Harbor Village Marina

Today is a big improvement being a Monday all the weekend boats are gone. So much more pleasant out on the water. We see lots of dolphins.

 

Leaving Spooner Creek

Out on the ICW in Bogue Sound

Escort

We text back and forth with Bret at Harbor Village to work out docking details. It is suppose to be blowing 20 knots or more tomorrow and I am concerned that the Figure 8 Swing Bridge may not open. We have the option to stay another two days if the winds are too high in the morning. We have a nice warn summer like full moon night.

Camp Lejeune

Harbor Village

Harbor Village, Full Moon

 

Today's trip

https://www.relive.cc/view/vXOnKxkmw56

Spooner Creek

Early morning start

We head to our old favorite anchorage in Spooner Creek. Not a lot of anchoring room here and a shallow entrance to this bulkhead lined creek with lots of nice homes. We have hid out here from some nasty weather, but to day has been quite nice. When we arrive at 2:15PM there are two Canadian Trawlers rafted together. Between them and us there is not much room left for any more boats. I have to reset our anchor once to keep a comfortable distance off adjacent docks. We relax and work on our computers for the rest of the afternoon. I make a reservation at Harbor Village Marina for tomorrow evening.

Two ferries heading to Stirup Cay in the Bahamas at Morehead City

Arriving Spooner Creek

Mark & Karen

We get up early to go to breakfast at Bakers Kitchen in New Bern. 

 

Early morning on the creek

 Bakers Kitchen in New Bern

 

We always go there for breakfast when we visit Mark and Karen. Did some food shopping for the boat at Harris Teeter, Publix and Food Lion. Also made a stop at West Marine for a new breaker switch for the shower sump pump. In the afternoon Karen and Linda do some additional shopping and I work further on the sump pump. I discover the original breaker is fine, there was a missing screw on the power bus.

Mark & Karen had their home raised after Hurricane Florence in 2018

"Sea Vu Play" in Mark & Karen's back yard

For dinner we are invited to Jim & Leah’s, our dock hosts. Leah made a fabulous dinner in their beautiful open kitchen.

Linda, Karen, Mark, Jim and Leah

I make the decision to leave a day early to get ahead of tropical storm Nicole coming up the east coast. We plan to leave around 7:00AM since sun rise is now 6:30am. Saturday night is the Daylight Saving Time switch.

Mark & Karen

We sleep in to 8:00am since we have a short trip today . We pull up the anchor by 9:00.

Leaving Goose Creek

We stop at Northwest Creek Marina for a pumpout, before we proceed into Fairfield Harbor where Mark and Karen’s house is with their boat in the backyard. Although I consider that side the front yard. We will be using their neighbors dock for a few days. I don’t gracefully dock, but Mark and Karen haul us in to tie up. After lunch I work out figuring our why our shower sump pump is not working.

Mark and Karen's home on the left, neighbors dock in the center, were we will tie up.

For dinner Karen makes us Shrimp & Grits, very good, and then we play cards for the evening.

Goose Creek

We have a leisurely morning. Linda meets the owner of the Trawler we saw on the docks with the home port of Bend Oregon on it. They are leaving their boat here for the winter and heading home to ski. They had a very interesting conversation about driving to Alaska and Nova Scotia and the advantage of doing it in a small RV like the one we just bought.

Manana at River Dunes

 

We head to the Cafe “Yawls” for breakfast. We leave at 11:30 and head up the Neuse River, enjoying another sunny afternoon with good wind. Later we anchor in another Goose Creek. We have the creek to ourselves and enjoy a quite evening. Make pizza for dinner.

Leaving River Dunes

 

Ferry crossing the Neuse River

Today's trip Video (click bottom Right for full screen)

https://www.relive.cc/view/vAOZoojA9o6

Location

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River Dunes

Cool morning, we regret that we took off the electric blankets. Linda finally sees her first dolphin today. We get some late morning sailing across the Pamlico River and down Goose Creek before we head back into the ICW. When we pop out on the Bay River in the Pamlico Sound we get to sail again. We arrive at River Dunes around 2:45. We pull into the fuel dock to get diesel, but their pump out is not working. Then we move to a T-dock for the night. Most of the docks are full with long term rentals and the have few spaces for transient boaters. Unlike 6 years ago when we discovered River Dunes in some nasty weather. They filled all the, then many empty slips with cruisers looking for a place to hide out. They reopened the closed restaurant and served some fabulous dinners for the next three days.

We are disappointed to see the sign on the door saying the restaurant is only open on Friday and Saturday. We walk over to the Cafe which also has very good dining options but they are closed for two days, open tomorrow. When we check in at the marina office they tell us that the restaurant is open for dinner. I talk with the restaurant staff and tell them about the sign and they said that been wrong for a while. I said give me a magic marker and I will take care of that. They are not too concerned since all the locals know its open.

We shower and get dressed up for dinner, no T-shirts, collars shirts required. We have a reservation for dinner at 6:00PM and find a fairly full restaurant. The menu was somewhat limited from their regular menu, but still lots of good choices. Tonight is ½ price hamburger night, which is what Linda wanted and I get the same. These hamburgers have so much stuff on them we have to eat them with a knife and fork. A woman at the next table, obviously a regular, orders all her toppings on a separate plate and an ungarnished hamburger. Why didn’t I think of that!

 

Linda with the hostess

Dining room

River Dunes

 

 

Bellhaven

 

 

We pull up the anchor at 8:00AM and are the last boat to leave from here and the other nearby anchorages. We have mixed clouds and sunshine, but it is warm. After an hour I see some object moving in the canal and as we get closer I see it is a bear swimming across the canal. From what I hear this is a common occurrence, but it is the first time we have seem one. I slow down and give him/her the right of way. We then watch him scramble up the bank and into the woods. I don’t know if there are alligators here any more, but I guess the bear wasn’t concerned. 

 

 

Tuckahoe Point morning

Swimming Bear Naked

We reach Belhaven around 1:15. We tried to stop here on our last trip, but anchored for two cold rainy days and never went ashore. This time we go in to check out Belhaven. Most of the few restaurants are closed today. The Fish Hook Cafe opens at 5:00 for dinner and we have dinner there. We split a dinner of lightly fried scallops and oysters. We have Hatteras clam chowder, a broth chowder. Not bad, but not New England cream based chowder. On the other hand you can’t hide the lack of clams with cream and potatoes. After dinner we cross the street to a nice little ice cream shop for dessert.

Belhaven sunset, Manana

Ice Cream around the fireplace (fake)