After departing Oriental, we spent a night at Dudley's Marina. Uneventful day of motor sailing. We departed Oriental at 0845 heading for Morehead City NC,
hopefully! Weather forecast calling for thunderstorms late today, with a cold front to move in tonight. Temp now at 75 degrees.
First dolphin sighting at 1000 in the Neuse River. Deb was so excited
she was driving me crazy wanting me to look at them. Only because I was trying to navigate, and sail the boat while she enjoyed the dolphins. They were neat to watch!
Passed Morehead City and Beaufort,
entering the straits. It was straight alright, and got very shallow in some places. Watched Sea Tow pull a large sailboat off a sandbar, and another Sea Tow attempting to pull a powerboat off a different
sandbar, with no luck. Think they ended up waiting for the tide!
Stayed at Dudley's Marina in Swansboro. Not too bad, $ .70/ft, refueled, and borrowed their courtesy van to go to the grocery store.
Ran into a couple from our home port marina, we had not seen them since they departed a day before we did.
Too many powerboats, yet they are mostly polite and slow down to pass sailboats.
Had to wait for 45 minutes
for the swing bridge at Onslow Beach to open. Of course we had one powerboat that could not wait his turn. I informed him that I was sure hell would still be there when he arrived!
Reached marker
235, and turned up the New River to reach the USMC marina, a distance of 13 miles! Had to dodge fishing boats and shallow water all the way up the river. Marina was very nice, friendly and a good place to
wait out the weather.
Our Canadian friends invited us to celebrate Canada's Thanksgiving with them. Seems the Canadian Thanksgiving and the USA Columbus day are the same day! It was a fun evening, we had
"Turkey Burgers", dressing and other good eats.
Spent the next two days cleaning the boat, shopping on base, and just relaxing. Introducded our Canadian friends to oyster shooters that evening.
Deb and I
walked to the library, a 2.5 mile hike, and used the INTERNET. Tomorrow promises to be good weather, we are heading for Southport, NC.
