Back to the Ocean side

For the last few weeks we have been quite a distance from the ocean. Today after getting up in the dark to head out with first light, we cruised to the ocean. The dolphins came out to meet us as we got close to Morehead City and made us feel very welcome! West of the city we entered into Bogue Sound. What an incredible stretch of the waterway. We traveled along the strip of water between the mainland and the outer Bogue banks - a thin strip of land protecting us from the main ocean. We had contemplated going outside for this section but the wind was up and the prediction for the next little while is a bit hairy for us new sailors. But I wouldn't want to have missed this section. For much of it, just metres from the boat are a series of small islands of sand, shells and shrubs. On the other side are some fine houses of the not-so-poor folk of NC. Some of the navigation is tricky and we know of a few boats that have run aground along here. With the wind on our beam we had the sail out with the motor and we zipped along quite nicely. The tidal currents are strong here as well and for part of the time they pushed us along and for the last bit they leaned all their watery weight into us. By early afternoon we pulled into an anchorage at Swansboro. There we dinghied over to one of the islands and were amazed at how practically the whole thing seemed to be made of shells - zillions and zillions of them (click on the picture of Christopher to see what the ground is like). Then we scooted over to the town and found a really delightful community there. The quaint shops are fully decked out in their Christmas regalia. Now that we have entered into the zone where palm trees start to be viable I guess we are going to have to get used to seeing Santa and all that goes with him amongst the different shaped greenery! Likely won't take much adjusting.