Up early before sunrise... needed to take on some water before leaving... departing at 0700... forecast for sunshine and west winds 10-15 knots.

We did se a couple of boats today... one passed us on the Neuse River and we had a sailboat running several miles ahead of us... seeing him only on AIS... It was a bit windier than forecast for about an hour as we exited the Pungo River and entered the Pamnlico River... steady 20 knots with higher gusts... made it a bit choppy.... soon it calmed down and we had less that forecast with westerly 5 to 10 knot winds... which was very nice for the Neuse River.

We arrived to Oriental to find only one sailboat on the western town dock and no boats on the eastern town docks... We opted to go the western dock where we normally dock... it's not right on the main road and a bit more private... We were securely docked at 1330. Our location for the night N35°01.459', W076°41.741’. We traveled today for 6.5 hours covering 43.2 nautical miles averaging 6.7 knots.

Woke this morning with unexpected high winds and rain... decided to stay put at Dowry Creek Marina.

We departed from Alligator Marina at approximately 0745... from the early sunrise it appeared like it was going to be a sunny day... that was not the case... was a very cold day with cloudy skies... the bow railings, decks and the docks were covered with frost/ice... BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We had been joined by two other boats at the marina last night... power boat and a sailboat... they both left just before we did... other than those two boat virtually no other boat traffic today.

We arrived to Dowry Creek marina at approximately 1400 and were securely docked at 1415. Our location for the night N35°31.967', W076°32.124’. We traveled today for 6.5 hours covering 42.9 nautical miles averaging 6.6 knots.