May 29, 2020 - June 6, 2020
After two solid days of rain the sun peeked out for a few hours on Friday, but it was still mostly overcast. The work on the boat was stalled because of the weather and since we really didn’t go out among people unnecessarily we spent most of the rainy days inside. We read, used our computers, and watched crime shows on TV (this was sort of a treat since we never have cable channels on the boat).
Saturday was still overcast, but it only sprinkled a bit as we drove to New Bern to visit friends (Mary and Dick Hein) at the New Bern Marina. We are considering staying in New Bern next winter so we wanted to see the facilities and tour the town. The marina is nice enough and many of the shops, restaurants and points of interest are well within walking distance (important to me). We had lunch inside a restaurant (our first time doing this since the quarantine) and were happy to see all of the staff wearing masks. Social distancing was accomplished by removing half of the tables. We were the only guests I saw wearing masks when we entered. The lunch was delicious and Dick and Mary gave us a tour of the town in their new Tesla. We were back at the cottage by 4:00 pm.
The next morning, again, was sunny with fewer clouds than Saturday. We drove to Nags Head had a great take out lunch from Jersey Mike’s, walked around a bit, and had ice cream at The Spot. It was a long drive (over two hours) for such a short visit, but it was nice to be out of the cottage for awhile. Nag’s Head is not like Delaware and Maryland beaches, but is a spread out collection of beach houses on both sides of a four lane road. The road is about eight miles long with restaurants, shops and water sports rental shops. I didn’t see any downtown or boardwalk.
Our stay in Belhaven was continually extended due to unfinished boat work. Twice we drove to Moorehead City, NC (2 hours away) to pick up the propeller shaft, the propeller and a bushing. On the sunny days I took a walk around the town. Belhaven is a very small-town with a population of 1,580.
Bel haven has:
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| …a stately manor house, |
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| large water front homes, |
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| cute cottages, |
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| a few interesting shops, |
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| a fun hardware store, |
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| a bakery and snack shop (the only open eatery), |
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| two marinas (neither one had many boats docked), |
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| water front condos, |
and, of course the Between Water and Main B & B.
Between Water and Main rented us their two room cottage for our time in Behaven. This
B & B was the only pet friendly accommodation in town and of course we had to keep Lola with us. The cottage was beautifully decorated with antiques and had all we needed to fix ourselves breakfast, sandwiches, snacks and heat up left overs. The owner was more than helpful and was flexible with the length of our stay (since the boat yard was continually delaying the completion of our work). We were grateful that the cottage was available as staying on the boat while it was being repaired would have been very uncomfortable.
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One of Lola’s favorite past times at the cottage was
watching the squirrels and birds out the window
with her tail swishing back and forth.
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We should be on our way on Monday, finally! Actually the boat still isn't in the water as I publish this blog. AHHHHHHHH!
Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.
