Home again, home again

Here we are back in Oriental, the place we stayed a month until five days ago when we sailed to Orcacoke.

Okay, while on a bicycle ride here, I saw what I think is a Luna moth. 

I think it was dangling on the grasses and laying eggs.

 

 

While Tom was gone I spent quite a bit of time in this little park in these chairs or at the Bean where you get coffee in the morning or ice cream in the afternoon - a great business combination.  It's usually crowded until 7 at night.

You might want to see what it's like back in the boat.  Pretty comfortable, except when it's too warm.  We had the A/C running the whole time we were here so we always had a cool place to escape to.

 

This is how our boat looked just after we arrived in Ocrakoke. 

 

 

The foresail was in a bundle on the bow and books were tumbled to the floor down below.    We had started out sailing.  It was a beautiful day and the sails had us going between 5 and 6 knots.    Finally, we said, we will be sailors and use them to get from one place to another.   But no.   About half way there, we noticed a storm off to the north, "going away from us."   All of a sudden, winds went from 14 to 20 and on up to 28 knots.   Our sails weren't reefed (shortened in preparation for heavier wind) so we decided to take them down.   But couldn't!    Our lazy jack lines were loosely tied and one of them got twisted with a jib trim line, once again ripping out several feet of fabric on the leech (rear) side of the sail.     Tom courageously went to the foredeck  and manually brought the foresail down while I steered.   And since the lazy jack lines were not taut, when we brought the mainsail down, the mainsail didn't go into its mack pack pocket; it draped over the boom 'til Tom could get them tucked in.   After that half hour or so of gathering and tucking, we motored the rest of the way to Ocrakoke, arriving about dusk.    We were so grateful for the protected anchorage where we could just sit back and feel safe 'til the next day when we regrouped.   

 

You can only reach Ocrakoke by boat.  The small body of water, called Silver Lake, where we anchored is also the basin where two sets of ferries come in.

 
We loved having our bicycles to take us around.  The last day there, we biked to the beach.   The water is clear.   When we swam, the water was just right - not cold and not warm.
 

 

 

 
The last night we were there, it was windy and a little moody, making for a dramatic sunset.
 
After getting our rigging back in shape and hearing that the wind would be coming from the northeast (behind us if sailing southwest), we left Ocracoke on Saturday.  Thinking the wind would be 14 + and maybe gusting higher again,  we followed the lead of another sailer who left just before us and reefed our sails just as we set out.   And for a while that worked great - we were making 6-7 knots in 14-15 miles wind.   But the wind got lighter and lighter.  We put the sails out fully and sailed a while.  But by half way up the course, the wind was down to 5 so we turned on the engine, left the foresail out and stayed at about 5 knots.   We arrived back to what feels a little like home now - Oriental - where we had sailed from.  
 
The town has a town dock where boats can stay up to 48 hours, right in front of the Bean coffee/ice cream shop I've mentioned.  We were so lucky that one of the two large spaces here was empty when we pulled up. 
 
So here we are again, going to  our familiar grocery store and favorite restaurant, looking for sailing gear nearby.  
 

 
 
This will be our second night here tonight.   Last night the Lady Susie shrimp boat was docked across the way from us.  With all the lights and colors, she looked like a carnival ride.   But some young women have just come and seen off some of the crew members just now and she's gone back out.  Kinda fun to watch them be and come and go.
 
Tomorrow, we plan to head over  to Beaufort, North Carolina and anchor there in town for a couple of days.   Out the inlet from there, is Cape Lookout where the outer bank island hooks around to form a safe harbor.  There the water is said to be beautiful and the beaches pristine.   We plan to stay there a bit 'til we get to urge to get on down the road.