Mike
11/03/2007, Beaufort, NC

Beaufort Day 2 - November 1

Town Creek seems to be as good a spot as any to sit out the next couple of days as Hurricane Noel passes to the East of us. Today is sunny and hot... around 80 but the winds are predicted to begin to pick up this evening and blow for about 48 hours.

We walked the town this morning, found the post office and picked up a few things at a convenience store. The waterfront consists of about 8 blocks of shops, restaurants, and docks. It was very clean and tidy. The three or four blocks behind Front Street consist of stately, pre-Civil War, homes.

On Donna's recommendation, we made sure to stop at the Museum and spent an hour or so checking out the history of this community, it's early business, and its ties to the water. Most interesting to me were the old skiffs used in and around the outer banks and the surrounding marshes. Although the sizes were different, they were all gaff rigged with flat bottoms and a centerboard. There were also a couple of examples of plank row boats that were remarkably similar to the design that grandfather built before aluminum boats were invented.

After returning to the boat, we polished off the last of the jambalaya and spent the afternoon working on various projects and taking advantage of great internet service...for once. I also put out a second anchor, just trying to take as many precautions against the forecast 25 to 35 mph winds.

We had dinner on Cielo with Kevin and Lizz, who we probably won't see for a while. They are leaving from here to run about 800 miles to the Turks, skipping the Bahamas altogether. Kevin made a chicken/pasta dish and we brought a salad. As always, we had an enjoyable evening with them and wish them the best.

The wind began to blow about 2am. I got up and set the anchor alarm....(In truth, I had to wake Kathy up to have her set the stupid thing) and spent the rest of the night listening to the wind.

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MIke
11/01/2007, Beaufort, NC

Oriental to Beaufort... October 31 (The real Happy Halloween)

We were really not in any hurry to leave today because the trip to Beaufort was only about 20 miles. Kathy did some computer work and I got the boat ready for departure. Finally, around 8:30 we pulled anchor and crossed the Neuse River. The trip was uneventful and we arrived at Town Creek without incident. I wanted to fuel up, so called the nearby marina and pulled up to the dock. When I radioed in, the lady said that she would turn on the pump...so, since there were no people around, I started filling up while Kathy filled our water tank. When we were done I walkup up to the office, paid and picked up a bag of ice before returning to the boat.

When I turned the key to start the engine... there was nothing. Oh oh. On the third try the engine barely rolled over ... but caught and started right up. If truth be known, for the last couple of months, the starter hadn't been turning over like it should.

Cielo pulled in about an hour later and when Kevin stopped by we discussed the started problem. Madcap arrived a little later but ... it was looking like work afternoon as opposed to something fun.

After getting the anchor down and eating left over shrimp for lunch.. darn, I tried to start the boat and this time it wouldn't even turn over. I checked the battery and it was fine... but I knew that batteries were sneaky so I put a load on and watched the rebound. It was fine. Just to make sure, I connected one of the house bank batteries which I knew to be good and when Kathy turned the key...nothing.

At this point I called Jim, my cousin, to run through my diagnosis with him. He recommended more electrical testing...and in the process, with Kathy turning the key, the engine started right up like is was supposed to. Unfortunately, I had done nothing. It almost had to be something in the ignition or the connection with the battery /solenoid.

After waiting for the engine to cool enough for me to work, (I have to lay on top of the engine to access the starter) I disconnected all the wires from the battery, cleaned everything, replaced one loop connector, and put things back together. When we turned the key it started right up. So....I hope that the problem is fixed. If not we have a spare starter and that will be the next project.

Tomorrow we'll go to town.

PS: Sam, I cut the fixing stuff to the bare bones. (Yeah. It really went on all afternoon...and Dad said he liked this house.)

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Mike
11/01/2007, Oriental, NC

Oriental - October 30

We left Belhaven at daylight and stayed ahead of the pack all the way to Oriental. The sails were up and down, and helped quite a bit, but the engine was always running. Our path, for those of you who care in the least, was down the Pungo, across the Pamlico River, through the Hobucken Cut, out into the Pamlico Sound proper and finally up the Neuse River to Oriental.

We arrived to find that the Anchorage was reasonably full but after a couple of tries, got our anchor set in a good spot for the night. We are right next to "Peace", the boat that rafted off of us in Deep Creek, so we got to say Hi to Ann and Neville.It was mid afternoon, so we went ashore to wander around the town for a while. Oriental is small and quiet. One of the four restaurants we saw had a sign out advertising all-you-can-eat- shrimp which caught our attention. We ran into Jim and Beth, the Madcap sailors, and made a date for dinner.

On our walk we also ran into Claude who has a small Bayfield and was anchored next to us in Annapolis. He is traveling with a couple form Marquette who we met briefly and who seem like people that we'd like to get to know. Restless, Steve and Carol's boat, is docked there and looks to be no worse for their owners going home for a week. They will be back tomorrow and will catch up in a few days.

The shrimp were great.

bye

Yes, I forgot to say Happy Halloween yesterday. We did not have any trick-or-treaters!

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