First of all, a heartfelt wish to any friends or family who suffered from Hurrican Sandy. You New Jersey folks, God Bless! Here we were on a boat, near the predicted track, and all we got was moderate wind, moderate rain, and NO tidal surge.

We left Dowry Creek Marina on Wednesday, 10/31/12, and crossed the Pungo River into Pamlico Sound and arrived at River Dunes Club in the afternoon. this is a beautiful, very protected anchorage with top notch facilities. They had a promotion from the Boat Show, stay one night, second night free. Once again, Free, is good! Had cocktails and snacks with 4 couples on Tomfoolery. Next day we used the courtesy car to go to the hardware store in Oriental. Tom and Jeff were like kids at the penny candy counter! ( This WAS an awesome hardware store.) Jrff repaired our cold water hose, minus the water filter. Need to get to a Lowe's/Home Depot to buy a new one. The "O" ring was shot onour old one. See, I'm getting into all these "technical" boat terms!
Rode the complex's courtesy bikes for some much needed exercise.

Dinner with David and Alex from BANYAN and Peggie and Tom from TOMFOOLERY on MELTEMI. We had a gfreat evening and all planned on leaving the next morning.

As we were leaving the marina, I was tidying up the deck, bringing in lines and fenders, when I slipped entereing the cockpit. Took a serious fall and wound up with a bleeding head. Jeff spun around and we tied up to the fuel dock, commandeered the courtesy car and headed to the clinic. The attending was a PA who was also a sailor. He decided to instruct Jeff on Surgery 101 as he put me back together.So, I'm lying there listening to all the gory details.
We got back after a quick pharmacy stop and headed off about 2 hours late.

When we got the Morehead City, the wind kicked up to 25-30 knots and we opted for a dock, as the anchorages there were not recommended even in calm weather. Stayed at the Morehead City Yacht Basin, which is as old as me (but it's had a complete makeover and I haven't!) Had a nice Dinner at Floyd's, another area landmark.

My Flexoril worked well, and after a good night's reat we took off for Topsail Beach. Right now, 12:37, we are " milling about smartly" next to the Onslow Beach bridge whose opening we missed by 7 minutes or so! Better planning next time.

Looking forward to a good old anchorage tonight. The southern marinas are still confounding us. Even when they say, floating docks, you're still wedged between pilings. More practice, I guess.

Additons:
Forgot to mention that we saw our first dolphins swimming alongside at Swanboro, NC. Just beautiful!

AND, at Swan Point, a few miles down the waterway, Susan ran aground. Despite Jeff's best efforts, we were stuck and called Boat US. It took quite a while for the towboat to blow out enough sand from under the keel to get us moving. A small consolation, he told us that he had grounded the towboat in the same spot last week!

A mad crazy rush to make it thru 2 bridges followed. We missed one and had to wait a half hour. The Surf City bridge operator was very nice and held the opening for us ( there was little, actually no other traffic needing an opening)
and we avoided a 1 hour wait. PHEW. Got into Sloop Creek anchorage just at sunset. Hoping November 4 treats us better!