Day 316, Sunday May 4th, off to Oriental
Well we are heading off the docks by 8:45 after saying
good-bye to Colleen and Bruce off Mamba.
I think this is our final good-bye.
We have said good-bye about 4 times anticipating it may be the last time
we cross paths, but we keep meeting up again.
The way north is a bit intricate as there are lots of
navigational markers from many channels converging. Of course we have no problems but again, we
do our homework, help each other and use our common sense. We are only going about 20 miles north as we
have flights booked out of New Bern so leaving the boat at a safe marina close
to the airport.
The trip north passes quickly; we are riding with a rising
tide. There are lots of dolphins along
the way and Julie never tires of them.
One of them for sure was playing with us. It swam alongside in the exact spot and would
submerge just a couple inches below the water.
We could see the fin and it stayed right beside where Julie was hanging
out the cockpit clapping and cheering it on.
Julie is convinced it was intentionally racing us. It surfaced 3 or 4 times during its
sprint. There were a couple of different
pods along the way, the largest being about 10 dolphins.
We got to our destination channel around noon and started
in. We had been told that there are
shoals and to keep to the red side of the channel (right side going in). The water all along here and since landing in
Fernandina Beach is like chocolate milk.
You can’t see any depths or shoals or anything. We get past a few markers and the depth alarm
starts blaring. We have about a foot
under the keel when the alarm is triggered.
We stay calm as we are going very slowly and are aware that it is
shallow. Another boat is coming out of
the channel so we have to inch over to the edge. We radio the other boat, but no one answers
so we are not quite sure where the best spot to pass is. We are surprised to see it is another Caliber
that we pass. We get by and carry
on. G5 is next and we have been told to
give it a wide berth which we do. Sadly
once we pass it, again with alarms blaring, there is just a myriad of marinas
and boats ahead of us and we don’t know which one is Sailcrest which we are
booked in at. Dawson tries calling
Henry, but there is no answer. Luckily
with no wind and current we just sit there awaiting a call back. After a few minutes we get the call with
instructions to proceed. Normally
marinas monitor the VHF radio, but no luck here.
We are instructed to weave our way down a creek and soon we
are nicely tied up with a perfect landing.
Wonderful!
Julie in downtown Oriental
 |
| View of Oriental town docks through a very good IPA |
We then head into town for an explore and are surprised that
there is no real town. This place is
smaller than Beaufort and we thought Beaufort was small. There is a post office and a downtown marina,
and a tiki bar and a coffee house, but not much more. There are hundreds and hundreds of boats at
marinas in and around Oriental though.
We make a couple stops then head back to the boat. The walk is only about a mile each way. We stop and have a look at the neighbouring
boat yard, then proceed home. Once home
Dawson washes the boat and Julie tackles the laundry.
We get a phone call from Ham of Sarah G., as he is in the
neighbourhood getting his boat pulled for summer drydock storage. We had emailed Ham to see if he was still
around and sure enough he is. We have
not seen Ham for 9 days so it is good to hear from him. We make arrangements to meet up and head to
dinner in town. We quite enjoy Ham and
his way on looking at the world. Ham
just turned 70 and now says he looks at the world with a much more relaxed view
having obtaining this milestone, something for us all to look forward to. Another good visit with a fellow Canadian.
Cheers
Julie and Dawson
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