Adventures of Dragon Lady

We left Casper’s Marina about 7:15  in a cold and breezy morning.  It was a long haul  of about 65 miles.  We also  went through 3 bridges that only opened on a fixed schedule, so sometimes we had to wait up to 25 minutes to pass through.  We saw some large mansions on the banks of the inter coastal near Wrightsville, but other than that, nothing very interesting to take a picture of.  We got to Carolina Beach about 4:30 but someone had taken our  reserved mooring ball while the harbor master was out with his grandchild for Halloween!  So we anchored nearby- so much for reservations !  

We left our dock in Pecan Grove Marina at 7:00 just as the sky started to brighten.  It was a familiar trip across the Neuse River and down Adam’s Creek toward Beaufort.  But then we made the turn into Bogue Sound and under the Morehead City bridge, which we haven’t done in 20 years.  Now the trip became real!  We are leaving our old familiar haunts and doing something entirely different!  Along the way we were greeted by a dolphin- see  top of picture.  He road our bow wave for a minute but did not find us very interesting.  I am sure if I held up our little dog he might have hung around a little longer! We arrived at Casper’s Marina at 2:30, tied up and took a much needed stroll into town to stretch our legs.

It rained hard all night and on and off this morning, with the forecast for clearing skies in the afternoon but strong winds from the south.  This afternoon it actually blew 42 knots. Not a very auspicious way to start a trip to Florida!  Instead we decided to stay another day in dock, relax, do minor boat chores, etc. and save our energy for tomorrow.  We plan to leave here at dawn and head to Swansboro though Bogue Sound.

This is the odyssey of Bryce and Helen to Key West aboard Dragon Lady during the fall of 2021. Dragon Lady is a 40 foot blue water ketch sailboat made in Finland.  And here is Dragon Lady: