Sunday May 6, 2018 - Swansboro to Oriental NC

What would you do?  What would you do if you woke up at midnight and found the depth finder reading 5'?  AND - it was high tide in an area where the tides are just over 2' - AND your keel was 4' deep - AND it was raining.  Well, here's what I do.  First, I think about how this could happen.  I circled around the anchorage before anchoring.  I anchored at low tide.  The depth was nothing less than 7'.  Then I check to see if I've dragged the anchor.  I consider whether the depth sounder is reading properly.  The next thing I do is change into my bathing suit, put on my rain jacket, start the engine, haul up the anchor and move 100'.  Which is not as easy as it sounds in a small anchorage with tidal current flowing and in the dark.  So, when it was all said and done, the depth was 6.4 - a whopping 1.5' improvement.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm being a less diligent seaman.  First, I misread the weather and was surprised that it rained ALL night (starting at about 8pm).  Yes, the rain came from an odd direction but was something I had seen 2 or 3 days ago and thought had moved further off the coast.  Second, running aground yesterday morning.  And now, anchoring in a less than favorable spot.  In any event, I'm going to try and do better - starting NOW.

I left the anchorage at around 6:30am. It had stopped raining but started back up within an hour.   It is nice at times like this to have a dodger, a bimini and a connector to connect the two.  At least when it's not windy, you are able to stay fairly dry.  But canvas can only tolerate so much and then it begins to leak.  And, after 4 hours of straight rain, that's what it did.  It seems kind of odd wearing a rain coat to keep you dry under your bimini etc.  Fortunately, it stopped right around the time when I got to Morehead City and Beaufort.  It was a good feeling to turn that corner in Morehead and be heading inland (and not up the coast).  I got into Oriental about 3pm and was surprised at how full the harbor was with anchored boats.  It was a bad sign because that meant the 4 free docks were likely full. But when I motored in to check.  It was a very pleasant surprise to fine one of the 4 open - and I snapped it right up.