Last night the wind blew pretty good again out of the north. It wouldn't have been a good time to be any further along the system or out into the Neusse River. Everything that I've read says that body of water is pretty treacherous in anything out of the north or east. I downloaded from Clearpoint this morning any they tell me that we will continue to have northerly winds at 20 knots all day but that it'll back to north west tomorrow AM. Looks like we'll be hanging out here at RE Mayo today. At least with these winds we don't have to worry about power - Windy Wendy the wind generator was humming all night and has kept up a pretty good charge rate to the house bank.

Barb isn't the only one with an upset stomach last night. Peri woke me up at 0300 with his whining and scratching at the companionway steps to be taken out. This was so uncharacteristic of him that I almost didn't but eventually I succumbed and got dressed, grabbed a flashlight and took him ashore. Good thing too. Poor little muffin barely made it to the bank! Here I was worried about bad swamp critters and all he was concerned about was not making a mess on the cabin floor.

Any thought that we had for moving on today or that Clearpoint may be wrong was put to rest after a conversation with the local Coast Guard station who told us that the winds in the Neusse River were 20 to 30 knots and gusting higher with waves 3' to 4'. Back home that wouldn't be anything to worry about but we learned yesterday that sort of forecast should be heeded. The sun came out to accompany the wind so our housebank is getting a post from Wendy and the solar panel. The forecast for tomorrow is much more promising with winds of 15 knots from the NW so that will be when we make our departure.

RE Mayo is getting some more oil filters for the Perkins and they'll be here first thing tomorrow AM ie 0630, so we'll be able to walk Peri, have breakfast and get the oil filters and still get away fairly early. Both Silverheels and we want to get off so we can get into Oriental early and get a spot.

It has been very interesting watching a parade of boats heading on past towards Oriental and points south. Don't they listen to the weather forecasts? Don't they read the cruising guides? I have an idea that there'll be a real log jam of boats on this side of the Neusse Sound in all available anchorages. We have had people ask if there was a charge for the dock and even after being told that it was only $0.40/ft continue on; we had one guy ask if there was fuel at the dock and when told that there was he wouldn't wait until a small fishing boat got out of the way and proceeded down the channel in a flurry of foam; but mostly there were boats just steaming on through. A lot of them were Canadians including the impatient fellow at the fuel dock, so I can only assume that this might be their first trip down and they just don't know what awaits them beyond the canal. I think that we'll have to phone ahead for a reservation at the marina that we choose to stay at to make sure that there is space. Granted, if the weather is nice tomorrow, some of the people already at Oriental will be heading onward, but you never know. This is one place that I would like to have the facilities to work on the boat and use all the tools at our disposal and easy access to boat supply stores, so a mooring or on the anchor would be our last choice.

We are on the prowl for fresh crabs but so far no dice. Too bad. They would have made a great addition to the seafood pot luck. Barb made a sort of corn and shrimp chowder and some cornbread as our contribution.

Whatever else happens so far on this cruise, I have to be more alert to wearing bug dope. The nips that I got today from the little beasts are driving me nuts with the itching! I'm not even sure what kind they were.

The sun has been popping in and out all afternoon so we are hoping that will bode well for tomorrow. The weather forecast is still for 15 knots from the NW which is good news, but the locals have been telling us that it'll still be too much wind. I'll have to get up early and check things out from Clearpoint and NOAA to see for myself. This is a nice enough place to stay and you can't complain about the price, but it's time to move on.