Oriental, NC with 380 miles under the keel

We were so spent from sailing the extra miles the day before,
we decided to sleep in Sunday morning.  We were hoping to
find a coffee shop or bakery open in Belhaven, but no such
luck. We cast off at 10am, for a 44 mile run to Oriental, NC.
We had an easterly wind and motorsailed comfortably from
Belhaven, to Pamlico River, across the tip of the Sound and
in to Goose Creek. From there we turned in to the Neuse River.

From Belhaven, the Pungo River makes a 90 degree turn to the
south for a 10 mile run to the Pamlico River.  We passed the
Hobucken Coast Guard Station, and some Coasties when
zooming by us, perhaps on a call to the Pamlico Sound.  We
have heard several distress calls on Channel 16 this trip, and
one may-day where three boaters were injured and their boat
was taking on water.  Thankfully our course was not taking
us down the length of the Pamlico Sound, but instead we only
caught a five mile western tip of the Sound.  This was shrimp
country!  Lots of working boats were out, even on a Sunday.

As the shrimpers were heading out to the
Pamlico Sound, we were tucking in to the
Neuse River, bound for Oriental. The Waterway
Guide reads, "The Neuse River vies with
Albemarle Sound as some of the meanest water
on the ICW. First timers should run compass
courses and use radar or GPS whenever possible.
With easterly or westerly winds, you can be
shaken up, and a southwester can make the 18
mile run to Oriental very wet going."
GREAT.

We were fortunate in that we had a mostly southeast wind.  We
had to beat in to it for the first 8 miles of the Neuse, but then
it turned more out of the west.  We could see storms off to
our port side, and it looked like rain in Oriental. Also GREAT.
We no sooner tied down at Oriental Inn and Marina, and it
flat poured, lightening and thunder to boot.  We got tied
down, checked in, and started some baked potatoes on the
grill. The sun came out in the early evening, and Len's
friend Mike showed up with his guitar, banjo, and a red drum
fish to throw on the grill.  The guys had a great time catching
up and playing music, and Mike stayed the night with us.

Just as the sun was beginning to set, I went to snap a photo of
the boys 'on the back porch' of Kantiya pickin' and grinnin'.


A neighboring boater even joined in later for
a blue grass jam. A good time was had by all :)


G'nite, y'all!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Willis is three down, six to go. Dern cat.

Image
If cats have nine lives, Willis has now burned through three of them. The first one was when he went overboard on Marquesa several years ago.  I think that mishap took years off my own life, and landed me with a broken toe in the ER. In my haste to 'save' him, I dove overboard but got my toe hung up on the life lines. Geesh. Last Christmas, he had an encounter with a cotton mouth, the day after I left for Japan to spend Christmas with Ellie.  That was a scary one...he was lucky he didn't burn through all the remaining eight lives with that one. Now, here we are again, at the vet with a nasty, oozing, abscess on his right side.  There is one puncture wound, not two.  Yet, the vet is certain it was something venomous that nailed him once more.  When I took him to the vet on Saturday to have his wound looked at, there was a distinctive lump, the skin was blackened, and you could see one puncture and an abrasion. On Saturday, he tried to behave him...
Read more

School's Out For Summer!

Image
There is no doubt that teaching psychology to my Chinese babies was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  Their dedication and diligence to their academic pursuits is a bar set so high, that my American friends and family find my stories hard to believe.  All of that pressure to succeed comes with a price, however, and I felt part of my calling to China was to temper those unrealistically high expectations set by their teachers, families, and their very culture.  There is so much more to defining a person than one's GPA, transcripts, or from where they receive their diploma.  When learning is no longer FUN, there is a problem.  If I did anything right, it was to teach dem Chinese babies that it's okay to be silly and to have fun.  Life is too precious to be so serious and stressed out all the time!  Never let anyone or anything steal your joy and zest for life 😁...remember, you only get one go around. In moving back t...
Read more

The best laid plans

Image
Good morning!  We had a leisurely morning aboard Kantiya.  The Dismal Swamp Lock didn't open until 8:30am, so we enjoyed coffee and breakfast, and I checked email and worked on the blog some. The main salon is my 'office' on board- it works out fine :) The best laid plans, well.... are just that.  As we passed the 'road sign' for the Dismal Swamp it said the canal was open, but the lock was closed.  Knowing it was nearly 7:30pm and the last lock through was at 3:30pm, I figured," ok, it's closed- for the day".  I even remarked to Len that it looked like the kind of sign at a bar, that you can change from 'closed' to 'open'. Well, this morning, a man paddles by in a canoe, and Len thought, "That must be the guy changing the sign." Ah, no. I pulled off the dock at 8:00am for the short two mile jaunt to the lock.  At about one half mile out, I hail the lock on the VHF to request the 8:30 scheduled opening. I was politely ...
Read more