We've been in a dead zone for several days with no cell phone nor e mail communication, so my blog posts and photos for a couple of entries are on the boat in my laptop, but I have found a desktop in the marina's workout room, so I am writing free here sans photos.
To bring you up to date: we sailed from Portsmouth to Coinjock, NC; and then on to Belhaven, NC. And yesterday, 2 November, we sailed down the river, across the Pamlico River, and down the nasty Neuse River, fighting a big east wind of about 25 knots all the way. But parts of the ride were along a lovely canal for several miles and we enjoyed the forest of fall colors and the relatively calm waters.
Belhaven was quite a disappointment. I went into town with Martha and Dan and walked around. The town seemed nothing like the write up in the travel guide. Everything seemed depressed--boarded up, vacant, closed-- except for O'Neal's drug store selling recliners and M&Ms, and a funny little flower shop run by a a sweet old gentleman who also sold ice cream cones. There was an Ace hardware affiliate with lots of Christmas decs, pretty chimes, a US Cellular mobile phone service (not AT&T), and the usual tools and supplies, plus Huffy bikes. There were some pretty ante bellum homes along the harbor, a regional hospital, but a closed senior center. I guess I had pictured some sort of St. Michael's.
We had a good anchorage and didn't worry about dragging, even though the wind howled all night, but then we're getting used to that after 9 days of it.
We found River Dunes courtesy of the Dooley's who are also here. They told us about it at the Boat Show. Someone with very deep pockets and access to big bank loans is developing a gorgeous area along Broad Creek, off the Neuse R. It is a boating community with a world class marina, but also has beautiful homes all around the area. I was told you could walk for two miles before you are off the property. It is about 6 miles from Oriental. We will explore more tomorrow when we get a car from Enterprise for the week to share with Pekabu while two of our boat crews head back to the DC area for family activities.
In the clubhouse there is a great room with a grand fireplace and a large table where 10 of us gathered for a terrific, most welcome meal of chicken corn chowder, salad and corn bread. And wine. At dinner were our group, an interesting couple from Ipswich, England, near where we used to live and close to where our kids were born, a gentleman who was single handedly sailing a Catalina 470, and a couple who had gone over to the "dark side", giving up their Catalina 36 for a trawler. It was a warm and friendly scene.
Unfortunately, the world class marina's dryers are both broken and I have a boat load of wet, albeit clean, laundry. Glen and I may have to borrow the courtesy card to head to town to find a laundromat. Good luck with that.
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