Day 10-15: we visited several small towns, night passage in the ocean.

Day 10, December 15, 2020. Weather could be iffy so last night I applied a patch and I am hoping for the best. The forecast continues to be not great so may stay two nights in Oriental at Clancy's marina. Clancy's is a small marina owned by a man who left New York to retire in North Carolina. Greg built this small marina himself. He calls it his 401K. There was one spot left, and we were able to slip right in. LOL Note: Clancy is the name of his dog. Actually it is now Clancy7.

The water was a bit rocky and I was glad that I applied a patch. The stabilizers were working hard. When we entered The Neuse River, the choppiness receded and it was a calmer voyage to Clancy's. We arrive there at 2:30, secured the boat, and went for a walk around town. Oriental is a vacation town, it is said there are more boats there than people.

We did a little shopping; Roland bought me two Hanukkah gifts, slippers for the boat and small earrings for my new hairstyle.

Day 11, December 16, 2020, Wednesday. Another weather delay. Gale force winds and lots of rain.

Big snowstorm in Philadelphia and most of the northeast. We should be happy with just rain. Clancy's marina is tucked in nicely so the wind did not cause too much churning in our area.

When the rain stopped we went for a walk again, the air is always so fresh on the water; it just feels different.

Day 12, Thursday, December 17, 2020. Lazy morning, gray and cold; cast off 9:30 AM from Oriental North Carolina to Beaufort North Carolina and Homer Smith's dock. It is a short distance, should not take that long. The forecast is for sun. Sun would be nice!

At 12:15 PM we were getting close to Beaufort North Carolina as we passed mile 200 on the ICW arriving at 12:54 PM and an easy docking, with help from the dockmaster (who used to work at Penn....small world!). I jumped off the dock and held the line to pull the stern into the dock. This may be the first and last time I jump off the boat to secure the line.

Friday Day 13, December 18, 2020, we were in Beaufort all day. It was cold and cloudy (so what's new?). Roland did some errands and I did some paperwork. We participated in a Kadey Krogen zoom forum discussing cruising requirements for the Bahamas. Dinner was fabulous: moroccan stew.

Day 14, December 19, 2020, Saturday. We stayed in Beaufort and enjoyed a beautiful day. I awakened early and did a 3 mile run around town. Very cute town designed on the Philadelphia Plan that an early governor had established. It was quite familiar to me, on a grid. The building requirements must be strict as the houses were mostly, colonial style, sporting the names of the original owners with dates ranging from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. They tended to be white with dark shutters, but there were a few outliners.

It was such a nice day that Roland was able, finally, to apply Philadelphia PA as our hailing port, on the stern. We took a walk together around the historic homes and the historic cemetery which was quite interesting. This is North Carolina yet there were a diversity of people buried there, including former slaves, free blacks, Confederate soldiers, and Union soldiers, and local citizens with interesting stories.

At 4 PM, we started our first ocean passage. The idea is to rejoin the ICW at first light. Hoping that the ocean is calm, I applied another patch.

The ocean passage was, as expected, boring. We encountered very few if any boats; it was very dark. My watch was 6 PM to 10 PM and then 2 AM to 5 AM. I was able to sleep between and after and arose the next morning at 8:30 AM; we were already back in the ICW. When we started the ocean voyage it was really spectacular. The crescent moon was so clear and white and crisp and reflected on the water. We were able to see Jupiter and Saturn as they are approaching each other and in a couple of days will look like one star. The sunset was extraordinary.

Day 15, Sunday, December 20, 2020. We left the ocean and entered the ICW around 7 AM. It was dreary and raining, with little activity on the water. The captain of a passing tug radioed to us and said “One whistle”. Fortunately Roland knew what that meant: the boats would pass each other on the port side. Two whistles is the starboard side.

We docked at a small resort town dock at Holden Beach where there is room for two small boats or one a little larger. We were hoping that nobody had a reservation and we could stay there the night. Roland emailed and called the town and the police to let them know that we were there and asked for permission to stay the night. We did finally get a call back and later in the morning, police officer stopped by to give us a key to the free laundry and shower.

The dock we just pulled up to was right on the ICW and it reminded me so much of the Camino de Santiago with the Pilgrim Albergues right on the trail.

We took a 2 mile walk around town. It was even more deserted than Oriental. Most of the homes in Holden Beach are summer rentals, raised up a flight, and many are named: Holden Hands, Scots and Water, The Grape Escape, Holden My Own, Worries End, Pate”N” Place, A Cardiac Rest, Clamelot, Dune Just Fine. Maybe the addresses are secondary!

We had a wonderful dinner and celebration of our first ocean passage: rack of lamb, roast potatoes and a great salad, nice red wine and homemade nutella ice cream. In case anybody thinks we are suffering, forget it .......

Terri