Tuesday morning we were up early and headed to Oriental, NC. It was nice and calm through the intercoastal water, until we had to cross the Neuse River. Which is just a wide inlet from the ocean with no protection. That was very choppy! The last stretch was 1-2 ft short interval waves, making it a very bumpy ride.

We made it to Oriental Marina & Inn. While it was a nice protected marina with no tides, the docks were short triangles at the back and pillings in front. So to be able to get off the boat we have to back in, and loop lines around the front pillings to secure the boat in place. I’m a little rusty on my rodeo skills, so that was fun 🙄.

There were a bunch of other Loopers here, a few we’ve met before, and few new people. This is a very quaint small town, and we got a local recommendation for dinner of the two restaurants that were open. A group of us went and had a very delicious dinner. I got sucked into that night’s special, pork belly sliders 😋.

Everyone was planning on going to the same place tomorrow so we made travel plans together for the morning. Wednesday morning however, Mother Nature had other plans. We were the first ones to pull out of the marina. When we got out into the river the wave conditions were worse than the day before. We did not make it very far before deciding to turn around and go back to the marina.

We got set back up in the slip, it was a little easier the second time, and let the others know what we encountered. The others were bigger boats and decided to still try and make the 16 miles across the river to the next section of ICW. I got texts from a few of them later saying we had made the right choice, that it just got worse further out, and they were taking wave spray up to the fly bridge!

Looking at the weather forecast it seemed we would have to stay here a few more days before the weather cooperated again. We took a walk to the Piggly Wiggly for some extra groceries. I was excited to find they had already peeled hard boiled eggs! 🥳

Thursday was a rainy morning. When it stopped we took the fluff for a walk, when we got back some new boats had arrived. They also said crossing the river was a little spicy. We met up for docktails that evening.

We had been made aware that a bicycle event was coming to town, and some 1,800 participants would be arriving! As if that doesn’t already sound like a lot, to put it in further perspective, the 2021 census lists the population of Oriental at 896. Apparently this is an annual event and the whole town knows the drill. There were tents lining the entire river side and down side streets in people’s front yards. Porta potties were set up on every corner.

Friday morning the tiny coffee shop right across from us had a line going down the street. Luckily the weather looked good for Saturday and we could get outta there before the event actually began and it just got busier.

I took Skia for a walk in between rain showers, although we didn’t quite make it back in time 🌧️. Being named Oriental, the town’s mascot is a dragon, and the whole town really embraces it. People had lawn dragons, mailbox dragons, driveway entrance dragons, etc. There were even protective signs for the local wildlife…

Saturday all reports said it should be a good travel day. So we were up early and tried again. Thankfully it was indeed MUCH better conditions out there. We stopped at another well known place to get fuel, Re Mayo Seafood. It’s a seafood wholesale company right on a narrow section of the ICW canal where you can purchase fresh seafood and fuel at lower prices.

While standing on the swim deck (wearing jeans), some jerk wad comes flying past, way too close and sent out a wake that went up to my knees. Thanks guy 😡.

We made it to Belhaven where we had reserved a spot on the town docks. When we arrived though, there were a bunch of small day boats taking up most of the space and there was nowhere for us to fit. It was still early in the day and the water was so calm we decided to push on up to Alligator River.

When we got up to that section the wind was coming from the south and the water started to get a little choppy. We snuck under a causeway bridge and 99 total miles later, we pulled into the marina. That makes the second 100 mile day we’ve done on this trip. At our average speed of 8mph, it makes for a long day.

Part of the reason we decided to go further today was so we could make it to Elizabeth City tomorrow. The weather was going to get annoying again and if we didn’t get across the Albemarle Sound on Sunday we could be stuck at Alligator Marina for a few days. This marina isn’t even in a small town. It is along the waterway of a nature preserve and there is literally nothing else there. The waves were going to start picking up on Sunday so we planned to make an early exit.

Sleep was hard to come by that night, and having an alarm set for 5:45 was almost unnecessary as my nerves had me awake at 3. Sunrise was at 6:14 Sunday morning and we left as soon as we could see. Coming out of the marina we were beam to the waves and it was a rocky start. I had preemptively taken down the things that have a tendency to tip over in rough conditions, except for the vacuum…I forget the vacuum. Dust and dog hair everywhere.

Once we turned North the waves were following us, coming from the South and Don was able to find a comfortable speed so the boat almost surfed the waves. There were still a few times the boat got pushed at an awkward angle, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Once across the Sound and we turned into the Pasquotank River the water was perfectly flat again. We came to Lamb’s Marina & Seafood. A popular pairing here it seems. A nice little marina, the owner was super friendly and helped us tie our lines. Once again there were the short triangle docks with pillings. Giving me practice at my lasso skills. We were also advised that several cottonmouth snakes have been seen swimming around in the marina. Jack, the marina owner, killed one just yesterday. So, yay 😐.

There were several other Looper boats here, all of whom were new. New to us and to the Loop. This is the time of year to be traveling in this section of the Loop, so there are many new Loopers from this area just starting out.

It looked like it was going to be a rainy day, so we decided to meet up in the lounge for docktails. Everyone brought snacks and it was nice to be able to share our must stop locations and helpful tips we’ve picked up along the way. Once the thunder started rumbling we made a mad dash back to the boat.

Today Don wanted to do some maintenance on the boat so I went up into the lounge and did some trip planning up to DC. While in there I saw a take out menu for a nearby Chinese restaurant, yes please 😁😋. That evening we all gathered again in the lounge for docktails.

Tomorrow most of the other boats plan on leaving for the Dismal Swamp. The weather on the other end in the Chesapeake doesn’t look good until Friday, so we are going to stay here one more day then spend two days in the swamp.