals and then the bight, we managed to keep sailing.  The 2 or 3 other yachts around us took the (perhaps) easier option of motoring the final 12nm or so but the peace of the gentle sail north was a delight [Ed: though the faff avoiding the fishing trawler, which seemed intent on intercepting our every avoiding action, was less so].

On that final leg up to the entrance of Cape Lookout Bight we took the opportunity to run the watermaker, just to prove it after its long summer lay-up.  It’s just as well that we did as, whilst everything operated, it couldn’t bring the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids, a measure of dissolved ions in the water) down below 1000ppm (the WHO approved standard for drinking water is 500ppm max).  It’s not that surprising since the membranes are the original ones, though it is more likely that the seals between the membranes and their housing have failed having been overheated and unused (though correctly pickled) over the long hot summer on the hard.  More parts to research and order and have delivered to Dianne, the OCC Port Officer in Beaufort.

Looking into Cape Lookout Bight over the top of the sand bar to the west.  Cape Lookout Light illuminated behind the anchored yachts – still plenty of space for us though!

We entered Cape Lookout Bight literally as the sun was setting on Monday 4 November.  We’d decided to spend the night here as we guessed that the anchorage in Taylor Creek off Beaufort would be pretty full and we didn’t fancy trying to find a space in a very tidal anchorage in the dark.  Cape Lookout Bight is very attractive, in a rather bleak and windswept sort of way, and there are acres and acres of potential anchorage to choose from.  We ended up, anchored down at the south end of the bight, away from the majority of the yachts and, coincidentally, close to Willow, another OCC yacht, one of the 13 rounding Diamond Shoal in the early hours of the morning.  It was a very peaceful night at anchor if surprisingly chilly for being so far south and the heater had yet another good workout as ate dinner and toasted a successful passage past an often tricky headland.

Continued below

Cape Lookout, North Carolina, USA

Nicky enjoying the motor after one of many bouts of rain on the short passage to Beaufort.  The full drowned rat look will follow shortly!

The following morning (Tuesday 5 November) after a quiet night, we picked up the anchor to leave Cape Lookout Bight at about 0900.  We wanted to get going reasonably promptly so that we would arrive in Taylor Creek relatively soon after the overnight stoppers had headed off south (perhaps down the ICW) and before too many of those who had spent the night in Cape Lookout Bight also thought it a great wheeze to move into Beaufort.  As we left, we stopped past Willow and discovered that Cindy and Steve too were planning on moving to Beaufort for a few days, though they intended to go into the Town Dock Marina.  We also saw that Jackster had arrived in the anchorage after us and so we had a chat with Jackie and David too.

The entrance to Beaufort/Moorhead City Inlet ahead.  The most obvious feature though is the apartment block on Radio Island

Fishermen taking advantage of the flooding tide
in the entrance channel up to Beaufort

As we motored into wind to the Beaufort/Moorhead City Inlet the rain poured down and it was 2 drowned rats and a freshly washed yacht that dropped anchor in Taylor Creek at 1130hrs.  We were disappointed to have just missed Nella and Bjorn on Think Twice, who had left to continue south down the ICW that morning.  But it was good to see that Steve and Carol on Innamorata II were still in the anchorage and probably for some time too.  Like us, they were awaiting spares and then a good weather window for heading south offshore.  It seemed likely that we’d be swapping stories and weather forecasts over a beer in a good pub for a week or so at least.

Apparently, it’s a lot emptier than it was the previous night!  We found a spot OK but had to do a shuffle as the tide changed for the first time

Beaufort, North Carolina, USA