Morehead City

7/3/07 – I slept in this morning and got underway at about 9:30am. It was a very sunny day and there were tons of recreational boaters out, presumably due to the holiday tomorrow. The unfortunate thing was that they wind was strong and straight out of the northeast and for most of the day I was forced to motor. There were a few good portions where I was able to sail but it shifted so often that I had to take down the sail every so often. I was able to turn off the motor and sail for about two or three hours during the day. I got to Morehead City at around 5:00pm and went to the dock at a restaurant that provides free docking as long as you buy your dinner there. I had talked to “Chef Dan” on the phone so he and a few of the busboys came out to help me dock. They helped me tie up by tying my bow line on and I hopped off and tied the stern line. I thanked them and they went back into the building and I began tying some spring lines up. As I was working, a guy came down from the restaurant and began retying the bow line that one of the busboys had tied. He introduced himself as Wayne and told me that if he had ever tied a knot as awfully as the busboy had, he would have been on deck swabbing duty for weeks. We talked on the dock for a few minutes and he bought me a beer that was brought out to me on the dock. After I was done putting away the things in my cockpit and tidying the boat up, I walked up and joined him at his table. We talked for quite a while about all sorts of things. He had all sorts of good stories about his career in the Navy and his various jobs as a delivery captain for large sailboats all along the east coast of the United States and the Bahamas. He was surprised that I felt safe doing this trip without a gun aboard. He told me that he never left port in the Bahamas without at least one firearm aboard. He then got into stories that included how useful his guns have been in the Bahamas. I was of course glued to my seat because I was interested in what he had to say but he eventually had to leave to get back to his wife and stepdaughter that he kept telling me how much he disliked. I walked through the town a little bit and bought some beer and ice as well as another book to read. I came back to the restaurant where I was docked and got a table for dinner. As I was walking back from the restroom, I saw Chef Dan again, a chubby fellow that appeared to be in a perpetual jolly drunken mood. I later learned that he was the owner of the place and he took great pride in selecting the best local fresh fish for the menu. Chef Dan came to it with me at my table for about fifteen minutes and he told me about the great times and not so great times he had living aboard his boat in Key West. I told him about my trip and he thought that it was very neat. He told me that I should stick around for the fourth of July at his dock because it is a very big deal around here.

My boat was not the only one on the dock, there was a 36 foot motor yacht there as well. That one needed to be moved so Chef Dan and I walked down to the dock to help them scoot down the dock so there was room behind them for another vessel to tie up. I began talking to the woman who told me that she and her husband were doing the “great loop,” a circumnavigation of the eastern half of the United States. They introduced themselves as Tonie and Gary and I invited them to my table in the restaurant. They were extremely nice folks and had plenty of good stories about their trip. They are also keeping an online journal of their trip, which can be located at www.bearwithme.talkspot.com. It was really neat comparing stories about places that we had both been and the adventures that we have had there. They gave me a business card with their contact information on it that indicated that Gary was the captain and Tonie was the skipper. After we had finished eating, Gary and I went to help two boats dock with Chef Dan. As we were sitting back down at our table, we saw Chef Dan briskly walking up the dock with two big brightly colored boxes with a huge grin on his face. He disappeared and about 3 minutes later, we were treated to a great fireworks display that appeared to come from the other side of the building. Chef Dan and the rest of the restaurant staff came out to the outdoor seating area to watch the show. Tonie, Gary, and I continued talking well into the evening until it was time for all of us to go to bed.