Post #84: Dolphins, Pirates, and Coffee

 Monday, November 1 to Tuesday, November 2, 2021

You know it is going to be a good day when a dolphin greets you as you approach your next port of call:

Welcome to Beaufort, NC, a quaint coastal town of about 4000 residents located on a navigable channel leading south to the Atlantic Ocean.  Originally a fishing village dating back to the late 1600’s, Beaufort’s history has included patriots, pirates, slave ships, boat-building, fish processing factories and whaling. Because Beaufort was occupied by Union forces during the Civil War, many of the early buildings are still in use.

Today’s tourists who stroll the main street and the boardwalk along the waterfront can choose from many restaurants, shops, and historical sites.  You can take a ferry to the Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve, the Cape Lookout National Seashore or on a tour boat to see dolphins and wild ponies.  

David and I chose to spend the day in the highly recommended North Carolina Maritime Museum where we learned much about Beaufort’s ship building and fishing industries. But even more intriguing were the exhibits of “bounty” recovered from the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s infamous vessel! In 1997, nearly three centuries after it sunk, the wreck was discovered just a couple of miles away from Beaufort and in only about 20’ of water!! Cannon, an anchor, glassware, ceramics, metal fittings, blunderbusses and much, much more have been found and are on display at the museum.  You can even watch marine archaeologists working to uncover more artifacts at their laboratory right in the museum.

We needed to get up before sunrise on Tuesday in order to take advantage of favorable tides as we headed out into the Atlantic to sail 75 miles south to Masonboro Inlet and the town of Wrightsville Beach.

Getting up early has never been one of my favorite things to do. I’ve never been a coffee drinker—until becoming a sea gypsy.  I love the smell of coffee, but not the taste.  In fact, I prefer a combo of half milk, half coffee—sort of like a coffee frappe (I guess you can take the girl away from the ice cream stand but you can’t take….). Anyway, once we are underway on these early mornings, to help me wake up, I make the coffee for both of us. Without electricity.

Here’s the process: Remove the cutting board cover from the stovetop burners. Get the coffee pot and the tea kettle out of the cabinet. Pour filtered water into the kettle. Ask David to turn the propane tank on in the cockpit locker since he’s at the helm. Then flip the LPG Control switch on the circuit board at the chart station. Next, cross to the other side of the boat, push the control that turns on the solenoid, grab a lighter from the drawer and light the burner.  While the water heats up, measure ground coffee and pour into the bottom of the French Press.  Take the half & half and milk out of the refrigerator and pour into the appropriate Yeti tumblers, adding 2 tsp of sugar for David. Once the water boils, pour it into the French Press and set timer for 10 minutes. Let it steep. Remember to shut off the LPG Control switch and ask David to turn off the propane at the tank. Once the timer goes off, gently press down on the water in the coffee pot and pour out the deliciously hot coffee, and drink.

There’s just one problem with this whole thing—you have to be awake in order to actually make the coffee that you are making to help you wake up.