Days 345 - 350

Oriental NC - Belhaven NC

• Start 6:30 AM
• End 11:35 AM
• Underway 5:15 Hours
• Distance 43 Miles
• Total Miles on Trip 5615
• Av Speed 8.1 knots
• Weather Cloudy , 75 Degrees, Wind 9 Knots SSW

Looking at the weather we decided that an early start should get us to Belhaven before the Neuse River and the Pamlico Sound started to get rough. We pulled off the docks at 6:30am, along with almost all of the other transient boats. Everyone seemed to have the same idea. The Neuse River and the Pamlico Sound were as flat as could be and I wondered if we had really needed to leave that early. Later on Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) spoke with Jim & Norma (Dorothy Gale), who arrived at Oriental around 11am, and they said the Neuse was getting pretty rough. They only had to cross 5 miles of it, and we had gone down it 15 miles. I am glad we left when we did. Always remember, it is better to be tied to a dock, wishing you were underway, than underway wishing you were tied to a dock.

River Forrest Marina in Belhaven, that primarily serves transient boats. The marina does not have much to offer and normally we would not have chosen to stay here for six days, but with the weather forecast there is not much choice. They do have three golf carts, and we can use them at any time. There is a small main street in town with restaurants and shops, which we did visit.

I also took advantage of our down time to do some maintenance. We have run 196 hours since our last oil change, and Caterpillar recommends changing the oil every 200 hours. This will be the oil change of the trip. It is not very difficult changing the oil, but the logistics can make it seem like it is. The first hurdle is getting the oil and the filters, the engines hold 16 quarts each, but the biggest hurdle is disposing of the waste oil. Many of the marinas along the way will take the used oil, Belhaven does not. The oil that we use (Shell Rotellla) has been hard to find on this trip. I am not sure if it is covid related, or what is causing it, but it has been a hot topic on many of the boating forums. Knowing that I needed to change the oil, I have been stocking up on it, and had enough on hand for the job. I also found an AutoZone, that was close enough to take the golf cart to, that takes and disposes of used oil. With all of the logistical problems resolved, I took a couple of hours and changed the oil. This should last me not only the trip, but the rest of the season as well.

River Forest Marina, also has a wedding venue, and Wednesday they set up a tent for a wedding scheduled for Friday. Of course the wedding is scheduled for after we leave, I would have loved to crash the wedding. We crashed on Prom, why not a wedding!

Our next stop is Columbia NC, on the Alligator River.