Beaufort, NC Oct. 28 Nov 1

Beaufort is another very early town in NC having been founded in 1709. Unlike many of the places we have been visiting it is right on the coast with easy ocean access. Like the other places it has a well defined and contained downtown historic district with many historical homes and businesses. We have had our first taste of cold weather with lows in the high 30's and highs in the high 50's and strong winds. So far the reverse cycle AC on the boat is working well so we keep warm on the boat

The marina is located on the town waterfront, so every thing is very convenient. The tidal current in the marina is pretty wicked when you combine it with the strong wind. We did not see it happen, but one boat on its approach tagged our burgee flag staff and bent it over 90 degrees. Obviously it could have been much worse. Beaufort Town Docks are dedicated to transients. As such they keep a "fleet" af 4 courtesy cars which enabled us to restock food and more importantly liquor. The cars are a hoot. Three of them are 1990 vintage Buick Estate Wagons complete with faux wood paneling on the side (or what is left of it).

We had intended to leave on Friday, but the bar at the marina was having a big Halloween Party complete with a blues band called Infectious Disease. In fact 3 bars in town were participating with costume contests rotating between them at 11, 12 and 1 o'clock. We decided we couldn't pass this up, so we stayed another day. Her is Debby with some of the better outfits. Also, Debby in front of one her favorite stores (note the name).

Oriental - One Last Time Oct. 26,27

We are now officially headed south again. We have had such a good time in Oriental we decided to stop one more time to visit our friends there. Sunday night at the marina restaurant, Toucan, they have an entertainer, DaveCollins, who along with his 14 year old daughter puts on a great show. He is straight out of a 60's rock band complete with head band and sun glasses. He plays a number of songs he wrote himself and at the end of the evening gave us a copy of his CD with the original songs.

Monday night is "Boy's Night Out" at the Tiki Bar. As you can see by the picture Debby did not observe the protocal even though she was entertaining the wives on our boat. All-in-all two very good nights.

New Bern Oct 19-26

We have really enjoyed our stay in New Bern. It is a larger town than most of the others, but it is concentrated in roughly a 6 block square area with both nice shops and classic old homes. This was the first capital of the colony of NC. It was established as a town in 1710 by Swiss settlers although English were here as well. Many of the homes date from the 1700s to early 1800s.

I left Debby here to travel to CT for a meeting at P&W for 2 days early in the week. She was able to to get her hair done for the first time since we left (a new record) and was very pleased with the job. The local airport was only 10 minutes away and provided easy service to Charlotte.

We were going to leave on Thursday, but found they were having their annual "Ghostwalk" this weekend and decided to stay to see what that was all about. Turned out to be a fun event. About 15 venues were open, most of them old historic homes, both Friday and Saturday night. As you toured each place they had locals dressed in period costumes acting out skits as ghosts of people who lived in the town during varius periods and describing what it was like at the time they were alive. It was a great way to get an historical perspective and also a lot of fun. it is a popular event as you had to wait in line at each place. Nice to see so many people walking the town at night. Like others we have visited here in NC this is a very friendly place. Most people are from somewhere else and eager to express there happiness with having relocated whether it was recent or 30 years ago.

Oriental Again Oct. 17-19

The ride to Oriental was in places another rough one. The Neuse River can get nasty in strong NE winds. Fortunately we were only exposed to adverse winds a relatively short time. We met our new found friends at the Tiki Bar on Friday night. This resulted in an invitation to a pre party for the Folk Festival to be held the following night.
It rained all day Saturday, so we used the time to get caught up on much needed laundry. Our host for the pre party picked us up and took us to his water front home just north of town. As in Ft. Lauderdale many of the water front places are pretty spectacular and this was no exception. The Folk Festival was held in the town's old restored theater. It turned out to be very entertaining, especially the lead act, Susan Werner. We were invited to a post party immediately following the show that included the artists that performed. This party was held across the street from our marina so it was very convenient. It was attended by nearly half the people that went to the show, so I think by now we have met a fair portion of the population of Oriental now.

Bath/Washington Oct 13-17

We left Ocracoke in some uncomfortable sea conditions. Pamlico Sound can be nasty in strong NE winds. For the first time this trip we traveled at a high cruise speed to get some comfort and to hurry to the lee of the shoreline. Once we got to the Pamlico River it was quite calm. We were stopping at Bath to break up the trip to Washington our actual destination, but were pleasantly suprised by how nice Bath turned out to be. It is the oldest incorporated town in NC having been established in 1705. For nearly 70 years it was the place to be in this region with 12 homes. Now, 300 years later there are maybe 36 homes in the historic district so time has passed the place by.

The town provides free dockage to transients and the picture of the our boat above shows the view to the town. The other picture shows the view from our boat down Bath Creeek to Pamlico River. We came to the conclusion that the whole town gets its grass cut on the same day as everything was fresh cut and manicured. All in all a very serene and picturesque place.

Washington was established in 1776 as the first town to be named after the great man. It quickly usurped Bath as the key town in the region at the headwaters of the Pamlico. Now it has a thriving historic district and booming real estate development for condos, townhouses and single family homes. People are coming here for second homes and for permanent homes as it is an easy commute to Greenville. The sunset picture was taken in Washington.

The place to eat in town is the relatively new Pia's. We met the owner in the bar and he gave us all the local scoop as well as THE BEST she crab soup. He runs this restaurant while his wife, Pia runs a new one they opened in New Bern which we will visit next week.

For kicks we spent one day with a real estate agent viewing some of the new condo/townhome developments. Sales activity is down here as elsewhere, but values seem to be holding. Most places had docks either included or for an extra charge, and some were quite nice, but the prices were higher than anticipated and in some cases the value was not there. Outside of town they have a nice Yacht Club/Country Club with a very nominal fee structure. Overall a very nice spot to visit, but I don't think we will be moving here.

Ocracoke Oct. 8-13

Ocracoke has been a great stop. We stayed one night at the Anchorage Marina at $1.75/ft. then found there was room at the National Park Service marina for a senior citizen rate of $0.60/ft. We moved there for the remainder of the stay. This is a true island community as the only way to get here is by boat although there is regular ferry service from the mainland and Hatteras. The entire island which is 16 miles long, is a national park (excludng the village). Population is less than 800 people.

Our friends the Sorensens left after 2 days as they needed to get back heading south. We were rained in the day they left, but have had decent weather since. Lots of unusual shops, great scenery, and lots of history here. The beach has been named best beach in the country by Dr. Beach for 2007. You are able to take 4 WD vehichles on the beach, and surf fishing seems to be the thing to do here as the pictures indicate. The light house is still operating even though it was built in 1823!

Of note for our British friends, there is a British Cemetery for British sailors that washed ashore during WWII when their antisubmarine ship was torpedoed off the coast trying to protect US shipping. The land has been donated to England in perpetuity.

We found the best pizza we have had in years. So good we had it twice in 4 days. Howard's Pub and Restaurant turns out to be the hot spot. We wanted to go Friday night to hear the local music, but it was raining too hard and our only transport is the bikes.

We leave today for Bath and Washington, NC. The weather for the remainder of the week is supposed to be gorgeous.

Manteo

Manteo is a town on Roanoke Island which is just west of Nags Head on the Outer Banks of NC. A bit of history, it is the location of the first English colony in North America having beeen established in 1584. Unfortunately this was not a successful colony, but today the history of the area is played up quite a bit.

We rented a car with the Sorensens and drove to the Outer Banks thru Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. We visited Bodie Island Lighthouse shown here with Debby and Eddie. The following day Debby and Eddie shopped in Manteo while Fred and I visited the replica 16th century sailing ship on display across the harbor from us as well as the colonial village set up there. Travel in those days was very adventuresome! Fred and I agree we have lived in the best of times.

Yesterday we traveled to Ocracoke, part of the Outer Banks itself and accessible only by water. It was a great 57 NM open water ride in Pamlico Sound.

Mecca

For someone who has spent his entire professional life in aviation going to the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kill Devil Hills was akin to making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The exhibits are all very well done complete with a full scale replica of the original flying machine. In the picture I am standing at the point of takeoff. The stone markers indicate the landing point of the 4 first flights. The first flight at 120' was shorter than the wing span of a 747. the fourth flight was over 850'. Of particular note was one exhibit that pointed out we went from first flight to a man on the moon in 66 years!

Oriental to Manteo, Roanoke Island

The weather continues to be glorious with highs in the high 70's and lows in the low 60's. It has been a 3 day trip to get to Manteo with overnight stops in Belhaven and at the mouth of the Alligator River. Cruising in this area is easy with few navigational problems and long periods on wide rivers with nice scenery.

Belhaven as a stop was a non-event except for the neat little marina with notable restrooms. Notable in that they were very clean and decorated like you might see in some ones home. the Men's room was decorated with a sailor's artifacts from WW II including pictures of his beautiful girl friend and the "Dear John" letter he received from her in 1942.

The Alligator River Marina was located at the base of a bridge and along side a Shell Station. Not very picturesque, but we were able to get diesel for $3.36 per gallon!

Manteo looks like it will be a good stop. Fred and Eddie Sorensen will meet us here today, and we plan to rent a car to go to the Wright Brothers Memorial on Kill Devils Hill tomorrow.

Oriental, NC

Oriental has turned out to be our best stop so far. We stayed from Sept 30 to Oct 2. The harbor shown in the picture is quite small and quaint with more shrimp boats than pleasure craft. Our dock backed onto a small motel with a great restaurant and very active Tiki Bar. We met quite a few like minded people at the bar each evening. The average age in Oriental today is 59! The population is less than 1,000, but there are over 2,700 sail boats based here.

We did our first major bicycle based shopping excursion here to the local market about 1 mile away. Getting every thing back to the boat was quite a sight.

We now have a rough plan for the remainder of October in NC. We will meet our friends the Sorensens who have been traveling in the Chesapeake all summer in Manteo on Roanoke Island out on the Outer Banks. From there we will go to Okracoke, also on the Outer Banks, then on to Bath, Washington, Oriental and New Bern. That should take us to about October 25 when we will begin heading south again.