Carolina Captains Home The Great Loop Intro The Dream The Boat Using the charts Calendar June 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 September 2011 July 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007	The Great Loop 09/11/09 Beaufort To Carolina Beach On the way back to Carolina Beach we explored Atlantic Beach, Pine Knolls, Emerald Isle, Swannsborro, Sneads Ferry, Topsail Beach and Jacksonville. It was as leisurely trip and we stopped for some time at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knolls. The aquarium is very nice and has a different design than the one in Ft. Fisher near Carolina Beach. This one starts with the mountains and goes from the river system, wet lands, etc, to ocean. It is very nice but a little smaller than the one at Ft. Fisher. Jackie took some good pics of the aquarium. 09/10/09 Beaufort, NC - Fort Macon Today we look at the weather forecast and it was iffy so we jumped on our bikes and road them about 8 miles all around the area. We enjoyed the ride along Taylor Creek, the historic homes, churches, stores, etc. It was a nice ride even if it was very windy. As our ride ended it was starting to rain on and off so we decided to go to the waterfront and Moorehead City and have lunch on the water and then visit Fort Macon which is nearby on Atlantic Beach. It was a very good use of the day and Jackie took a number of pictures of Ft. Macon including story boards, etc. We enjoyed the day and we even had some time leftover so Jackie could go shopping in the Beaufort stores :-). 09/09/09 Beaufort, NC - Road Trip Today we took a road trip to the historic town of Beaufort, NC. Since the weather forecast was iffy and we had a limited time, we decided to go by SUV vs. boat. We enjoy visiting this area and were running out of free time to do it in warmer weather so off we went. We arrived and checked in our room at the Inlet Inn, which is a very lovely inn right on the Beaufort waterfront overlooking the Beaufort City Docks. Since we didn't have our boat with us, we took a small tour boat to Cape Lookout. The weather was very nice and we enjoyed going out through the Beaufort Inlet, along Shackeford Island and landing at Point Lookout. We saw and took pictures of the wild ponies, dolphins, some other boats and the lighthouse area at Point Lookout. It was a very nice trip and we are glad we did it our first day because the weather wasn't very good the rest of the trip. You can click on the pictures as get the caption explaining what you are looking at.