Busy - road work and haul out

We've been busy getting ready for the new engines.

First, we had a "work day" with the neighbors in Oriental.

We all gathered at 9am to address the shared road/cartpath.  There is no formal homeowners association- one of the ladies organizes the work day and asks for some shared "funding" for gravel, etc.

Lots of trimming brush along the road banks.  Duane is to the left in this photo.  Several folks had tractors so much was accomplished!

And then in the late afternoon after everyone had cleaned themselves up a bit, we gathered for a great pot luck.  Fun to meet a bunch of the neighbors.  And it was one of the neighbor's 86th birthday!  

They grilled hot dogs and hamburgers - and the lovely hostess grilled me a veggie burger!  So sweet.

Then this morning we got moving towards Beaufort for our 2pm haul out for the new engines!

It was hot and wind-less....the Intercoastal was dead calm most of the way.  I glanced out at the water and was amazed at the millions of jelly fish!!  No wonder you never see anyone swimming around here!  Each of the "tails" of these jelly fish are about 2' long and the "heads" are about as big as a man's fist.  Yucky!

We got to Jarrett Bay Boatworks just as a storm was threatening.....but it did pass us by.  The giant travel-lift is ready for us.

Sojourn out of the water.

See the "driver" on the right?  He's taking the boat over to the "wash pit".

The boat had gotten scummy since we'd scraped it in the Bahamas.  But really, we were surprised that there were almost no barnacles.   The guys at the yard made quick work of the scum with a power washer.

Out of the wash pit, it was on to the parking spot for the next few weeks.

We went to the engine shop and checked in.  Got to see our new engines!!

And they parked up beside an almost identical Manta!  Akira from Portland, OR.  Looks like they may be leaving the boat for hurricane season since all the sails and canvas are removed.   So, we'll start our work tomorrow on the bottom paint!

Ocracoke

We had a great pot-luck with the sailing club -  first we had to get the clams baking!

Danny and Irene fired up their grill too since we had so many clams!

Tom and Diane shucked some raw clams.  They were wonderful!

The pot-luck was a huge success.   So much food and great new friends.

Before you knew it, time to head home.  We'd stayed five nights, a good amount for an Ocracoke visit!  Tom and Diane on Jupiter snapped this photo of us on the long motor home (there was zero wind and blazing hot!)

Back to River Dunes for a pump-out and a bit of diesel fuel.  We are passing Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket in the channel here.

And we were on the fuel dock with Jupiter - was a great trip!

More Ocracoke

We had a lovely night at anchor on Silver Lake - great breeze and cool temps.

At 6AM, Jerry and Donna let us know there was a space on the National Park Service dock open - so we quickly hoisted the anchor and moved over to the dock.

 We attended the SCOO (Sailing Club of Oriental) happy hour for drinks, lovely snacks and good conversation.  I forgot my phone, so no photos, but you get the idea.

The plan for the next day was a pot-luck dinner, so I got busy with my offering - sushi! 

The usual process - get everything sliced and diced.  Sticky rice cooled.

Starting the assembly process.

This one is a veggie only roll.  Cream cheese, cucumbers, peppers and carrots.

Starting the roll, getting it as tight as possible.

Finished roll.  Ready to be chilled well and sliced later.

Same process of the raw tuna rolls.

All finished and ready.

The veggie ones -

And the tuna ones (appropriately labeled for those folks that care.

A morning bike ride around the island with the group.  To the lighthouse.

A nature walk to Springers Point.

And more biking out to the beach.

A fun walk on the beach.

And before we knew it, it as getting late.  The weather looked like it might rain, so the plans were changed a bit.  No pot-luck tonight.....and since the sushi wouldn't really stay fresh an extra day, we decided to have "happy hour" on our boat....everything laid out.

Add wonderful folks and you have a party!!

 I'm sure this is the most "weight" we've ever had on the boat....look at how far down in the water we're setting!!

 The next morning, we were all invited over to BlueJacket for breakfast....Donna out-did herself once again.  Look at all that lovely food!  (And lovely lady too!!)

We all left stuffed to the gills and with an extra plate of goodies.

And next on the agenda was clamming!!

Just 5 of us went - Bill and Chris

And myself, Diane and Irene.

We had a blast digging in the sand for the clams.

Here's our haul!  Yum, tonight's pot-luck will include these yummy specimens!   Fun trip so far!

Sail to Ocracoke

Our neighbors that we met in the Bahamas, Jerry and Donna, asked us if we wanted to join a group of other sailboats going to Oriental this morning....since we didn't have anything much planned we said "sure"!! 

We got a late start - several hours after Jerry and Donna left....we had to stop by River Dunes and pump out the sewage and get a bit of fuel. 

That chore taken care of, we headed out into the Pamlico Sound.  Before long I got a radio call from Laura Belle.  We'd met them in the Bahamas also.  They are from NC and keep their boat in Oriental during the summers also.  They were going the opposite direction - but nice to hear from them!! 

Here's the photo I snapped of them as we passed.

 And here's the photo Kay snapped of me at the same time!!

 Great sail for the first few hours - a fishing boat passed us....

The forecast was for winds to increase in the evening...but we thought we'd beat the worst of it.

We were wrong!!  No photos or video because we were too busy!  The winds steadily increased from a nice 15 knots to  30+ with waves from about 90 degrees.  This is terribly uncomfortable because the boat rocks quickly from side-to-side.   We put 1 reef in the main at about 20 knots.  At 30 knots we dropped all the sails. 

We were in the final channel going into Ocracoke when a monster thunderstorm caught up with us.  We only needed 15 minutes to get to safety, but we didn't have it! 

We saw a 46 knot gust and pouring rain in the narrow channel.  But, the boat and sailors did fine - we're safely anchored in Silver Lake at Ocracoke now - no space at the NPS dock like usual.

We will see if someone vacates a spot over on the dock tomorrow and go meet up with the other folks who sailed over.  Hopefully it will be a cool, bug-free night tonight!