November 5, 2011.

First off, Happy Birthday to our now 25 year old jar of Skippy peanut butter. You may have to go back to March 6th of 2010 to make sense of our having an antique jar of cremey peanuty goodness aboard.

Although Oriental is one of our favorite stops along the east coast it wouldn't be possible for us to stay as long as we do without the generosity of our friends Ken & Carol. We sneak all the way up Whittaker Creek and tie up behind their home. Most places we stop we tend to anchor out. Unfortunately, the only downside to Oriental is the anchorage itself. The space inside the seawall is pretty tight with room for a half dozen, short scoped, tightly spaced boats. Outside the seawall you can get as many boats in as the wind direction will allow.

Besides taking a slip there is one more alternative for those trawlers or sailors with shorter masts. If you can squeeze under the 45 foot tall fixed bridge adjacent to the harbor you can have a bit more room to swing at anchor.

Our friends Bess & Bill on Alibi II took this option and squeaked under the bridge when they got here. They are a 32 foot ketch with a mast height of about 42 feet. Unfortunately there is a down side.....

There’s really no tidal range here in Oriental. BUT when the wind blows out of the north through east northeast the water gets piled up in the Neuse River. Since the Alibis arrived, its been blowing a bit of a hoolie. Its been honking anywhere from 20 to 45 knots for 30 hours and the water is 3 or 4 feet higher than usual. They're pretty much trapped behind the bridge. They're not in any danger but they're stuck there until the wind abates a bit.

Since we've been here we've completed a lot of boat chores, enjoyed a lot of socializing, attended the nautical flea market

and pretty much walked around town waiting for the wind to die down a bit.