April 10

New River Marina to Morehead City (Portside Marina)


Just after the dock closed last night I saw a ski/fishing boat heading for the dock he did not make and ran out of gas.  He was going to drift by and told him to throw in his anchor and slower pull his way close enough to throw me a line.  He did this and within 10 I had him in.  A guy pulls up and says for 25 dollars he would give him the gas.  The fellow said he had a credit and the fellow with the gas said he did take credit.  I offered to pay the money and guy with the gas changed his mind and took a promise to pay for gas.  It all worked out no problems.  


Today is not what we expected the morning sunrise was beautiful.  We saw it because we had to leave the dock by 7:30 when they opened for fuel.


Morning View


 

The first problem was that Dianne’s navigation system went dead the plug had come out and it ran out of power.   After much work we got it back working again.  What a pain!


Then we got into a pod of Dolphins they were fun to watch lots of them about 8 by my count.  


Then the engine started to over heat.  The wind was strong but I managed to anchor off the channel and the boat was promptly washed into the beach.  The Anchor held but the wind was so strong and waves so big it just kept blowing us on to shore.  A quick check showed that the main engine belt was broken.  I have a spare but really lack the tools and skills to replace it.  Called Tow Boat US.  Said in one hour they would arrive.  He called in 40 minutes and stated no local marina with service and he did not want to tow us to Morehead where there was a marina and he would talk to his boss about the best option.  At 1.75 hours the boat arrived and he told us he needed gas and would be back in 30 minutes.  When he returns he told use he would tow off the beach and tow us part way to Morehead where we would be handed off.  


The tow off was easy because I did drop anchor correctly and when he towed I had Dianne raise anchor and monitored the movement so not to foul the tow rope and anchor.  Thank god I fixed the winch.  Off we go!



Then about an hour later a second tow arrives and they change tow rope and the guy in the first tow boat said I did a good job.  The second tow boat was a little slower but he did not want me to trim like I did for the first tow boat so that was somewhat slower (10 vs 8 MPH).   During the Tow there was not a lot to do so Dianne and played Dice.  She won 2 out of three. They got us to PortSide Marina where they stay for sure someone will be by to help tomorrow.  Not the answer I wanted but better we have “No clue when someone will arrive.”


So Dianne and I took a walk and had Ice Cream to drown our disappointment.  

Picture of Downtown Morehead fish tournament.


The dock is a little cheaper than the last spot so we have decided to have a restaurant dinner today.  


Stuff seen today 

  • Two tow boats 
  • less than 12 boats total (Only 1 really bad passer and couple actually radioed their intention.
  • 1 pod of 8 dolphins
  • 2 egrets
  • lots of wind
Well tonight a long wait for mechanic tomorrow.


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