April 25th

We arrived in Oriental, NC on the 23rd. The marina is small with less than a dozen slips which were primarily occupied by Looper boats. The marina also has an Inn and pool. That evening the Loopers gathered at the pool for Docktails and appetizers and then we individually had dinner on our boats.\The next day was sunny and warm so a couple of us walked to Piggly Wiggly to stock up on groceries. They provide a "Piglet Shuttle" to take us back to the marina with our groceries which was very convenient. That afternoon we sat at the pool for a while before getting cleaned up for docktails on Evan and Michael's "Strummin' Along" with 2 other couples. The 4 couples then went to a great little restaurant called M&M Cafe.

This morning "The Next Chapter, "Strummin' Along and L'Attitude Adjustment set off at 7:30 to head for Belhaven Marina. Much of the trip was across Neuse River which is a wide open space connected to the Atlantic. The water was much rougher, with 4 foot waves, than we had expected. But our able captains got us to Belhaven safely without any episodes of sea sickness. Tomorrow is a day off and then we head to Alligator River Marina before we head out into Abermale Sound towards the outer banks. Abermale Sound has a reputation for being very rough so we will see if it is worse than Lake Okeechobee or Neuse River  








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