Rick, Rick and Bud went to Gerogie's Restaurant in Belhaven, NC for their celebratory seafood dinner last night. Bud said the place looked like a throwback to 40 years ago and was packed. The choices in seafood preparation were steamed or steamed. Bud ordered shrimp, scallops and crabcakes and the guys split a half-peck of oysters. Once shucked that half-peck made about a cereal bowl full, but they were delicious. When the folks in the restaurant found out they were staying at Les's Marina, they all got free beer. At some time before the end of the meal both Georgie and his wife came out to talk to them. Altogether a satisfactory evening.

The next morning, Rick Sindoni took off in the rental car for New Bern. Rick Sampson and Bud had to wait out the fog to leave. Bud did his morning ritual of topping off the Racor filters. He said he has to use less diesel as time goes on. At about 8:30 AM the fog just disappeared and they took off.

Rick Sindoni called to say he'd turned in the rental and caught the shuttle to his hotel. He can have his room until 4 PM tomorrow, so he can relax and get cleaned up before his flight. Then he can take the shuttle back to the airport and home.

Bud and Rick 2 made over 40 nautical miles and were in a marina in Oriental, NC just after 3 PM. They went to Whitaker Pointe Marina. It's a brand new marina with beautiful docks and excellent facilities. It is a ways out of town. Bud said the grocery store was about 300 yards across the water and 3 miles by land. Fortunately, they also had a courtesy car, so Rick and Bud were able to restock the groceries. Bud called and asked where the laundry detergent was, so that's a good sign.

Rick is not an experienced sailor, so even if Bud had considered going outside as the storm off shore waned, he doesn't want to do it with inexperienced crew. A schooner there that is planning to go out at Moorehead City said they expected 40 mph winds. With two masts and smaller sails, they weren't worried, but our sails are a lot to handle in 20 knots, let along 35 or more. So I think the guys will stay in the Intracoastal. Even so, the dockmaster said they should be able to make it to Charleston in a week. We'll see what happens as the days go on.