12 October 2026 - Monday
Depart: Gale Creek anchorage NC 7:55
Arrive: Private Dock near New Bern NC 1:00
Distance: ~ 37 nm
We had a lovely view for sunrise this morning before pulling in the anchor and getting underway.
Our travels today were mostly mundane. Having traveled today's route multiple times, when not napping, I spent time reading. I figured if anything interesting happened, Clark would let me know one way or another, and indeed I sat up and paid attention as we came upon two trawlers in the waters ahead of us in the area of Pamlico Sound.
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| Micah Bell turning into our path |
Once it was clear he had stopped dead in the water to work nets, we just went around him. But, seriously??
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| Looking back at Micah Bell |
With that bit of excitement behind us, we continued on our way towards the Neuse River on our way to visit our friend Ralph who lives near New Bern, NC.
After that tiny bit of excitement, I was back to doing NY Times word puzzles or reading my book. We entered the creek to Fairfield Harbour and Ralph's house about 12:20. A sailboat was coming out of the waterway as we approached.
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| Pretty view! |
We passed the marina and then made our turn into Fairfield Harbour.
On the way to Ralph's, we passed by a cute tug at someone's dock. I had to take a picture.
Being a Monday, it was hard to know where to go out to get dinner. Most everything is closed on a Monday night. Ralph's son suggested we go to "Beartown Bistro" as he knew they would be open. They were indeed open, but getting there was a bit of a challenge. Significant road construction is underway near the restaurant to put in what Ralph referred to as a "Fly Over". Folks coming from western NC and heading for the Outer Banks will not have to deal with traffic lights in New Bern after the construction is completed.
Meanwhile, the road had numerous detours and barricades that made getting to the restaurant an adventure. Ultimately, Ralph made a U-turn to get there by driving through a gas station. We got there. Clark and I shared a pizza. All was good!
Before heading home, Ralph stopped at a local grocery store. While I ran in to grab a few things, Clark and Ralph stayed in the car to talk about VHF and UHF radios and such. Ralph had a net session scheduled for 7:30. Clark had a cell phone call of his own planned for about that same time.
Most boaters know that Clark is a wiz at looking into and pinpointing the cause of electrical problems on boats. He has been on more boats and diagnosed more issues than I can count or remember. However, he still manages to astound me. The phone call he had at 7:30 was with a boater located in Oregon! Clark reads several boaters' forums and had replied some time ago to this man's issue and asked him to trace the his pilot light neutral lines.
Clark had him remind him what the problem was they had discussed prior to the call. Fifteen minutes on the phone (max), and Clark had identified the boat's electrical problem. Apparently, the boat had incandescent pilot lights for the shore power breakers and for the inverter breakers both wired to the shore power neutral bus! When he touched the disconnected end of the shore power plug for the boat when the inverter was running, he got a shock. Clark had him separate out the incandescent pilot lights for the inverter and wire them to the inverter neutral bus, and voila! no shock. Another happy boater!
I was super surprised for two reasons: 1) Clark resolved the guy's issue in record time and 2) with the way Clark loves to talk, I would expect an hour on the phone at least even with the issue resolved!
13 October 2026 - Tuesday
No boat travel.
Today was a real lazy day. Clark and Ralph talked technical "stuff" that mostly passed over my head. I basically understood the conversation but had nothing of worth to add to the discussion. Some stories / adventures were recounted from our days doing America's Great Loop at the same time - that is how we met 10 years ago!
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| Ev at Ralph's house listening to Great Loop talk |
Sadly, I did not realize that with yesterday being a holiday, Ralph's granddaughters were off from school. I could have spent the afternoon doing crafts of some sort had I known. By the time I found out yesterday, they were running around at home, it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. So, it was suggested that the girls and their father join us for dinner out this evening at a place we have gone multiple times called "Sara's".
Knowing I would see the girls, I made up craft kits for making fall / Halloween season bracelets for each of them. I had an assortment of beads on the boat and picked out fall colors with orange as primary. I gave the gifts to the girls at the restaurant. Aurora stuffed hers, for safety, in her pants pocket. I hope she remembered to take the package out before putting the pants in the laundry. Some of her pizza landed on her pants!
They are a real treat to be around - reminds me of being with my own grandkids. With pleading eyes, they asked if we could stay longer. Sadly, no. Then they made me promise that next time we came it would be on a weekend. That is a promise that will be real hard to keep. Only time will tell.
14 October 2026 - Wednesday
Depart: Private dock near New Bern, NC 9:35
Arrive: Sugarloaf Island South anchorage near Morehead City, NC 2:35
Distance: ~ 35.5 nm
We had a relatively short ride today, only 5 hours, to position ourselves for an ocean run on Thursday.
Before leaving Ralph's house, we had some unexpected "entertainment". Ralph had his dock replaced. The work was just "completed" prior to our arrival. Ralph was excited to have us try out the dock and even checked with us to find out if we would fit between the poles as we are a bit on the wide size. We fit!
As we prepared to leave, several men showed up to do last minute work on the dock. Ralph did not expect them. He thought the job done! However, they had a few nails to put in the the rub rail material on the poles. This morning the water level was low enough they could see what they were working on and actually put nails in without having their hands to far submerged under water. The water level was quite high as recently as yesterday!
They asked us to push out boat off the dock to give them access. They had a ladder with them that they put in the water to use. I am not sure what happened with that as no sooner did the ladder go in the water than it came back out again. Then they drove in the stainless steel nails by leaning way over the edge of the dock.
It was entertaining to watch a worker dangle over the side of the dock while his buddy held onto his ankles (pants really) to be sure they did not go all the way in. Since they were literally "holding onto their pants", I hoped the belts were tight on the guy hanging over the edge! I cannot imagine hammering nails while hanging upside down with blood rushing to my head! As far as I could tell, no nails were lost during this activity!
With the nails hammered home, the guys disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. We said our farewells to Ralph with a last long hug for me, and we were on our way south once more.
I grabbed a few pictures along the way.
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| Looking back at the entrance to Fairfield Harbour Goodbye until next time |
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| Range marker at entrance to Fairfield Harbour, NC |
We encountered no surprises on the Neuse River. Once again, we listened to the radio station broadcast from Barnegat, NJ, WBNJ, as we traveled down the river. The ferry crossing the Neuse River runs every hour, so it was no surprise to see the ferries traveling back and forth.
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| Ferry on a sparkling Neuse River |
We tried to do some research for Core Creek and Adams Creek as to when would be the best time to travel to get a push from the water. Ralph even asked AI when we should leave and got an answer related to high and low tide. However, some other wind current factors must come in to play here because we got the opposite of what we wanted and the water gave us a slow ride the whole way to Morehead City. Sigh!
The view is the same through here as per every other trip we have taken. However, I did spy something watching us as we motored by on the waterway.
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| Looks like he may have been sitting here quite some time! |
Our friends, Beverly and Dave, that we normally visit when passing through this area have moved inland to Virginia! So, instead of staying at a marina, we dropped anchor in the Morehead City area.
Coming into the area, we heard a security call on the radio from a tug boat driver saying he was coming out. Eventually we encountered him just as Clark as approaching the highway bridge. Clark said, "No cutting corners here with that guy coming!" I grabbed a picture just after he passed by us.
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| Pamlico of Morehead City NC |
We passed some familiar territory as we approached the anchorage Clark chose for the night. Some things, even though I have seen them many times before, still catch my eyes.
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| Old brick tower on an island |
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| Factory silhouette |
The picture below does not show it well, but I took the picture to capture the poor condition of the wood comprising the bridge fender arrangement.
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| Bridge up! |
I have a hard time passing by a tug without taking a picture. It is a definite weakness!
We passed big ships and tall cranes at the port terminal.
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| Work boats and pleasure boats all around |
We had a windy day today and apparently the flag decided to cover itself up from the wind. I did not even try to unwind it. A few minutes later I looked at it again and it had unwound itself and was flying proudly as it should!
We knew we had a long day on the ocean planned for tomorrow, Thursday, and would need to get up with or before the sun to get going. Unfortunately, conditions at the anchorage were not conducive to an early night to bed. Clark was out on the bow of the boat until after midnight watching the anchor line.
With wind against current, the anchor line was perpendicular to the boat instead of straight out from the bow. Clark knew that when the current changed direction, that line would reposition itself and he wanted to be sure nothing bad happened when it did.
A couple of years ago, in Georgia, our anchor line was cut by a prop or other sharp object under our boat, and we ended up anchorless and drifting at 11:00 at night. Having played out that fire drill once, Clark was not anxious to do so again. To watch the anchor line's behavior, Clark stood on the bow which is directly over our stateroom. As I tried to get some sleep, I could hear him walking around out there. Finally, I must have just passed out because I never did hear him come to bed.
He said he watched until the anchor line successfully passed under the boat before coming inside sometime after midnight.
15 October 2026 - Thursday
Depart: Sugarloaf Island South anchorage, Morehead City, NC ~ 7:20
Arrive: Wrightsville Beach, NC anchorage ~ 5:45
Distance: ~ 73 nm
over 10 hours underway today
I was rudely awoken this morning sometime around 5:30 / 6:00 by wakes from fishing boats anxious to get their morning catch! With the boat rocking wildly from side to side, I held onto the bed so as not to roll off! I could hear some things crashing to the ground onboard and wondered what I would find out of place this morning. Fortunately, I found nothing damaged.
We saw the sun rise and then we were off and headed out into the ocean for the day.
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| Sunrise at Morehead City, NC |
The trip down the coast from the inlet at Beaufort to the inlet at Wrightsville Beach is too far offshore to see anything of the coast. At the furthest point we are just about 10 miles offshore. Today, with winds coming from a westerly direction, the waters near Beaufort consisted of a choppy 3 to 4' waves. The closer we got to the Masonboro Inlet, the lower the wave action.
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| View coming in to Wrightsville Beach |
Given we were close to 10 miles offshore, we decided to empty the holding tank. We were beyond the 3 mile line where we normally decided it is time to empty. I took the helm and Clark went to do the job. He came back some time later and said, "It didn't work!" We decided that we would need to visit a marina pumpout station before anchoring. In Wrightsville Beach that is easier said than done. Some places do not have them, and some have ones that work poorly or not at all.
Clark called around and found a place, Seapath yacht club, that said they had a working pump out machine, so we went there. When we pulled up for a pump out, the attendant said that the machine was giving them trouble - backing up into their sinks. Even so, they said we could "give it a try". We had no success, so we left to try elsewhere.
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| Sea Path fuel dock with turquoise building |
Clark knew of another option in Wrightsville Beach, so we headed there. When we came up to that dock, the fuel dock was almost fully occupied with big boats. The very friendly dockmaster told us to come back in the morning, and they would help us out. Disappointed yet again, we left to head to an anchorage and hoped for the best in the morning.
Some sort of a sailboat race was taking place as we headed towards the place Clark planned to drop anchor. At one point the sailboat in front seemed to lose their ability to steer. As I watched, I waited to see if they would flip the sailors into the river. The other boats all clogged up behind them and eventually managed to work around that boat to continue to sail. The troubled boat continued to wobble for a good long time until I could no longer see what was happening.
We had hoped to pump overboard in the ocean with plenty of time to arrive at our chosen anchorage before it filled up with other boaters. With all the mucking about looking for a place to empty the holding tank, it was much later than we hoped for. We did find a place and had the anchor down before the sunset.
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| Sailboat in anchorage at sunset |
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| Sun setting lights up windows opposite the sun |
16 October 2026 - Friday -- One Crappy Day
Depart: Wrightsville Beach, NC anchorage 8:30
Arrive: Harbour Point Yacht Club dock, Carolina Beach, NC 1:15
Distance: ~ 14 nm ( almost 5 hours elapsed time)
Having been told at Wrightsville Beach Marina that we could come in the morning for a pumpout, we headed there first thing. They opened at 7:00 but we waited a while to leave to be sure the dock would be available for us to pull up. Even though it was early morning, there was a lot of action on the waterway.
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| SUP followed by swimmers |
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| Swimmers in the waterway |
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| "Surfing" the river |
Perhaps the current was with a person on a SUP because he was moving. Clark slowed down for him as we got close. The SUPer was focused on his paddling. Our boat runs quietly. I wondered if he even knew we were coming up on him. I thought that if Clark blew the obnoxious horn on our boat that the guy would jump. lose balance, and go swimming.
Eventually, Clark did lightly tap the horn to get a squeak out of it. The guy turned to look at us and acknowledge that we were there. We pulled over to get to that marina, and the guy sped by.
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| Fast SUP |
When we arrived, we found that the dockmaster from the day before was not on duty. Instead we were greeted by a very nice young lady who helped tie us up and said the assistant dockmaster would assist with the pumpout.
Unfortunately, the assistant dockmaster was the most lackadaisical person I have ever met working on a dock. When we tried, the pumpout was not pumping for us. The levers for the pumpout nozzles were broken, so instead of being able to use our own fitting, we had to use their universal fitting which made leaking sounds. Also, it was clear that the dockmaster would rather we were gone. So, disappointed yet again, we left looking for Plan C or maybe Plan D at this point. I lost track.
Clark, having called / checked around ahead of time, said we would next head to the municipal marina in Carolina Beach and try there. He called as we moved along and was told that they did have a working pumpout with good suction. With fingers crossed, we targeted there as our next chance at success.
On the way there, I saw a wrecked dock with no access on our trip to Carolina Beach.
A cute Pilgrim tug was docked in Carolina Beach that said its home port was New Bern, NC.
The dockmaster at the municipal marina in Carolina Beach was the complete opposite of our experience at Wrightsville Beach Marina. He was patient and helpful. Our deck fitting for the pumpout is on the bow. We came stern in to the dock because the dockmaster thought the hose would be long enough to reach. Wrong! "Close but no cigar" as the saying goes. We tried tucking the boat in tighter to the dock and still no go - just inches off.
Finally, we decided to go out and come back in bow first.
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| Web of hoses - pumpout and water |
After all the messing about, we found the pumpout here did not work for us! After so many fails, it was clear that we had a clog in the system. We tried everything Clark knew to blow out / flush out the clog using a vacuum cleaner exhaust to apply pressure on the tank, put water down the out-take fitting on deck to see if it went down (it did not) and more.
Clark finally threw his hands up in the air and said he gave up. Well, that is disheartening. What now?? We left with no idea what to do next. Clark decided to call a technical contact for the maker of our brand of boat to ask for ideas on what to to. He pointed Clark in the direction of how to clear the clog.
Our next challenge was tying up at a dock at Harbour Point Yacht Club. We have friends with a boat here and they helped us get a dock for the night. Space was limited at the dock and Clark decided to dock with lines to the starboard side to allow the bow to hang out beyond the dock. Thus, docking became a battle!
We had wind and current taking us away from the dock. A boater there, Dave, came over to assist and working together we managed to get lines on sufficient that we could get off the boat and work to improve the line arrangement. We fought for an hour getting things positioned in an acceptable manner - not great but good enough. As we finished the job, I realized that we had traveled only 14 nm today, and it had taken 5 hours to get here!
Clark was so focused on figuring out the pumpout problem that he "forgot" to eat. I finally managed around 3:00 to get some lunch in him. The food sat on the table for an hour waiting for him to become available. He was busy on the phone gathering suggestions on how to tackle the problem.
To add to our "enjoyment", the temperatures the last couple of days made record highs in North Carolina with 90 as the new high on this date. Working on the pumpout problem in the heat has not been fun. At one point I became light-headed and had to take a break to recover.
The two of us spent all day into the evening. Clark spent his time in a hold in our stateroom where the holding tank resides trying to dislodge the clog. The access to the holding tank is located under the hardwood floors in our stateroom with a built-in bureau / dresser located on top. The disgusting suggestion from the tech was for Clark to put a plastic bag over his arm and reach into the access hole to dislodge the clog. Clark could only get his arm in up to his elbow and that was not far enough.
He tried using a metal hanger to reach in to remove the clog. No success. I suggested he use a tool that has pinchers to pick up hard-to-reach objects. Surprisingly, he thought that was a good idea. It appears that I do have a good idea once in a while! Unfortunately, although he pulled up bits of stuff that might have once been toilet paper, he got nothing significant for all his work.
Finally, he decided to try the vacuum cleaner approach again. He decided to force air into the tank using a paper towel to help seal the vacuum cleaner hose to the sanitation hose with hopes that it would dislodge the clog. I had visions of crap flying out the top of the tank into our stateroom. At first nothing happened, and then, we heard a glug and another glug. Some small amount of brown fluid did spew into the air. Boating is such fun!
Regardless of the smells and spills, Clark was happy. The holding tank burping was good news. He blew air in a second time with the same result, i.e. more burps and bubbles. Lowering the hose below the tank level, he got a good flow into a bucket. He decided that we could go back to the pumpout station tomorrow with expected success at emptying the tank. He put Saran wrap over the hole in the tank, held in place with two elastic bands, to prevent odors from escaping the tank overnight as we slept in the room with the tank under it.
The dockmaster told us that if we got the clog figured out to come back. With the holding tank having made reassuring burping sounds, we planned to head back to the dock tomorrow for yet another try!
In the evening I took some pictures as the sun set over the marina. Unwilling to add anything to the holding tank given our inconvenient situation, we made use of the facilities at the marina. It was a long walk on the docks with pretty views.
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| Marina pool |
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| Pond with fountain next door to yacht clubhouse |
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| Heron fishing at the marina |
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| Sunsetting over the condos near the marina |
17 October 2026
Depart: Yacht Club dock 8:35
Arrive: Yacht Club dock 10:00
What a difference one day can make! Yesterday we had record high temperatures. A nor-easter blew in overnight, and today I am in long pants and a fleece jacket and I am still chilly!
We weren't sure what time the municipal marina would be open for a pumpout. Clark called and was told to arrive around 9:00. The dockmaster was busy but could meet us at that time. Having been there the day before, we knew the lay of the land and how to tie up, etc. We arrived, got ourselves situated, and then, having completed his errand, the dockmaster came out to assist us.
Success!!! Clark said, "You have no idea how happy I am right now!" Overnight we were peeing in a bucket. To say I was happy as well would be a gross understatement. Just because it was flowing did not necessarily mean we were "in the clear". Clark said he would be able to tell based on the behavior of the pumpout if he hit a clog or it stopped because it had completed the job. Fortunately, it was the latter result! Yay!
Half an hour after we arrived at the dock, we were underway back to the yacht club! A weather system was coming in today, and we were glad we had the trip for the pumpout out of the way. Yesterday, when we docked, we tied up to our port side. Today, I convinced Clark that we had room to dock with the bow facing north with a starboard side tie. Unlike yesterday, when someone ran over to help with the lines, today no one was about at the yacht club.
I managed to get three lines on - enough to have the boat secure and allow us to work the lines until we had the boat the way we wanted. Winds were gusting to 20 knots and pushing us away from the dock, so it was a bit of a battle to get the boat where we wanted it.
Before the incident with the holding tank, I planned to relax and enjoy some time catching up on the blog. I finally got the chance to sit down with my computer! I worked on updating the blog until 4:00 when it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. Our friends, Trish and Steve, that we came here to visit would be picking us up to take us to a restaurant. We ate at a restaurant called "Salt Fish" that is so popular in the summer it is hard to get a reservation.
On the way to the restaurant, Clark had Steve stop at an Ace hardware store to pick up a plug for the holding tank to cover the hole where the sensor was located. The sensor will be reinstalled later once we are sure everything is working. The stop at Ace took such a short amount of time that Steve drove around town for 20 minutes to show us parts of Carolina Beach we had not seen before. We arrived at the restaurant at 5:00 for our reservation and had a very nice, Mediterranean-style dinner.
Steve dropped us off at the marina after dinner, and on the walk back to the boat, we enjoyed some views of the marina with the weather coming in - more than a little cloudy this evening.
Upon reaching the boat, Clark immediately went to install his plug in the holding tank. This has been one pump out to remember, and the job is not done yet. He wants to monitor the situation before completely reassembling the holding tank sensor that indicates the fullness of the tank. The job that just will not end!!
We do not have enough electrical power from the nearby pedestal to run heat on the boat tonight. It's time to bundle up and add blankets!
