5/9/19

We washed the boat down before we left Moorehead City. We were underway by 8:45 a.m. We took the Adams Creek Canal to the Neuse River. It was a short day to Oriental. It is one of our favorite stops. Averaging 6 knots, we arrived at the Oriental Inn and Marina at 12:30. We spent the afternoon walking around town and stopping in some of our favorite shops. Lady Catherine , a 60 foot Trumpy, is here. She is a beautiful old Yacht that we saw in Treasure Cay. We had dinner at M&M's. Carl had the shrimp sandwich and I had the flounder. Yum! It was a nice walk back to the boat. Early to bed.. early to rise.

5/10

I ran across the street to The Bean to pick up bagels for breakfast before we left Oriental at 7:45 a.m. It was near low tide and the boat was sitting on the bottom. It's is a soft bottom, so we were able to power out. We were back on the Neuse again and then up Goose Creek to the Pungo River, averaging 7-7.5 knots. The bugs can be bad here, but with the screens in we only had an occasional horsefly to find its way in. The winds were 10 knots on our stern and building. It was 2:30 p.m. when we reached the fuel dock at Dowry Creek marina near Belhaven. After we fueled up we moved to our slip, the winds picked up and howled all afternoon. We had planned to stay one night. After checking the weather forecast, we decided that it would be better to stay here for the approaching storms.

5/11

We took the courtesy car to town. We had brunch at Spoon River Artworks and Market. We had a lovely waitress named Hannah. I had quiche with a salad and Carl had a huge stack of pancakes with fresh fruit and about a half a pound of bacon! It was a delicious and delightful dining experience. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back for a few things. The wind had picked up again, the clouds were rolling in and the boats were really bouncing around when we returned to the marina.

5/14

The storms blew through here yesterday, bringing high winds and tornado warnings. We were ready to go early this morning. We washed the fuzzy bills (bugs) off the deck. The winds were calm as we left the slip at 6:45 a.m. It was a chilly 54 this morning. Steam was rising from the warm water. There was a parade of boats heading up the Alligator Pungo Canal. Everyone has been waiting on the weather and are anxious to make some headway. We were making over 7 knots all day. Dark clouds gathered all around us. They looked threatening, but we only got a few sprinkles. Just as we were headed straight into the darkest clouds ahead, we turned up the Pasquotank River and left the storm behind. About 10 minutes from the Pelican marina, we were stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard. There was one senior officer and 4 officers in training. Two of them boarded our boat and conducted a safety check. They were very nice and said that we had a "very well outfitted vessel". It only took about 15 minutes and we were on our way. We tied up to the T head a little after 5. After we checked in, Carl called an Uber to take us to a little oyster bar just outside of town. Unfortunately, the driver told us that they were not open. He took us to The Grouper on the waterfront just over the bridge in Elizabeth City. While we were having dinner overlooking the water, the same Coast Guard vessel tied up and they came in for dinner. After dinner we walked along the waterfront and stopped to visit with S/V SeaQuel, tied up at the wall. We met them in Treasure Cay and they were just with us at Dowry Creek. We will go through the Dismal Swamp together tomorrow. We walked over the bridge and back to the marina. It was a good day and we got 80 more miles behind us!