Day 31 - Manteo, Roanoke Island, NC
28 April 2015
Day 31 - Mon 27 Apr 2015
Docked - Manteo, Roanoke Island, NC
[photo: a beautiful crepe myrtle tree]
The wind died considerably overnight, as forecast, and it became quite comfortable. When I got up at 0515 to check things, the wind had shifted to the W, which is perfect for our direction of travel today. It was only 58F in the cabin when I got up, so I turned on the generator and heater, and then got the percolator going. It was a great morning for a hot breakfast, so I made more home fries/onions and veggie omelets.
Diane was pleased to be toasty warm when she got up, although Clyde did not follow me into the salon and beg to go out on the deck this morning. He even stayed in our berth while we ate breakfast. As agreed, we got underway at 0700 and had to fight the sun's glare as we headed almost directly into it while trying to dodge the hundreds of crab pot buoys.
We endured some lumpy conditions until we turned onto a course that put the wind over our shoulder. Even then, running with the seas would not allow the autopilot to do a very good job at all. I suspect if we had run at high cruise power and had been going faster, it would have been better.
The run was just under 30 statute miles and just over 3 hours, so we were docked by 1015. There are no other transient boats at either the free town slips next to us or on the bulkhead as we and Ariel are now. The Manteo Waterfront manager (dockmaster) came down to help us tie up and we inquired innocently if the limit was still 24 hours. He said that if we reported having any boat problems, the stay could be longer (wind-wink). We would not abuse the 24 hour limit if it seemed that the space would be at a premium, but on a Mon/Tue in Apr, that appears not to be the case.
Once docked, it was wonderful to be in bright sunny conditions with just a mild breeze. Whatever we all had on to stay warm on the water came off quickly. Diane and I got a few post-arrival things settled and then took off for a walk around the waterfront tourist area to reacquaint ourselves. When it got to be 1230 we stopped for a light lunch at the Full Moon Café. There is a definite warming trend in all the forecasts.
We dropped off Diane's leftovers and then set out again on foot to walk off lunch. We retraced a lot of steps but added a lot more. There isn't a whole lot to see beyond the tourist section near the waterfront, but tomorrow we will get out the bikes and explore in different directions. On the way back to Diva Di, we stopped by Ariel to chat and were invited to come aboard for docktails at 1700. In the meantime, we read and I napped briefly.
At the appointed hour, we took our drinks and appetizer offering over to Ariel. Lucy the dog was eager for her guests. It was a great chat, although Diane and Corinne had their own conversations completely apart from Robert's and mine. Before you knew it, 90 minutes had passed and it was time to leave them to their supper. I had Diane's leftover lunch, sharing a few bites with her. It was all either of us needed.
The sun was setting over the island, but with the sky mostly clear, it was pretty and a welcome sight to all the sunless days we have endured. We both read some more as the chill slowly came back into the boat. We will be toasty warm in our berth but the morning will undoubtedly be briskly cool.
By the way, I think the problem I had getting a data connection with my Verizon phone at Alligator River was a fluke. I had the same problem when we arrived at Manteo, so I simply rebooted the phone and it worked fine.