1800 Days – Seg. 23, Ch. 6, Pg. 1-6

Chapter 6 - Beaufort-By-The-Sea

Small Boat Basin

    The small boat basin at Beaufort Docks was a rectangular arrangement of docks with one long side actually on the shore of the creek. It was attached to the dock on the opposite side, which I will call the deep water dock, by two shorter sections of dock, which thus formed the rectangle that enclosed the basin. The longer docks were divided into slips by finger piers perpendicular to them and extending into the interior of the rectangle so that boats moored in these slips on opposite sides of the basin had their ends facing each other. There was an opening at the east end of the deep water dock to permit boats to enter the basin. With boats filling the slips along each of the long docks there was only about forty feet separating the ends of the boats on opposite sides. There was thus very little clearance for a boat the size of Summer School (34 feet long not counting the swim platform in the rear and the bow pulpit in front) to turn around and enter one of the slips. To make matters even more difficult the slip we were assigned was near the closed end of the basin, which further restricted the room for maneuvering. Owan and a dock hand helped us into the slip, but we knew we were in the slip to stay until we left in the spring when we would also probably need help. Unlike at Summit North or at Rolph's, we would not be taking Summer School out of this difficult slip for short day trips. Any trips on the water that we would make in Beaufort would have to be made in our dinghy, Recess.

Waterfront Park Adjacent to Beaufort Docks  

  Before bringing Summer School into the slip we filled the fuel tanks and added a diesel fuel stabilizer to prevent deterioration of the fuel during our anticipated long period of inactivity. We also filled our water tanks. Although it would have been possible to permanently connect a hose from the dock faucet at our slip to our boat's fresh water input we decided, as usual, not to do that, preferring to use water from our on-board water storage tanks. This would mean that every ten days or so, depending on usage, we would need to fill our water tanks using a hose connected to the dock water supply. However, this procedure kept the water in our storage tanks constantly in use and comparatively fresh, which avoided all the problems associated with stagnant water and tank purification. Additionally, and of course completely unknown to us at the time, this arrangement would be critical to our ability to last through the winter as slip-holders at Beaufort Docks.

    There were some advantages to knowing that our boat would be semi-permanently moored in the slip until we left, as we then planned, at the end of the winter season, five months away in the middle of April. As at Rolph's, Beaufort Docks was built with a system of fixed, not floating, docks, which meant that boats would rise and fall in the slips with the change of the tides. These were normally only about 2-3 feet on this part of the coast, but could be appreciably more during surges from strong storms. We took our time arranging our boat in the slip using a complex system of long lines and fenders that would ensure that the boat could rise and fall with any change in water level that we could reasonably expect without permitting the boat to bang into the dock or any of the pilings in a strong wind. Once our dock lines and fenders were all in place we felt the boat was ready for the coming long winter's stay.

Dinghies on Shore from Boats in the Anchorage

    Our first week at Beaufort Docks was busy making all the arrangements necessary to our convenient living on the boat. We made use of the courtesy car provided to boaters by the Maritime Museum to return to New Bern and get our own car. We arranged for Kathleen to forward our mail to general delivery at the Beaufort post office until further notice. With the car it was easy to complete our initial grocery shopping and stock up our food storage. On Friday the telephone company sent a technician to install a telephone jack on the dock near our slip so that we could connect our telephone line and have telephone service on the boat. We even were able to arrange for dial-up internet service through Beaufort Marine Discount, a well-stocked boating store just a block away from our slip.

    By Monday, November 18, just six days after we took up residence, everything had been arranged. We congratulated ourselves over nightcaps on how much we had accomplished during these busy full days, but our self-satisfied smugness was very short lived. On Tuesday morning when we turned on the television to watch local news and weather, the screen suddenly went blank and the set became quiet as if it had been shut off. There was no way I could get the set to operate and I decided I would take it for repairs, which hopefully would cost significantly less that a new television, something we could not afford at this time. Having our own telephone on board made this task much simpler than it otherwise would have been. Our television set was a small combination TV-VCR unit and some repair shops would not attempt to repair it. However, I found a shop in Havelock, a small town about midway between Beaufort and New Bern, that agreed to repair it "as soon as we can get to it."

    Later that same day our fresh water pump seemed to become erratic. Water from our storage tanks was piped to the water heater, the showers and various faucets through a water pump that incorporated a pressure switch that was set to operate the pump between the pressure limits of 20 psi (turning on) and 40 psi (turning off). There were several times during the day when the pump did not come on until the pressure became very low. On Wednesday the pump failed completely. The pressure switch on this pump was a separate replaceable unit and I decided to try replacing the switch before replacing the whole pump, which would cost considerably more. I was able to find a replacement switch at the large boating store we had frequented outside New Bern. As I had hoped, a new switch solved our problem for the cost of a few dollars and a drive to New Bern.

Looking into the Engine Room at the Generator

Waterlift Muffler and Exhaust Hose shown at Upper Right

    After the fresh water pump was repaired I attacked the problem of determining what went wrong at the Cedar Creek anchorage and repairing the generator. Even though we were not planning to be at anchor for at least the next five months, I knew this had to be done as soon as possible, not only because I tried to keep everything on the boat in good repair at all times, but also because it was possible that we could very well need the generator while in the marina if there was a power failure. (This had happened to us numbers of times in the past.) I knew that the generator failure could also have been caused by the malfunction of a pump - the generator seawater pump that pumped cooling seawater from an underwater through-hull fitting through the interior of the generator and into the waterlift muffler before being expelled overboard along with the exhaust gasses. As it turned out we were very lucky in this repair because the seawater pump did not have to be replaced. When I removed the intake hose from the seacock on the underwater through-hull fitting, I found that a small fish had been drawn into the intake and clogged the intake hose, thus preventing sufficient cooling water from reaching the generator. I was stunned to think that such an unlikely, almost unbelievable event could have come so close to causing us utter disaster. We indeed felt fortunate to have escaped the fates with such little damage. Of course I had to replace the exhaust hose and the muffler that had melted, but these were conveniently available from Beaufort Marine Discount. With the intake hose unclogged and the exhaust system reassembled the generator started and ran well.

Nancy and Recess on the Beach of Carrot Island

     By the weekend everything onboard was once again operational though our television was still at the repair shop. But we felt we could relax somewhat and start to enjoy our surroundings. Sunday was a beautiful glorious early fall day with warm temperatures and light winds. In the afternoon we put Recess in the water and took a dinghy ride to the low island, named variously Town Marsh or Carrot Island, on the other side of Taylor Creek. This was the island that was home to a small herd of wild horses that we had seen previously. We drove the bow of the dinghy right up onto the hard packed sand, and spent the next hour walking the beach and roaming across the narrow island. Horse trails and droppings were everywhere. On the other side of the island we could look across the waters of Back Sound to Shackleford Banks, the barrier island on the ocean. Off in the distance we could see the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. We talked about how we would like to visit these nearby places during our stay in Beaufort.

Sunset Behind Carrot Island Across Taylor Creek  

  Before returning to the boat later in the afternoon we took Recess for a ride along Taylor Creek. We cruised through all the boats at anchor and slowly motored along the Beaufort waterfront, which now was familiar to us from our walks along Front Street. We returned to Summer School at about 4 p.m. and settled into cocktails and dinner. We were starting to feel that we had a home, to realize that it was no longer necessary to wander the waterways. It was November 24, just four days after I turned 58 and Day 196.

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1800 Days – Seg. 22, Ch. 5, Pg. 10-23 (End of chapter)

    The conditions and circumstances we found in Beaufort gave us both hope and concern. Once we were securely settled in our slip I walked down to the marina office and talked with Owan about possible arrangements for winter dockage. I also met Owan's boss, the marina manager, Haywood Weeks. They confirmed that special winter rates would be offered beginning November 15 when the winter migration of transient boaters would be mostly ended. The details had not been completely determined, they said, but the slip rental would probably be $175 to $200 a month for our boat including electricity. The special rates would hold until about the middle of April when the spring boat migration would begin. This was very good news to us, and exactly what we had hoped to find, but there were a number of problems. First among these was that it was just October 1 and we had to find some place to stay for the next month and a half. Could they give us a long term rate, say monthly or even weekly, until November 15? No, they were prohibited by town statute (Beaufort Docks was a town facility) from offering anything except the standard nightly rate until the winter season began. They were required to keep the slips open for transient boaters until then, they explained. So, if we stayed someplace else in the area could we reserve a winter slip beginning November 15? No, they had decided not to take reservations but there should not be any difficulty in accommodating us for the winter in one of the slips in what they called their small boat basin. Of course they could not guarantee this but if we showed up in mid-November there should not be any problem. We agreed to this and said we would stay at the Docks for a few days until we located nearby dockage. We found it unsettling that we could not definitely secure our winter arrangements but we tried to be content by their assurances. And there were many marinas in this area of North Carolina. Finding a slip for a month or more at a reasonable rate would not be a problem, would it?

    We quickly discovered, however, that finding a slip, any slip, at any rate for a week or more, anywhere in the region, proved to be a nearly insurmountable problem because of all the damage done by hurricanes Bertha and Fran. Somehow we had not been aware of how extensive this damage was in coastal North Carolina. Every marina in the area had suffered damages that varied from relatively minor problems that affected a few slips to complete destruction. Slips were scarce. To make matters worse it was now the peak time in the fall boat migration so that slips were in great demand, and those marinas that had slips available wanted to reserve them for the more lucrative transient business rather than rent them for longer terms at reduced rates. For the first two days after our arrival at Beaufort Docks we occupied most of our time contacting marinas. There were no long term slips available across the ICW channel in Morehead City where we had enjoyed staying on our trip south in 1993, and we were assured that this would be the case all along the ICW where the hurricane damage had been severe. We tried various marinas inland. In Oriental, a small boating-centered town back on the Neuse roughly across from the mouth of Adams Creek, all available slips were being held for transients. We tried the small city of New Bern, farther upriver on the Neuse at its confluence with the Trent River, but still within a reasonable day's cruise from Beaufort. Of the two marinas that were there the one at the Ramada Inn had been completely destroyed. The other marina, at the Sheraton Inn, had received substantial damage but the dockmaster told us that repairs were underway and he might be able to give us a slip for a month beginning about the middle of October. This would work for us, we thought, but once again there were no guarantees. We decided to leave Beaufort anyway and cruise to the New Bern area. The charts indicated that there were good anchoring possibilities close to New Bern in the Trent River; maybe we could stay at anchor until a slip became available.

    Now the problem was getting out of Beaufort. On the day after our arrival it rained hard all day. And then on Thursday a strong cold front came through that brought steady strong winds of 20 to 30 mph. Despite these winds, by mid-afternoon the marina filled with large yachts, sixty to eighty feet or more in length, because the Coast Guard had re-opened the ICW through the lower Neuse; these were among the boats that had been trapped by the emergency closure on Tuesday. The winds continued through the weekend but they did not deter us from going to the North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City on Saturday though we decided to take a taxi rather than try to ride our bicycles. We stuffed ourselves on seafood from all the street vendors and unavoidably thought of Charles and Connie from Summit North and their dream of taking their boat down the ICW and attending this festival. On Monday tropical storm Josephine came ashore in the Florida panhandle and was forecast to be in coastal North Carolina the next day. Gale warnings were issued. We spent much of Monday preparing for a strong storm, securing everything on deck and adjusting our dock lines. Josephine came as scheduled with winds in our slip to 40 mph and winds at Diamond Shoals offshore Cape Hatteras over 90 mph.

North Carolina Seafood Festival - Morehead City

    Finally on Wednesday, October 9, after more than a week in Beaufort, we awoke to weather that seemed stable and calm enough to permit comfortable cruising. The NOAA forecast was good as well and we decided to depart. We were lucky enough to be able to get our forwarded mail at the post office, checked out of the marina and were underway by 10 a.m. The cruise back out Adams Creek Canal and into the Neuse, and then upriver to New Bern was uneventful. By 6 p.m. we were securely anchored in a pretty spot on the Trent River about a mile past the Sheraton.

    Thursday was a delightful, sunny, early fall day that began with calls of Canada geese flying low over the boat in the early morning. We lowered Recess and rode the short distance into the Sheraton where we met the dockmaster, Jack. To our great surprise he told us that we could have a slip the next day for a monthly rate of $200 plus electricity. This was unexpected good fortune and we eagerly accepted. On Friday we brought Summer School into our slip to begin our stay in our home-for-a-month in New Bern. We were ecstatic.

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    If I had to make a choice of the single boating experience that gave us most pleasure, I probably would say it was anchoring in some quiet private sheltered place along some scenic waterway with the time and leisure to pursue our pastimes of writing and reading, listening to music and talking, while absorbing the peace and beauty of our surroundings. But the experience that closely rivaled this in our favors was that of taking up residence in some new place with the opportunity not just to visit, but to live there and get to know the people, the facilities, the attractions as well as the detractions, in short to learn and absorb the feeling of the place. Living on our boat enabled us to do this without ever having to leave home. No matter how involved we became in exploring the new area and participating in various activities, we would always be able to return to our boat with its beautiful and warm teak paneling, to our office in the forward cabin, to our galley and settee and entertainment center in the main cabin surrounded by large windows on all sides, and to our familiar and comfortable bed in the aft cabin. At the end of the day we were always home. No better example of this whole experience was the month we spent in New Bern.

Sheraton Marina - New Bern

    How excited we were at the beginning of this stay! There were several reasons. First we had a good secure slip at a reasonable rate in an attractive, well-kept marina, though there still were a few areas under repair from the hurricane damage. We had 50 amp. power for the boat that enabled us to run heat and air-conditioning and all of our other systems. We had good dock water and even cable TV. That the marina was part of the Sheraton Hotel complex entitled us to all the amenities available to any guest including the use of a well-appointed exercise room. Second, we were within this unknown city of New Bern that seemed to promise so much adventure and new experiences. And finally, it was early fall with comfortable warm daytime temperatures and cool nights. For both Nancy and me, fall is a time of expectation and excitement and anticipation.

    We began our explorations immediately because, with great luck, the Friday of our arrival was also the beginning of the annual Chrysanthemum Festival, a notable New Bern event. We discovered that this festival was centered at a place called Tryon Palace just a few short blocks from the Sheraton, and on Saturday morning we set off to experience the festival. We found Tryon Palace to be an imposing colonial mansion located on 14 acres of grounds along with several outbuildings. We learned that the palace itself was the restored home of British Governor William Tryon and dated from 1770. Inside it was furnished with an outstanding collection of antiques and art. But more impressive to us were the grounds. All of the 14 acres were devoted to extensive gardens, which ranged from a large English formal garden complete with fountains and statuary, to a large kitchen garden and a wilderness garden area. Brilliantly colored chrysanthemums were everywhere. They were strikingly beautiful. We spent several hours exploring the buildings and grounds before wandering back to the boat.

Tryon Palace Entrance

  

Tryon Palace Formal Gardens



Harpist in Tulip Garden (Tryon Palace)





  Our explorations continued on Sunday when we were excited to learn that there would be a recital of baroque music for organ and trumpet at St. Joseph's Episcopal Church in the afternoon. This church was located on Pollock Street in the center of downtown New Bern. Once again it was only a short walk of a few blocks from the marina. Not only did we enjoy the concert but we took the opportunity to become familiar with the main business center of the city.

    During Tuesday and Wednesday of our first week at the Sheraton we completed our relocation to North Carolina by returning to Rolph's to retrieve our car. Now we could explore not only the small areas within walking or biking distance, but we could also become acquainted with the outlying areas and the whole region. We had faith that somewhere in this region we would find our winter's home.

Seafood Market in New Bern

    Throughout the remainder of our month at the marina we delighted in our New Bern experience. The Sheraton Hotel and Marina was ideally located to provide pleasant walks to most of the downtown attractions. We visited the Tryon Palace Seafood Market and a small grocery store (the Pak-a-Sak), both located on Front Street, which bordered the hotel. By crossing Front Street and walking around the block on Middle, Pollack and Craven streets we could visit several book stores including Ratty's (specializing in nautical books and merchandise), a number of restaurants (Sonny's Raw Bar and Grill became one of our favorites), several office supply stores that we enjoyed browsing, and Mitchell's Hardware, a wonderful old-time hardware store that prided itself on an extensive inventory of hard-to-find items and knowledgeable personal service. This block also contained a pleasant small park called Bear Plaza that was decorated with numbers of carved wooden sculptures of bears in various positions.

    We used our bicycles to good effect also, at least until this became impossible. The city was sufficiently small that riding the city streets did not seem hazardous. We found that New Bern had an excellent library located about seven or eight blocks from the marina, and it was a pleasant ride that we made frequently with our saddlebags attached to the rear of the bikes so that we could bring home whatever reading treasures we found. We also enjoyed riding through the quiet residential areas near the frontage along the Neuse River. However, if we went in the opposite direction, beyond the Tryon Palace grounds, we had to ride through a squalid impoverished housing project where the sight of a middle-aged white couple riding bicycles in the middle of the day drew stares of disbelief. We did not feel comfortable there.

    Of course having the use of our car enabled us to explore more widely in addition to making major shopping and provisioning much more convenient. On the outskirts of New Bern, perhaps five miles away from the city center, there was a complex of squares and shopping centers and the inevitable mall. This area included several upscale grocery stores as well as a large boating supply store from which we obtained some needed items. We also used the car to make day trips through the surrounding countryside. On one of these we followed the north shore of the Neuse River back downstream to Oriental so that we could become acquainted with this well-known small boating town. We had no way of knowing that, some years later, we would live briefly in Oriental and say our final goodbye to Summer School. On our way back to New Bern we crossed the Neuse on a free ferry, part of the wonderful North Carolina ferry system, running between Minnesott Beach and Cherry Point on the south shore outside the Marine Air Station located there.

    Our lives were satisfying, full and, with one notable exception, pleasant during our month in New Bern. We were fortunate to be there for a number of special events. One of these was called "Ratty's Regatta - A Rowing Event on the River Trent," held on the grounds of the hotel and the marina, and featuring people costumed in period dress from the early part of the century. The main event was the launch of a beautiful hand-crafted wooden rowing skiff followed by rides around the sheltered waters of the marina. We were also fortunate to be able to attend a lecture at Tryon Palace on the history of North Carolina hurricanes. And then later in the month there was a small "Oktoberfest" celebration in the park adjacent to the hotel. It was at this time that we fell permanently in love with North Carolina pulled pork barbeque.

Hand Crafted Rowing Skiff

Ratty's Regatta - New Bern

    The exception to our enjoyment, and it was a significant one, occurred on October 29 when we discovered that our bicycles had been stolen overnight. We used our bikes almost every day and we kept them locked to the fence on the bulkhead at the head of the dock, perhaps fifty yards from our slip and approximately in the center of the Sheraton marina grounds. On this morning we found broken pieces of the locks and remnants of the chains where our bikes should have been. When I reported this to Dockmaster Jack his main reply was that, had he known that we were keeping our bikes there, he would have advised us to put them on board our boat because many bikes have been stolen from the bulkhead. And even then it was not 100% safe because a few bikes had been stolen right off the boats. "It's those kids from the projects," he said. "They come over here in the middle of the night and steal anything they can. The watchman can't be everywhere all the time." It did not seem worthwhile for me to ask Jack how he could not have known where we were locking our bikes given that he walks around the marina every day and even lives on a boat on one of the docks. We went to the police of course and rode up and down the streets in the project but the bikes were never seen again. This was a major loss to us. When we were cruising those bicycles were essential to us when we stopped in a town and needed to do errands, tend to personal business and reprovision. And with the tightness of our funds this early in our adventure we did not feel free to replace them. I tried to remember that, to ghetto kids, people who owned boats big enough to live on must seem unimaginably wealthy, and I tried to imagine the envy and hard resentment that must be felt, but I nonetheless felt violated and angry and bitter.

    Perhaps the theft stung so painfully because it contrasted sharply with everything else in our experience of New Bern. People we met everywhere were gracious and friendly regardless of color: people on the docks, clerks in the hotel, waitpeople in restaurants, proprietors of stores, everyone on the streets. And the weather during our stay was some of the best fall weather we had experienced with warm sunny days and cool nights during the first part of our month becoming crisp and colder early in November as our departure date neared. Throughout this period everything on the boat worked well (again with one notable exception) including all our pumps and the heating and air-conditioning system, though we saw little need for either. I had been able to work steadily on my writing although I had to discard a big chunk as being unsatisfactory; but that was progress too, I thought. Even my health had seemed better with fewer periods of stomach pain perhaps due to all the exercise of walking and riding and the regular workouts we enjoyed in the Sheraton exercise room.

    It was also during this month that we met a very interesting couple who would eventually have a significant effect on our boating lives. One evening we heard a knock on our boat and when we opened the cabin door we were greeted by a man and a woman who introduced themselves as Earl and Ann Temple, explaining that they owned the 40 foot trawler on the next dock and that they would like to meet us and have a look at our beautiful boat. Of course, we invited them inside and then enjoyed a lively, sometimes spirited talk over some drinks. Thus began an acquaintance and, for a time, a friendship, that was to have a fundamental effect on our boating future. Earl and Ann owned and operated a very successful tree surgeon and landscape business in the New Bern area. They had recently purchased their trawler and named it Sawdust, Earl explained, after the product that had generated the funds that had enabled its purchase. Earl was a relatively short but wiry middle-aged man who still did much of the hard physical work of their business, while Ann was a moderately tall attractive woman, obviously quite conscious of her dress and general appearance, who kept the books and managed the business side of their enterprise. As we all talked it became apparent that we shared many ideas and feelings related to boating and trawlers. Nancy and I were also intrigued by the fact that the Temples lived on Temple Point on the south shore of the Neuse River, on land that had been in the Temple family for generations. They maintained a dock on a navigable tributary creek, they said, but preferred to keep Sawdust in New Bern to have it near their place of business. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and we resolved to get together again on their boat.

    Once November arrived the weather became much colder. On Saturday night November 2 we enjoyed a memorable dinner at the Flame restaurant on the outskirts of New Bern in celebration of getting a notice that I had become eligible to receive social security benefits when I became 62 due to my semester of part-time work at Lafayette the previous year. (Without this single employment credit I would have just missed the eligibility requirement. I could not take part in social security during all the years I taught in Canada and in Colorado as a state employee and therefore these years did not count.) But on Sunday morning we awoke to a chilling temperature of 38 degrees.

    It remained cold all day on that Sunday. In the evening when we were washing dishes after dinner we noticed water seeping onto the cabin floor from the cupboard underneath the sink. We found that the flexible plastic drain hose that connected the sink to the overboard discharge through-hull fitting was clogged. After cleaning up the mess and dismantling the hose (NOT the way we wanted to relax after dinner) we found that it was clogged by fat and grease in a loop of the hose that had apparently congealed in the cold temperatures. I unclogged the hose, shortened it to remove the loop and reconnected it to the sink drain. This was the first problem we had encountered due to living on the boat in cold weather. In my journal entry that night I speculate on whether we had made a mistake by not going further south.

    On the next day, which was only one week before we had to vacate our slip according to our month's contract, we got serious about making modifications to the boat to help us withstand the coming cold. Among other things we applied weather-stripping to the sliding salon door; we attached "shrink and seal" plastic film coverings to the non-opening windows; we made insulating panels for the front hatch and the aft cabin door using three-quarter inch Styrofoam, which we then cut to fit. During the week the weather moderated, which deceptively relieved our sense of urgency for making more preparations for winter.

    On Sunday evening we joined Earl and Ann for dinner at their home on the banks of the Neuse. They had an attractive house high above the river with a spectacular view. They also showed us their property along the banks of Mitchell Creek, which connected to the Neuse through Clubfoot Creek. They had a small dock there with several boats tied into the slips that they rented. There were a few empty slips as well and Earl very generously invited us to come in on Summer School and stay any time as their guests. He assured us that the creek held sufficient depth, at least five feet if we stayed in the middle. I thought it very unlikely at the time that we would chance navigating this shallow unknown waterway but, as it transpired, a few years later I would think otherwise. As usual we had animated and enjoyable talk during this visit, and before leaving we promised to keep in touch after we settled in Beaufort.

    We departed New Bern at 10 a.m. on the next day, Monday November 11. It was sunny and a cool 50 degrees as we cruised down the Neuse into a 10-15 mph wind and a one foot chop. We could not take up residence at Beaufort Docks with their winter rates until Friday, but we planned to stay four nights at anchor until then. On this Monday we were headed for the comfortable anchorage we had previously found at Cedar Creek. We had a delightful four hour cruise using the lower station inside the cabin out of the wind where we luxuriated in the warmth provided by the diesel underneath the floor and the solar heating through our large windows that completely surrounded us. We saw the ferry that we had ridden so recently as it shuttled between Minnesott Beach on the north shore and Cherry Point on the south. A little over two miles after that brought us opposite Temple Point. We tried without success to see the Temple's house but we were in the center of the river, which is about four miles wide at this point. Another four miles down the river brought us to the buoy where we left the Neuse and turned into Adams Creek. By 2 p.m. we were securely anchored in our familiar spot back up Cedar Creek. We had perfect fall weather which added to the excitement we felt to be cruising again. We were looking forward to a leisurely four days, perhaps not even leaving Cedar Creek, before we went to Beaufort Docks to try to find our winter residence.

    The weather turned even colder that night. It was 40 degrees outside when we went to bed at about 11 p.m. I awoke in the morning at 7 a.m., very cold with a temperature in the boat of 45 degrees while outside our weather station showed it was 34 degrees, just slightly above freezing. I got up, started our generator, started the air-conditioner in heat pump mode and turned on the two electric heaters that we had in the forward and aft cabins. Then I returned to bed to wait for the boat to become warmer. Although we had no need prior to this to run all three of these heat sources at once, our old generator, Tommy, had a 7500 watt capacity, which was easily sufficient to run the two 1500 watt electric heaters and the 3000 watt heat pump. However, after about fifteen minutes in bed I thought I smelled smoke and got up to investigate. The power cords of the two electric heaters were fine but when I opened the main access hatch into the engine room, a 2 foot square floor panel at the front of the cabin almost directly above the generator, a cloud of white smoke came billowing out of the engine room so thick that I could see nothing. I quickly closed the hatch, shut down the generator, yelled to Nancy to get out of bed and opened the cabin door and all the windows. I thought we were on fire. I shouted to Nancy to go outside and get Recess into the water while I grabbed a fire extinguisher and opened the engine room access hatch again. When the smoke cleared I could see no flame but there was water all around the generator, which had obviously overheated. When I climbed down into the engine room to inspect I found that, for some reason I did not understand, the generator had become so hot that it not only boiled out all the coolant, but the resulting super-hot exhaust had then melted the plastic waterlift muffler. This was the source of all the acrid smoke.

    I returned to the cabin and reported all this to Nancy who by this time had Recess in the water. Of course we were greatly relieved, to understate our feelings, not to have to abandon our boat to destruction by fire, but we were nonetheless upset by the fact that we were now without a functional generator and could no longer stay at anchor. We spent the remainder of the morning cleaning up the engine room, remounting Recess onto the swim platform and trying to regain our equanimity.

    Later in the day we slowly cruised the remaining 20 miles into Beaufort and limped into Beaufort Docks. When the dockmaster, Owan, heard our story he agreed to let us begin our winter's stay a few days early and assigned us a slip in the small boat basin. He also told us that they had finalized the winter rates and they would be $100 plus $1 per foot of boat length including water, electricity and a cable television connection. These rates would remain in effect until April 15 of the following spring. And yes, he said, we would be able to get a telephone connection but we would have to arrange that with the telephone company and pay the costs ourselves. To us this was phenomenal. For only $134 per month we would have our accommodations for the winter with all the basic utilities included except telephone. The almost unbelievable good news of this arrangement served to greatly improve our moods and we happily began our winter's stay in Beaufort-by-the-Sea, as the town is often designated. It was Tuesday, November 12, Day 184.