May 2nd, 3rd & 4th Days 291, 292, & 293

May 2nd
We left Beaufort and set our sights on Oriental North Carolina.We left at 8:15 as we only had 24.4 miles to travel. Ride was nice and we reached Oriental Marina around noon. Nice marina but not much of a town. We biked (men) to a West Marine while the girls did the shop thing. Seamoore had some leaky Taylor fenders so we checked to make sure they had the fenders and the return policy was still in effect. They did have the fenders so we biked back to the marina tied the fenders to the bikes and headed to get new ones. Must have raised some eyes as we peddled up the highway with the fenders tied on. Everything worked out fine and we made it back with the new fenders.

May 3rd
We left Oriental at 7am as we had a 48.6 mile run with 20 miles of  open water on the Pamlico Sound. The sound was pretty calm but it was nice to tuck back into the ICW cut and get to see something besides open water. We are at the Belhaven Waterway Marina. As we entered the harbor and marina the wind picked up to add a little excitement to a long day. The were some touchy moments as we all docked but all turned out well. We are now traveling with 5 boats one is a PDQ which goes fast and is in before the rest of us are even close to port. All 10 of us went to a small restaurant here which had a child's menu(guppy) and a senior menu(old sharks). We all ordered off the old timers menu and were very pleased with the selections and size.
They have a nice gazebo here where we had our cocktails and planning session before dinner.

May 4th
We are laid up here today due to a weather front in the area. Real choppy and bouncy in the marina so it makes for a rough night and day. The wind and waves come right down the shoot. I will probably change all my fuel filters today just because I have the time. Would rather change them before I have no choice or they clog while underway. The marina said they would run us to the grocery and liquor store if we needed to go.
We are not sure if we will do the Dismal Swamp route or the Virgina Cut route to Norfolk. Decisions for another docktail party.

Lin & Rich
Belhaven Waterway Marina
Belhaven, North Carolina