Spending Time in Beaufort

We have been spending our time in Beaufort by walking through town, chatting with other cruisers, and chipping away at our list of boat chores. One item on the chore list was fixing the “Where is Breeze On” link on this blog. After much trial and error George was able to figure it out and the link now works. Another task was to spend time calculating our mileage. After checking the figures we decided we definitely need more jerry cans of diesel for the next leg of our trip. Yesterday morning we borrowed one of the marina’s courtesy cars and drove to a hardware store to buy two jerry cans. While we were out and about we stopped at the nearby Piggly Wiggly for a few groceries. Next, George checked the steering system and greased the steering sprockets. We had heard some squeaking noises coming from the steering on our trip to Beaufort. After discovering a badly frayed steering cable two years ago we are very sensitive to any noises coming from the steering system. Everything looked good this time and we believe the grease will take care of the squeaking. Later on we walked into town and watched a few mega-yachts get shoehorned into slips at Beaufort Docks. The boat handling of the crews was quite impressive. Next we ate dinner outdoors at Mexican restaurant in town before walking the short distance back to our marina. 

Our current plan is to stay put until just before sunset on Saturday. We are waiting for yet another cold front to pass through before we leave for the Bahamas. By Saturday evening the wind and waves should have calmed enough for us to head out. Unfortunately, the wind is forecast to subside almost completely for the following three days. Once again, we will be motoring most of the way. When George recalculated our diesel needs if we have to motor all the way to the Bahamas he decided we needed one more jerry can of fuel. Forty gallons in the tank plus forty gallons in the eight jerry cans should enable us to motor all the way to the Bahamas—if necessary—with 10 gallons to spare. The challenge is to find space for eight jerry cans. Right now we are going to assume that we will have at least one day of sailing, which saves us 17 gallons of fuel. If the forecast indicates we will have less than that we will get the eighth can and possibly tie it to the dinghy (which is itself tied to the rail.)

No problem this car in the parking lot! 

Greasing the steering sprockets.