What’s the difference between Beaufort NC & Beaufort SC?

The difference is about 375 miles or 6 hours. There’s a Beaufort in North Carolina and South Carolina. The big difference between them is in the way you pronounce Beaufort (This is not a trivial issue). Bless your heart, you will be corrected if you mispronounce either Beaufort!!!

Beaufort, North Carolina is pronounced “BOW-firt,” as in a bow and arrow. If you’re going to Beaufort, South Carolina, you must say, “BEW-furd. Ironically, both are named for an Englishman, Henry Somerset, the Second Duke of Beaufort, who never came to either North Carolina or South Carolina.

Originally we thought we’d have to skip BOW-firt but luck shown down upon us and thanks to a recommendation from some other loopers that we met in Beaufort SC, we got a last minute cancellation at the Beaufort Yacht Basin for 2 nights. How’s that for more irony??

Why was this such a stoke of kismet/luck you may wonder? The Big Rock Fishing Tournament has all but taken over Morehead City and Beaufort and transient boat slips are rented out a year in advance. This tournament is a big damn deal in NC. Almost anyone along the coast line understands how big a damn deal it is. Sport fishing is a huge passion in this part of the world and Blue Marlin are the prize catch. Entry fees for this tournament are anywhere from $2.5K to $40K and the prize purses for the biggest fish are huge. Cape Hatteras is legendary for these beautiful fish. This tournament is mainly catch and release but there is a prize for the biggest marlin boated over 500 pounds -$833,000 to be exact. Of course it has to meet the NC size regulations in order to keep it but wowie…. That’s some cash. I was please to read that Big Rock has a foundation and supports many local charities as well.

Here are a few interesting factoids about the NC marlin fishery.

WHEN: Blue marlin can and have been caught off Cape Hatteras every month of the year, the very peak months being July and August, with May, June and September a close second. 
HOW: Sport fishermen catch blue marlin by trolling artificial and natural baits. Boats pull up to eight lines at speeds ranging from 4 to 8 knots. Two of the lines are pulled close to the boat on the surface and are called flatlines. The others are attached to outriggers.

SIZE: The fish off Hatteras can be anywhere from 50 lb. babies to 1000 lb. giants, the average fish weighing between 200 and 500 lbs.
LIMIT: The blue marlin fishery has strict regulations in NC. The fish must be 99 inches or greater in length and only one fish can be kept per BOAT per day.

Honestly, this is a big $$ sport… the payouts are never going to cover the expenses of these 50 to 80 foot mega boats. These big sport fishing boats are expensive and they can burn 50 gallons of diesel fuel an hour. Most of the boats competing in the tournament leave the dock at 6 or 7 am and return around around 5 or 6 pm. So with todays diesel fuel prices being around $4.00 per gallon, a boat running 12 hours @50 GPH = $2,400 a day. The tournament runs 6 days so the average fuel bill is $14,400 – SHEESH!!!!!

So, can you tell I got a little caught up in the excitement?? I’ve been listening to the Big Rock live radio during the day and following the leaderboards online. Saturday the 17th was the last day of the tournament and it wasn’t quite over when I finished writing this post.

So what else did we do in Beaufort??? Well, we walked all over and took the marina golf cart the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Worst grocery store I’ve been to yet on the loop… old, smelly and sad so aptly named I guess?? I found a few decent veggies to tide us over but eww, don’t like smelly stores.

We had a really nice linner (because it ain’t lunch and it ain’t dinner) our first day in Beaufort, sitting outside at the Black Sheep overlooking teh waterfront. Best wood fired pizza we had on the loop! We also visited the Beaufort Grocery Store for lunch the next day… really good chow and they sold me a loaf of fresh baked sourdough bread cause the bread at the Pig was a no go!

We also visited the North Carolina Maritime Museum, the Watercraft Center and the Beaufort Historical site and the Old Burying Grounds. We had hoped to take a ferry to Shackleford Island but it was so windy on Monday that we nixed that idea.

There was plenty to keep us out of trouble for two days and we were glad it worked out to stop here. Beaufort is a cute little town with loads of charm, well, except the Piggly Wiggly!