Log 135; Day 365; May 21, 2009; Oriental, NC

All over town in Oriental there are dragons of every shape and size. They are very superstitious and seem to worship them.

Our new friends George (between Deb and I), and Mary, to my right. They took us to New Bern, and we had a great time.

We start our tour of New Bern, NC

While Oriental has the dragons, New Bern (which means bear) is full of bears


New Bern is the town that Pepsi was founded in.

When we are touring a town...this is how I (and Andy) spend most of our time. Waiting.

After a terrible night of rocking, Good News moves to a slip right next to us.

Log 135
Day 365
Thursday, May 21, 2009

7:30 AM EDT
Location: Oriental Marina & Inn; Oriental, NC
Weather: 63 degrees with light winds; Forecasted to be sunny and mid 70’s today

We have been on board for 365 days today. It seems like yesterday we left Michigan.

The winds have died down, and the sun is out. The birds are singing, like they know something special is going to happen. Several boats have left their slips already this morning, most of them headed north. Lots of activity at “The Bean”, the coffee house next to our marina, and “heartbeat of Oriental”, according to one local. And overnight, the water has dropped about a foot, leaving us just 1 foot higher than when we arrived, last Saturday.

Tuesday...with the winds blowing 20 to 25 mph, Deb and I putzed around the boat in the morning, and walked 3 or 4 blocks to “The Deli” for lunch. We had decided to borrow a couple of bikes from The Provision Company (they have 3 bikes there, and first come, first served) and ride to the local grocery store. The bikes are old, and rusty, but they work just fine, and Deb’s even had saddle bag baskets she could load groceries in. They said the grocery store was 3/4 of a mile from our marina, but with the strong north wind, it seemed, and felt, like 2 miles. But on the way back, the ride back was no effort at all. Just once in a while peddle a couple of times, and let the wind do the rest. In the early afternoon, Andy and Mary, on Good News, came into a harbor a couple of blocks away (they had traveled up from Beaufort). We rode the bikes over to greet them, and agreed to meet for dinner (their 36th anniversary) at a restaurant called the Oriental Steamer. We had a fun time catching up again, and talking about future plans for both of us. At some point during the meal, Deb left the table, to check something out, and ended up talking to a couple having their dinner. It turned out they were very friendly locals, and Deb made some instant friends. Later, as they were leaving, they stopped by our table to say hi to all of us, and Mary mentioned that they wanted to go to New Bern, but could not find a car rental in town. The guy (George) said that he had a doctors appointment in New Bern the next day, and if we wanted we could ride over with him, and check out the town, while he was at the doctors. Ok. Tomorrow we go to New Bern.

Wednesday...after leaving the restaurant on Tuesday evening, George went home and sent us an email (he had our boat cards, so he had all of our information). He laid out two options of how the day could go, and we agreed to meet at 10, and go to New Bern. We called Andy and Mary to see if they were still going, and found out they had a terrible night at the dock, because the winds continued to howl, and the waves were going over the breakwater at their marina, and the boat was rocking side to side all night long. So...at 10 we all jumped in the van and headed to New Bern, NC...pronounced Newbern (like one word) by the locals. We got a car tour from George of the many historic homes; had a great southern BBQ lunch; walked several block to look at the downtown area; had a beer at Captain Ratty’s; and in general had a very good day in New Bern. It is a very historic town, and they are doing a lot to continue to upgrade it. Back in Oriental, Andy and Mary decided to move their boat to our marina, because it was still rocking in their harbor, and our harbor was very quiet. We got together on HQ for a pot luck dinner, and laughed about the day. Each day there are things that happen, that are probably worth writing about, but I generally don’t, because I don’t think most folks reading this really care. But, one thing happened yesterday, that bears passing along. Andy, Mary, Deb, and I were sitting on the back deck getting ready for dinner when all of a sudden, some guy steps on our swim platform (without knocking, or being invited) and comes up the back stairs, and pops his head in the aft hatch and says “so you’re from Holland, huh”? I was so surprised, all I could say was...”yea”. This guy had no clue how to read body language, because he should have seen I was mad...and staring right through him...not believing he had just jumped on the boat. He was oblivious to all of our shock, and went on to start naming peoples names (that he knew in Holland) and asking us if we knew them. In each case the answer was “no”...hoping he would leave. Trying to be nice, Mary did ask him “what boat are you on”...to which he replied “oh...I’m on a friends boat, and we’re out at anchor”, and all of a sudden, we hear another person say “that would be me”. And, as if he were invited, the first guy reaches over and unlocks the aft door, and comes in the boat, so his buddy can come up the stairs. Now I am really pissed (and confused) because these guys are standing on our boat...uninvited. Who does that? Andy is looking at me, as if to say, “are you going to kick them of...or am I”? But, after a minute of so of chit chat, Deb finally says “well...nice to meet you, thanks for saying hi”, and I guess they figured out that meant we wanted them to leave...and they did. Amazing.

Today...there has already been a lot of activity. I’ve helped several boats leave the marina, and others are already starting to arrive. Andy and I borrowed the bikes from The Provision Company, and rode about a mile to West Marine, and we’re back getting ready to work on our boats. Both of us are looking for leaks. He has a front hatch that leaks in his master stateroom, and we have a leak in the aft, that drips inside the bilge area. The good news is, it really does no harm, but if something is wrong, I have to fix it. I have continued to calk different spots, and have stopped a couple of leaks, and I just need to continue to work on them to get them all. We are also expecting Brad and Patty on Salvage Crew to come in the harbor today, as well as Buck and Haldine on Darling. Who knows...there could be a party.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

Log 134; Day 363; May 19, 2009; Oriental, NC

Here are a few shots of Oriental NC. A very small, but neat, town

Reading the plaque below is important for the following picture

Can you imagine 200 years ago folks coming to get water and sitting on these benchs and passing town gossip

This is looking NE over the Pamlico Sound

This is where the Nuese River and Pamlico Sound come together

Beautiful home...with a beautiful view of the Sound

And another

Like a lot of the homes in the South...most of the homes in Oriental have large porches

Out in the rain, talking to our boat neighbor John, from Emery el

Last nights sunset

This morning the water is over the sidewalk and the street

Causing a bit of a problem for folks wanting to get their coffee at "The Bean". If you look closely, you can see a guy in the right of the picture climing over the railing to avoid the water puddles in front of the stairs. He made it.

Log 134

Day 363

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

7:00 AM EDT

Location: Oriental Marina & Inn; Oriental, NC

Weather: 59 degrees and very windy; Strong NE winds forecasted

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCIA (my sister)

The winds blew hard all night long. Even though we are in a protected cove, the boats are rocking this morning, and several times last night the boat fender hit the piling, and made a squeak, just to remind you of what it was like outside. NOAA says winds out of the NE at 25 to 30, with gusts of 35 today. The rain has finally stopped, but with the NE winds, it has blown lots of water in the Oriental cove. When we backed into our slip on Saturday, my depth finder read 3.6 feet...now it reads 6.4 feet. The water in the harbor is now over the sidewalk and street.

Yesterday...it rained most of the day, finally stopping about 4 pm. The front that came through, just basically stalled over this area, and the radar showed the rain just sitting above us. Not sure what the official rainfall was for the last 24 hours, but I’m sure it was over 2 inches. It would not be much of a stretch to say Deb and I did nothing all day. I’m pretty sure Deb was still in her pajamas at lunch time, and at 4 pm she went walked out on the front of the boat, and came back in to say it was cold out...and that was the first, and only, time she went out all day long. We kept talking about a walk...but it never happened. Deb cooked most of the day, and worked on the computer. I can’t say I accomplished much either. I worked on the charts; made some slip reservations; and did some small organizing. But most of the day was spent “putzing” on the computer. I checked out every weather site known to man, and all of them said it was cold and blowing out, and would be for a few days. When we came here, I planned to leave on Wednesday, because that is when the weather was supposed to change (winds switching from the NE to the east), but after reviewing the weather (for the 40^th time) I went and told the marina we would not leave until Thursday. Several other boats changed their minds as well, and no one left the harbor yesterday. Smart move.

To show how windy it is in this area, here is a YouTube link to show a sailboat at a dock with these winds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5Pwr_c7E4

Today...we probably will not be as cooped up as yesterday (it’s not raining), but it is a long way from a nice day out either. It’s cloudy, the winds (even in this protected harbor) are blowing about 20 mph, and it is supposed to reach a high of 68 today. About a block away is a nice general store (with a great marine section) and they have bikes that they say we can “borrow”, so one thing we want to do is ride about 1 mile to a real grocery store. That can be our “project” for the day. I also know Deb wants to do some “adventure” walking, and see more of the town. Also...I’m sure I will review more charts, and more weather sites, to determine when we can leave. Right now, the weather is supposed to continue to blow hard out of the NE (right down the center of Pamlico Sound) until Thursday afternoon, and then switch to the east. If that happens (assuming they have space for us to stay here) we will not leave until Friday morning. It’s not that it’s dangerous...it’s just not any fun to get banged around, with the short choppy waves the Pamlico Sound will be producing. We are not in a hurry...so (if possible) we try to make each cruising day enjoyable. So far...most of them have been.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

Log 133; Day 362; May 18, 2009; Oriental Marina & Inn; Oriental, NC

The waterway from Beaufort has a lot of places like this, with lots of homes and docks on both sides

Then the waterway opens up, with little residental property

And finally dumps into the Neuse River, and Pamlico Sound

About 4 miles across the Neuse River you come to the entrance to the town of Oriental, NC


Upon arriving, we saw John and Barb, from "Emery el"...who we have not seen since Fort Myers

Right behind our boat they were having a BBQ for a local charity

They also have a Tiki Bar

And across the street they have a coffee house (this picture was taken from our boat)

The docks at Oriental Marina are not large...but nice

A shot from the back of our boat...it's like looking at a campground

Log 133

Day 362

Monday, May 18, 2009

7:30 AM EDT

Location: Oriental Marina & Inn; Oriental, NC

Weather: 56 degrees and rain; Rain and strong NE winds forecasted

It’s cold, windy, and raining this morning...sitting on the back deck, in Oriental, NC. If you want to see our location on Google Maps...click here. (you need to put your cursor on it and then hit control, and left click). I’m not sure if we are in the middle of a Nor’easter...but gale force winds are predicted on the Pamlico Sound (if you look at our location on Google Maps, that’s the large body of water to the NE of us). When I chose this marina, I did so because these winds were forecasted, and I wanted a marina protected from any winds north and east, and this one is great. I thought we’d be here for 2 to 3 days...but it now looks like we will not be able to leave until Thursday, which means we will have been here for 5 nights.

Getting here...is an easy 27 mile run from Beaufort. When you leave Beaufort Town Docks, the channel is well marked, and takes you east, back toward the Atlantic, and the main ship channel. Once there, you go back NW up the ship channel, and rejoin the ICW. In a very short time, you are back in narrow waterways, and rivers, but they are well marked, and for the most part there are no shallow spots. After about 20 miles, the waterway really starts to open up, and finally dumps you into the Neuse River (at the lower end of the Pamlico Sound). Straight across the Neuse River is Oriental.

Deb explains our arrival, and the town of Oriental, in her 2 cents...

Well, it’s only been a week since I last wrote, but don’t get used to this. It’s raining, BK’s napping, and I just wanted to tell you about our stop in Oriental, NC. I love this town!

We were in Beaufort, NC for 2 days and as much as we like to say that we are just ‘floating with the tides’, there is certain amount of planning necessary and BK is always on the job, watching weather, checking for slip availabilities and keeping us moving. He found that there was some nasty weather forecast for the upcoming week. Our next stop (Oriental Marina) was only about 25 miles north but is tucked in a good (safe) spot for the north east winds that were predicted. He determined that we had about a 4 hr window of good weather and in an effort to get us a little farther north, we pulled our lines early Saturday morning and headed to Oriental, NC.

The trip was uneventful, a little spitting rain occasionally, and just a little windy, (at least it was uneventful from my point of view…BK may have been puckered the whole time!) After a little less than 3 hours of cruising, he pulled Headquarters in past the break wall of the inlet where our marina was and waited for instructions from the dock master. We were asked to “stand down” for a bit as 3 sailboats made ready to leave, and 10 minutes later we were backing into our assigned slip. Headquarters has a 15’4” beam and I think the slips here must be 16’ wide! It was a tight squeeze, but BK got ‘er in. After we were all secured…our side fenders were pretty much touching the docks on both sides at the same time! The good news was we ended up docking right next to John and Barbra on EMERY EL...someone we have not seen since we were together in Fort Myers, back in December.

As it happened, there was a “Block Party” planned at the Marina for 1 – 4 pm that same day and they were serving BBQ pork sandwiches in a tent about 20 feet from our stern! Oriental Marina is small and situated at the end of a little cove-like inlet that butts right up to the streets of town. The marina slips at the waterfront, along with The Oriental Inn and a restaurant called Toucans, all enclose a little grassy area that has a Tiki bar, a swimming pool and a deck where with tables and chairs. On the deck, as part of the “Block Party”, there was a guy singing and playing his guitar...GREAT music…John Fogherty, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Cocker…even some Ides of March! When he played Stagger Lee I had to call Annie to let her listen…it’s one of her “all time favorite songs”! This guy was pretty good, but very LOUD! So loud that at one point, a policeman showed up with a sound meter and had him back it down a bit. I know this will confirm the fact that we are indeed old, but it was much better after that. We sat on Headquarters and listened from our back deck while drinking our own beer! Perfect! The best part? It was over at 4:00 pm! Did I mention we were old?

With all this activity for some reason, to me it felt like a camp ground! People were all around…at the tiki bar…at the tables on the patio…in Adirondack chairs on the lawn…standing in line for BBQ sandwiches…and walking around with beers in their hands visiting with everyone, all while this great music was blasting through the trees. This morning it was again, a little like a camp ground (after a party!) It had rained, so everything was damp (if there had been campfires, they would have been doused!), there were a few empty cups scattered around, the BBQ tent was still up (sagging a bit) and it was very quiet…not many people around, and those that were up had funky morning hair, wrinkled shirts, and that bleary-eyed “what time is it?” look in their eyes as they carried their coffee around while surveying the damage.

Today, after Sunday morning pancakes and bacon for breakfast, BK got down to some serious work on some projects he had on his list and I got on my walking shoes and headed out to explore the town. It’s such a great place…I Googled Oriental, NC and found some interesting facts. Some people call it Mayberry with a river next to it. Small and friendly…no Floyd’s barbershop, but there is “The Bean”…a coffee shop where people gather to talk on the front porch. The town has 37 historic houses and along the waterfront are some beautiful homes – all of which have porches with swings, rockers, wicker chairs, or Adirondack chairs. The people of Oriental have certainly raised “porch sitting” to an art form! And why not – with those beautiful views of Pamlico Sound. According to banners hanging all around town, this is called “The Sailing Capital of NC”. I read that there are more boats in Oriental than people…2700 boats! About 3 times the estimated number of people living here! This is definitely a boating community!

I got back to the boat just in time…the rain came at about 12:30 and drove everyone into their rooms or onto their boats. As I’m writing this log, Bob made some popcorn and is watching the race that he recorded last night. It’s a nice quiet Sunday afternoon on the boat. We’ll stay here in Oriental till this weather goes through…probably Wednesday. Until then, we’re going to enjoy Oriental and its slow pace.

To fair skies & calm waters. First Mate----Deb

I’m not really sure what the next few days will be like here in Oriental. The rain is forecasted to end late today, but the cold and winds will continue for a couple more days. The harbor water is up over 2 feet since we got here on Saturday, and with NE winds they say it will come up even more. It’s only a few inches from going on the street as I write this. Living on a boat, there is always something going on.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob