We slept in on Monday morning, and around 8 o'clock I was still in my PJ's, making coffee when we heard a knock on the hull. How exciting to look out and see Mike Steere on the dock!

We met Mike and Kathy (Sapphire) our first year cruising - in the Alligator River not all that far from here. For the next couple of years we shared some fine times with them here and there in the Bahamas, and even here in Oriental. But then we headed to Central America and they continued to enjoy the fishing and sailing in the Bahamas, and we hadn't seen them for several years. Sapphire has moved on to other owners; they are settled on land in this cruising community on the Neuse River, and we are moving Madcap back home to Canada, and as in so many reunions with cruising friends, we picked up as if we had seen each other yesterday. Kathy knew we were coming and I had posted a caption-less picture of the Prosecco bottle and our wine glasses on FB. That was enough for Mike to declare, "They're here!" and pedal down to welcome us.

We've been having fun - starting with a soaking wet walk up the road to their house, an invitation to dinner, with the added invitation to bring our dirty laundry and even to have showers if we wanted. The shrimp tacos were delicious, the conversation among the 6 of us (including their friends Sandy and Peter) was lively and the laundry got clean.

We headed to New Bern on Tuesday to explore the old town and have lunch at MJ's Raw Bar and Grill where we sat at the bar and dined on wonderful seared tuna, crab cakes, oysters and clams, and were thoroughly entertained by a server who clearly enjoyed his job. A prowl around Mitchell's Hardware Store that sells hardware and so much more netted a new tool for Jim and a pelican for Mike. Kathy and I both picked up luscious olive oil at the Midtown oil Store.

Way back in St Augustine, I met a woman in the bathroom who said their home base was Whittaker Creek and recommended it as a place to leave Madcap while we do some land travels. We shared anchorages here and there and chatted on the radio and through text messages, but it wasn't until this morning that we got to really meet Amy and John (Aimless). It's such fun to meet folks we've been talking with and feel like we have known them much longer.

We walked to the "Bean" this morning - that great coffee shop and meeting place for boaters down on the waterfront. We picked up jugs of non-chlorinated water so Jim could pickle the water maker, and were offered 3 rides as we walked back along the street. I walked to the Piggly Wiggly - and met Bill, the owner who pointed out the Piglet Shuttle that will pick up boaters and take them back to their docks again with all their groceries. This town knows how to provide services to cruisers.

And tonight, we will head out to the Tiki Bar to have a drink with Mike and Kathy and then to Open Mic Night at the Silos, to see who's in town and who's making music. Will we see more familiar faces? We finally feel like we are cruising again instead of just moving along.