On our way north toward Norfolk, we stopped for one night at the Oriental Marina and Inn, in Oriental, NC. It is a quaint, family-owned motel with about a dozen boat slips along the dock of a bay filled with commercial fishing trawlers. We met other boaters and motel guests on the lawn and on the Adirondack chairs. A casual, friendly atmosphere. By coincidence another boat named R&R (Randy and Roberta, I think) was docked two slips down from us.
We walked parts of the town, and enjoyed it. Well kept homes along quiet small town streets. It was a welcome change from the large and busy marinas where we often find ourselves.
The morning we left I had breakfast with Danny Meadows, the delivery captain who in May 2019 took R&R on the ten-day voyage upstream on the flooded Mississippi River, with my inexperienced help. We remembered some fun times, and some scary times, from that trip!
Danny lives about 8 miles from Oriental. I enjoyed catching up with him over breakfast, and we then showed him the improvements we have made to R&R since he was last aboard.
At Oriental Marina we met a couple from Boyne city, Michigan who were guests aboard a classic 1950’s Mathews motor yacht heading to Florida. A beautiful wood boat from a simpler time.
Oriental, NC. Another Mayberry.
