Sunday Nov 18, 2012
We are at Oriental Harbor Marina in Oriental NC getting ready to leave maybe Monday. The winds here are 15-20 but in Beaufort it was showing 40 knot gusts so we’ll wait here for a weather window. We were here about 10 years ago; we do like this little sailing town called the Sailing Capitol of North Carolina.
Saturday Nov 17
Oriental exploring the town
Friday Nov 16, 2012
Campbell Creek to Oriental
We anchored as close to the north shore of Campbell Creek that we could, that would offer protection from the north winds. It offered no protection from the east winds. All through the night the wind shifted back and forth from north to east. When blowing 20-25 from the north the row of pine trees blocked that wind, but as it shifted to east, the anchor chain would tighten up and the boat would swing hard into the wind.
This had to be the darkest place I can remember, there was a house about a mile away up the creek, with its lights a small dot to the west, other than that it was pitch dark. The little bit of a crescent moon was totally blocked by the overcast sky caused by this Nor’easter.
The run to Oriental would be fairly short, but we got underway around 8 a.m. sailing out of Goose Creek. There was plenty of wind, 20 plus out of the north. We cut through Goose Island canal and over to Bay River, where we put up sails and shut off the diesel. On a broad reach we were hitting hull speed. It was a fast but chilly sail. This was an absolutely beautiful day, clear crisp air, blue skies, big winds, first day for sunglasses since Monday. Once we hit the Neuse River we had the wind at our back, 1-3 foot following seas, with each wave the boat would accelerate past the hull speed, yahoo. Once we came into Oriental, our friends Dan and Melissa called (first cell reception since Elizabeth City), and said they had a slip available for us. So after getting fuel (17 gallons) we headed to the slip. We were greeted by the dockmaster who informed us that the slip we were trying to get into was too shallow for our keel. He told us that the very first slip on the dock was available for a few days, and we could use that free of charge! This is the best marina in Oriental, private, not for transients like us. Of course we took it, headed for the showers, walked the town, met some nice people, had dinner at M&M’s restaurant, and had a very peaceful sleep.
Thursday Nov 15, 2012
Alligator River Pungo River canal to Campbell Creek
When we got up the water level was down about a foot. I was under the impression there was no tide back here, but there was definitely current down the canal as we motored the Alligator River Pungo River canal. The whole trip was pretty much uneventful. Once we hit the Pungo River those north winds were a blowing. We had to gibe several times to keep the sails full, as we were on a run most of the way. I set up 2 preventer lines attached to the boom that ran to the stanchion base next to the mast. When we gibed Virginia would center the main, turn on the auto-pilot, and hold the lazy preventer, then give the AP 20 degrees into the wind and over the boom and sail would go. In 10 knots of breeze a gibe is no big deal, in 20-25 it can bring down the mast if not done properly. We crossed the Pamlico River looking for Campbell Creek on our starboard side. Once again the land had been clear cut; there were no trees on low lying spits of land unless you were far up the creek (what’s that about without a paddle). We went west until the creek started turning north and went in as close to shore as we dared, the depth gauge showing 5 feet, the chart showing 4! We need 4 and a half. It turned out to be a real nice anchorage. We had a great dinner and went to bed early.
Wednesday Nov 14, 2012
Elizabeth City to Alligator River canal
Finally having access to WiFi in Elizabeth City, I was able to get on Active Captain boating site to get some possible spots to anchor tomorrow. I did an estimate using 5, 6, or 7 knots, and figured we would be at the Alligator Marina around 2 p.m. under normal sailing. I was looking for additional anchorages. I had read about some places at the bottom of the River, before the canal, that had glowing reviews. I wrote down all that information. Bright and early we set out. It was blowing 15 out of the north, so I decided to reef the main sail and Genoa. It’s a good thing, because we would not see light wind for the rest of the day. We had gusts over 25; we were at or above hull speed (7 knots) all the way. We pasted the Alligator River Marina at 12:30, and at 2:30 we were past the spots I had researched on Active Captain. We saw no place to anchor that would give us protection from the wind. Finally we were in the canal, and we knew we could not reach the end of it by night fall. I picked up my cell phone and saw no service, Virginia’s phone same thing! We dropped the sails. There were trees on both sides which would block the howling north wind, but along both banks were also tree stumps, and nasty looking logs and other things to snag an anchor or prop. Anchoring was out of the question here, so we just proceeded. Suddenly, and to our relief, on the starboard side we saw what appeared to be a concrete pier. The stumps and snags looked like they were cleared out. We cautiously and slowly moved, watching the depth go from 12ft. to 5ft., this left us with 6 inches under the keel. We put all our bumpers out to protect us from the concrete, tied the boat securely fore and aft. For the first time I fired up the Honda generator, and we ran the electric heater to warm up the boat. It did a great job and when it ran out of fuel, we went to bed, secure from the wind, and safe from passing boats (there were only 3).
