Southport, NC: Success! 113 miles in 1st two days.

Wow, it feels good to be on the 'road' again!

We launched Mystique on Friday and celebrated Steve's XX'th birthday at the Grocery restaurant in Beaufort.

The weekend was spent cleaning the boat outside and in, and putting stuff away, including all the groceries for the trip.
You can see from the pics what a mess it was. To view all the trip pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandjcornwell/sets/72157604445971208/

On Monday we got the new batteries installed and checked out all the other systems- refrigerator, fresh water, heads, engine, generator, navigation chart-plotter, the new autopilot installed last fall, etc. Everything worked!!!

Tuesday, we set off the cruised 63 miles, which is a lot at 6 - 7 mph. We landed in Surf City (yes, really) where there was a fish house right next door. So we bought a sack of clams and a sack of shrimp and had a feast on the boat after walking over to the Atlantic and strolling the beach. This pic of Jan was taken at the fish house:






Today we made it through a cold, drizzly morning and broke into our first warmth as we cruised down the Cape Fear River near Wilmington to Southport. It felt great to warm up and enjoy an evening walking around the town and eating seafood with a couple we met on the boat next door. Here's a pic of Mystique parked between two gas-guzzlers:





So we're off again tomorrow with another good weather day forecast. We should be in SC soon! We plan on picking Andy up in Jupiter, FL on April 27, then heading over to the Bahamas in tandem with long-time cruising friend, Bob Bruce.

'Till next time, hope you're all well.