Sailing "home" from Ocracoke to Oriental

What's a good Pamlico Sound trip without more ferry photos??

And more fishing boat photos...

This is what the horizon looks like when you are sailing straight into a thunderstorm!!

I stashed the camera away because I knew we were going to get very wet and I didn't bring my waterproof camera enclosure.

At this point, we got busy and pulled in the sail and rode out two pretty severe storms.  There's really nothing you can do to avoid it - the boat just isn't fast enough to outrun the storm.  But, luckily, we didn't get hit by lightening and all the rain washed some of the dirt and salt water from the boat!  I saw winds of 55 knots on the wind-meter - and that was just when I was looking.....most of the time, we were just holding on to wood only - no metal in case of lightening strike!!

The sky cleared up a bit in between storms - passed by this barge....

And you can see a faint little rainbow in this photo as we approached Oriental.  A good trip!!!  Back to work now!

Ocracoke!

Always have a blast at Ocracoke with Sharon and Buddy.  Plus joining the "Greenville folks" that have spent their Labor Day holidays at Ocracoke for years and years adds to the fun!

Had to hit the 3-5PM specials - enjoyed the peel and eat shrimp at Dajio's (used to be the Pelican) and 50 cent raw oysters at The Topless Bar....as in a "topless oyster", haha.  Fabulous local oysters - yes, we're in an "r" month!  Oh, and the PBR tall-boys were $2 each!!

Shopping with the girls at Books to be Red bookstore.....I love to looks at the "suggested titles" books at bookstores.  This one was particularly intriguing - so I decided the best way to take their suggestions for later reading was to take a photo.  Now I can zoom in on the titles and I have a reading list for the next year or so (I've read several of the titles so I'm thinking "Heather" has similar taste to mine!)

The non-adventurous of the group (read that as the "lazy ones") met at the Jolly Rodger to wait on the energetic ones to paddle by....Emma on a paddle board in Silver Lake.

Sharon, Jeannine, and Luke on kayaks.

I've already done the kayak thing....I told Sharon that it was already crossed off my "bucket list" and that I didn't need a repeat.  She gave me grief for that statement!

Next up was the "Greenville Gang's" yearly picnic at the Pony Island Inn.  They always do a fabulous cookout - this time was no different.  It's so nice of them to let us join them!

Howard cooking some yummy corn!  He slathered it with butter and honey!

Shrimp boil - I didn't get a photo, but they bought fresh local sea-trout and fried it up with some good 'ole House Autry breading.  Absolutely the best fist ever!

The boys (Rich, Luke, Duane and Buddy) enjoyed many, many foosball games.  I think it was about a tie overall!

And finally, this nice young man, Gary took Sharon and I "clamming" out in the shallow water.  It was a hoot!  We were out for a couple of hours and came back with the bucket full of clams.  They're gonna be yummy!  That's about it for the Ocracoke visit.   Tomorrow is the sail back to Oriental.

Pamlico Sailing Trip Continued - On to Ocracoke!

After the sun was up nicely and all the mosquitoes decided to go back to where-ever they decide to spend their days....we lifted the anchor and headed for Ocracoke.  Again, winds were good to start with - we were tickled when we spied a group of dolphin.  Finally, I managed to get a decent video!  Usually, the dolphin are a hundred feet away or they just surface once, so it's hard to get a photo.

Watch this short clip - it's taken from the back of the boat - scan out to see and directly adjacent to the boat.  You'll see several.  This went on for several minutes so we probably saw 20+ different dolphin.

Pretty cool!

After that excitement, it was just a lazy sail, then motoring down the channel into Ocracoke.   Cool fishing boat that we passed ....

A few of the channel markers had been moved recently due to shifting sand, but it was easy to navigate by sight (and using the binoculars!)  You know you're getting close when you pass the pretty little sandbar.

And there we are! Safe and sound at the National Park Service docks for a few days of fun and sun on Ocracoke Island!  Buddy and Sharon are meeting us here via the Hatteras ferry.

Sometimes sailing days are pretty mundane!! Leaving Bellhaven there is a neat breakwater protecting the fairly "exposed" marinas.

As you get closer to the breakwater...appears to be a favorite roost also!  (Those little dots on top of the pilings are hundreds of birds!)

Down the Pungo River and then into the Pamlico....the winds started off the morning great, but then were mediocre at best. So, we decided to take our fellow cruisers advice and pull in to Juniper Bay just past Swan Quarter.  Note the dragonfly peeping around the edge of our flag!

Not a lot going on in this peaceful little bay.  I really must get a better telephoto camera....there were some lovely white birds out there in the marsh, but you can hardly see them in this photo.

That's it for the day!  Lovely breeze with all the hatches open (with screens installed for the mosquitos!!)

Then, at 3AM there was a mad dash all around to close them since we got a nice little storm - but the anchor was well placed and we had no problems riding it out.  Off to Ocracoke tomorrow!