Belhaven to River Dunes

Our goal, when leaving the Chesapeake, was to reach Oriental (River Dunes in this case) by Nov. 4th so we could leave the boat and drive north with the McElderrys. They have a wedding to attend and we have a delivery to make. Dan's mom, (Grandma, Peddie, Thelora) is going to drive back here to NC with us in our car and Dan's brother, Jay, will drive up from FL with Pegg and they will drive her and the two cars back to St. Augustine. The boat will stay here at River Dunes until next Tuesday when we will continue our progress south.

We have been pushing pretty hard to accomplish that goal, and exceeded our expectations and arrived here on the 2nd. River Dunes is an amazing place, with all sorts of amenities, so we hope the two boats not abandoning ship to go north will enjoy their respite. The trip from Belhaven was quick and only a little rocky. The Neuse River chose to be a nuisance and we had a roly-poly ride. We were glad that the turn into River Dunes cut the ride toward Oriental short by several miles. We arrived around two and were welcomed warmly by JC the dockmaster, Ed and Connie Dooley (CCYC and C-400 friends) and Dick and Jean (?) good friends of the McElderrys. They immediately all told us about the nightly dinner served at the Club House - how good it was and also how reasonable, so we decided to try it out. Still no AT&T service, but they do have wifi. We resorted to signing up (and paying) for a Skype phone number: 717-739-5845. It will ring on our computer whenever we have signal. Hopefully that will make reaching us easier when we can't use cell phones. It is a local Spring Grove, PA number. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so we'll probably just hang out and relax!
~~~_/)~~~M&D

Dan prefers sunrises!


Saw our first shrimp/fishing boat working the river as we left Belhaven.





Catalina owners took over the Club House at River Dunes for dinner. DeFever 44 owners, Bob and Sue Hodes, who are traveling with Ed and Connie Dooley (C-400 Surprise) took the picture. We also met C-470, Onward's owner and crew (also pictured.) The McElderry's were dining with friends elsewhere.