Beaufort, NC - at Home Smith's Docks and Marina at their dock

Ann found her wooden dinghy after all these years! On the other hand, it's really not practical for the ICW. 

We've spent two days at our dock with gale force winds, the peak gust being 36.5 kts (42 mph).The winds have finally abated around 6:00 pm this afternoon and when the winds dropped to only 15 kts, it felt like there was no wind at all. With such a small wind, we'll certainly leave Sunday for points north. We hope to make RE Mayo but they are closed on Sunday so we'll refuel here.

No, a wooden canoe is not practical either but it's very pretty

Meanwhile, we made good use of the free laundry this morning and in the afternoon we walked to downtown Beaufort for the wooden boat festival. It was like attending an art exhibit, the boats were so beautiful. Ann fell in love with one particular wooden dinghy that resembled one that our son started about 20 years ago. We at first had hopes that his son, Matthew, would finish it but now we're hoping for Matthew's son or daughter to pick up the challenge. However, it's mostly for show since a wooden dinghy is really not practical on the ICW. You need transportation to and from shore for Hoolie that's not tippy and wards off waves created by 15 to 20 kts winds at times in an anchorage.

Incredible detail, never enough patience for me

We didn't get to see all of downtown Beaufort, maybe next time. It looks like a great town to explore. We hope the weather behaves tonight for a change. It was turned colder for sure.