Belhaven NC. In the rain.

11/2/15   Monday

David here:
We are still in Belhaven, NC. It rained and rained and rained and rained today. Visibility was pretty limited. We saw several boats come into the harbor, but we sure did not see them from far off. We might have had almost one mile visibility on the water.

We spent the morning going slowly, reading and puttering. We made arrangements with Pat and Kathy Tesh (cousins) to meet for supper, and with the town harbormaster to dock, so early afternoon when the local weather radar suggested a break in the rain we hauled the anchor (this time the CQR was deeply set and we had to work to get it free) and motored to the town dock where we would pay $35 for the night. As we arrived someone waved at us from a nearby road and next thing we knew, the chief of police was next to the dock, out of his car and helping us tie up to the dock!

He said he enjoyed seeing all the different boats that come through. We offered him a tour of GRACE, but he declined. We said our final thank yous and good byes and he was back in his car and left. Nice.

The dock was brand new with beautiful decking and tie offs and easy on and off, right across the street from "downtown." Nancy's additions: Town is very small. We found a couple places for lunch and enjoyed one of them, a hardware store that was terrific and a consignment store. Also, insurance, lawyers, etc but 4 blocks of town. Oh, David said all that next paragraph.

We toured the nearby downtown and had lunch at a place full of the locals. Then to a hardware store and back to the boat. In the process, we learned that the place to refill our propane tank was closer to the FREE town dock (Huh? Free?) and so we called the harbormaster, told him our plans to move closer to the propane station and asked if we owed anything for our lunch time stop. "Nope, all set." So off we went to the free dock upriver.

Nice docks, but the type where you must navigate into a "slip" defined by four pilings in a square and your bow is close to the main pier. The task is to tie off to all four pilings and suspend the boat in between all, but done in a manner that you can reach a small finger pier to be able to get on and off the boat.

Tying off: I have observed others tying dock lines around all four of the pilings. Then they have problems getting untied when they depart, with docklines getting caught on the wooden pilings, etc.

I think the trick here is to prepare two very long lines for the aft end, tie off one end of each at your stern. Then throw loops of each free end of the lines over and around each of the two outer most pilings and return the bitter end of the loop back on board. Controlling these aft lines, one person can keep paying out both lines while helmsperson moves foward, very slowly, until the bow is near the dock, then aft person ties off the stern lines and goes forward. Then that person (or someone ashore) secures two forwad lines on the pier side pilings. Thereafter the engine can be shut down. Then one person aft and one forward coordinate to adjust the lines to get the boat positioned and secured.  This way, when we depart, we can untie the forward (dockside) lines, climb aboard, pull ourselves back, untie one end of each of the aft piling lines and pull the lines from around and off the pilings. Away we go.  I doubt I made that clear. Oh lord, for a good Youtube demonstration.

Anyway, once we were tied off I went ashore to see how far to the propane place and for directions for Pat and Kathy to pick us up. You know the saying; "you get what you pay for." Well, the main pier was quite good, and extended out pretty far to get to deep water. Once I got to the land end of the pier I discovered the land end was at the beginning of a marsh (once a park? picnic table there) and field. Off in the distance I could see the road. Walking through the rain soaked field with water up to 6" deep I finally came to a small parking area, crossed a railroad track at an unmarked crossing next to the road and saw the gas station selling propane up the road a piece and a stop light about a half mile the other way. Hey! Small town.

Walking back, in the rain, walking through the puddles and wet grass, I smiled to myself and smirked at Nancy when I got back to the boat. "My guess is Pat and Kathy will not likely be visiting us to see the boat before supper."

We eventually explained the situation to Pat and Kathy and made arrangements to meet them at the road, we in our boots and foul weather gear. We met up and the four of us went off to Belhaven to a most elegant and amazing restaurant (foul weather gear left in their van - thank you!) and had great meals and conversation. Pat and Kathy dropped us off and we trudged back to the boat flashlights in hand and are now happily bedded down for the night. Thank you Pat and Kathy for picking up groceries and for visiting. Nancy is already asleep and I am next. Good night all!

Nancy in purple: I'll add photo of our free dock in the scenic boonies. Actually, I DO like this even though it is not visitor friendly.

With all the rain, gentle mostly, we're identified some leaks, topsides, that we didn't know about or had conveniently forgotten - one over the cook stove (we wanted to replace that hatch for more light anyway, put it on the list), we knew our portlights were a bit funky and that was demonstrated, the skylight hatch over the pilot house seriously needs to have the glass reset (on the list which is getting longer and longer). On my list is to tighten up the curtains I made 2 years ago so they aren't so baggy. Oh well, when we are parked for a couple days.

We're rethinking the length of our stay in Beaufort due to annual weather predictions that indicate that it starts getting colder in mid-November. Perhaps to be in Wilmington area by Thanksgiving. So, need to get our calendars out and make sure we can get all our visits arranged.