Day 32 - Manteo, Roanoke Island, NC
28 April 2015
Day 32 - Tue 28 Apr 2015
Docked - Manteo, Roanoke Island, NC
[photo: Diva Di at the free dock in Manteo]
The overnight was indeed pretty cool, although we stayed warm in our berth. Upon rising at 0500 with plenty of rest, I saw the cabin temperature was only 56F, so I turned on the generator for 45 minutes to heat the cabin, heat water, and recharge the batteries. If you have a generator, it needs to be used regularly, so for the small cost of the diesel fuel it burns, it does a great job. The alternative is to be plugged into shore power which almost always means a marina, with all its costs.
There were just a few boat chores to do and I got mine done early. Diane does her tasks on her own schedule and keeps the interior of the boat nice. I needed to get off the boat, so I walked around trying to find the dockmaster and finally found his office tucked away with no signage you could see unless you already knew where it was or stumbled across it, as I did. He was not there.
Next, we got the bikes off the boat and they needed a good washing down from all the grit they accumulated riding in the rain in Belhaven. Fortunately, there is a public spigot and hose near our boat. The hose has several large splits in it and leaks badly, but at least it is available.
Diane stayed on the boat where the large windows were letting in the abundant sunshine to warm it up. I rode the half mile to the Food-O-Rama. It wasn't a bad store; we have seen far worse. I was only there to scout it out, but I elected to buy those heavier items I remembered we needed to make our dual trip easier.
With the wind at your back and the sun in your face (those are lyrics to a Kenny Chesney song, by the way), it was quite nice. With the cold wind in your face, it was, well, cold. Diane will want to wait until the warmest part of the day to make this trip, I am sure. I don't know why the local we talked to yesterday mentioned a warming trend starting today. It is forecast to reach highs in the 60s all week, which is no warmer than it has been as far as I can tell.
Always needing something to do, I prepped the ingredients for a crock pot shrimp creole we will cook tomorrow while underway for about 6 hours. Diane has the reputation in our household for grabbing the wrong item from the shelf by mistake (olives with pits, whole water chestnuts, natural peanut butter), but today I grabbed whole tomatoes in cans rather than sauce. Fortunately, the immersion blender we brought came to the rescue.
We finally played our first game of Mah Jongg since starting this trip. We used to play at least 3-4 times a week, but somehow just never got into it on this cruise until now. At 1700, Robert and Corinne came over for docktails and it lasted longer than expected, which should not be surprising. After they left, we reheated the pork, sauerkraut, potatoes, and veggies and had a feast. When we had just finished, Corinne brought over her wonderful Thai chicken curry over rice to sample. It was sure spicy, but so good!
Not long after that, another yacht came in to the free dock near us, so there were 3 of us helping him come in. Afterwards, I took Clyde out for another supervised walk around the dock and surrounding grass area. He was on his best behavior and seemed to enjoy it. It was another early night for us.
We plan to leave at an appropriate hour to run about 6 hours to Elizabeth City. The conditions are probably going to be worse than forecast, but hopefully not too bad.