Beaufort Municipal Docks - Click for Chartview

These are not the first comments of unhappiness with prices at the Beaufort Municipal Docks we have had expressed here. Price can easily be blamed on the economy, but attitude and service should never be compromised. Despite such dockage problems, the town of Beaufort, NC is still known as a real success story along the Waterway, and this wonderful port of call remains one of our favorites, anytime, anywhere!

Used to like going in here. As others have stated prices are high and most of staff has an attitude. I believe they are city employees with no concept of customer service. Would recommend city hire a contractor to operate facility. Similar to what Fernandina Marina did with great results.
Morehead Yacht basin is much better and only $6 taxi ride if you want to eat in Beaufort.
Jim Smith

I used to stop at this dock every time north and south until about 7 years ago we got into a dispute because their fuel price was so much higher than Jarrett Bay. His comment was that maybe I should just stay at Jarrett Bay. Have not been back since.
James R. Bricker

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Beaufort Municipal Docks

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Cape Lookout Bight is a wonderful, natural harbor formed by Cape Lookout’s curve of land. This superb anchorage, one of the most popular in North Carolina, is best accessed via the Beaufort Inlet, rather than through Back Sound.

Oct 5 Anchored at Lookout Point [Cape Lookout Bight], great anchorage very calm and clean water, well worth the short trip.
Doug Cordello

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Cape Lookout Bight Anchorage

Click Here To Read Earlier Comments For Cape Lookout Bight

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Town Creek is east of the south end of Gallants Channel in Beaufort, NC, east of unlighted daybeacon #1.

We anchored here in the Summer of 2012. Good hold and swinging room, about 7 feet deep that I remember. Nothing spectacular because there’s town and other activity in the vicinity. Don’t go too far to the southern side of Town Creek, it’s awfully shallow. We wandered too far that way coming in at night and found bottom but were able to get off of it reasonably easily. Mostly black pudding mud on the bottom all around.
Ben Matthews

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Town Creek Inner Anchorage

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Jonaquin Creek is just east of the anchorage symbol shown in our chartview of Cedar Creek below and has been successfully used by several of our readers.

We tried Jonaquin Creek early in the summer 2012, after reading Chuck and Susan’s post here. It is a very narrow opening at the back left of Cedar Creek. Very nice anchorage, peaceful, about 5-6 foot of water. We came in very slow 2-3 knots with eyes glued to the depth finder at the entrance, checking for mud swirls behind the boat. We draw 3-1/2 feet in our trawler, and had no issues. Not much swinging room, but very calm and rustic. Black pudding bottom, outstanding wind protection.
Ben Matthews

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Cedar Creek Anchorage

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Shackleford Banks Anchorage lies three miles southeast from statute mile 206 of the Waterway in Morehead City, NC and Capt. Matthews’ recommended anchorage is 4.8 miles southeast from the Waterway.

We have anchored here for years. HOWEVER. There is a better spot. On this spot the currents can be too strong to want to swim in, even though the water is pretty clear. I have had my anchor drag in the sand before.
The BETTER SPOT is at 34’40.58N by 076’36.58W. about a mile East of this anchorage. It is marked by buoys to enter. The chart snippet in this listing is NOT accurate, it is dated. You must go back to a point around 34’41.53N by 76’38.90W. The main chart in Cruisers Net shows this correctly. Anyway, in this other anchorage there is less current, less day-partyers, and a good bit of rustic shoreline. The main attraction though is the reduced current in that area. Much better for holding and better swinging room.
Ben Matthews

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For Shackleford Banks Anchorage

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Frank Erwin, author of the message below, is a good friend and an MTOA Board of Directors member. The Blackbeard and Queen Anne’s Revenge exhibit which is the subject of his text below is now housed in the main North Carolina Mariner’s Museum building, located on Front Street in Beaufort. It’s an easy step from the Beaufort Municipal Docks or either of the Taylor Creek dinghy docks to the Museum’s doorstep.

Beaufort has the NC Maritime Museum which has an exhibit of Blackbeard’s Queen Ann Revenge (found in the local Beaufort, NC inlet) http://www.ncmaritime.org/main/events.htm.
This exhibit highlights artifacts recovered from the shipwreck believed to be the former flagship of Blackbeard the pirate, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. A shipwreck salvage company, called Intersal, Inc., discovered the shipwreck in 1996 and gave the rights of excavation to the State of North Carolina. Artifacts are recovered from 25 feet of water by state underwater archaeologists with the aid of the museum, non-profit private companies, and educational institutions. After the artifacts are conserved by archaeologists, the NC Maritime Museum will house the conserved artifacts and prepare them for exhibit. A visit to Blackbeard and the QAR Project will provide more information.

Thanks so much for sharing this information with cruisers! We officially opened the `Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge 1718’³ exhibit in June 2011 in the Museum (located on Front Street along Taylors Creek.) Previously, some of the artifacts were kept at the Museum’s annex site in preparation for the exhibit. But, now, they are on public display in downtown Beaufort.
Please visit our website, http://www.ncmaritimemuseums.com for details.
North Carolina Maritime Museums

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Town Creek Marina

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For the Beaufort Municipal Docks

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Town Creek Outer Anchorage

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Town Creek Inner Anchorage

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Taylor Creek Anchorage

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Frank Erwin, author of the brief blurb below, is a good friend and an MTOA Board of Directors member. Captain Frank gives good advice on where to safely drop the hook in this popular port of call!

The neat anchorage is in Taylors Creek just in front of the Beaufort Town Docks – (252)728-2503…lots of current…try to come in only at slack tide… you can also anchor out in the creek in front of the docks…usually crowded on weekends… but 3 dinghy docks and very cruiser friendly….very historic and 2 pre-revolutionary cemeteries…. or nearby and protected is Town Creek Marina – http://www.towncreekmarina.com with plenty of room out front for anchorage.

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Town Creek Outer Anchorage

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Town Creek Inner Anchorage

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Anchorage Directory Listing For the Taylor Creek Anchorage

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After running east past the primary Beaufort, NC waterfront, Taylor Creek leads to Harkers Island, the Straits, and eventually Core Sound. Some brave/local cruisers also use this route as part of a “back door” entrance to the extremely popular anchorage in Cape Lookout Bight.
Harkers Island, the Straits and Core Sound are some of the least discovered waters along the North Carolina coastline, but, unfortunately, ALL these waters are shallow and navigationally difficult, to say the least. And, if that’s not enough, the passage from Taylor Creek’s easterly mouth to Back Sound and Harkers Island eastern has always been a challenge for any vessel with a draft over 3 ft. For photos and more information on Taylor Creek, see the link below. Our North Carolina Anchorage Directory listing for Taylor Creek refers to the western end of the creek abeam the Beaufort waterfront.

Claiborne –
We transited the east end of Taylor’s Creek [on the way back to Beaufort from Shackleford Banks] on July 7th about 5pm at approximate low tide. We saw a center-console nice fishing boat grounded. We saw another boat start to get grounded and then back away free. The channel is marked by PVC pipe with green and red tape. Very narrow and very easy to see in clear weather which it was that day and time. I would recommend to no one to try this cut fast, though I saw this a couple times before we made it through.
We have a 36′ trawler with full keel and protected prop, so I decided to give it a go. Additionally I have a temperamental depth finder at low depths with some kind of voltage anxiety, so when I slow down, depth goes a bit crazy – 850 feet when there is only 3 and so on. When we are tearing up the water and raising Cain, we do about 8 knots. I decided to proceed more modestly at 3-4 knots and had no trouble. As stated, the entrance is narrow with one set of PVC markers about 50 feet apart, maybe less. At our slow speed, I know if we touch bottom it should be gentle barnacle scrape and not much more. On this day, we had no touches and followed the markers carefully into Taylor’s Creek without incident.
We did see a few 18 to 22-foot boats come tearing through there at about 20 knots. I say good luck with that and make sure your insurance is paid. We were careful and had no issues.
All the best.
Ben Matthews

Click Here For More on Taylor Creek

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Western Taylor Creek

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Eastern Taylor Creek

As part of the Salty Southeast Cruisers Net’s strategic partnership with Captain Cathy Gillenwater and her web-site, “East Coast Boating Adventures” (http://www.eastcoastboatingadventures.com/), Captain Cathy gives us a good account of a visit to Cape Lookout Bight, Cape Lookout National Seashore and nearby Shackleford Banks. To check out this article, please go to:

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Jarrett Bay is actually located north of Beaufort, NC, on the Core Creek Canal section of the AICW. This is a superb facility for dry storage, and for any sort of repair work. There are many repair firms on-site, including our friends at Core Creek Marine. And, oh yes, even though Jarrett Bay is not strictly a marina, there is some transient dockage available by the fuel dock, and both gasoline and diesel fuel can be purchased.

Just to pass on experience at Jarrett Bay:
I stopped on a Saturday to try to find a small part which had some immediate importance but that is not the story. There was an ancient trawler in the slings belonging to an equally ancient couple headed back to the NE. They had struck something and had serious vibration. Turns out that Jarrett Bay had come in on a day they were closed, the manager and two helpers, to lift them out to fix the problem. They could find nothing wrong, maybe something had hung up on the props and had cleared.
The notable thing was they did not charge them a cent. Not even for the short haul. The owner did tip the dockhands. Now that is service.
BTW they did not have the part i needed they gave me something that was a temporary fix, also for free.
Keep these guys on your list if you need work done near Beaufort.
Gregory Han

Jarrett Bay is also a Detroit Covington dealer, parts and repair center. I’ve had good service on my Covington 6V92’s Jesse is the parts guy there.Prices are reasonable and factory Detroit oil and fuel filters are downright cheap.
Phil.

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Jarrett Bay Boatworks

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