Day 270, May 10th, 2010
A bridge, just 5 miles from the anchorage, was restricted through the day from 7:00 a.m. onwards, so we decided to get there early and request an opening so we wouldn't have to be delayed. We pulled up the anchor at 5:45 and made an early start!!! (Those of you who know us well must be laughing - John and Gill up and going at 5:45!!! It can happen!!!!) The temperature was much different this morning - back to sweaters and all weather gear to keep out the cold chill. Again, wind straight out of the north so no possibility of using the jib.
Pretty uneventful day really. Thank goodness for Mondays - all the locals back to work! Just other cruisers on the water today. We passed through the bridge with two other sail boats, a catamaran "Tortuga" and a monohull, "Stella Maris". We got into a quick conversation with Tortuga on the radio. Usual questions - where are you from? where are you headed? It turned out they were from Illinois but kept the boat in the Kentucky Lakes. "Oh, I wonder if you know of a marina called Pebble Isles - we had a lovely stay there and were sorry to leave?"
and he replied "Yeah, thats our home marina!!" So we had a nice chat about the extremely nice owners there and the excellent cinnamon buns each morning! Tortuga is going onto Boston or so and then will turn around and go back to the Bahamas. (He still has a couple of Bahamian dollars he hasn't spent yet.) When I suggested they continue onto Canada, he reckoned they would be "half looped" by the time they got to Boston!
Later in the day we were passed by a trawler with a Canadian flag called "Falkor". They hailed us on the radio - "Didn't we meet you in the Benjamins last summer?" Sure enough! They had given us all kinds of tips about the river system. We thought we might meet them on the way down but never did. Apparently they spent the winter in the Exumas having had a quick and comfortable crossing.
At Moorehead City, NC we took the main channel inland, completely bypassing the lovely little town of Beaufort, NC. We'd been there twice before but have never visited Oriental, NC so decided to skip Beaufort this time. Oriental is about 17 nautical miles north of Beaufort on the Neuse River and we thought we could just make it before dark. We'd wanted to stop in Oriental before but it hadn't happened so we thought it was a must this time. I'm sure Tom Witort at CYC told me he bought Holuk from Oriental, so that gives us another reason to say hi to this dear little town - "the Sailing Capitol of North Carolina" according to the billboard in town.
It was just about 7:50 when we came up the channel. The book told us there was a free dock, so I had the lines and fenders set up. However, there were several boats in the very small anchorage and as we cruised the anchorage somebody told us that there was a free dock but it was pretty much always full. We decided to drop the anchor instead. We did that but then a wind came up out of the south east and all theboats changed direction - then we realised that if the wind became very strong and the chain stretched out, the boat could wind up on the marina wall at our stern. That didn't seem a good idea. Up came the anchor again! Nobody answered from the marina on the radio so we decided to tie up on their wall and settle up in the morning.
We were both exhausted. Having set off at 5:45, it was almost 9:00 when we finally were happy with our set up and climbed into bed!!
A bridge, just 5 miles from the anchorage, was restricted through the day from 7:00 a.m. onwards, so we decided to get there early and request an opening so we wouldn't have to be delayed. We pulled up the anchor at 5:45 and made an early start!!! (Those of you who know us well must be laughing - John and Gill up and going at 5:45!!! It can happen!!!!) The temperature was much different this morning - back to sweaters and all weather gear to keep out the cold chill. Again, wind straight out of the north so no possibility of using the jib.
Pretty uneventful day really. Thank goodness for Mondays - all the locals back to work! Just other cruisers on the water today. We passed through the bridge with two other sail boats, a catamaran "Tortuga" and a monohull, "Stella Maris". We got into a quick conversation with Tortuga on the radio. Usual questions - where are you from? where are you headed? It turned out they were from Illinois but kept the boat in the Kentucky Lakes. "Oh, I wonder if you know of a marina called Pebble Isles - we had a lovely stay there and were sorry to leave?"
and he replied "Yeah, thats our home marina!!" So we had a nice chat about the extremely nice owners there and the excellent cinnamon buns each morning! Tortuga is going onto Boston or so and then will turn around and go back to the Bahamas. (He still has a couple of Bahamian dollars he hasn't spent yet.) When I suggested they continue onto Canada, he reckoned they would be "half looped" by the time they got to Boston!
Later in the day we were passed by a trawler with a Canadian flag called "Falkor". They hailed us on the radio - "Didn't we meet you in the Benjamins last summer?" Sure enough! They had given us all kinds of tips about the river system. We thought we might meet them on the way down but never did. Apparently they spent the winter in the Exumas having had a quick and comfortable crossing.
At Moorehead City, NC we took the main channel inland, completely bypassing the lovely little town of Beaufort, NC. We'd been there twice before but have never visited Oriental, NC so decided to skip Beaufort this time. Oriental is about 17 nautical miles north of Beaufort on the Neuse River and we thought we could just make it before dark. We'd wanted to stop in Oriental before but it hadn't happened so we thought it was a must this time. I'm sure Tom Witort at CYC told me he bought Holuk from Oriental, so that gives us another reason to say hi to this dear little town - "the Sailing Capitol of North Carolina" according to the billboard in town.
It was just about 7:50 when we came up the channel. The book told us there was a free dock, so I had the lines and fenders set up. However, there were several boats in the very small anchorage and as we cruised the anchorage somebody told us that there was a free dock but it was pretty much always full. We decided to drop the anchor instead. We did that but then a wind came up out of the south east and all theboats changed direction - then we realised that if the wind became very strong and the chain stretched out, the boat could wind up on the marina wall at our stern. That didn't seem a good idea. Up came the anchor again! Nobody answered from the marina on the radio so we decided to tie up on their wall and settle up in the morning.
We were both exhausted. Having set off at 5:45, it was almost 9:00 when we finally were happy with our set up and climbed into bed!!
Pics: Coming through the port of Moorehead, NC, and further up the river where the houses are smaller; note how the trees have changed - tall pines and cypress, no palms!
No comments:
Post a Comment