First "cruise" of 2009 - day trip to Oriental

[Captain Smollett]

Took a day run down to Oriental on Saturday.  It was a nice trip and the first "destination" type trip we've taken since arriving here.  All other sails have been day sails with no particular place to go...just gettin' out on the water.

Got under way about 06:20, motoring out of the marina and continued SE for a ways.  As the SW breeze filled in, raised the sails in 10-15 kts and had GREAT sailing for about two hours.  What a ride, even with the occasional rain shower.  The whole day was overcast around 48 deg.

Then the wind died and we motored the rest of the way.  Had some outboard fuel issues (she ran, but not well), which was especially frustrating since I fueled up the day before to insure I had fresh fuel.  Odd that the 3 month old fuel I had ran better than the fresh...oh well.  Things happen sometimes, I guess.  Even in the rain, my 6 yo daughter came out to relieve me at the helm for a while getting a good opportunity to practice her sailing a compass course.

Arrived Oriental just before 1300 and tied up at the free town dock.  Enjoyed a relatively warm stroll around town and got restaurant recommendations from a fellow cleaning his front porch. 

Ended up eating at M&M's which provided excellent food.  I had shrimp quesedillas, my wife had scallop sandwich, and the children had shrimp, hushpuppies and eggrolls.  Then it was cheesecake and chocolate cake for dessert. My son was intrigued by the name of the place, constantly wanting, well, M&M's.  He got a handfull from the bowl on the way out.

Walked around a bit more through some neighborhoods and out to a park built in 1921.  The land was donated, but the development of the park was provided by a fund raiser.  Less than $30 was raised, and thus the park was born.  The 1933 hurricane did tremendous damage to the area, destroying a hotel on the river and several blocks reclaimed by the river. 

It was to be a short visit and we got under way to head back around 15:15.  Though Oriental was out of season, and we only spent a couple of hours there, it was a nice visit.  I cannot but imagine that little harbor full of boats on race days.

The trip back was uneventful motoring and motorsailing.  When we left Oriental, the water was like glass - literally no wind at all.  Just South of the ferry crossing at Minnesott Beach, the light NE breeze started to fill in dead astern, and we were able to get a 1-1.3 or so knot boost by raising the genny.   The temperature dropped with the sun, of course, and the last couple of hours were cold to say the least.  Thanks to down cold weather gear from my mountaineering days, I stayed snug enough.

We tied back into the slip just before 21:00.  So we were underway about 11 hours to visit Oriental for about 2-1/2.  Sounds about right, to me.   

Tied in and snugging 'er down for the night, everyone was delightfully exhausted with our first "big" outing of the year.  Now looking forward for longer trips afield.

[AdriftAtSea]

Good post Capn S. Any photos??

[Frank]

Good for you's. Bet the kiddies had a blast and slept well. Keep it up and it ALL will seem rather 'normal' to them soon enough. Grog to ya's

[CapnK]

M&M's... I can see both him and Hunter staring at that bowl...

[s/v Faith]

Thanks for posting this John,

  Sounds like a nice trip.  I put Oriental high on my short list of small boat friendly towns.  I really like the way the town dock is set up, you may have noticed there is a small quay wall next to the town dock that is usually open... a SailFar size boat fits in there nicely if the main dock is full.

  The Oriental Trading company is a great place too.  They have an open door policy for dogs, and remembered Peter's name even after we had not visited in several months.  Great little town, and friendly folks.  The developers were starting to try to change that when I was last there, sounds like they have not yet succeeded.

[newt]

Nice post. When I read about Oriental it reminded me of some of the really great little towns that cater to cruisers and how they seem to be a dying breed.  What if we maintained a list of "The top 50 friendly towns to little boats"? That way they can be rewarded by having more of us visit ( and hopefully keep thier economy alive) I would nominate a few just off the top of my head.

[jotruk]

Great post Capt. really enjoyed the read. In the part of Tx. I live in aboutall you can do is lake sailing bet that can be fun also. As for the boater friendly list of small towns that would be good.

[rtbates]

here's Oriental's web page

http://www.towndock.net/aboutoriental.html

[Gus]

wow really cool, I love Oriental and the Pamlico! I meant to add, another cool place to go its Ocracoke, and don't forget the Pirates Sail to Cape Lookout, that's a really nice event to go to, with a ton of really cool people. Also in the board of NCsail.org, there's a lot of guys that sail out of Oriental, and they are always organizing trips everywhere.

Gus

[Captain Smollett]

One thing I forgot to add (I cannot believe I forgot to write this):

As we were leaving the inner harbor and passing the marina, my wife looked over and said, "wow, I REALLY like the lines on THAT boat."

It was, of course, an Alberg-30.   

[Frank]

One thing I forgot to add (I cannot believe I forgot to write this):

As we were leaving the inner harbor and passing the marina, my wife looked over and said, "wow, I REALLY like the lines on THAT boat."

It was, of course, an Alberg-30.