We cast off at 7:30 and headed out into the Pungo River. 
We had initially planned to go into Oriental,NC but instead decided to make reservations at River Dunes, an elegant marina/resort about an hour closer than Oriental would have been. It’s got a sauna, a steam room, hot tubs and other amenities that make it well worth the stop. They are having an owners meeting this weekend so we will be shut out of the dining room for dinner, but we have plenty of food aboard and will likely eat better than last night!
As we went down the Pungo River the wind picked up. We raised our sails and soon had shut the engine and were making 6.5 knots under sails alone...wonderful. 
Drew optimizing the sails by tightening the leech
We sailed into Pamlico Sound and across to Goose creek all under sail but as we turned into the creek we had to turn the engine back on to maintain speed.
We were soon into the Neuse River and then into the creek to River Dunes,
You can see the inlet to River Dunes at the very bottom of the chart
River Dunes is a combination resort, condominium facility and marina. Great services (pool, hot tubs, steam rooms, restaurant, cafe and so forth. The Mariana is clean and first class. Unfortunately they are having a members meeting this weekend and so we won’t be able to use the restaurant, pool, or hot tub but everything else is available. We’ll eat dinner on the boat and probably have a better dinner than we had last night
Meanwhile we walked around and I include photos to give a feel for where we are
Tomorrow we head off to Morehead city (about a 5 hour voyage), where we’ll stay till Monday morning when we head offshore sailing to Fort Pierce Florida. Another friend of Drew’s, an experienced sailor will join us on Sunday and having 3 on board should make the watch schedule, and so the trip, easier
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