Oriental, NC

Oriental was such an amazing stop with amazing people. I almost passed it by because it was still early in the day and I could easily make Beaufort before dark. I have read about a town dock in the harbor that you could stay at for free for two days if there is room. I was excited when there was just enough space for Tula right in front of a catboat on the town dock. As I pulled in Frank, who I met in Elizabeth City, called out to me and helped me tie up along with another nice man who was an Oriental local. The excitedly informed me that it was “Spirit of Christmas Weekend” and that a lot of the shops and restaurants had little appetizers and food samplers for everyone. Frank quickly rushed me off to the best one to catch the sliders and clam chowder before they closed down. After a bit of exploring and sampling I felt the breeze pick up a little so I rushed back to Tula to make sure her fenders were in place.

While adjusting Tula’s lines and straightening up, a number of local sailors came by to see who owned the famous Chuck Payne designed Frances. I could not believe how many people new Tula’s designed and how much they admired it. These old salts have been across many oceans, some around the world, and some around the world twice! Many in smaller boats than mine! I met a woman who sailed from England down to Spain, Portugal, across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, up the east coast and claimed to have run out of money in Oriental where she stopped and settled. Oh, she did all that on a 24′ sailboat!!!

I met about 6 others who have similar amazing stories. I spent the next two days exploring Oriental and drinking lots of coffee from the coffee shop across the street from the dock. It was amazing how nice everyone was and I learned so much from the experience of the wise sailors. They say Oriental is a tiny town with more sailboats than residents and I definitely believe it.

One guy, Ralph, warned me to be careful if I wanted to continue sailing. He said Oriental is cursed for sailors. For some reason they stop at the small sea town and never leave, abandoning their calling to the sea. The signs were that you’ll keep procrastinating, you might find a cheap slip to rent, a job, a cute girl, and you’ll end up staying. He suggested to leave early one morning with no warning “nobody here will ever be upset that you didn’t say goodbye, they all understand”. All these signs were starting to pop up for me and so one morning I cast off dock lines and set sail.

I will never forget this beautiful small town with amazing people.

A picture from the Town Dock website https://towndock.net/news/spirit-of-christmas-2013 taken from the deck of The Bean, the coffee shop across the street from the dock. Tula is the last mast on the left side of the little dock in left center of the picture. I am standing behind the blue pickup truck in a navy jacket.