Day 29 - Sat 25 Apr 2015
Docked – Belhaven, NC

[photo: Clyde in his typical post-arrival snooze position]

What a restful night we had! I got up before 0600 with plenty of sleep and got the percolator going for coffee. The temperatures inside and outside the boat did not get as cold as the previous night, but a hot cup of coffee was definitely welcome. Of course, it steamed up the interior of the windows, but Diane dealt with that later.

Consulting the latest weather and RADAR, we realized that the chance of rain was 100%, but not until mid-afternoon, so it was best to take off early and be at anchor or docked before it hit. Not needing to wait for the 0800 Farmer’s Market (we had plenty of fresh produce), nor needing the fix of a pastry from the coffee shop, we agreed to cast of just after 0700 for our 44nm run to Belhaven.

The sky was overcast and the wind was fairly mild, so we had essentially no wave action to deal with and the entire 5.5 hour run was boring. Only once for about 10 minutes did I push the engines to high power near the end, just to blow out the carbon and give the turbochargers a workout, as recommended. We have been doing more low speed (7.5 kts) running lately and I expect to see that reflected in our fuel usage.

The original plan was not to stop at Belhaven, but carry on just a bit further to an anchorage. The possibility of a thunderstorm tonight makes anchoring just a bit more concerning, and Robert from Ariel told us about the new free town dock at Belhaven. When we got there about 20 minutes ahead of them, it was completely open. With our beam of 17 feet, however, the only place we fit was on the end of a 30 foot T-dock. When Ariel came in, their 14 foot beam fit nicely in one of the several slips.

Clyde got a couple of short walks on the pier before the first spritz of rain started not long after. We called by telephone to the dockmaster to report in, and really didn’t know if this will be 1 night or 2. We have no reason to rush northward, and weather will dictate. After relaxing and reading until mid-afternoon, it looked on the RADAR like the rain would be just drizzly for a bit, so we got out the bikes and rode to the downtown area.

With no disrespect to the fine residents here, there is just not much here, especially when the locals say how ‘everybody’ doing the ICW seems to stop here. The few eateries we found were closed until the supper hour, which makes sense if past patterns indicate you don’t get many patrons outside those hours. We met up with No Zip Code and met a new couple from Tadahanna. Not wanting to go straight back to the boat, we found a place called Rack Time, which turned out to be a beer and pool hall.

I was not in the mood for a cold beer as much as bourbon, but it was beer or nothing. Diane and I each had a beer and engaged the few locals in the bar with some small talk. Next, a big farmer-looking guy came in followed by his wife and sat close to us. Before you know it, we were conversing about our boat travels (they marveled at not only the magnitude of it all, but that we could be on a boat together for that long), and their egg farm life. They both work for the same large egg producer and to hear them quote statistics was pretty amazing.

We learned all sorts of things about the whole life cycle of laying hens. There is no waste in the whole affair. Everything is put to its best and highest use. Eggs that can’t be sold for human consumption wind up in animal food, as do the hens once they can no longer produce quality eggs. Trivia: the eggs of laying hens almost universally get bigger as the chicken ages.

We finished our beer and bought them a round, and said our goodbyes to bike back to the boat in a steady drizzle. By then, it was time for that bourbon and more reading until supper of the stew from the crockpot. That one medium size crock made 3 meals for us.

Diane and I had a thought to see if the weather would allow us to visit Roanoke Island in the northern end of the Outer Banks for a few days. That would stop our northerly movement and let spring catch up with us.

That looks doable, so we will plan to move to an anchorage at the N end of the Alligator River tomorrow, and then travel E on the Albemarle Sound to Roanoke Island to stay at the free docks there. The weather does not look great to head to Elizabeth City until Wed. We then need to be mindful of a special kayak event on the Great Dismal Swamp that will effectively close it for travel.