Broken Down in Belhaven

—Blogpost written by Bob

This stop in Belhaven NC was unplanned--it resulted from the breakage of our propeller shaft while on the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal.  S/v Rainy Days was towed to the River Forest Boatyard several days ago and her repair was underway.

Friday, May 29

Rain continued from yesterday into today. We were tired of the continuous rain and really bored with reading and watching TV shows indoors. 

For a very brief time the clouds cleared and the sun came out at mid-morning. I stopped at the boatyard during the clearing and tried to get an update on the progress on our boat. It was reported that the new shaft had been made but the new bushing and boring out of the propeller hub was not completed yet.

We purchased “take out” food from a restaurant in downtown Belhaven (O’Neils) for lunch and watched another one of many episodes of Law and Order on TV in the afternoon.  We were really bored!

We watched at least six continuous
episodes of Law and Order
Criminal Intent.

The rain continued most of the day.  Will it rain tomorrow too?

Saturday, May 30

The rain finally cleared up at mid-morning while we were on our way driving to New Bern to meet boating friends, Mary & Dick. (Our secondary purpose was to evaluate New Bern as a potential place for us to stay next winter.)

Mary & Dick had two big life changes over this past winter: (1) they sold two hybrid cars and purchased a new Tesla Model 3 and (2) they adopted a cute 1-year old dog (named Harper) from a shelter, not having had a dog previously.  (I think they heard their life’s clock ticking.)

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As far as New Bern was concerned, it was a pretty town with lots of activities. However, the water was black (like oil) and there was no boater’s lounge (which we would have liked) but there were lots of nice restaurants within walking distance.  (We visited a workshop that was open to the public for classes or for use at $10 per hour.)  New Bern would be a short trip down the ICW which we were searching for but it doesn’t quite suit us. 

We decided to continue searching for alternative places to spend next winter, with or without our boat. 

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The George Floyd murder and subsequent demonstrations has been the focus of the news the last few days.  I was glad to see that murder charges were finally brought against the policeman who actually committed the crime but the other three policemen who stood by and watched need to be charged too. There was no excuse for someone dying at the hands of an over zealous street cop for allegedly passing along a counterfeit $20 bill!

Sunday, May 31

Today was sunny and beautiful with a strong breeze out of the north.  We decided to drive to the Outer Banks for a little excursion.

The drive to the outer banks took us through the farming area of eastern North Carolina.  The sizes of the field and the farms were difficult to comprehend--they were huge!  The soil was a dark black color and it seemed very fertile.  Corn and soybeans were the principal crops.

One of the smaller fields recently
planted in corn.

Based on the 2-hour drive I also made some observations on the housing.  About 60% of the homes in eastern North Carolina seemed to be mobile homes, even some farmers lived in mobile homes.  About 35% were modest (average size) homes while the remaining 5% (or less) were very large homes (greater than 3,000 square feet).

When we got to the outer banks, we stopped for a quick lunch to go (a sub from Jersey Mikes) and a little later we bought some ice cream.   About 50% of the people we saw wore face masks.  I've never been impressed with the outer banks and today's visit did little to change my opinion.  

We got back to the cottage at 2:45 PM

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Stay tuned for the progress of our sailboat repairs...


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