River Dune

Today was a layover day at River Dunes, a very nice resort community of homes and cottages and a clubhouse built around a very nice and protected Marina.

River Dunes Marina, seen from the office

We spent the morning doing laundry...waiting for the washing machine, waiting for the dryer...a good time to catch up on reading.

Then cleaned some of the connections on the starter solenoid, but will likely have to do more. Robert Brown, captain extraordinaire, suggests there may be a loose ground wire which I will inspect when we get to Beaufort (assuming the engine starts in the morning)

Then looked into a problem that popped up on the head...an error light stated lighting up on our electrosan (the gadget that replaces the holding tank). After talking with the manufacturer and looking hard at the plumbing, I discovered that our service yard had, for some unknown reason, diverted the output of the toilet to the holding tank,which we haven't used for the past 11 years. I had asked them to put in a new toilet and electrosan and replace all the 16 year old hoses, which they did, but I hadn't asked them to mess up the  valves. I reset the valves (after a hasty consultation with Hayden) and will pump out the holding tank in the morning and hopefully things will  be back to the way it is supposed to be.

Its always something!

Molli and I borrowed the Marina's car and drove to Oriental, mostly to visit Rich Fieldhouse, a good sailing friend who used to have the slip next to ours in Harborview. He now single hands up and down the east coast, and is in Oriental, NC to have the bottom paint done.
Greg and Sharon of "Dream Catcher" joined us for the ride.
Oriental has a great reputation among sailors, but having been to visit twice I can't imagine why.  Its a small town that has seen better days and its hard to see what the attraction is.

However, having said that....a bunch of Island Packeters staying at Dinner Key borrowed the marina van at 6 pm

The Island Packeters on the way to Oriental for Dinner

 and drove to Oriental to dine at  M&M's, a restaurant in town. Its an unpretentious, family owned restaurant - the dad cooks, the daughter waits tables, and the food was fantastic!
The town's reputation when up several notches after that meal.

Tomorrow its on to Beaufort, hopefully to have the alternator replaced and our electrical problems solved. We are also looking forward to having dinner with the Kerlins, former Island Packet owners who befriend all Island Packeters passing through Beaufort. They are great people an gracious hosts
More tomorrow.