Oct 20
We decided to stay an extra day in Morehead City since the wind was supposed to be quite strong from the south west which was the direction we were headed. We did a couple repairs in the morning and then had Jim and Judy from Voyageur XIV over for dinner. In the middle of the day, we were both below deck when we heard a loud KABOOM! When we looked out the hatch, we saw a large Pirate Ship complete with canons and costumes. We never found out why they were firing off cannons in the harbour but it was fun while it lasted.
As we motored along today, we heard one boat call another on the marine radio to say that he had a dolphin playing in his bow wake. We thought he must be kidding because we were in Adams Creek off the Neuse River but we found out later that we are now in dolphin waters so we will keep our eyes peeled. We made our way to Morehead, North Carolina. On our way, we called Voyageur XIV on the radio and found that they were still in Morehead so we made our way to where they were docked. It was great to see them and catch up on their adventures since they left us in Port Dalhousie last fall to go cruising again. Judy cooked us John’s favorite shrimp dinner which is boiled shrimp served on bread with butter. It was delicious! Speaking of shrimp, for the last couple of nights when we are stopped, we have been hearing shrimp nibbling at the hull of our boat. It kind of sounds like rain falling lightly on a window. It is quite relaxing (once you figure out what is going on).
Oct 18
The rain stopped in the morning so we walked a mile into town to pick up some groceries and on our way back, we had only gone a block before a couple in a van stopped and offered us a ride back to the marina. It must have been the blue cart that says “West Marine” that we use to carry our groceries that tipped them off. After lunch, the two boats at the town dock left so Lap Cat took one spot and we took the other. I thought I would do a bunch of laundry but found out there was no Laundromat in town so I went to a marina near by and used their machine. They only had one washer and one dryer so it took a couple hours to do two loads so I just settled into a lawn chair with a book and made a day of it. When I arrived back at the boat, Glen Cleland who we had met this summer in Hamilton was sitting on our boat visiting with Steve. Apparently he had left his boat, Bird of Passage, in Oriental last year on the way back from his cruise and had just come back down for a bit of a holiday.
Oct 17
We made our way in the rain to Oriental, North Carolina. It is a fabulous little town that is known for being “cruiser friendly”. They have a free dock (that will accommodate two boats) but it was full when we got there so we just dropped anchor in the harbour. Our friends on Lap Cat also arrived in Oriental but neither of us felt like taking a dinghy ride in the rain for a visit. We would see them tomorrow. We were surrounded by big Shrimp boats that came and went in the middle of the night and made a lot of noise and big wake too.
Oct 16
Today we traveled for only a ½ day. We stopped in Belhaven early afternoon and filled up with water which we ran out of in the morning. We had been monitoring our water usage because we needed to know how long we could go on our 160 gallons. We need to be able to last at least 4 weeks for some of our longer passages (like from Galapagos Islands to Marquesas). We only made it 3 ½ weeks. There are lots of things we can do to make it stretch further. Once we get on the ocean we can use salt water for washing dishes and just use the fresh water for rinsing. That alone will probably get us another week. We can also rig up some canvas to catch rain water. There are all sorts of other options (other than paying $5,000 for a water maker).
Belhaven is a cute little town with a very small downtown. We could not get a cell phone connection or a wireless internet connection so we went to their public library to use their computers. There was a sheet at each computer where you had to sign in to use it. We noticed on the sheet that two days ago, a J. Flint had used the computer so we assumed it was our friends John or Judy Flint from Voyageur XIV who we knew from Port Dalhousie, Ontario who also have a Corbin 39 (same as us). We knew they were a couple days ahead of us but weren’t sure exactly where. We hoped to catch up to them along the way.
We decided to stay an extra day in Morehead City since the wind was supposed to be quite strong from the south west which was the direction we were headed. We did a couple repairs in the morning and then had Jim and Judy from Voyageur XIV over for dinner. In the middle of the day, we were both below deck when we heard a loud KABOOM! When we looked out the hatch, we saw a large Pirate Ship complete with canons and costumes. We never found out why they were firing off cannons in the harbour but it was fun while it lasted.
As we motored along today, we heard one boat call another on the marine radio to say that he had a dolphin playing in his bow wake. We thought he must be kidding because we were in Adams Creek off the Neuse River but we found out later that we are now in dolphin waters so we will keep our eyes peeled. We made our way to Morehead, North Carolina. On our way, we called Voyageur XIV on the radio and found that they were still in Morehead so we made our way to where they were docked. It was great to see them and catch up on their adventures since they left us in Port Dalhousie last fall to go cruising again. Judy cooked us John’s favorite shrimp dinner which is boiled shrimp served on bread with butter. It was delicious! Speaking of shrimp, for the last couple of nights when we are stopped, we have been hearing shrimp nibbling at the hull of our boat. It kind of sounds like rain falling lightly on a window. It is quite relaxing (once you figure out what is going on).
Oct 18
The rain stopped in the morning so we walked a mile into town to pick up some groceries and on our way back, we had only gone a block before a couple in a van stopped and offered us a ride back to the marina. It must have been the blue cart that says “West Marine” that we use to carry our groceries that tipped them off. After lunch, the two boats at the town dock left so Lap Cat took one spot and we took the other. I thought I would do a bunch of laundry but found out there was no Laundromat in town so I went to a marina near by and used their machine. They only had one washer and one dryer so it took a couple hours to do two loads so I just settled into a lawn chair with a book and made a day of it. When I arrived back at the boat, Glen Cleland who we had met this summer in Hamilton was sitting on our boat visiting with Steve. Apparently he had left his boat, Bird of Passage, in Oriental last year on the way back from his cruise and had just come back down for a bit of a holiday.
Oct 17
We made our way in the rain to Oriental, North Carolina. It is a fabulous little town that is known for being “cruiser friendly”. They have a free dock (that will accommodate two boats) but it was full when we got there so we just dropped anchor in the harbour. Our friends on Lap Cat also arrived in Oriental but neither of us felt like taking a dinghy ride in the rain for a visit. We would see them tomorrow. We were surrounded by big Shrimp boats that came and went in the middle of the night and made a lot of noise and big wake too.
Oct 16
Today we traveled for only a ½ day. We stopped in Belhaven early afternoon and filled up with water which we ran out of in the morning. We had been monitoring our water usage because we needed to know how long we could go on our 160 gallons. We need to be able to last at least 4 weeks for some of our longer passages (like from Galapagos Islands to Marquesas). We only made it 3 ½ weeks. There are lots of things we can do to make it stretch further. Once we get on the ocean we can use salt water for washing dishes and just use the fresh water for rinsing. That alone will probably get us another week. We can also rig up some canvas to catch rain water. There are all sorts of other options (other than paying $5,000 for a water maker).
Belhaven is a cute little town with a very small downtown. We could not get a cell phone connection or a wireless internet connection so we went to their public library to use their computers. There was a sheet at each computer where you had to sign in to use it. We noticed on the sheet that two days ago, a J. Flint had used the computer so we assumed it was our friends John or Judy Flint from Voyageur XIV who we knew from Port Dalhousie, Ontario who also have a Corbin 39 (same as us). We knew they were a couple days ahead of us but weren’t sure exactly where. We hoped to catch up to them along the way.
posted by tobogganride at 7:24 AM
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