May 19, Day 328 – Oriental to Pungo River

We were up early this morning for our planned departure. The forecast for the past 3 days had shown storms and wind on several different weather sites. It never really materialized, anyway not in Oriental. However, this morning brought rain and wind as we departed. Ya just gotta love the weather guys and their forecasts. Anyway, despite the weather we were really getting antsy, so we slipped the lines and off we went around 8:00.

At first the visibility was quite poor because of the rain, but after an hour or so, the rain stopped and we even opened the front window on the flybridge. The Neuse River was a bit bumpy at first, but with the improving weather, it soon settled down and by the time we reached the Pamlico River it was quite flat. We had been following Karen Anne and Potest Fieri (another looper boat) most of the day, but as we approached Belhaven they went into the anchorage there and we continued on another 8 miles and anchored in the Pungo River anchorage.

We spent a quiet night in the anchorage – us and five sailboats.

When we left the marina it was raining and quite breezy

Leaving the Bay River -- still very cloudy, but the rain had stopped

We saw several shrimpers in the Hobucken area

Sailboats in the anchorage