Morehead City to New Bern to Oriental

While we were in Morehead City we took the opportunity to do some provisioning.  While we did not need much, you always come out with more than you thought.
 We did little jobs around the boat than had an opportunity to host Jim & Debbie aboard Seas the Day for dinner.  Lots of talking!! We departed at a leisurely pace the next morning and proceeded up the Harlow canal to the Neuse River.  Instead of turning right to Pamlico Sound we turned to port and went to New Bern that Jim says was a lovely town, and he was correct.  

We anchored inside the harbour past the railway bridge and took the dinghy into town. The dock was really bouncy but after negotiating it we walked along to find the exit gate. Finally found it but it was padlocked, now what?!!? We went along to the other end and located another gate, which had been zip tied, needless to say that didn’t last long!! Then we saw the signs that the dock was closed for maintenance!! Maybe a sign on the outside would have been useful!! Jim needed a cable for his bicycle. 

Debbie & Sandy and the bear

After a walk in town (This is the birthplace of Pepsi- Cola) we stopped for a beer at an outdoor café.

 Back to the boat, we had a quiet evening.  We even watched an episode of The Crown that I had downloaded from Netflix.  This works great.  It allows you to get episodes when you are in marinas that have a powerful enough WI-Fi signal. Departure the next morning had to be delayed as the bridge will not open until 8:30.  I went over to Jim’s boat to go under the flybridge to check the cables on his depth sounder.  It has been giving him intermittent difficulties.  Disconnected the cable and re-connected it and it now works, but who knowsif it will last?

 A short trip back down the Neuse River saw us arrive in Oriental, NC just past noon.  This apparently is the sailing capital of the area with easy access to Pamlico Sound.  There is also a very active fishing fleet here. We scoped out the free docks, but they were full.  They also will not allow you to run your generator here.  That made it difficult with Jim hosting Dagny and 2outrageous for dinner, so we took a slip in the Oriental Marina & Inn. After an afternoon of chores we all got together for a delicious dinner of Debbie’s Lasagne. Today we are off to Belhaven.  When we stopped there on our way down, the town was flooded.