Since the last post we have moved from Wrightsville Beach to Oriental, NC, then Belhaven, NC, and now we are sitting in Coinjock, NC. We are here to get the transmission drip fixed as the company has a mechanic that lives here in Coinjock.

We moved outside, in the Atlantic, from Wrightsville Beach to the Beaufort/Morehead City inlet. It was a 68 mile outside run in some very rough conditions. We are really tired of rough conditions, but we were trying to move north for a deadline, and this was the only way to get into Oriental that day.

You can see how I had to change course in the middle of the outside run to drive the waves for an softer ride. Lots of fun.

Coming into the inlet after the rough run outside. We still had 20 miles to go on the ICW, but that was a nice break.

Oriental is a sleepy little town, but a great little resort that we tied up in front of. They had a live band that evening that only played until 11pm! 2 hours past looper midnight.

Relaxing off the boat before exploring town. Both blocks of the town.

Large marina and a very active shrimp fleet. Our marina is actually past the shrimp boats in the top corner.

There were jellyfish all over the harbor. Don’t want to fall off the boat in this harbor. (I guess that goes for almost every harbor we have been in!)

We ran the next day to Belhaven, NC, an even smaller town along the ICW. It was a very easy 50 mile run inside on the ICW.

We arrived with time to explore the town and get some lunch off the boat for a change.

After lunch we found a great little ice cream shop that had just received two new video games!

The marina in Belhaven was great, but really nothing more than two long walls to tie to. A very clean and friendly facility.

The town mascot.

Yes, this is the harbor house facility behind us! Like I said, an even smaller town. We did enjoy it and spent docktails with three other looper boats here.

We have now started to catch up with some of the slower loopers. I think this will continue for the next week as we move up the Chesapeake.

We needed to be in Coinjock around noon on Monday so the mechanic from ADR Transmission could start to assess the oil leak. They are working very hard for us to get this solved, so I had to do my part to be here on time. This meant we would run fast most of the way which is not fun for me in new skinny, narrow water. We were warned to watch out for the cypress stumps along a 20 mile narrow canal. That was fun.

This was a 90-mile run through some very narrow areas, but all was good, and we arrived just before noon.

We left the dock at 6:10am for another Amy sunrise.

Calm winds and waves all day, but a little tough looking into the sun for stumps and debris.

There was one bridge to deal with, it opens on request, but we ran harder to catch an opening with some fellow looper friends of ours, Compass Rose. We ran up to 28 MPH and I overheard Compass Rose telling the bridge tender that they would wait for us as they could see the “Green Smoke” from our pipes as I burned the money to hurry for them! The bridge is on the top of the Alligator River just before you enter the Albemarle Sound. Everyone warns you to be careful of the sound as it is open and can be very rough. We sure got lucky on that one today.

Crossing the sound and it was calm!

Compass Rose took this picture as we went by before we lit it up again!

Arriving in Coinjock. The marina is a long wall along the street. This is the entire town. They are famous for their prime rib dinner though.

The wall was full by 6PM, 15 boats came in and we were one of the smaller ones.

Pano of the entire marina.

We made it in time and Billy was on the boat by 1:30pm. I can’t thank him enough as the engine room was very hot after running hard for 4 hours. We did slow down for the last hour to let it cool down a little for him.

He got right to work and had the leak diagnosed right away. I had to add a UV dye to the oil in the trans so they could find exactly where the leak was. Turned out to be a main seal. He had it apart and was on his way to the shop by 4PM to replace the seal.

Really tired of my engine room looking like this.

We did enjoy the prime rib dinner last night. I will admit I only had the Mate’s Cut, 16oz, instead of the Captain’s Cut at 32oz! It was great and then early to bed.

As I am writing this post, and yes, it is only 6:30am, Billy is already here working on putting the transmission back together. He feels he will be done by noon, and we can be on our way to Norfolk a day early.

We really hope this will be the end of issues for us on this trip.

We will spend two nights in Norfolk and then start to move up the Chesapeake. We will spend about a week moving north through the Cheasapeake Bay area based on weather. We will then move down Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ before running outside up the NJ shore to NY.

I will try to post again from somewhere in the Chesapeake. Until then have a great rest of your week.

For all those wondering, Memphis is doing great and enjoying the calm running.