"ICW Trip 2001 Leg 9 Oriental" Oriental by grandmaR

Oriental Travel Guide: 13 reviews and 45 photos

November 6, 2001

Oriental is one of our favorite places to stop on the ICW. So we were anxious to show it to our friends.

We got under way very early on November 6th. I was a little worried about the winds in Pamlico Sound, but we really don't have to be in it much. The winds were brisk going down the Bay River and up the Neuse, but nothing too rough. The Oriental Marina put a sailboat in next to us named YANKEE COWBOY, which was so wide we scraped on both sides of the slip. He came in late and had gone 100 miles that day because he'd lost time to weather he said and he had to make it up (maybe he was a delivery skipper - I wouldn't want to do it that way). Our favorite restaurant (M&Ms) was closed on Tuesday, so we ate at the motel restaurant which was also good.

Nov 7th, YANKEE COWBOY got underway at 5:30 am, but we waited until 6. We were going to Beaufort NC, but decided to skip that (several people said it was overpriced, and indeed all the marinas were very expensive plus our friends had already been there).

Next stop Swansboro

April 11, 2002 - Coming north in the Spring

Shrimp boats in the evening

When we came back up the ICW in the spring, we went through Morehead City (pictures on Morehead City page), and a Swedish boat came in behind us. We stopped in Oriental. M &M's was open this time, and we had a good dinner. I got a kick out of the Oriental Sailing School boats. One named BEGINNER'S LUCK, and the other STUDENT DRIVER.

April 12, 2002 - Leaving Oriental

Shrimp boats in morning fog

It was REALLY foggy in the morning. We went out anyway. We could just see the first mark, and Bob turned to where he thought the 2nd mark was. I had just put the screen on the GPS that shows your previous track, when the depth sounder went off. We could see a red and a green off to the right, but Bob insisted that they weren't our marks. I could point to the GPS and say - see - yesterday afternoon you were over there, and they are too our marks.

Next stop: Belhaven

Pros and Cons