MM181 Oriental North Carolina

Away from the dock at 7:15AM; some rollers on the Neuse River--had to make saves in the galley and put away stuff. When things settled down I made French toast for the boys.   There is great sailing on the Neuse and Pimlico. In fact, Oriental calls themselves the "Sailing Capital of North Carolina”.  Oriental has not changed in 10 years except perhaps things have gotten older.  There is an anchorage before the bridge and the only really working marina is the oriental Marina and it fills up fast.  We were the first boat in and about 12 boats come in after us.

We spotted dolphins today, about feeding time.  Dolphins are not porpoises; many boaters mistake dolphins for porpoises but they are in warmer waters.  Just north of Adams Creek, an inlet south to Florida, the most likely cetacean is the Atlantic Bottle-Nose Dolphin. Dolphins have a pointed noses, called a beak.  Porpoises have a flat nose with no beak, more like the front of a small whale.

We left the dock and connected to the Adams Creek and MM185, then the New Park River and thru Bogue Sound, passing Beauford and Morehead City. Did the ditch 65 miles today to Mile Hammack, Camp Lejeune North Carolina.  We anchored at 3:45--made good time today, even caught the bridge around the opening time.  As were going toward the bridge a power boat a few hundred yards from us started to smoke and had to pull over with smoke coming out of the engine.  The skipper was not a happy camper; needless to say it ruined his day.  Boat's name was Chesapeake. 

We were settled in with our beer and the helicopters started--boy are they loud!  That lasted for about half an hour. Dinner tonight was spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and yes cookies.