Well where were we. Last we wrote we were in Oriental (N35 01.3729 W076 41.8809) and after a trip to New Bern we are back in Oriental, but I’m getting ahead of my self. While we were in Elizabeth City we heard about the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous that was to be held in New Bern, so we decided to go. Turns out there were somewhere in the vicinity of 90 boats and more people coming by car. It was a great networking opportunity with seminars on various cruising topics. We ended up spending 3 nights there (N35 06.0289 W077 02.6629). Found a wonderful old time hardware store that had about anything you wanted of a hardware store nature. We also ate one night at the local Episcopal Church’s chili supper and went to a coffeehouse right out of the 60s, where we were treated to a concert by Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, folkies right out of the sixties.

The trip to New Bern was a great sail for the Tartan cuzz she loves a beam reach (wind coming perpendicular to the side of the boat for you non-sailors) and we flew, 7+ knts, for most of the trip up the Neuse River.

We are now back in Oriental to pick up a package, got here Saturday and did our first marina stop. We’re in the marina to affect repairs on the stinking head (toilet to you non-boaters). The idea is to get it so that it doesn’t leak, rebuilt the workings and reposition it so that a 6’1” person (me) can, if you’ll pardon the expression, sit and contemplate. Well those of you who work on old houses and old boats probably know the term “mushroom factor.” This is where you decide just before a dinner party to change a bulb and the project mushrooms into rewiring the whole house. Well we didn’t have to re-plumb the whole boat, but damn near. First to new pump mechanism did not fit the old base so I needed a new base, lucky for me there was a great marine chandlery. Of course there were the frozen nuts to deal with (hacksaw) and the stripped heads of course, but the

head got re-assembled. Now it was time to put it back in place. Now some of you probably do not know how big the head is on Aeolus, but try to imagine installing a toilet in a phone booth, while you’re standing in said phone booth. Can you picture it? You have to get real intimate with the old crapper. When I got it in place I came to the realization that in order to install it in the location that was most comfortable, see above, I needed to relocate the 1.5 inch hose, which entailed drilling a 2 inch hole in the side of the sink cabinet. Hmmmm all my tools are back in Takoma Park. Well, it’s George to the rescue.

Who’s George? Well I’ll have to digress for a moment. While I was sitting in the cockpit at the dock up to my elbows in head parts, cursing and fuming, I hear this soft southern drawl saying he should have recognized our Tartan. It was George Duffie of Oriental, a fellow Tartan 34 owner. We chatted for a while I cleaned up my language vis-a-vis the head. The next morning George came by and invited us to brunch with he and his wife Mary at a delightful little country café followed by a car tour of Oriental, a very lovely town I might add. We could see why lots of people are settling there, especially boaters because the sailing is great and the town very boater friendly.

Back to the hole saw. I realized from talking to George that he was very handy with his hands and would likely have the appropriate tools, so I gave him a call and sure enough he came by with a hole saw and a drill powerful enough, so it took me about 10 seconds to drill the hole. Well now the head was all installed and working properly, except there was a minor leak in the Y valve, yuck the contents of the loo leaking. Thanks to the power of chemistry (epoxy) we made a temporary fix to hold until a replacement part connects with us.

So after 3 days in Oriental we are off again southbound. Spent the night in Spooner’s Creek (N34 43.7830 W076 48.4269), just south of Moorehead City, NC. Here, I got the fright of my life. You see the entrance to Spooners is a narrow (30 feet wide at the most) with a current flowing across it. So when I turned in I slowed down and asked Terri to read off the depth. She started with 5.5, 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, down and down. Now the Tartan only draws 4 feet, so I’m beginning to panic. I am watching the markers and realizing that I cannot turn a 34 foot boat around in 30 feet of channel so I’m rehearsing what I’m going to say to the towBoatUS guy when Terri announces sorry I was reading the knot meter (speedometer for you non-sailors). Needless to say I needed a beer when I got into the anchorage, incident free. Spooner’s Creek is a small gunk hole with very expensive houses cheek by jowl along the banks, but an accommodating dinghy dock at the head of the creek. It was shore leave for the crew. Terri hit a Wal-Mart to add more “stuff” to the boat such as a 12 volt vacuum, Neal for a WiFi antenna to increase our range. All in all this has been a wonderful trip.