Swansboro to Back Creek near Oriental, North Carolina

 On Thursday, we were up in time to see the sunrise as we pulled out of the Mile Hammock anchorage and were surprised two boats had already left. We made it through the 7 am opening of the Onslow Beach Swing bridge operated with military precision by the Marines along with the sailboat Luckiest. It was an overcast, cool, and very windy day as we passed through Beaufort, North Carolina, and because of the forecast rainy and very windy weather to come, we chose to stop here in Back Creek. There is one other catamaran anchored here and loads of crab pots but out of the wind and the boat wakes from the ICW. So this will be a nice place to hunker down for the bad weather that will put a damper on Memorial Day weekend boating for sure. This is a shoal boat anchorage so don't expect to see many other boats that we have been traveling with.

Sunrise over Mile Hammock anchorage

Beautiful glow

View from the helm as we watch the swing bridge open

S/V Luckiest is on her way through

The patriotic bridge had American flags across the bridge span

An amazing anchorage by the ships in Beaufort

We had intermittent cell phone coverage and could not make phone calls while anchored out in Back Creek from Thursday night through Sunday morning. There was one other catamaran anchored further up the creek and we saw him trolling in his dinghy as we took off on Sunday. We had two quiet days doing boat work inside as the wind howled and it rained. In this anchorage, we were surrounded by crab pots but did not feel any boat wakes but the weather was too miserable for any boats to be out.

Our snug peaceful harbour to ride out the stormy weather