Day 226 Oriental & New Bern NC

Sunset from our slip here in New Bern, NC






Shrimp boats at Oriental NC off the bow of "Noah Genda"





Oriental NC beautiful southern homes





Oriental NC home converted to retail shop adjacent to Marina






Transient boats off our port side at Oriental Marina & Inn






Oriental NC Java Cafe, across the street from the Marina. We enjoyed breakfast and coffee before departure on our way to New Bern.



We spent Friday at Oriental Marina & Inn where the marina staff was very friendly and helpful. Both our marina and the free dock are in the middle of downtown. Oriental is a small town where everyone knows your name. After washing the boat we had a great lunch at the onsite restaurant. We rode bikes to check out the area; found a grocery store and I found a few shops. Even if Tom had wanted to stop, he couldn’t because he had to get his ice cream back to the boat. We met the couples docked on each side of us and had dinner at M & M restaurant with Sally and Angus off the boat “Ginger II”. Enjoyed their company and my shrimp and grits and Tom’s meatloaf were both great.

We are meeting six of my relatives (2 sisters, nephews, & spouses) in New Bern so we are staying for 10 days and there will be only periodic blog updates unless Tom takes over. I am so excited to see everyone. We are here early so we would have an address to have new wiring parts for the dinghy mailed and Tom would have time to work on it. I’m finally getting my hair cut and colored this week at a salon close by. It’s always kind of scary but it CANNOT look any worse than it does. Can it?????????

Swiss Baron Christoph De Graffenried has been credited with settling here in 1710. He named the city after his home town of Bern, Switzerland. Bern means bear which is how it has become their official flag that features a black bear with its distinctive long, curling tongue. There are still black bears in the forests located near New Bern.

There is a Hilton overlooking the harbor (where my relatives will be) that has outdoor music every Friday and Sunday afternoon, plus next week-end is a blues and jazz fest right down the block. I think we can find enough to keep us busy for a few days.