Darn – all good things must come to an end and this is the end of our 2008/2009 Bahamas cruise. Gosh seems rather abrupt now. We made it in at 2pm today to Slip 34 in SailCraft Marina in Oriental, NC.
On the bright side we had a great welcome from a familiar face – Gaylen from our former marina – Matthews point.. He was cruising the canal in his fishing boat and spotted us. Gosh it’s great to arrive with a familiar face. When I returned from my 2005/2006 cruise it was Bill Brinson that greeted me at the dock at Matthews Point.,
We had a pretty nice night at Cape Lookout until the wind piped up to 20 kts for awhile out of the NE – was not forecast of course!!. That is the only bad direction out there. Fortunately it didn’t last more than an hour and we had a quiet night. This morning I was so happy I chose to go in there after that long day yesterday rather than crowd into anchorage and then had to deal with all that wind last night.
We had a nice cruise of 33 miles from Cape Lookout to Oriental and sailed the last 2 miles in 5kts of wind. Wasn’t much but certainly welcomed when entering a new slip for the first time – darn the water levels seem low in here. I hope this is not the norm otherwise it seems a very nice protected marina.
We pushed hard these last several days and made a lot of miles to get home but now the feeling is bittersweet.
I had been getting tired of the long days, the questionable anchorages, the fluky weather, the shallow spots in the ICW, the bridge openings, etc. I really just want to tie up to a safe dock for awhile and just veg out. Now that I have enjoyed 4 hours of that – veg out NO --. I’m not sure this is what I really wanted. Hopefully the really crappy weather forecast for the coast this weekend will make me happy to be at the dock.
We plan to just clean boat for a few days and our Son Andy will come down Saturday to retrieve us and take us home on Sunday.
Until then we will explore – by foot and bike – our new second home here in Oriental, NC.
I’ll post one more blog in a week or two to summarize and extol the cruise. Maybe add a few pictures like Miss Kalik of MAY!!
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3 comments:
Welcome back. I really enjoyed the blogs and pictures.
Welcome Home!
Ride your bikes up to the Silo's for dinner....it is well worth the short ride!
Give my regards to Alan and Turtle at Sailcraft.
When you get ready for a short trip....we'll have to meet up in Washington or someplace.
Welcome back.
I have enjoyed your trip very much. It has brightened an otherwise dull winter.
Looking forward to your next trip this winter. Best wishes for a great layover.
Ken Greig
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