We survived the WIND!! 5/10/07

Hello All

Guess all of you have heard of or experienced the storm off the coast of North Carolina - it is now the first named storm of the season. We were holed up in Oriental, NC for several days - had sustained winds of about 30 - 35 MPH with gusts to about 50. Oriental has no tide under normal circumstances so the docks are fixed. As you can see from the pictures, the storm surge of several feet came to within inches of covering the docks. We had to constantly watch and change the fenders and also change our lines so that we had control from the boat instead of from the docks - in case we could not get off the boat. We never lost power but did lose internet coverage from time to time. Cell phone coverage was very almost non-existent.

We had fun anyway - there were several other loopers there along with other really nice folks. We ate together several times and generally made the best of it. If you have to be stuck, Oriental is a great place to do it. It is a very small town with about 900 residents and 1000 boats. The marina owner took all of us to the grocery and to a fresh food stand where the farmer actually picked the vegetables out of his garden for you - including strawberries. Probably the most interesting thing that happened was that the boat at the end of the dock by the street was waked by a garbage truck! What a hoot!

We are now in Coinjock about 50 miles south of Norfolk and expect to go on to Norfolk tomorrow. We had terrible fog leaving Alligator River Marina this morning - but an easy crossing of the Albemarle Sound - thank goodness. And yes, Ann, we are still south of the Mason Dixon Line.

Our love to all . . .

See you out there somewhere.

Ann & Rob

See you out there somewhere