Dowry Creek
Tuesday, May 2
We left New Bern marina after staying there for almost 2 weeks. Since we paid for the month it was hard to leave there. The town is nice and very close to the marina. We also had lots of projects that we wanted to finish that kept us there. Our biggest project is to have a hinge fabricated that will allow us to pivot the Radar dome and the satellite dome over to hang down underneath the radar arch. This was a major project but I am extremely happy with the way it turned out.
We have to remove the rear bimini and windows to lower the hinge.
The hinge allows us to get down to under
17 feet without actually removing electronics.
The boat looks real weird with everything down!
We were one of the last loop boats to leave. We traveled across the Neuse River with 30 mile an hour winds on our stern for most of the trip and then as we turned off to go north winds were on our bow. We found out that the new Landing bridge in the Virginia cut is closed due to high waters and flooding in that area. That is the only way to go north through to Norfolk so this is backing all north bound boats up. We had made plans and reservations at marinas all the way to Norfolk and due to weather and the bridge we had to change plans. The marinas are very understanding about changes, but they do really appreciate it when you call them and let them know if you have to cancel or change arrival days. We cruised around 76 miles and stopped at Dowry Creek Marina.
We had heard good things about this marina and we wanted to check it out. We were pleasantly satisfied. We were a little late getting there and the dockmaster and owner, Neal, was there waiting for us. Other loopers, Pharm Life and Imagine That were already there and told us that the other boaters in the marina were up at the boaters lounge and were going to order Chinese food and wondered if we wanted to get in on it. After a long day of cruising it was great to not have to think about what we were having for dinner that night so we joined a fun group for a Chinese smorgasbord.