Women's Washrooms, RE Mayo Marina
We have now made our plans for the winter, leaving Estelle in Charleston, hauled out at Charleston Harbor Boatyard, and off to Whistler on Nov. 28th. So we have lots of time to poke our way down, and plans were to explore the Pamlico River for a few days.
By noon, we were enjoying a beautiful sail down the Pungo River, our night at Tucahoe Point now all but forgotten. We woke to a beautiful clear and cool day, motoring through the 20 mile Alligator-Pungo canal to the Pungo River.
By the time we reached the Pamlico, we had another change of plans, and sailed across the Pamlico up into Goose creek and into the Hobucken Canal. The 20 knot west winds in the Pamlico meant our trip to Bath and Washington (NC) were off.
In the Hobucken Canal, we tied up at the curious RE Mayo Shrimp dock, a rough affair with no pretenses to luxury.
Ashore we met Ernie and Caroline Steller on English Martha, a 35' ketch from Kitterie Maine. They were our only dock mates except for one large shrimp trawler. Ashore we checked in, paying $0.60/ft and took a walk to stretch our legs after two days aboard. In the evening, we sat in English Martha's cockpit and chatted about our trips.
After discussing options we both decided to head for South River, a tributary of the Neuse. In the morning we set off in light warm winds and were anchored by mid-afternoon. Our objective was to find the remains of the abandoned village of Lukens, but all we found was a graveyard, still well-tended by the descendants of the villagers. Nothing of the village itself remains.
Next morning we were off and motoring through the Adams Creek Canal. By mid-afternoon we were tied up at the Morehead City Yacht Basin, finding ourselves tied again next to English Martha. We spent two nights here, re-stocking and touring using the marina courtesy car.
Plans were to head out to Cape Lookout for the night and do an offshore run to Wrightsville Beach. It is a 12 hour trip, meaning that to arrive before dark (about 530 pm), we would leave at 4:00 am. But the winds would not cooperate, so off we chugged down the ICW, reaching Dudley's Marina where we, for the last time, tied up with English Martha. Next morning was a long boring day running 55 nm to Wrightsville Beach where we now sit, pondering the next (our last) week of cruising, trying to decide where to sit out some cold (0C) nights. Temperatures seem to be fluctuating wildly. Yesterday and today in the mid 20's C and tomorrow plunging to highs of 10 C and lows of 0C. Time to get moving!