North Carolina shore

These birds hitchhiked when we left the anchorage our first night out from Beaufort.



Some colorful machinery/boats as we left Beaufort.



For the last four days we've been motoring and motor sailing south.  It has been mildly raining off and on and dreary.

 We stopped Sunday and Monday nights in Wrightsville Beach.

Wrightsville Beach was not so attractive as we'd hoped.  All three-story-tall plain buildings set for constant visitors to come to the beach.  No charm, no history, and populated by mostly college-aged kids.  

We anchored  along with a lot of other boats that were obviously just stopping on their way south.

Then we took our backpacks, got in the dinghy and walked along the beach.  Then back along a main street to a grocery store and picked up some fruit and potatoes.  Then stopped at a coffee shop/bar/lunch place and had tall frozen shakes/coffee drinks.

We knew we wanted to see this coast slower.  It was so beautiful as we came up and people were out on the water everywhere, finding ways to enjoy the sun and water.   

This time it was less cheerful, but the animals seemed to like it.  We saw this deer crossing the waterway just ahead of us.

And we saw birds all along the way.

Now, we're anchored in Carolina Beach, another narrow strip town.  There are green spaces around here and it's a little less commercial feeling.  

We have about a week to spend before we stop south of Charleston for awhile to leave the boat.   From there we plan to drive up to Tennessee where we can visit Tom's son and daughter-in-law and Tom can take some training on software for his "part-time" job.