Day Six
About 0530 we were awakened by a local crabber checking his traps just off the stern of our boat. Winds had died overnight, but it was cold! I cranked up my small propane heater and the cabin was toasty in about 10 minutes. We had a quick breakfast of cereal, fruit and coffee and upped anchor by 0630 and headed south down the ICW toward the Neuse River. Even though the wind was less than the previous day, by the time we made it through the Hobucken cut and into the Neuse we had a following, wind-generated swell of 2-3 feet over our stern. This type of sea makes it very difficult for our autopilot to track, so I fought the helm a bit as we surfed the waves, quite often hitting 9 knots on the backs of the rollers. This wasn't bad for us, but it was really rough for the boats coming down the Neuse in the other direction. It was really a pounding sea for them and they had to slow way down.
About 0530 we were awakened by a local crabber checking his traps just off the stern of our boat. Winds had died overnight, but it was cold! I cranked up my small propane heater and the cabin was toasty in about 10 minutes. We had a quick breakfast of cereal, fruit and coffee and upped anchor by 0630 and headed south down the ICW toward the Neuse River. Even though the wind was less than the previous day, by the time we made it through the Hobucken cut and into the Neuse we had a following, wind-generated swell of 2-3 feet over our stern. This type of sea makes it very difficult for our autopilot to track, so I fought the helm a bit as we surfed the waves, quite often hitting 9 knots on the backs of the rollers. This wasn't bad for us, but it was really rough for the boats coming down the Neuse in the other direction. It was really a pounding sea for them and they had to slow way down.
By noon we reached Oriental, one of my favorite cruise destinations, and we secured a slip at the Oriental Marina. 
This is a great facility. It is a bit older than Oriental Harbor, but it has great service and a superb location.
This is a great facility. It is a bit older than Oriental Harbor, but it has great service and a superb location. 
Due to our shallow draft, Buck and I ended up in the slip next to the bulhead and side walk. This led to a constant stream of people over the next 2 days wanting to know more information about our boat (Nimble Wanderer Motorsailer), which looked very different than any of the other boats, with its chunky profile, yellow and green hull and tan bark sails.We then took an afternoon walk around Oriental, which is the sailing capital of North Carolina. The town has a great community feel to it and is quite immaculate; it's just a bit far from any decent-sized town. They are also very friendly. I was looking for a specific sized screw and the marine supply place was out, but they loaned me a bike to get to the hardware store on the other end of town.
We decided to take another break from cooking Monday evening and ate at the Toucan Grill which is attached to the marina. I had a fisherman's stew and Buck had fried oysters. We finished off the meal by splitting a strawberry-peach cobbler alamode. After-dinner drinks and conversation in the cockpit finished the day. This is the view from our table at sunset....
No comments:
Post a Comment