Regrouped! Harbour Village, Hampstead, NC

We originally planned to get up at the new crack of dawn and leave Dudley's by 6:30am, but we learned that the rest of the fleet had spent a second night in Mile Hammock Bay in Camp LeJeune and had hoped to make it to Wrightsville Beach.  They called ahead and discovered there weren't any slips available in any of the marinas there and settled on Harbour Village Marina in Hampstead.  It was only 40 miles from our marina so we headed out at 7:00 instead.

Our dockmates, a Gulfstar 45 from Canada, asked if they could follow us as they had heard horror stories about shoaling at Brown's Inlet, just before you get to Camp LeJeune.  We remembered having to do a real zigzag two years ago and felt we could lead them through it.  We did make it through with only two small bumps, but on of the key buoys was missing, which made it even more difficult to decipher.

The rest of the trip went smoothly EXCEPT the newly renovated alternator didn't seem to be doing it's job.  Our batteries continued to slowly lose voltage as the day wore on.  Luckily we made it the Harbour Village Marina before 2 pm and promptly plugged in shore power as soon as we tied up.  Tomorrow promises to be ugly with thunderstorms, so we'll stay another day here and hope to iron out this new wrinkle.  The only good picture I have to share is from "home".  I implored all the kids to send Halloween pix and they complied.  All I can say is CREATIVITY ABOUNDS!!

We're not proud grandparents, NOOO!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D