September Cruise

Fri, Sept 19

No doctors appointments, no social obligations, no nothing.  And we’re finally leaving the dock on Eureka. 

No plans, no destination, no time frame.  Just the two of us ready to enjoy some time away from everything.

This morning, we shopped for groceries and other items needed for the trip and by noon, we were away from the dock, fully provisioned for at least a week or so. 

We turn right and head North.

Heading up the ICW to destinations unknown

Tonight we’re at anchor in Adams Creek, where we’ve stayed many times before.  This afternoon we got the dinghy inflated and used some super sticky tape to try and make sure it doesn’t leak along the seams that Joe and I “repaired” some time back.  The “super sticky tape” is what is recommended for the roofs of RVs to ensure that they don’t leak, so I’m hoping that it will work on the bottom of a dinghy.  We’ll see.

I think the thing we most like about getting out on Eureka is the fresh air.  On the boat, we’re basically living outside all day and all night.  And our view isn’t too shabby. 

It’s nice to be away from the “comforts” of home.  I think we tend to get too comfortable in the safe zone, where every day is pretty much like the one before.  Get up late, go swim, come home, have breakfast and read the paper, get on the computer for all those “must see” things, lunch, etc.  It’s comfortable and “safe”, but certainly not exciting.

I hope sailing Eureka for a week or so doesn’t get too exciting.  Just fun.

Sat, Sept 20

Well, we made it all the way from Adams Creek across the Neuse River to Oriental today – almost 5 miles.  It’s really nice to not have a schedule or destination.  We just go where it seems right.

Actually, it was really windy today.  When we came out of Adams Creek, which is really the Intracoastal Waterway, into the Neuse River, we were seeing steady 15-22 knot winds.  Great for sailing, but where we had thought we might go was all upwind.  And that would not have been a lot of fun beating into the wind all day.  So, Oriental it is!

Turns out to have been a good choice.  The wind stayed strong all day.  And this evening it’s raining – quite hard.  After a quick dinner and M&M Restaurant, we quickly returned to the boat and are enjoying the pitter-patter of rain on the deck while cozily tucked in below.

There was a "poker run" of big powerful, fast boats and one of the check-in points was at the marina we stayed in  at Oriental.  Lots of go-fast boats.

Maybe tomorrow?  Where?

Sun, Sep 21

This morning started out a little marginal.

The winds were fairly strong last night and were still blowing this morning.  But they were out of the North and we figured we could hug the north shore of the Neuse River and move East, maybe to River Dunes Marina near where the Neuse River enters the Pamlico Sound.

As we sailed along in 20-23 knots of winds with reefed sails, I kept thinking “this isn’t too much, maybe we ought to go ahead and try to get around the corner to the Bay River and go on up the ICW.  We passed River Dunes and slowly started making our way Northeast, getting more confident along the way that we could make it on up the ICW and into the Pamlico River.

We finally had to turn North-Northwest straight into the winds (which by this time were dropping a little – 15-20).  We dropped the sails and motored up the River and into the ditch to take us to the Pamlico.

 

We stopped just South of the Pamlico in a beautiful little cove.  After settling in and having a drink, I decided it was time to start putting on the teak dressing, so for the next couple of hours that’s what we did.

If I ever have another boat, it will NOT have any teak on it.  I do not like teak on a boat!!!!

Clara always has a line in the water when we're sailing.  Today she caught 3 nice-sized bluefish which made for a great supper.

We had a great dinner of the three blue fish Clara caught on the way up here.

And tonight is perfect (except for a few mosquito's)

Mon, Sept 22

A local fisherman starts out the day early checking his crab pots.

After a great night sleeping with the quiet rocking of the boat, we head across the Pamlico River with perfect sailing conditions (15-22 knots on a broad reach), we head up the river to the little town of Belhaven.

A nice relaxing sail in 22 knots of wind with the boat heeling about 40 degrees

After getting fuel, we settled in to Belhaven Waterway Marina on the Pungo River off the Pamlico Sound. The marina is right in "downtown" Belhaven.  There's not much to Belhaven, but who needs "much" when you're on a boat.   The marina is owned by a couple who live her at the marina in their motorhome.  It is one of the cleanest, friendliest marinas we have ever visited.  It's very obvious that the owners live and work here.

Quietly settled in at the marina in Belhaven.  The owners/operators of the marina live in the motor home in the background.  In the winter, they close the marina and move their motor home to Florida near where we're planning to go in January - Fort Myers.  This afternoon I tackled another major boat project - waterproofing the bimini and dodger.  A messy job, but it really needed it.

We also "borrowed" the marina owners car and went to the grocery store and I dropped off the little 2 hp dinghy engine at a Yamaha repair shop to see if they can figure out why it's not running.  They called later this afternoon and said a piece of what looked like a gas can was stopping up the fuel line and that had resulted in a busted diaphragm (what ever that is).  Anyway, they said it will be repaired and running tomorrow by noon.  A good reason to stick around for a while.

It's only about a hundred feet to Main Street, which is only a block long and only has a few businesses open.  The main business is an Ace Hardware store and a restaurant.

Downtown Belhaven

We went to the restaurant tonight and WOW! What a surprise.  The Spoon River Arts and Market (which is is neither) is one of the highest rated restaurants (according to reviews on the Active Captain website) on the Intracoastal Waterway - and now we understand why.  Great food, great service and fantastic dessert.  And the restaurant inside looks like something you would expect in South Beach in Miami Florida.  

We are always amazed that in the most unlikely places, we find the most unusual things.

Tues, Sept 23

Noon came and went and no engine.  Oh well, no problem.  I called and the part that had to be ordered didn't come in.  Maybe tomorrow!

I did get the rest of the blankity-blank teak covered in the morning.  Did I say I don't like teak on a boat?  I hate it!  It might look real good "if" you are able to have someone else maintain it.

Besides, it's started to rain around noon.  So we tucked away in Eureka for an afternoon of reading and relaxing.  No plans to change - because we didn't make any.

It rained at Belhaven Waterway Marina

Tonight dinner at The Tavern at Jack's Neck, which is across the Street from the Spoon River Arts and Market. It is probably one of the best decorated and finished restaurants we've ever visited.  The wood work and furnishing were beautiful.  Unfortunately, the food didn't follow suite.

The furnishing and woodwork at the Tavern is beautiful

Wed,  Sep 17

For some reason, delays don't seem to bother us.  The little dinghy engine finally arrived around 3 PM today.  It's too late to take off, plus the weather is still rainy.  So another night in the harbor.

Our new neighbors, Bill and Debbie Reiser dropped by and invited us for drinks aboard their 49 foot Harkers Island built cruiser, Eagle.  From there we all decided to go to dinner at "The Spoon", which has become our favorite Belhaven restaurant.  Another evening a great food and new friends.

Bill and Debbie are from Yorktown, Virginia.  Bill had developed an 84 slip marina there and had retired a few years ago.

Eagle, owned by Bill and Debbie Reiser leaves Belhaven

Thur, Sep 18

This morning, Eagle gets an early start on its way to Beaufort and Eureka a later start.  We've decided that, based on the weather forecast (lousy), we'll start back South rather than continuing North.  It's a real shame that the one time this year that we've had time to take off on an extended cruise, the weather has been very uncooperative.

As we passed the breakwater at Belhaven in the fog, all the seagulls are lined up waiting for the fog to rise so they can go fishing.

The motor and sail back down the Pungo River, across the Pamlico, down the Hoboken canal (ICW) and on to the Neuse River, finally stopping for the night at River Dunes Marina.  River Dunes is an upland marina which is part of a very high end residential development that was started a decade ago and has been very slowly developing.  The marina is a very nice one and the bath house/surroundings are beautiful.

Fri, Sep 19

One of the best sailing days I think I've ever had on Eureka.  As usual the weather forecast is totally wrong.  Forecast is for light and variable winds on the Neuse.  Turns our we get 15 to 20 knots from the Northeast.  That sets us up for some beautiful broad reaching up the Neuse to "the ditch" (ICW channel to Beaufort).  We sailed for about 3 hours in these ideal conditions, mostly above 7 knots (which is about as fast as Eureka can go).  We actually reached 8 to 8.7 knots a lot of the time.  Absolutely the fastest I've ever seen Eureka sustain.

A happy sailor sailing along at 7+ knots 

We finally decide to head on back toward Beaufort and docking Eureka at home and give up on this cruise.  Let's go to the mountains!

Clara started throwing some bread overboard and the gulls congregated in our wake.

As we were nearing homeport, a couple of dolphin swam along with us for about 10 minutes.

Sat, Sep 20

Last night when we went to dinner at Clawson's (with the regular Friday night group), we saw Eagle at the Beaufort docks.  It was too late to visit but today, I went down around noon and met Bill and Debbie on the docks.  We spent some time on their boat and then I invited them to ride around Beaufort and go down to Harkers Island, where Eagle had been built in 1981.  Bill was thrilled to get the chance.  He had spent a lot of time on Harkers Island when his boat was being built and had visited several times over the years.  We went to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and visited some of the old boathouses.

As we returned to Beaufort, we dropped by the house for an hour or so.  Clara was excited to see them again.  Debbie had expressed interest in getting some "good ole NC barbeque", so we ended up having dinner with them at Rolands.