Portsmouth

I’ve spent the last two days cleaning up the boat a bit and exploring the area. This is what it looks like from where I’m anchored:

Lots of boat traffic of all different kinds going by–especially tugs and barges. But also some pretty sailing vessels.

On Friday, I explored the harbor a bit in the dinghy then went ashore in Portsmouth and visited the Coast Guard Light Ship Museum.

On Saturdays, there’s a farmer’s market in downtown Portsmouth. In addition to the normal food and crafts, there were glass blowers, blacksmiths, and other artisans demonstrating their talents. There is also a famous movie theatre built in 1945 that is on the National Register of Historic Places which I hope to visit. (Beetlejuice 2 is playing.)

I finished Saturday downtown by visiting the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, which was very worthwhile.

I also had a serendipitous encounter with a sailing couple on the dock in the marina. I had noticed when first walking to the showers, a 45-foot Island Packet named Huckleberry. The name struck a bell, then I remembered that the first day out of Oriental, she had slowly passed me as we were both going up the Neuse River towards Belhaven. Yesterday, the couple were out and about on their boat, so I stopped to chat. And, lo and behold, another example of a small world. Turns out that Joe and Debra Zinzi were out of Tampa and had sailed at DIYC (on Scorpion!). They had also sailed a bit on Sol Rebel. They had recently purchased Huckleberry and were new to cruising like me. On Sunday I’m going to watch the Buc’s game with them on their boat.