Oriental, NC

Arriving in Oriental we knew we would be dealing with fixed docks, as opposed to floating docks. From this point south almost all of the docks are floating meaning they rise and fall with the bigs tides, and you tie the boat up to the dock. The further north you go, the tides become much less, thus the fixed dock. HOWEVER, this is a whole type of docking thing. You have to lasso your lines around pilings (large poles in the water) and 4 of them. - 2 on either side of the front of the boat and 2 on either side of the back. Getting the boat set up for this is an entirely new exercise - first time for us!! The dock hands were there to help us, and there was very little wind. Unfortunately, there was a lovely lawn and sitting area right in front of the docks, so we provided the happy hour entertainment that evening. Of course, Alan is driving, so it is up to me to get those lines secured!! It actually went pretty well as I was inspired when one of the dock hands told me it was time to channel Annie Oakley. You would have been proud!! However, the finger dock was pretty short, so the only way we could get off the dock was to jump down to our 5 step ladder. This was not going to work for Sam, so Alan would stand at the very front of the boat, put Sam's collar on, and then Sam would jump to the dock. It was quite a jump and he was the star of the marina. Though he was pretty hot stuff!! To get back on, Alan got him to walk to the top of the step ladder and then he would jump over to the walkway on the side of the boat. He has gained soooo much confidence and now is anxious to show off whenever he can. He has come such a long way!! Then there's Ted - whatever, whenever, just as long as Mom has me it's all cool. We soon realized that when we had made a trip to Otiental, about 18 yrs ago, we had stayed at the Inn attached to this marina. That was in our sailing days, and Oriental was/is Mecca for sailors. What a walk down memory lane!!! We met some friends there who we had previously met in Jekyll. They are also relative newbies and doing the Loop so we decided to buddy up for the run to Bellhaven. It's always nice to have a buddy boat. Oriental is a charming, quaint little village and everyone so sooooo nice!!

 

 

 

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