TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

5-12-08

We are still in Oriental, NC, and it looks as though we’ll be here through Tuesday.  We hope to leave Wednesday morning on the next leg of our journey.  This actually has been a good place for us to ride out the bad weather.  Sunday dawned dreary and cloudy.  We started our morning across the street from the marina at The Coffee Bean, where we enjoyed lattes and muffins for breakfast.  The porch was crowded with people and their pooches in all sizes, with none on leashes.  This was quite different than what we experienced around any other marina.  After breakfast, we walked back to The Provision Company to exchange the white fan for a black one and to look at flag poles to mount on the dinghy davits.  None were quite the right size, so we put that project on hold.  The fan we got in exchange has a suction cup mount, so we will be able to use it in several different areas depending on the need for cooling.  Thus, Bill did not have to install it and run electrical wires, which I thought was great, but he seemed to be disappointed not to have a project. 

After our foray to the store, we stopped and talked to three young men who were fueling their USMC inflatables.  They were on their way back to their base in Jacksonville, NC.  They actually were in the Navy and were underwater repair and salvage specialists, but they had Marine Corps boats and were stationed with the Marines.  The guys were waiting on their friends to come back from getting some food, so we chatted with them for awhile.  They were trying to beat the storm back to their base, but two of them had said they had already talked with their wives who told them the storm had already arrived in Jacksonville.  One of the young men told us an interesting story about trying to salvage a WWII plane that had been found in Washington State.  He said that the team of 20 were heroes with the locals, and it looked as though they were going to raise it intact.  However, the project manager wanted to do it in a way that all the other 19 team members objected to.  Since he was in charge, he tried to do it his way, and the plane broke in two.  Only the tail section was raised, and the team went from heroes to goats among the locals.  He said that the officer in charge was quickly reassigned and shortly thereafter left the military.  The friends arrived with provisions, so we wished them safe travel, and they headed out, thoughtfully wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day as they climbed in the boat.  We hope they made it safely home, for the storm soon arrived in Oriental not too long after they left.

My first project of the day was two loads of laundry, which were mostly accomplished by dashes to and from the Laundromat in drenching rain storms.  We read books, worked on the computer, and I watched a movie.  I tried to watch a VHS tape (I brought about 20 on the trip secured by a great deal on Ebay).  However, the first tape I put in got caught in the TV (it’s a combo) and pulled the top of the tape box off.  I had a heck of a time getting it out of the machine and was reluctant to try another one, so I settled for a light-hearted show on TV.  Maybe my great deal on Ebay wasn’t such a great deal after all.  When the rain slacked off and I had spoken with both daughters, we ventured outside for showers.  There are always clean towels and bath mats waiting for us in the showers as well as shampoo and soap.  I don’t even need to take my hair dryer.  We never had this kind of service in a marina bathroom before, but I could get used to it.  We ate dinner at the Toucan Grill and mine was not very good (again), but they had a special for Mother’s Day – Mothers got to eat half price.  We ate with Jack and Dianne again, and during dinner a terrible storm roared through.  There was a tornado warning for the area and the rain was coming in sideways.  It didn’t last too long, but it was a heck of a storm while it lasted.  It, and the earlier rain, dumped about 2 inches of rain and our dinghy was sagging in the morning.  We had a fairly peaceful night’s sleep, but when we awoke the weather had changed again.

Yesterday’s warmth was gone and we were at the beginning of a full-fledged nor’easter.  This was our first and I must say I don’t care to be in another one, though this one is scheduled to continue through tomorrow.  Skies were cloudy early, but the wind was whipping as we walked to the grocery store.  It was a pretty long walk, probably over a mile, but we saw some interesting things along the way.  After a short shopping trip, we returned and stopped in a marine consignment shop we had seen.  We also did this to get away from the garbage truck that was making its stinky rounds down the street in front of us.  As always we meet interest people and we met the very interesting owner who had moved here a year ago from Rhode Island.  There was marine equipment, lines, charts, all sorts of gadgets that I couldn’t have named on a bet all over the store.  The owner says he doesn’t own a thing, and he only has to pay for the inventory when it sells.  I promised to put the picture of his store on our blog-so stop by if you’re ever in Oriental.  If you’re a boater, you’re sure to find something you need. 

When we returned we found that some Hilton Head friends had just come in to the marina.  George Vest, who owns the Catalina 35 that was docked down from us, Wade Nutter, whose boat they were on, and another friend Bill who owns a boat on C Dock are on the first leg of a return trip from the Outer Banks.  Due to the storms, they didn’t get much sailing in, and they, too, will be here until Wednesday.  The winds today have been incredibly high.  We’ve had our instruments on, and even here in the harbor I saw a gust to 39.7 knots, which would be more than 40 mph.  Though that isn’t sustained, it has been blowing steadily all day.  Definitely a wise decision to stay put. 

I think we’ll be off in a little while for dinner at a place recommended by Claiborne Young called M & M’s.  Hope they have something besides candy.

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