June 6 – 9
Again running on the ICW, First Mate had her first grounding in a narrow, shallow channel called Bogue Sound. A sailboat in front of us ran aground at the same time, but he soon got off. We tried. We then called Seatow, but were able to get into deeper water before they arrived, so we canceled them. We suspect they didn’t hurry because we were at low tide and our chance of freeing ourselves was good. The ICW runs right through the Marine base at Camp Lejeune. For artillery firing and beach landing exercises, this part of the ICW can be closed for hours or even a day. If the lights are flashing, you shouldn’t be there. It hasn’t happened for years, but some of the equipment they use is on shore. Upon arriving in Beaufort we were assigned to the tightest slip the Captain has ever gotten into; we had about 6 inches on each side after docking. They really pack them in here. It also has the shortest finger pier we have seen; we had to get on & off our aft deck by climbing the ladder from the swim platform, even though we docked stern in. There was a major blue marlin tournament the next week, the Big Rock, one of the biggest on the east coast, and all marinas were full. We had called all of them a few days before and were lucky to get the last slip here at Town Creek. We dined and visited with the Captain’s family while docked here. Met Donna & Ray, living aboard Shared Vision. They saw our AGLCA burgee and invited us to a seminar covering the North Carolina waterways, which was being presented by author Claiborne Young. We went in their truck to Oriental, NC, a nearby fishing village.

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