So, no crabs in the crab trap this morning. I guess they don't like SPAM. At least that was the worst thing that happened today. Again, a short day. Oriental is where I'd originally hoped to be by yesterday, but was unable to reach due to the troubles the day before. Probably just as well. Better to arrive in town first thing in the morning rather than the evening. Everybody who is leaving has left, and tonight's crowd hasn't yet arrived. Lots of room in the harbour. And in Oriental, that is significant. This place is boat crazy. On par with Annapolis, but smaller. I stopped in at the fuel dock to top up the diesel and to inquire about a good boatyard and had no trouble finding a multitude of people willing to give me advice. Right at the town dock there is a small cafe that caters almost exclusively to boaters and is always full of local and transient sailors. It didn't take long to get steered toward Sailcraft Service, a very well equipped yard just around the corner. These guys were very accommodating and jumped right to the task of assessing the damage. I always like doing business with people that show you that they appreciate your patronage. By the end of the day, they hadn't quite put the numbers together, but at least Bacon is in good hands and at a secure dock. Hopefully the repairs can be done quickly. As nice as Oriental is, I don't really want to spend a lot of time here. It seems that I keep getting stuck in every North Carolina town I go through. I guess it could be worse. I'm not really on a deadline, and I'm still keeping one step ahead of Old Man Winter. I've barely used my propane heater since Annapolis. I don't think it ever really gets that cold here. They have alligators. I'm pretty sure that they don't handle frost very well.

Number of days in row without a catastrophe: 2 (new high score)