PHOTO ABOVE: City Hall in New Bern. Very Swiss-like.

We made a 64 nm passage from Pungo Creek to New Bern via the Pungo R., the Pamlico R. (and Sound) and then up the Neuse River. It took 8:43 and we arrived before 4:00 pm with the hopes of making the last bridge opening. If we did not make it we would have to wait unitl 5:00 pm to enter the harbor and marina at New Bern.

Ah, the best laid plans. Just as we entered the southern end of the Neuse River the Coast Guard announced on VHF channel 16 that the Cunningham Bridge in New Bern was experiencing mechanical problems and would not open until further notice.

Okay, new plan. So based on the recommendation of some fellow cruisers we headed for the Bridgeton Harbor Marina which is on the east side of the Nuese R. just a bit north of downtown New Bern proper. The marina is a relatively new facility with very well built, large floating docks and wide fairways. It is also less than 50% occupied. Turns out the condo, shop, restaurants that were to be built shore side are on hold.

We had electrical problems during this leg. The alternator was not charging the battery bank. With about a 10 Ah use rate, we had more than enough juice to run the full electronics package during the leg. We got in contact with a very well recommended marine electrician who arrived about 5:00 pm to take an initial look. Diagnosis, very iffy voltage regulator for the alternator AND, to add insult to injury, a diminished battery bank with only about 40% of its specified capacity.

Well we all know that batteries, even when properly used and charged have a finite lifetime. So we bit the bullet (I am really tired of biting bullets) and ordered 9 new batteries.

We made a trip over to New Bern via courtesy car on Saturday. Nice downtown area. We also discovered that "Pepsi-Cola" was first developed and produced here. Who knew?




Batteries and the Balmar voltage regulator are now installed and working as advertised. This new Balmar regulator has a very nice feature. There is an LED readout that allows you to monitor your alternator and get readings on volts and amps out. Another thing to add to the 'underway' checklist.

Weather looks great for the next week, so we are going to get moving south in the ditch again with anticipated stops in Morehead City, Surf City, Southport, Myrtle Beach, Georgetown and then layover for a week or so in Charleston, SC.