We buzzed down to Oriental on Thursday for a long weekend. The weather looked nice enough, so we set out to Ocracoke on Friday morning....the wind was great, we were making 8+ knots part of the way (really good speed...) but the air was a little chilly. Here's my solution.

More "chilly sailing solution" - hot soup! Here is our gimbaled stove - the stove is level in this photo - the rest of the boat is not!


Soup ready to be eaten on deck - really warmed us up!



Soon, the sun peeked out and the air was very nice. I hung our string of colorful flags..



Aren't they pretty!



Land ho! after 7 hours, the sandbar near Ocracoke comes into view.



The ferry uses the same channel....


We were apparently entertainment for the folks on the ferry - they all waved as they went by...



Going, going, gone - they were faster than we were...



This is the view going into Silver Lake at Ocracoke, very quaint.


Glory Days all cozy on the dock.


We got the boat situated an took off on foot for our favorite establishments.....Howard's Pub....I was kindof thinking I'd order a soft-shell crab sandwich, but alas, they are out of season. So I opted for a crab cake sandwich and the naughty fries. (And the hefeweizen beer....) Yum and so much for the diet!






The interior of Howard's - eclectic, I think they call it....



Then it was a walk back to the Pelican - another favorite...
They had installed a pool table since we were there last.


A nice 2 person band was playing low key, oldies.

Duane and I played a game of darts

Here I'm giving Duane the "OK" signal for some reason.


Duane explaining about some wonderful shot, I'm sure.


I think this was a shot of Duane's winning throw.

He won, but not by THAT much!!


Back to the boat....long day!



We had a nice sail back on Saturday before a big storm system moved in. I felt a little queasy, so I didn't take any photos.


Here I snapped a photo of the new addition at the marina. They are adding about 100 slips to the marina - pretty amazing process to add a deep hole where none existed before!