July 4th - long weekend!! Up in the morning for a leisurely sail up to River Dunes for lunch....always some interesting traffic out on the Pamlico Sound!



Captain Sharon!





Always helpful! Sharon and Buddy helping with the lines....



At the dock - River Dunes....we had a wonderful lunch (as usual!)




On the sail back to Oriental.....Aren't they sweet??





Nice, calm sail.....



Coming back into the marina after the nice sail back.






The next morning, woke up to this scene in the marina....I don't think I've ever seen it so still....the image is so mirror-like that it looks like a boat is sitting on top of another boat!




And "Now for something completely different" ....our friends, Tom and Janet, brought their nice power boat down to stay at the marina with us!

We took this opportunity to cruise at a "much higher rate of speed"!!!

Here we are motoring out of the marina, Capt'n Tom at the wheel.....Glory Days in the background.

Off to Ocracoke for a day-trip. In the sailboat, it takes about 7 hours to reach Ocracoke....so it's never a day-trip!! It took less than 2 hours in the power boat - a nice change!

The sound was fairly calm - Sharon spent a good part of the trip enjoying the breeze on the bow.




This is certainly a different view aft - our sailboat leaves almost no wake!



The mighty crew!




First Mate Janet!


We always see a ferry on the trip to Ocracoke.....this trip was no different!!



The smoke from the coastal fires are very evident - normally, we could easily make out Ocracoke from this point. You can faintly see the water tower in this photo.


Closer in you can see the smokiness - it's about 2pm in this photo.



At the dock in Ocracoke...



We rented bikes for a few hours just to explore.



Captn Tom - peeking thru the door at the Ocracoke Lighthouse.....I guess that makes him "Peeping Tom"....sorry, I just had to say that!!



Back to Oriental for the evening. They close the Highway 55 bridge off for the fireworks viewing. So, we all put on ample bug-spray and headed for the bridge (it's about 500 yds from the marina). Very nice fireworks display!


Another leisurely morning - and then we hopped back on Tom and Janet's boat for a trip down to Beaufort. Again, very smokey - this time down the Intercoastal Waterway.


Approaching Beaufort - the bridge opened - but we didn't need it this time (since we had no mast to worry with!!)


We lucked out with a nice little along-side tie at Beaufort Docks on the busy 4th of July weekend.




A nice group!! Bill and Kay have a second home nearby and came to visit with us at Clawsons Restaurant.




Bill and Kay giving us a send-off at the Beaufort Docks.





Just a short little hop over into the Beaufort Inlet - but it was time to go back to Oriental.....we'll have to go to Cape Lookout some other day!! Capt'n Tom took us safely back to Oriental.....What a nice little vacation!

We had meant to leave home Friday, but stormy weather prevented that....and then more stormy weather prevented us leaving Saturday morning, as well. The runway was soggy and the ceilings were very low with fog. So, we just relaxed and waited it out! We took off about 7pm for Oriental, finally!!

Beautiful skies met us Sunday morning - we decided to head to Beaufort for the evening. I wanted to sail at least to the edge of Adam's Creek (the entrance to the intercoastal waterway) - so we tacked and tacked and tacked.....in very light winds for about an hour. And then we decided that we were NOT a sailboat today - and decided to be a very slow motorboat. HAHA.


The usual phosphate barge sighting! Never ceases to amaze me how big these things are!



Always scary going under these bridges since our mast is 64+ feet tall and the generic clearance for the intercoastal waterway is 65 feet....plus or minus.....so you understand my hesitation.....




We arrived safely a few hours later at the Town Creek Anchorage in Beaufort. We had not anchored her before - it's a nice little place to stay. Calm and very close to the waterfront.

Mom and Frank will remember this bridge shown opening here....we had a engine control issue when we came thru it with them a few years ago on a trip to Cape Lookout.

This is the view of the bridge from the anchorage.


A very nice day!



Cool boat anchored behind us...



I was taking a nap....and I kept hearing whistles. I stuck my head topsides and saw a little sailing school in progress.



We decided to take the dinghy to the waterfront for dinner. Glory Days - pretty, as ever.




Tied the dinghy up the the public dock.



Wandered down the boardwalk.

Ended up having drinks and dinner at Finz. Bartender gave me the "leftovers" from a neat drink she mixed in the blender. It involved pouring Bacardi 151 down the straw after the drink was made. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't have the whole drink!!!




Back at sundown to Glory Days. Nice cool breeze so it should be a great night to be at anchor!!

Oriental Boat Show!

This weekend was the annual Oriental Boat Show, held at Pecan Grove Marina, home of Glory Days. We had promised to fly over the marina and take some photos for the sponsor (The Oriental Rotary Club). But, the plane was in for it's annual maintenance for the past few weeks....and we just got to fly it away at about 4pm on Friday. This is a problem because the show ends every day at 5pm and Saturday was not an option because of the horrible weather forecast! So, we decided to fly over and make the best of it - it was about 6pm by the time we flew over. The sun wasn't at a great angle, but it's better than nothing!


Always nice to see the pretty town of Oriental! We actually don't fly out here too much - we usually land 25 miles short of here in New Bern where we park our car.


When we did make it to the boat show (Saturday morning) they had these cute "special badges" for us. I had been doing all the communicating with the organizer...so I was deemed the "Official Boat Show Photographer".....Duane is a mere assistant (even though he was flying the plane!)


The horrible weather was already headed our way Saturday morning. The boat show tents were already starting to strain in the wind.


We decided to scoot back the 1/2 hour drive to New Bern airport and move our plane from the tiedown on the ramp into a tee-hangar. (At that point, they were forecasting 50+ knots of wind and hail, so we were afraid the airplane might be damaged worse if we left it on the ramp).


At the marina, about mid-day, they started taking all the flags off the boats and started disassembling all the tents (the ones that were still standing, that is!)


It doesn't show up too well here, but the sky was just "mean" looking and the wind was just a big roar.


At about 8pm, we decided to vacate the boat. It was straining hard against it's very strong docklines, heeling over in the slip due to the extremely strong wind hitting it broadside.

We just ran (in the rain) for the nice, new, cement and stucco club house. We still had power and internet - so we sat for about an hour and listened as the wind-driven rain pelted the windows and watched the radar on the internet. Soon it was over and nothing was harmed (at the marina, at least). Of course, we now know that there was much damage around the eastern half of the state and much loss of life. Sad.


Sunday dawned bright and beautiful!! We needed to go sailing!!


Off we went to our new favorite day-trip - River Dunes for lunch. Had a great sail - turned the engine off as soon as we left the channel in Oriental - didn't turn it on again until we were approaching the channel at River Dunes.

I always have to post about passing ferries.....we were sailing along, no other boats in sight.....I looked back behind the boat and spied a large vessel approaching. As it got closer, I realized it was a ferry. The strange thing is that no scheduled ferries run the area we were sailing. As it got closer, we could see that it's the one named "Roanoke". I don't recall riding that one. There was only one car on it - possibly they were just moving it between locations for the coming vacation season. So, even on this short trip, I got to see a ferry!


On the dock at River Dunes. Had a wonderful salad - the restaurant there has never failed to please us!



Back on the boat for a equally great sail back - two tacks - no motor! Read my "book club book" for this month - aptly titled "The Book Club". (Not a great one, by the way, but you can't read winners every time!)



Such a nice day! Duane is enjoying himself too, I think!


Just another of my little sailing videos.....





Almost home, dropping the sails.....like the birdies are waiting on us!!! 'Til next time!!

A Little Gel Coat Work, Not Finished Yet!!

We've been putting off doing some repair work around the salon windows for some time now.....but the pretty weather enticed us to go ahead and try it.

Here are a couple of "before" shots. There were "voids" under the original gel-coat that allowed all the cracking to get started.



Sorry for all the shadows....but the daylight was waning!

We used a Dremel to route out the voids and cracks down thru the gel coat down to good, hard fiberglass.


Then we filled the routed out areas with an waterproof epoxy filler. After an overnight cure, much sanding was then accomplished!!



Closeup of the filled cracks. Next step was to paint on the new gel coat.


The idea was to paint a nice thick coat of gel coat and "feather" the edges so that it would not be very noticeable.



We were all ready to do the gel coat, with a brand new can of West Marine finish gel coat. When we mixed the catalyst - just 1 drop congealed the entire mixture!! We tried two different cans - free of charge thanks, West Marine....same result. So, this is as far as we got. West Marine is investigating the cans to figure out what is wrong......

We'll bring a different brand down with us next time. We cleaned up the window and it's fine for now.


We also did a similar larger repair near one of the jib sheet blocks. I forgot to snap a photo before, but the this is a photo of the similar, opposite side ....(we only did the port side repairs this time - starboard side next time!)



The big "star" crack in the gel coat peeled away a large area. We peeled it back until the remaining gel coat was firmly attached to the fiberglass. Here we're starting to trowel on the epoxy filler.




Smoothed a bit and left overnight to cure.




Again, much sanding so that you couldn't hardly feel the repair.



Again, taped and ready for the gel coat that didn't happen. More later when we get some good-formula gel coat!!

Trip with Mom and Frank

We had a nice long weekend with Mom and Frank - since the airplane is in the shop, we had to drive to Oriental ..... :-(

Even though we fly or drive thru New Bern every time we come to the boat, we've never stopped in to visit. We weren't in a rush, so we decided to do a little sightseeing.

It is a neat area - a little history, interesting quaint little shops.

I had read that you could visit the "Birthplace of Pepsi" - which we did happen upon while walking down the street. Wow, I expected more. It's just a plaque on the building and a tiny little store. Oh well....shouldn't put too much stock in the "things to do" Google search!


It was a very pretty walk - beautiful trees, wonderful weather.


All around, they have bears....bears....and more bears. Nice "public art". Yummy Port City Java coffee too.


On to the boat - much rummy was played. Mom cheated, I think.....


The next morning was gorgeous! Love this shot of the marina. I can just stare at the reflections of the boats on the still water.


I know we're in a rut....we set off to River Dunes for lunch. Pleasant day, not really enough wind (or rather, enough wind in the right direction!).

Lots of reading was accomplished.


Off the boat!



We had a good lunch -- then back to the boat for a pleasant trip back to Oriental. Just a little more chilly on the way back, but still lovely for the weekend before Thanksgiving!