Oriental is a sailing center. But we are not blow boaters.🤣
Oriental is also a working port. The fishing boats came in and out all throughout the day and night.
We had a short run to Oriental from Beaufort with a beautiful day to cruise. We are traveling with Cashelmara, Skafos and Jackpot, however when we reached the marina there were a few other boats coming in also. We have learned to stagger our arrivals so that the marina can accommodate us with their deck hands and we don't overwhelm them. The crew at Oriental Marina have it down pat! They were helpful and put us in a slip that was in a great location. When we were getting there we were a little confused as to the names and places of the marina as there is an Oriental Harbor and an Oriental Inn and Marina, but it turns out we were all together in the Oriental Harbor Marina. When we arrived Magic with Terry (Captain Crusty) and Dorothy were already there. They are platinum loopers.
The marina has a nice restaurant that we didn't try but heard was good, and a tiki bar. There are a few shops near the marina and a coffee shop that also sells ice cream. We all walked in to town for "linner" at Rick's BBQ. The ribs weren't ready so we all tried the fried chicken and pulled pork. Everyone agreed that is was a delicious meal. Another restaurant that was recommended was M&M's which was around the corner from the marina.
Docktails were set for 5:30 in the open area in front of the boats. It was great chatting together. Lisa and Kevin from Skafos, JoAnn and Jack from Jackpot, Mary, Chris and Skipper from Cashelmara and Hal and I all sat out enjoying the beautiful day.
Walking Izzy I found a little park that had a labyrinth. It is supposed to be walked to gain inner peace.
There was also a pier for fishing the Neuse River.
As we left on Saturday they were setting up for a farmer's market. It looked to be a nice place to shop.