Belhaven, NC

Day 275, May 15th, 2010

We left Oriental at 7:00 the next morning. The Neuse River was good and we motor sailed up across the Neuse and then across the Pamlico Sound into the Pungo River. Said a mental goodbye to the dolphins as they don't come further north than the Pungo! All was fine until some motor cruiser went by at high speed sloshing us in his wake. The pop, pop, popping started again from the exhaust and the engine started overheating. We shut it down and waited a bit and then were able to start it again and continue on our way. Rest of the day was fine. John's original thought was that it was a water cooling problem but Breck, the mechanic, had been so sure it was dirty fuel. John did change the impeller while we were in Oriental but the impeller was absolutely fine.

However, we arrived in Belhaven around 3:00 p.m. and tied up in a lovely little marina there. We were their only customers at first. What a sweet spot. They'd made it so nice with a screened gazebo on the front. It was scorching hot and humid. I picked up my papers and sent them off by UPS - that was a bit funny as the poor girl had never sent a package internationally before and it kind of sent her into a spin; eventually her boss had to come in and sort out the paperwork!! We went for supper over at the local diner across the street and sat outside on the deck where there was a lovely breeze off the river. I ate catfish again - I really like catfish!!! (Thanks Mike and Cindy & Co.!) After supper we walked back to the marina, collected a bag of drinks, our books, my knitting and the Dominoes, and went to the gazebo. It was such a lovely evening. I finished a little sweater for Abby while John took a nap. Then we played a game of Mexican Train Dominoes - all in the lovely comfort of our bug free gazebo!!!