Day 179 Saturday, April 16, 2016
Passage Casper’s Marina to River Dunes Marina, Oriental, NC
6:50 AM Underway
2:24 PM Docked port side to.
8.9 engine hours 50 miles
Got underway with beautiful red sunrise. RED SKY IN THE MORNING SAILORS TAKE WARNING. The weather is still supposed to be windy and it was blowing under 10 knots as we left the dock. The wind forecast is still 15-20 knots out of the northeast. At least we are under the gale force winds of yesterday. That changed as we passed Morehead City and entered Crab Point Thoroughfare. ‘Gale warning’ is over 35 knots. I measured 35.8 knots and I’m sure there were gusts more than that. The enclosure was squeaking and making sounds I’m not used to hearing. I knew things would get better in a few miles as we would be in the protected Adams Creek with land blocking the wind. And, that turned out to be true. But I was wondering what the Neuse River was going to look like with the strong winds and of course the unfavorable tide flow. I said to Susan to get ready for a rough ride and hoped I was wrong. However, as we entered the Neuse, it was bad. 3-4’ waves coming at us fast. I set the autopilot for our destination 9 miles to the north and held on. Yes, we had our life jackets on. Susan even got out her phone dry bag, just in case it was needed, but her orders were NOT to come outside!! Liquid Therapy is a very seaworthy boat and it was kind of cool to watch the hull behave in these terrible conditions. But, we didn’t want to hang on that long and Oriental harbor was 2 1/2 miles away. Not fun but would only take about 30 minutes. (We later called and cancelled slip and dinner reservations at our favorite NC marina, River Dunes, which was farther north, through this roiling mess!) We were pitched about with Susan securing everything below and me hanging on to the computer and other loose items. It was a wild ride with spray flying up OVER the bow and shooting UP through the hawse pipes. Liquid Therapy looked like she was in her element, and like a dog let off it’s leash was bounding about just happy! We were not happy. Worst conditions we had been in the entire trip. But again, safe. As a rule, unless the engine quits - or you miss seeing a crab pot and get the line hung in the propeller, you can make it. I had some close calls with the crab pots, as they were very hard to see in the churning water. The engine ran fine. It is not unusual for fuel sloshing about in rough waters to stir up sediment and clog fuel filters on boats. I have had to change filters on my twin engine boat when one engine got fuel starved while in rough conditions. That is not fun and seasickness will surely set in while changing a filter in bad conditions. Liquid Therapy only has one engine. So as a precaution I installed a switchable fuel filter system. That way, in case I should have a clogged filter in a bad situation, I can throw a handle and switch to a new filter. I will change the filter I’ve been running on just for precaution tomorrow.

Both of us were beat when we entered Oriental Harbor and we did not have a slip reservation at any marina. Susan called while I tried to get my wits about me and keep Liquid Therapy in some calm waters with the wind still blowing. We finally got a slip assignment and headed in for a tough docking maneuver. I backed in and was doing ok with that. But the bow pilings were tall and too far away to get both lines on. Susan got one and the boat in the next slip helped us get the one we missed. Susan and I are usually pretty good with docking. But it had been a long time since we had been in a conventional slip with pilings. We had gotten used to the easier floating docks. Anyhow, we were safe and tied up and rattled. We both had to calm down a bit before going ashore. Nice bunch of fellow boaters were talking about the weather and should they go tomorrow. We are not moving. It’s going to be a day of rest and the weather forecast is just as bad tomorrow as it was today.
Todays picture is Neuse River port side spray taken by Susan inside the boat. I was too busy to take any.