Thursday, June 21, 2012

    Orental is a nice harbor. Restaurants, fuel, and dinghy dock all close by. Anyway time to leave. I am on my way to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks. The trip takes about 8 hours. I leave at about 8:30 AM. I am lucky, the Neuse river is very calm today. Winds were 10 to  15 knots most of the way. It isn't till the afternoon whan I am approaching the head buoy for Ocracoke that the winds start to kick up. Anyway I pull into Ocracoke. Pulling in you see the Ferry Boats. I'm not sure of where they come from, but they are continuelly on the move. This is a pretty nice harbor. Not too big, and not too small. . The harbor is surrounded by restaurants, ice cream stands, and gift shops. Of all the places that I have visited this is the nicest one.  They rent out Golf Carts by the hour, half day, full day, and week. I always brag about Block Island and how great it is. This place though seemed nicer. Not as crowded, and maybe more colorful.
     I was told by a friend of mine that bad weather is coming, so my feelings are that this place is a little exposed, so therefore tomorrow I will leave.
   I have to tell this story. While at anchor I see a boat that was also anchored near me in Oriental. I say hello, and the guy invites me on board and serves me a beer. We chat. At one point he tells me that the mast on his boat is 43 feet tall, but he has no trouble getting under the Oriental 45 foot fixed bridge. I look up at his mast, then I look over to mine. I tell him that I just measured mine the other day by running a string up it, and that mine is 40 feet, and for some reason, mine looks taller then his. He agrees with me. So with that i say that maybe I measured it incorrectly, and that tomorrow I will measure it again. This was important because on my trip north I plan to go under a 45 foot fixed bridge.