Wilmington rendezvous

We are underway downbound on the Cape Fear River, with Wilmington, North Carolina astern of us as I begin typing. It's a short day, owing to a late start on account of the tide, so I expect I will not finish this until tonight or perhaps tomorrow. There is much to report in the nearly dozen days since my last post, including an impromptu one-week detour to Wilmington.

Stacey, Dave, Sean, and Louise at the aView on the roof of the aLoft Wilmington for sunset cocktails. Photo: Dave Rowe

When last I posted here we were at the R.E. Mayo dock in Hobucken, NC. We had a short walk around the "neighborhood" with Stacey and Dave before retiring to our respective boats for dinner. We had not really expected to reconnect here, having said our goodbyes in Washington, but we still cobbled together some after-dinner cocktails followed by ice cream aboard Vector. They were planning an early departure and we again said our goodbyes.

Vector at the R.E. Mayo Seafood dock in Hobucken. I'm dyin'.

In the morning we decided to take another short walk, in anticipation of being trapped aboard for the evening. I stepped off the boat onto the dock, and a large chunk of the dock broke off and fell to the water below, nearly taking me with it. I still had a hand on the rail of the boat and caught myself, hovering for what seemed like an eternity with one hand on the rail and one on the dock, my feet dangling above the frigid water.

That wood in the water is a 3"x3"x3' chunk that came off the edge of the board just next to my power cord.

Louise, who was still on the boat but right behind me, grabbed my arm and held on for dear life while I managed, with effort, to get a foot back on the dock. Had I gone all the way in to the 48°F water, I figure I would have had less than a minute of mobility to somehow maneuver myself, between the boat and the crusty pilings, all the way to the stern, deploy the swim ladder, and hoist myself aboard. Keeping that from happening cost me a pulled muscle in my back that's still sore, and I banged up my shin in the fall. We still took our walk, because now I needed to walk it off.

We both really like the way the sunlight through our round window imprinted atop the wall hanging Louise made.

We got underway around 11 for the run to Beaufort, NC, which gave me a bit of time to sit and recuperate before I had to man the maneuvering watch. Winds were also forecast to decrease throughout the day, making a later start more attractive. Still, things were pretty choppy for the first half of the cruise, especially when we made the westbound turn onto the Neuse. That's where we caught back up to Stinkpot, who had been so badly pummeled after making the turn earlier that they ducked into Broad Creek for shelter.

From our dock in Wilmington the sun set just below this bridge.

By the time we were passing Broad Creek, things were laying down rapidly, and we passed along our report. They got back under way some time later, lest they be trapped on Broad for the better part of a week. Thus they ended up behind us, and instead of making their goal of Swansboro, ended their day in Adams Creek. We made it all the way to Beaufort, dropping the hook in our usual, always-available spot (map).

I really liked the way these candy-cane light posts at our marina were decorated.

We splashed the tender and headed ashore for dinner at Queen Anne's Revenge, a casual joint with a decent menu and good drafts. We like their house porter, aptly named Small Craft Advisory, and their Vienna lager, which is almost brown. I particularly like their Italian sandwich. After dinner we enjoyed strolling through the town, nicely decorated for the holidays. Expecting an early departure in the morning, possibly offshore, we decked the tender as soon as we got home, and hit the hay early.

Louise being whimsical with the holiday decorations in Beaufort.

Monday morning we were up and ready for a pre-dawn departure offshore to Wrightsville Beach. But the forecast, which has still looked OK when we turned in, had deteriorated overnight, and the risk of getting caught outside in uncomfortable conditions persuaded us to wave off in favor of the inside route. That still meant getting underway at first light, because the Onslow Beach Bridge in Campe Lejeune is under construction, and only opening from noon to 1pm on weekdays. If you miss it, you have to wait until 5, when it's dark.

Pre-sunrise over Taylor Creek, Beaufort as we make ready to weigh.

We made the bridge with just ten minutes to spare, and a half hour later we were pulling in to the anchorage of Mile Hammock Bay. For our first time ever we found only one boat anchored ahead of us, and had our pick of spots. We dropped the hook (map) and settled in for a relaxing afternoon aboard. Six more boats came in before morning.

The first rays of sunrise as we turn on to the ICW in Morehead City.

It's next to impossible to time arrival on the top of an hour to the Figure Eight Bridge from that far away, but we took our best guess and added ten minutes, so we were weighing anchor at 8:10 in the morning. Right about then, Stinkpot passed by on the ICW, having made the Onslow Beach bridge before they locked down for the day. Two sailboats that left the anchorage shortly before us promptly ran aground crossing the tricky New River Inlet, and we heard Dave warning a third who was about to suffer the same fate.

Sean, Louise, Stacy, and Dave at the Marina Grill, Wilmington, on a stormy evening.

We have better-informed situational awareness nowadays and we crossed the inlet without drama, threading our way around the grounded vessels, one of which had moved to deep water and dropped the hook, presumably to inspect for or deal with damage. Ironically the two boats who grounded had gotten into a shouting match about anchoring too close when they had both arrived, well after dark.

The Wilmington Railroad Museum in the old ACL depot is festively lit for the holidays.

Once underway I called every marina on our route to our anchorage in Wrightsville Beach to ask about pumping out, since we had been unable to do so in Washington. Of five calls, only one marina was open with a working pump-out. We cleared the Wrightsville Beach Bridge at 2pm and immediately pulled over and into an inside slip at the Wrightsville Beach Marina, where a pump-out cost us $20 plus tip. We topped up the water, too. There is really no excuse for such a hefty fee, but they have you over a barrel -- we had no choice. At least both the pump-out and the water fill were lightning fast, one of the strongest pumps we've used.

Dolphins off our bow en route to Wrightsville Beach. Always a good omen for mariners.

The anchorage was pretty busy, with a big blow coming in, but we found a spot to squeeze in and dropped the hook (map). Stinkpot, meanwhile, had perfect tidal conditions to make it all the way to their final destination of Wilmington, even though we had hoped they'd spend a night in Wrightsville for one last fling. We splashed the tender and headed ashore to our usual haunt, Tower 7 Baja Grill, for an early dinner; at 5pm the place was nearly empty. We decked the tender as soon as we returned, on account of the incoming wind storm and in the event we wanted to move to a more protected anchorage in the morning.

Our view from anchor. Wrightsville Beach is always festive at the holidays.

While we were at dinner, we got texts from Dave and Stacey, who were sitting at the Copper Penny Pub in Wilmington, sharing the extensive beer list, and clearly trying to influence our cruising plans. We were pretty firmly set on continuing south, albeit after another full day to wait out the windstorm, but the invitation to Wilmington worked on us throughout the evening.

Dropping hints. Athletic is Louise's favorite non-alcoholic brew.

Wednesday morning the anchorage was already rough when we got up, and the bulk of the storm was yet to arrive. We were in a tight, overfull anchorage with everyone, us included, on a short scope, and we knew we had to get out of Dodge. With wind out of the south, our choices were limited -- move to a borrow pit around the corner and hope for the best, or hope to find a bit of space in the even  tighter anchorage down at Carolina Beach. Continuing to Southport by  southing on the Cape Fear was out of the question in gale force.

Wilmington goes all-out with the lights.

That sealed it for us. While we could not go downriver on the Cape Fear, we could still go upriver, with the wind and waves at our backs. We held back to have a fair tide at Snows Cut and upbound on the Cape Fear, which had us weighing in 20+ knots of wind, and steaming out of the anchorage in driving rain. By the time we reached Carolina Beach we were in 25 knots gusting to 30, and we found a full knot against us in Snows Cut, even though the chart said we should have three quarters of a knot behind us. The wind was piling so much water up in the Cape Fear that it was escaping via Carolina Beach.

Gale force winds.

We had weighed just a hair too early at Wrightsville, and made better time than expected to Snows Cut, and that put us in the Cape Fear with the last of the ebb still flowing. There was no way to anchor in this stink to wait it out, so we just slow-rolled upriver with a half knot against us. That turned out to be a blessing; the tide caught up to us in Wilmington and we had it behind us for the last couple of miles, but if we had arrived any later the current would have added substantially to the challenge of docking.

Approaching Wilmington.

By the time we arrived we were in gale conditions. The marina assigned us a face dock perpendicular to the wind; I just pulled up 20' off the dock and the wind did the rest, pinning us to our fenders. We needed to move back about 20' to avoid being in the mud at low tide, but we had to wait until the storm passed a couple of hours later to move at all. Once settled in (map), we remained in that spot all week, the minimum stay to get a better rate. Our BBQ grill cover was a casualty of the storm, leaping off the boat sometime after we tied up, and the wind had also blown the bagged e-bike over on deck, no mean feat. Radio calls about boats dragging in the Wrightsville Beach anchorage confirmed we made the right choice to get underway.

Horse-drawn city tour.

We've been talking about a stop in Wilmington for some time now, and it moved up on our list after our friends Cherie and Chris aboard Y-Not spent a month there earlier this year and provided very favorable reports. They were earlier in the season when more things were open, and also managed a better dock rate than we did, but it moved it off the back burner. That combined with Stacey and Dave egging us on, unfavorable weather for southing, and lack of any other real agenda this season pushed us over the edge.

Festive tree on the waterfront. My camera could not really capture it.

We're glad we made the stop. A week was not really long enough -- there is a month's worth of restaurants downtown -- and the marina's location put half of downtown out of range for Louise. That would be better when the free downtown trolley is running (it's out of service now until April), but if we return I will seriously consider trying to find a spot to anchor, because the free city day docks are a lot closer to everything. It is a shame the city no longer permits overnight use.

Dave, Stacey, Louise, and Sean bundled up on a chilly evening. OK, Stacey and Dave are Mainers. They did not even bring hats. Photo: Dave Rowe

We ended up having dinner with the crew of Stinkpot literally every night, which is uncharacteristic for us, but it was what appealed to all of us at the time. Dave cooked for us two nights (and a final pre-departure lunch) and the other nights we enjoyed going out. We started with the Marina Grill on arrival day, with the weather not cooperative to go much further, and the food was decent with a nice draft selection, if a bit overpriced. Of course we had to sample Copper Penny after being lured with their draft list, and we dined there twice, as befits Stacey and Dave's favorite joint, both times excellent. We also enjoyed the Dough House Pizza Company and Fat Tony's Italian restaurant, and we had drinks at the rooftop aView bar and restaurant atop the aLoft hotel. I filled my growler at Ironclad Brewery and bought some retail cans at Ponysaurus Brewing, which looked to have a nice food menu as well.

We've upped our standards; up yours. Wilmington's oldest bar, Barbary Coast.

There is no convenient full-service grocery in Wilmington, it being several miles out to Food Lion and the like, but there is a DGX a short walk from the dock, and they had most of what we needed. The slightly farther Village Market had Louise's preferred non-alcoholic beer. The lack of a decent anchorage and of close-by essential (read: not touristy tchochke) retail are what keeps this from being, for us, a more desirable stop worthy of more frequent or longer stays.

New power outlet, and heater with new toggle switches replacing a rotary selector.

With a week-long stop, of course, I had to chip away at more of the project list, which has a tendency to remain the same length even as I check things off. One of our space heaters that we've been using in this cold weather had its selector switch fail, so I had to jury-rig around that, and while I was at it, I installed a new power outlet in the master bath to relocate that heater to a more convenient spot.

Drone show. This conical spiral formation was, at least, 3D.

I tried to walk a few miles every day, and often Dave, Stacey, or both would accompany me. We had a group outing to a "fair" of sorts staged at The Cove, which is a dock full of identical houseboats that are on the market as vacation rentals; the fair comprised only a half dozen vendors, but we got some free wine tasting and hot cocoa out of the deal. Dave and I spent a pleasant couple of hours at the railroad museum. And one night we all watched the holiday drone show from Vector's boat deck, but many of the formations we edge-on from our vantage (they were aimed at the downtown waterfront) and we had a guessing-game as to what they were. Santa? Gnome? Grinch? Dave, who had already made us dinner, baked cookies for the occasion.

We saw many of the formations, like this one, edge-on. Is this Santa? The Nutcracker? Who knows.

Looking ahead to our next segment, I spent a bit of time doing routes and seeing where we might be for Christmas dinner. Charleston was at the perfect distance, but our preferred marina there had no room, and we're a bit late to make holiday dinner reservations anyplace decent. I settled for reservations in Georgetown, just four days' journey from Wilmington.

"The Cove" line-up of 40 two-story vacation-rental houseboats.

As we reached the end of our prepaid week, and with about four extra days of slop in the schedule for a Georgetown Christmas, we contemplated asking the marina to prorate another couple of days and extending our stay. But the mighty Cape Fear would not cooperate; a Wednesday departure would let us leave at 1pm for a fair tide all the way to Southport, but by Thursday we'd miss either the tide or the daylight, and staying until the tide became fair in the morning would make it a made scramble to Georgetown on time. So after a morning walk and a nice lunch aboard Stinkpot we again said our goodbyes and dropped lines at the turn of the tide for the downhill run.

This artifact from the railroad museum documents the move of Atlantic Coast Line's HQ from Wilmington to Jacksonville, FL. Long-time readers and many boaters will recognize this waterfront building, now the HQ of CSX, successor company to ACL.

Update: It is now Thursday evening and we are yet another day further south. We arrived in Southport yesterday evening with plenty of daylight after a speedy run down the Cape Fear, but none of our anchorage or free dock options panned out at dead low tide. Moreover our usual backup plan, at the Harbour Village Marina, where we like the on-site Italian restaurant, could not accommodate us due to dredging. We ended up taking a dock at the Southport Marina (map), a bit spendy for us but we were out of options. That, at least, let us have a nice walk into town, where we had dinner at a burger joint called the Blue Cow Grille, which was quite good and had some nice drafts.

We overtook the tug Atlantic Coast, towing a mud scow on a short wire, in the Cape Fear. He hailed us after we passed to compliment Vector's sharp lines and to ask if we had done the Great Loop.

This morning the marina ran us out to the grocery to pick up some milk; they used to have a courtesy car, but liability issues have forced them to drive you around instead. For what they charge for dockage here it is the least they could do. I took a short walk around town, and we dropped lines just after 10 for a fair current along our first leg, and some tidal help at the very tricky Lockwoods Folly. With several extra days to Georgetown we thought we might stop short today at Shallotte Inlet, where there is a waterfront joint we want to try some day, but they were closed for the season so we pressed on.

Fittingly, this is the Christmas House in Southport.

We are now anchored at Bird Island, just off the Little River (map). In the past we've anchored a little closer to the ICW on the Little River itself, because this anchorage is often crowded, but today we were the first here. As I type there are two other boats with us. It's actually calmer and more pleasant here than our other spot, so we'll make more of an effort to work our way in here in the future. Having a known-good track is always a help.

We had fog in Wilmington just before we departed, and we nearly drove right into it again coming in to Southport -- you can see it off our bow. It burned off just as we arrived.

Tonight's dinner was grilled chicken, and in keeping with what I said earlier about the project list, even that turned into a project. About ten minutes after starting the grill to warm it up I checked the battery meter to see how much we dropped, intending to start the generator when we were down 20%  or so. The batteries had hardly been touched, so I went outside to find the grill just barely warmer than ambient. Louise had noticed a power flicker a few minutes after I started it -- that would have been the heating element snapping in two.

Of course you park your police horses in the police garage.

The heating element has gone out like this before. Twice before, actually, both times while we were in the Bahamas. After the second time we deemed the grill element a critical spare, and so I had one tucked away. It did take me fifteen minutes in nitrile gloves to replace the element and get the grill going again, so dinner was delayed by a half hour. Another replacement grill element is now in my Amazon cart.

Dave and Stacey joined me on my final walk, out to the Bellamy Mansion. Photo: Dave Rowe.

Now that we're here we will just proceed to Georgetown at normal pace, which will have us there in two days. At which time we will decide if we want to hang there through Christmas, or press on to Charleston and hope to score a holiday meal somewhere in town. Between now and then I will call around.

Vector departing Wilmington. Photo: Dave Rowe.

It's quiet here, with the only sound the surf a short distance away. It would be dark, too, if not for our own holiday lights. In the morning we will weigh anchor and run the gantlet that is Myrtle Beach. We should be in Georgetown in two days. Whenever we figure out what we are doing I will post it here, but if you don't hear from me before then, we wish all our family, friends, and readers a very happy holiday.

Gratuitous sunset pic from the roof of the aLoft. The current is wicked in the Cape Fear and you can see it racing by.

Thanksgiving in Little Washington

We are under way downbound on the Pamlico River, after just over a week at the Waterfront Docks in the charming town of Washington, North Carolina, colloquially known as "Little Washington" or also "the Original Washington" (the town adopted the name in 1776, making it the first town in the nation to do so). It's been a pleasant but very, very cold week, with last night's temperature setting a record for Vector at 24°F.

Market Street, Washington, festively lit for the holidays. The city lighting ceremony was the day before we arrived.

Monday morning of Thanksgiving week we weighed anchor at Tuckahoe Point and made the slog through the Alligator-Pungo Canal. We arrived to Belhaven Harbor and dropped anchor (map) by 1pm, making it an early day, but we had time to kill before Thanksgiving. Stinkpot was already anchored when we arrived. I splashed the tender and picked up Stacey and Dave to get in a bit of an afternoon walk. At dinner time we all headed ashore and walked to El Mariachi for dinner, our current favorite in town. Decent Mexican food, and Negra Modelo on draft.

I think I am the sidekick in this painting. At least I'm not the ass.

Dave-the-chef, who would be hosting us for Thanksgiving, made the determination that Washington would be his preferred choice for cooking the feast and also riding out the coming cold snap with power. With an easy cruise and an extra day, we all decided to make the stop at Bath, NC on our way up the Pamlico, and that's where we headed Tuesday. We did have just a foot under keel in parts of Bath Creek, and, unwilling to risk getting stuck in the mud at the free State Dock, we dropped the hook in a wide spot in the creek (map).

Stinkpot and Vector crews at an otherwise empty Quarterdeck, awaiting our food.

We splashed the tender and headed over to the State Dock, where Stinkpot was already tied up. Sounding the dock suggested we could just make it to the short T-head with a few inches under keel (at this water level), which we noted for the future. The lone sit-down restaurant in town was dark Tuesday, and so we all hoofed it over to the only other option, an order-at-the-counter Tiki-deck affair called the Quarterdeck, attached to a minuscule marina. Surprisingly, they had draft beer, and we all sat on the upstairs deck in our winter coats eating burgers and fries.

In case you were wondering why we were all lined up at a counter on the edge of the tiki hut, this is what the rest of the deck looks like,

This Pomeranian goose has taken up residence at the Quarterdeck and was looking for handouts.

Wednesday we weighed anchor and continued up the Pamlico to Washington. We planned to take our two free nights at the dock that lacks services, and then move to the dock with power and water when the cold hit in earnest on Friday. Instead, the marina just told us to tie up at that dock on arrival, and they would give us the two free days until we plugged in, so that's where we landed, just in front of fellow steel trawler Vahevala (map). Her stalwart crew, friends Linda and Brian, were off in Buffalo for the holiday.

Just two steelies staring each other down at sunset. Vahevala and Vector.

After getting secured I took a stroll around town to refresh my memory, stopping in at Two Rivers Ale House to have my growler filled with their excellent Oktoberfest for our holiday meal. I also picked up a peach pie for Thanksgiving at local bakery Val's. Lastly, I deployed the e-bike to go pick up some packages at the UPS Access Point in the nearby CVS, and pick up some pre-holiday provisions at Food Lion, including the requisite pumpkin pie. We met up with Stacey and Dave at Ribeyes for a casual dinner; Dave had already been ramping up in the galley for the feast.

Washington goes all out with the holiday lights. This is the visitor center.

Thursday morning we had to run the generator first thing for heat, and by mid-day we decided to just plug in right then and pay for an extra day. Helping that decision was the fact that we were being pinned to the dock by winds gusting up to 35mph, and we crammed some extra fenders in place. Sailboats were dragging in the anchorage. By 2pm we were headed over to Stinkpot carrying a growler of beer, a case of sparkling water, and two pies. Dave outdid himself, and we had an excellent feast of roast turkey with all the fixin's. That same meal fed all four of us twice more over the course of the week (I did have to refill the growler), and I think it fed Stacey and Dave beyond that.

Dave is a master. Impressive bird coming from a tiny galley on a tiny boat.

In addition to Dave's excellent cooking, which included a lovely pasta al forno when the leftovers ran out, we enjoyed dinners at Ribeye's, Down on Main Street, Mulberry House Brewery, 1906 Bistro, and Havens Mill Pizza, a carry-out stand adjacent to the Pitt Street Brewing Company, which serves no food of its own but where you can enjoy your pizza with a nice draft. We also did a date night at one of the fancier joints, the Bank Bistro, where we happened into prime rib night and split an enormous slab of it (excellent). My two glasses of red blend were overpriced but all else, including Louise's beer, was quite reasonable. You walk through one of the two vaults in this historic bank building to get to the restrooms; the other is behind the bar.

More holiday lights on Main Street, along with the sign on the historic Turnage theater.

Facing the prospect of being pinned down by weather for the better part of a week or more, Friday we lowered both scooters to the dock so we could exercise them, even if there was no place we really needed to go. Over the course of the week I did end up making two runs to Goodwill, two to Walmart, one to Autozone, and one to Lowes, and Louise went out for a haircut. A lot of rust fell from Louise's Genuine Buddy when we lifted it; this one was not aging well, especially with steel wheels. I could not get the Buddy to start.

Soup, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, and fresh baked bread rounded out the feast.

Saturday we got a notice from the marina that they would be shutting the water off overnight due to a hard freeze, and so we topped up the tank. I spent most of the day working on making trim pieces for the flybridge hatch, the final element of that project, from a piece of base molding I brought home from Lowes on Friday. Those pieces are now all cut and have received three coats of cherry stain over the same number of days, but are still not dark enough to blend in with the existing woodwork. We'll see if I can get it there or will need to start over with cherry trim.

Another view down Main Street.

The other major project I undertook in sub-optimal cold temperatures was to sell the Buddy. It was 17 years old, and the rust being deposited on deck is troublesome. But more importantly, regular readers may recall it stranded Louise in Amsterdam, NY after, we think, taking on a tankful of bad gasoline, and she lost trust in it. I drained the fuel and put fresh in, cleaned the air filter, and jumped it to the boat batteries to spend way too much time cranking it. Eventually I put a new spark plug in, which did the trick, and I listed it on Facebook for $200. It went to a nice young man in the local community Monday, and now we are in the market for something a little newer with less rusty steel.

Louise's Buddy scooter just before sale. Sloth not included.

Sunday morning we learned that Dave, who is a musician by trade, would be performing a few of his original compositions for the Greenwich Village Folk Festival, live streamed at 6pm. We got an invite to be part of the "live studio audience" aboard Stinkpot for his set, and since he was first up, we then got to feast on leftovers while the other artists performed. It was a nice evening.

Dave performing in front of the camera.

I'm not sure how it came up, but somewhere along the line, likely over dinner together, it came out that I had never seen Blazing Saddles start to finish. I know all the key lines and jokes, having grown up in that era, but I was just a bit too young to see it in the theater when it came out, and somehow I've managed to avoid it in the 50 years (!) since. Upon learning this, Dave, who owns a copy, insisted we have a movie night, and that was Tuesday's evening activity, along with more leftovers and Dave's killer popcorn. That, too, was a nice evening.

This bride, in a sleeveless gown, showed up for photos on one of the coldest days. Vector will be in their wedding album.

Our friends Linda and Brian from Vahevala returned from Buffalo early in the week, and all six of us met for dinner at 1906 Bistro on Wednesday. They did the Downeast Loop this season, and it was nice to compare notes and just catch up in general. We also joined them for a beer aboard and a quick tour of Vahevala Thursday, and we returned the tour of Vector yesterday.

During dinner at the Mulberry House, Little Drummer Boy came on the sound system, knocking all four of us out of the #LDBchallenge in one fell swoop.

Thursday morning I walked over to the Water Street Cafe, just a stone's throw from our spot on the dock, and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches, which were disappointing. I made a final scooter run to Walmart for provisions and to return the cold-weather window wrap that I had picked up "just in case," and that's the evening we ended up at The Bank Bistro, so perhaps every Thursday is prime rib night.

Because I am an infrastructure junkie, I notice things like this. Here is a carefully integrated ADA curb cut, complete with ADA truncated dome "detectable warning surface," which will get you onto a sidewalk that leads directly to a utility pole blocking your way. Seen all over town.

We've been keeping a close eye on the weather for our earliest opportunity to bolt. We wanted the temperature to hold above freezing overnight, but also needed the right wind conditions both here on the Pamlico and the following day on the Neuse. And we needed depth -- several days the wind blew so much water out of the Pamlico that we dropped over two feet right at the dock, which also trapped us in Washington, as there are a number of eight foot soundings on the approach.

Sunset over the Pamlico, as seen from our deck at the Washington Waterfront Docks.

That magic combination turns out to be today and tomorrow. It will be very cold tonight, but will remain just above freezing, and while tomorrow would be warmer, we'd lose our window on the Neuse. And so yesterday I breezed out our remaining scooter after putting in fresh fuel and stabilizer, and we hoisted it on deck. We settled the bill with the city dockmaster, who gave us a nice discount, and we arranged for a pump-out this morning. We settled on the pizza shack for dinner last night, as it was too cold to want to walk anyplace further.

The historic Atlantic Coast Line passenger and freight depots, now a civic event center.

Stinkpot, of course, has been looking at exactly the same weather, and they also opted to get under way this morning. They left ahead of us, which gave us the opportunity to learn from them that the pump-out would simply not operate in this cold, notwithstanding the herculean efforts of the dockmaster with pots of boiling water. While they were spending more than an hour at the pump-out dock, we, after singling up, strolled through the enormous line-up of floats and vehicles staging for the city's holiday parade, which started at 10. The participants looked cold but of good cheer, as did the assembled spectators lining Main Street.

Last night's low of 24° recorded at lower left. A record for Vector.

They eventually gave up on the pump-out and gave us the bad news on their way out. A short time later the dockmaster called us with the same story, so we started engines, dropped lines, and made our way off the dock just as the parade was wrapping up. It was an enjoyable, if cold, visit to Little Washington, and the city dock staff could not have been more accommodating.

One of the many projects I knocked out during the week: adding 5a thermal breakers and indicator LEDs to the control circuits for the new transfer switch.

Today we will make it through the Hobucken Cut and likely finish at a familiar anchorage just beyond. We'll look to see if there is still a spot with power available at the R.E. Mayo Seafood docks in Hobucken, but we're definitely not counting on it. Tomorrow we should be in Beaufort, NC, and the temperature should come up a bit.

Stinkpot steaming past us on her way out of Little Washington.

Update: We arrived at the R. E. Mayo dock right at 4; Stinkpot had grabbed the last spot on the transient dock with 30a power. But there is a 20a outlet on a longer face dock just a bit further away, and that dock was empty, so we snagged it (map). In order to run the boat on a 20a receptacle without tripping an inaccessible breaker, I have a 10-gauge extension cord running down to the engine room and powering our auxiliary charger, which draws just 14 amps. That ought to be enough to keep us warm overnight without running the gen, and it was a bargain at $21. We always whizz right by this dock, because we seldom need the power, but tonight it will be welcome. Now please enjoy these photos of floats getting ready for the holiday parade:

There were many Grinches.

Two different power utilities had floats with power poles and blinking transmission lines, pulled behind service trucks.

Look closely; there is a dog in this enclosure on the fencing company's float.

The other power company, with a Grinch lineman complete with climbing irons. He put his Grinch head on later.

I tried to capture the enormity of this small-town parade. There must have been 100 entries. This is looking back...

... and looking forward from the same spot.

USCG silver side represent.

We can speed out of the harbor... sheriff patrol is land bound.

One of the two marching bands, in winter uniforms, was warming up.

Crowds lining both sides of Main Street awaiting the parade.