Swansboro - at anchor

View 1: We hit Morehead City during the peak of the  blessing of the fleet and their seafood festival. 

We've had the best weather ever on this trip down the ICW. Today was no exception with winds less than 10 kts and flat seas. It is really difficult to sail on the ICW with all the changes in directions, the wind is almost never out of the quadrant that makes for good sailing. Plus, you're always under some time constraint to either make a bridge opening or the marina you're aiming for at the end of the day. Also, the bridge operators don't look kindly upon trying to sail through on opening, too many things can go wrong so if you do sail, they go up and down at every bridge.

View 2: and you thought the shrimp boat was big....

However, coming into Morehead City, we were met with dozens of shrimp boats! It was hard to find a path through all the boats. It turned out that they were holding the "Blessing of the Fleet" and every shrimp boat within miles was present for the event. Not only that, but there were dozens of spectator boats looking at each other and events on shore, what a mess to go through. We had a boat with a blue flasher waving at us but we got through anyway. 

Now the storm clouds are coming, got to get Hoolie ashore quick!

Sunday appears to be the last good day of weather for awhile. Karen did peter out but her remnant continues onward to the north, turning into winds and rain which we'll get starting Monday afternoon around us. We'll look at the usual weather reports and decide what to do on Monday. We could just still out the bad weather here or try to beat the winds and rain by rushing to Surf City which is only 27 miles down the ICW.

Meanwhile, Ann's cold is getting better. The concern had been that the cold would turn into bronchitis which happens often after she had all the cancer radiation and chemotherapy of 6 years ago. Her immune system has never been as strong as before. Tonight we anchored just south of the bridge at Swansboro which gives some cruisers pause since the bridge looks rather formidable if your anchor were to drag on an incoming tide. However, we have faith in our ground tackle and will sleep soundly. Let's see what tomorrow brings for the weather.