John,
Yeah I used to have friends in Beauford NC. Just up from Moorhead. So Say hey for me to Duke Marine lab. I also worked a shrimper out of Moorehead. Your right its great waters. Here is a sea story for ya.....

Its been 20 years now , but I remember sailing out to the Radio Island one evening after setting nets and camping out on it. Built a beautiful camp nestled between 5 sand dunes. Nicely hidden from wind etc. Not easily seen. Very nice evening. Fresh fish from our nets and a heap o mollusks we dug up. In walking the island we found a bunch of flags. We dismissed them figured they were part of an experiment from the labs. Went to bed that night and heard a few other campers roving the dunes.

Awoke in the morning to an incredible set of very jarring explosions. Stuck our head out of the tent and over the dunes to discover that the Marines were invading the island. And guess what.... it was a live fire exercise. The sea gulls were routed in short order and we beat a hasty retreat too. The flags turned out to be for delineating the attack pattern and safe shooting vectors. The voices had been Marine corp personel checking to make sure the island was empty. In their sweep of the island they they missed us.

So with the big guns booming, and planes flying low overhead, we grabbed our stuff in bunches quickest, ran to the back end of the island. "Serpentine serpentine" Dragging a tent full of stuff across s the sand. We tossed
everything on the Cat net and got water under our keels just as the first wave hit the beach. We watched the rest of the show from the water, well and away.
Through binocs saw the scouts discover and investigate the remains of our camp. Very funny thing to watch in pantomime Eventually, the Marines retreated. The
seagulls retook the beach and 2 days later we went out and got the rest of our gear.

I am torn between advising you to avoid Radio Island or tell ya instead that
I used to get a free brew every once in a while just for telling that story at the local fishermans watering hole.

A very funny morning, The experience was very definitely worth the sea story. Enjoy your paddles but keep an eye on the horizon

Also the wooden boat shop in Beaufort is first rate. Stop in an introduce yourself
!RUSS