June 24th... Ocracoke, NC

It rained hard most of the morning so we spent the time reading. I cooked breakfast and a pot of red beans and rice for traveling food tomorrow. It cleared up about 10 am and by 11 the four of us were ashore for a hike around town. We stopped at a raw bar and Steve and I split a dozen oysters. On our way back to our dinghies we stopped at the grocery and another restaurant so that Kim and Steve could eat lunch... Kathy and I were still full from breakfast... and oysters.

We got back about 3pm and watched a line of thunder storms heading our way across Pamlico Sound. They arrived about the time we were supposed have a farewell dinner on "Fine Lion." It rained like crazy and we had a little lightening but there was no wind... a good thing, as boats here are anchored too close to each other.

When things died down, we bailed the dinghy for the second time today and motored over for dinner. Steve grilled some rib-eyes and potatoes that were excellent. Kim made a mushroom sauce that was also tasty.

We said our good byes and went back to set the alarm. I needed to be up at daylight to get things organized for a 6am departure.


June 23rd... Oriental, NC to Ocracoke, NC

We left Oriental this morning at 8am. "Fine Lion" is joining us for the trip out to Ocracoke and will return on Thursday and we will continue north. "Sapphire" worked her way to the northeast out of the Neuse River to the Pamlico Sound. After a couple of hours we turned east to avoid a shoal and were able to get some sails working. NOAA was calling for 5 to 10 knots, but by early afternoon we had wind over 20 and seas of 6 or 7 feet. It was a wet ride. I put a life jacket and worked my way out to the foredeck to douse the main as we approach the long channel to Ocracoke. We rolled our way in the 3 mile channel but had no trouble making our way into Silver Lake and the town of Ocracoke at about 4:00. The anchorage here was once the home of Blackbeard and is fully protected.

It took a while to get the boat in order and with lots of hot water, we took the opportunity to take showers. A little later we joined Steve and Kim for a dinghy tour of the harbor and stopped at a restaurant for dinner.

We walked around a little after we ate but decided to explore the town tomorrow. Back at the boat we were reading in the cockpit when a guy in an aluminum boat went by and Kim started yelling at him. As it turns out it was Brian who spent quite a bit of time with Steve and Kim last year. He is also a good friend of Barry and Susan ... and says Hi.
Brian is working here on a charter boat and will try to bring us some fish after tomorrow's trip.

When it got too dark to read we went below and watched a movie... although I didn't make it to the end.