We were not disappointed by our return trip to Belhaven, the town council and local chamber of commerce have been hard at work improving the waterfront. It had been threatening showers when we arrived in town on a Friday afternoon so we hung around the boats for a while waiting for things to settle. Bev and I finally headed ashore late in the afternoon to stretch our legs and scout out a place for dinner. We tied up at the nice new dingy dock which is just adjacent to the new town dock where transient boaters can tie up overnight for a dollar a foot plus $5 for power. Believe me this is a deal, plus there's drinking water available and the pump out service is free. We had barely started our scouting trip when a car pulled up and who should step out but the welcome wagon hostess, Diana, the same great lady we had met in 2016. She had a ditty bag for us as well as a wealth of local knowledge to help make our stay enjoyable. It was good to see they were being rewarded for all their hard work, as there were close to 20 boats anchored in the harbour and the marinas were very busy as well.

The town centre has a great atmosphere, the Main Street has several interesting shops as well as a couple of very good restaurants to choose from. We elected to try the local Mexican restaurant, which is home to excellent jumbo margaritas and delicious home cooked food. However, the long travel days caught up to us and we were all back on the boats by 7:30 struggling to stay up until 10 p.m. We were all happy with our choice to stop in Belhaven and looked forward to more great hospitality. Saturday's weather was slightly better then Friday's so we headed ashore to take advantage of the day and capped it off with another good meal in town. One interesting aspect is that local residents are allowed to drive golf carts on the road to reduce pollution and traffic.

As we worked on Sunday's departure plan everyone remarked how impressed they were by the town's approach to attracting boaters to visit. I have to admit it would be hard to find a town that is more welcoming then Belhaven. We waved goodbye to the town Sunday morning, hoisted the anchor and set off to Oriental, 45 miles away. Fortunately, we managed to sail about 80% of the way and dropped the hook at 4 p.m.

Oriental is home to numerous marinas and we were looking for a good mechanic to help solve the nagging vibration issue we've had for most of the trip. By chance, a friend from my Etchells sailing days is very involved in the marine industry in Oriental and was able to set us up in a good marina and line us up with a mechanic. Long story short, it turns out our transmission is on it's last legs and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. The supply chain in the marine industry is suffering like everywhere else and it appeared we could be stuck for a while. However, through the Sabre Owners group I got in touch with a great shop near Boston who had a new one in stock and thanks to UPS it should be here Friday. The mechanic will work with me to change it so we can get moving again soon. In the meantime we're enjoying the town as well as the live aboard characters here in the marina.

Today's picture is of our view from the front porch of the marina.