Reflections of Beaufort

By Sailor Keddy -
Although that small coastal town along the ICW in rural North Carolina changed my life forever with a smattering of decidedly painful events, aside from those, this place is actually pretty terrific. The scenery is gorgeous. The general anchorage area is right between a quaint row of restaurants, bars, hotels and marinas and an island with a troop of wild horses that come to the water to drink daily, 25 yards from my boat. The inlet is right around the corner from this island, and every few days dolphins make their way into the anchorage area to feed. Not to mention the weather has been great, just fantastic. It's been nice to have some time to myself to write, reflect and line things up to get my life back in order.

The people here are also amazing. Its a pretty small down, so in my 10 or so days that I spent here I got to know a few people around town, and they are all interesting characters. A couple of people who stick out in my mind are this guy Todd, pretty much the only cab driver in town. While I was moving my life out of my boat, I got to shore with about 10 garbage bags full of belongings. I loaded them into his cab, and on the way to the Pack'n'Fax place he turned around and said "Hey, aren't you the kid who's having a rough week and is trying to sell his sailboat??" I didn't say a word, I was really shocked. "Yeah, man" he continued, "people were talking about you at the pub last night. Oh, and didn't your girlfriend break up with you too??" I almost died. "Yeah, that's me. Know anyone who wants to buy a sailboat?" He said he did, actually, and that he'd give my number to a friend of his.

Another was this guy Bill. He works at the bank across the street from the dinghy dock. I walked in there the morning Jon left and asked him where the library was. Not only did he show me, he drove me there. No kidding, right in the middle of his work day. In addition, the woman at the coffee shop has been giving me free coffee all week, since I've been in there on my computer almost every morning. There are a number of other fantastic people I've met here, all extremely friendly and looking to help in any way possible. It's nothing short of amazing and in stark contrast to the relative scum I had the unfortunate luck of coming across in Cape May.

The eBay auction ends today for Winchelsea, after a few craigslist leads fell through. I hope it goes smoothly; I'm ready to get down to Florida. 

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