Soon after reaching the east coast of US, Madrone found herself in a town called Beaufort in North Carolina. It turns out that there’s another Beaufort, different both because it’s located in South Carolina and because the southern one is pronounced “BEW-fert” instead of “BO-fert”.
Whatever the pronunciation, the Beaufort in South Carolina is just as nice as the one in North Carolina. Small shops line the streets of a traditional downtown core, boats bob gently in the marina on the shores of the Beaufort River, and historic houses from the 1800s look out over the oak and Spanish moss shaded streets.
Just like in Wexford, Madrone was welcomed by some OCC cruisers to tie up at a dock. Allan and Cathy Rae cruised and raised their son for almost 8 years on their sailboat and powerboat, and they still spend summers in Maine on their powerboat.
But they spend winters at their house outside Beaufort, and after visiting its easy to understand why. Their house sits on the side of Factory Creek, and the view from their living room extends down to their personal dock (where they keep a small boat for zipping into town), across the salt marsh to the Beaufort River, and then to downtown itself.
Allan and Cathy proved to be consumate hosts, serving us dinner in their home, joining us for a couple of meals at local restaurants, and of course providing the ultimate cruiser-friendly service – loaning us their car for a laundry and grocery store run. We really enjoyed spending time with them and hope to meet up again.
