"The Storm" has kept us in River Dunes for DAYS!

I hate to write without a picture or two to share, but alas we haven't taken any!  I spoke too soon about no trouble with the engine.  We had our first incident of overheating as we rushed to make the 7:30 opening of the Onslow Beach Swing Bridge as we left Mile Hammock Bay.  We rolled out the jib and eventually added the main as we made our way through the marshes, past Bogue Inlet and through Bogue Sound to the Beaufort/Moorhead City area.  We doused the jib as we headed up the Newport River and into Adams Creek on our way to the nasty Neuse River as the wind was behind us and fitful.  The trip up the river and creek was very slow as we had 2 knots of current against us and we were loath to use the engine much above idle speed.  By the time we made it to the Neuse River the wind had picked up an shifted and was on the nose at 15-20!  We tacked back and forth a few times and finally made it into the Broad Creek inlet at 6 pm.  We decided to anchor out for the night and head into Grace Harbor at River Dunes Monday morning.   It was a lovely spot to anchor, out of the wind and an easy shot in the AM.

We entered Grace Harbor around 9 am and fueled up, pumped out and took the same slip we had on the way down in October.  Since then we have been glued to the tube watching all the bad weather circle around and never really touch us!  We also worked on scrubbing down the boat (me) and taking the engine apart (Dan).  He had several discussions with Catalina, Westerbeke, brother Jay and CCYC friend Pete.  Everyone talked him out of thinking it was a bad head gasket or cracked head, so he concentrated on changing out the antifreeze in the cooling system and cleaning out the heat exchanger.  Par for the course they were done in reverse order so he had to drain the new antifreeze out so he could remove the heat exchanger and we had an exciting chemistry experiment on the dock with muriatic acid bubbling like a volcano as it "cleaned the tubes". Tomorrow will tell if all his work will pay off.  We do have an extra gallon of antifreeze to keep things going if need be.

We have enjoyed meeting the other stranded cruisers while we wait for a good weather window...including two boats that spent part of this winter at Snook Bight!  We had dinner up at the main house here tonight and sat at the Snook Bight table.  Lots of fun all around.

There is a marina car available and we've used it every day so far.  You are limited to going into Oriental, but we have found everything we needed on our trips in...sometimes with other cruisers, which gives you a chance to find out their life's story in 20 minutes or so!  

I promise to get some pictures for next time.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D