December 11 - Oriental, NC

On December 5, we stopped for the day at the Atlantic Yacht Basin, MM 12. A diesel mechanic successfully took care of our oil leak before the end of the day.

On Saturday, December 6, we had a light day of 38 miles to Coinjock, NC. At our request for an opening at the Centerville Turnpike Swing Bridge, the bridge keeper said to proceed to the bridge, which we did very slowly, probably much too slow for the bridge keeper. She said she would open it when we were closer. As the bridge swung open in our direction, we certainly felt we were way too close.

The other opening we needed was also a swing bridge; this one opens on the hour and half hour. We were happily able to get through behind a power boat, even though the time was six minutes after the hour. This bridge was not intimidating.

The afternoon was chilly but sunny when we arrived at Midway Marina in Coinjock. We decided to finally christen our boat.Many thanks to Ronnie, the Dock Master, for taking the pics.

We ended this lovely day with dinner at Crabbies, a favorite stop for cruisers. My grilled grouper with crab and Larry's seafood pasta were both fresh and yummy.

Sunday, December 7
Leaving Coinjock (MM 50) early, we were in the Albemarle Sound, a large body of water that covers 50 miles, by noon and soon we had 27 - 31 knots of wind and rough, confused seas for most of the 14-mile long crossing. The Sound is shallow and a stiff wind makes the conditions worse. We grounded at MM 83, just as we were coming out of the sound and very close to the Alligator River Swing Bridge. The Bridge tender might not have opened the bridge due to the wind, but we didn't find out. Tow Boat US came as quickly as they could; by the time they were able to pull us off, sunset had passed and darkness was close. We docked at Alligator River Marina, just a mile away. We had been concerned about our boat icon on our chart plotter. If the bow is in the channel, the stern seems not to be. After we grounded and the wind blow our bow off the channel, we could tell our stern was definitely out of the channel. Not good. We'll have an electronics person check it out as soon as possible. We also have a problem in our gear linkage; moving from neutral to forward or reverse is becoming more difficult and makes docking difficult.

Monday, December 8
The Alligator River Swing Bridge opened for us and we traveled the narrow but scenic Alligator River-Pungo River Canal and arrived at Dowry Creek Marian a little after two - a much better day.

Tuesday, December 9
We started early for the fifty mile trip to Oriental, NC, but we came in well after dark because we grounded again, partly because of the chart plotter heading not properly functioning, but the wind conditions were 20+ knots, which lowers the water depth in the Bay and Neuse Rivers that we were traveling. We're glad we have unlimited towing with Boat US. We had no costs, but the invoices were over $750 each. Coming in after dark was challenging; the dockmaster at Oriental Marina stayed late to talk us in and help us dock.

Wednesday, the 10th, Eric, a great mechanic repaired our shifting problem. Peter, an electronics expert was here Wednesday afternoon and is here again today. Issue with chart plotter is not solved at this time.

So, hear we are in the quaint little town of Oriental, called the sailing capital of North Carolina. Our friend, Jenny, has told us what a great area this is and we agree. We're staying at least through the weekend, maybe longer, depending on repairs and weather. Oriental's Spirit of Christmas is Friday and Saturday; a few pics will catch some of the friendly faces we've seen.