Oriental, NC

Thursday October 24, 2013
35 01.787 N
76 40.893 W

Another Small Craft Advisory this morning but we were in rather protected water and had a pretty easy time of it. By the afternoon the wind (as little as it was) had settled down again.  We only had 42 SM planned so arrived at Oriental by 3:15 PM. Oriental is a popular boating destination, although mainly for sailing boats.

Overall the weather has been pretty decent although it is getting rather cool. Tonight we are expecting the temp to fall into the low 40s. In weather like this we operate the boat from the Pilot House and usually have a small electric heater running. If I am lucky (and I usually am) Deidre makes hot chocolate for morning tea and tomato soup for lunch.

Sometimes the little heater is just not enough

We virtually had the marina to ourselves. After cocktails and sunset on the marina porch we borrowed the marina car and headed into town for beer and pizza. Since there are ten in the group and two of those are way over 6' tall, we made two trips each way. And also because of our number (and that we looked like a bunch of noisy old farts), the restaurant put us in our own room.