We left Swansboro thinking we would end up in Morehead City or Beaufort - two of our favorite NC towns. We had hoped we could work our way up the Core Banks to visit our old neighbors in Sea Level. Unfortunately it seems there has been a lot of shoaling on that route, so we made a quick decision to skip our old familiar haunts in favor of Oriental, a town we had visited before, but wanted to get to know better.
We arrived in early afternoon at Deaton's Marine, and had our first opportunity (?) to parallel park. With just about as much space between boats as between cars, we maneuvered our boat into its slip, and only heard one soft 'clunk' (but no damage!) We called our friends from NJ, Ron and Louise (Nock) Stevens. They were out, so we left a message and took our bikes into town. A long iced tea break at M&M's Cafe, and we were ready for a long ride, so we set out to see if we could remember where their house was. We remembered that it was on the water (see picture of dock from their deck), but the house had changed so much (a huge redo project) we didn't recognize it. But we had no sooner passed the house than Louise called! We spent that evening with them and their friend Lisa at a new development / marina north of town called River Dunes. Louise works there part time, but also takes care of their ponies. Great food, great conversation (fortunately we're all on a similar page when it comes to politics) and a beautiful night!
On Sunday, Bill met Ron and Louise at The Bean for early coffee. Later, Bill and I rode into town to partake of M&M's steamed jumbo crabs. We biked to Louise and Ron's for another delicious dinner (see photo of the 4 of us, taken by Lisa, that will give you some idea of the feast we had). All in all, an absolutely perfect holiday weekend! Thanks, Louise and Ron!
Monday morning we headed for Belle Haven. Not much of a town, and completely deserted on the holiday. We anchored in a wide open area and bounced all night, even after resetting the anchor. Took off at sunrise (see photo) headed for Elizabeth City and the Dismal Swamp.
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