Those Great Coasties

We checked into the U.S. at Fernandina Beach, Florida, then spent two nights and three days heading north to Beaufort, North Carolina. Our autopilot, which steers the boat automatically, died in the Gulf Stream on the way to Florida, so we were tired from hand steering, but the weather was good and we made it A-OK. We dinghyed over to Morehead City, just across the bridge from Beaufort, and happened onto a boat show. We toured the local Coast Guard inland-buoy-tending boat, crewed by a great group of guys, shown here. I tell you, we have a new appreciation for these guys and the aids to navigation that they maintain. Buoys and markers are few and far between in the Bahamas, and to come in from a few days offshore to see a well-marked channel (especially at night, which is when we arrived at Fernandina Beach) is a delight. Of course, in the Bahamas you can actually see through the water, which has its own advantages.