Chesapeake Chase Day 14: New Bern
June 25, 2022
I set the alarm for 7:00 AM but chose to ignore it. We didn’t have that far to travel today, so why get up so early? Today is Saturday – the weekend. We did want to get going early enough to avoid the heavier traffic of the afternoon and our anchorage was right on the edge of the ICW. Our destination was New Bern, so we also wanted time to walk around and see the town. I didn’t think the folks who only have weekends to boat would be up early. What I didn’t anticipate was the tugs hauling barges. One went by and we rocked enough that I decided getting up now was meant to be.
Those of you who know us well also know that Saturday is pancake day at the Smith’s. We rarely miss! Even on the boat we have pancakes on Saturday – made from scratch. This morning we had blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. The privileges keep mounting!
We pulled anchor just before 9:00 AM. This is a team effort. Fred controls bringing up the anchor, rinsing the anchor with fresh water as it comes up, and stowing away the harness. As he is doing this, I am following his hand signals which tell me to put the boat in gear, steer in a certain direction, stop when the boat is in position to bring in more anchor, and finally a signal that tells me the anchor is up and I can move to the route. We have done this many times but never in such shallow water, so again I was a bit nervous. I soon realized that there was enough water if I kept to the same path he used yesterday. I relaxed and soon we were in the ICW with 16 feet of water. I am learning!
Our time for the morning was relaxed. The boat traffic wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be. The water was plenty deep, and the view was pretty. We were approaching New Bern around noon. The marina we would be staying in for the night was called Galley Stores Marina. Fred called twice on the VHS but got no response. He then called on his phone. The young man he spoke with did not seem to know we were coming and wasn’t very clear about which side we would tie up on. He did not understand the nautical terminology of port (left side) and starboard (right side).
We did get a slip number, but Fred suggested we look at the site before we put lines and fenders out. It was difficult to see the slip numbers, so we slowly passed the marina. The young man did call Fred back and said he would come down and stand on the dock to show us where the slip was. Fred will fill in the rest in his comments.
Once secure, we had lunch. It was too hot to go walking around town. It would be cooler later, so we took advantage of the time to do some cleaning. Fred wanted to get the worst of the salt off the outside, and I cleaned inside. It was still too hot when we were done, so we worked on the travel journal until it was cooler.
New Bern Tour
Our walk began around 5:30 PM. New Bern is a pretty town with a lot of history. There was excellent signage at every street corner directing drivers and walkers to various sites. It is located on the Neuse River which appears to provide lots of opportunity for sailing, motoring, and fishing. There is a very nice walkway along the river with plenty of parks for folks to enjoy.
Many signs pointed to “Tryon Palace,” which we did walk past. There was no indication that we could see as to what kind of facility it was. It was a large building and seemed important. We could research it later. We also did not take pictures which I now regret.
As we continued walking, we passed several old homes with historical markers, and Fred did take pictures. I had no idea there was so much history in New Bern. I would have to learn it later as our time right now was limited.
We were now getting hungry. Fred found a place nearby called Savage’s Woodburning Pizzeria. It looked worth trying. The folks inside were very pleasant and service was good. The pizza was fine but not as good as we anticipated. We were however no longer hungry. We also knew we had some ice cream on the boat we “needed” to eat up.
We continued our walk to the historical district passing by a building with a sign that said Birthplace of Pepsi Cola – interesting.
The building that stopped us though was The Cow Cafe. Want to guess? You know what draws people into a place is customers sitting out in front enjoying the product from inside. I am thinking about the ice cream back on the boat, but it’s vanilla (good but….). We decided to just walk in and see. The list of flavors we first saw did not sound appealing to us. Aah! There were more! I found an empty tub that had been coffee. We inquired, but there was no more. The young lady did say there was some cappuccino. Fred asked for a sample. It had chocolate chips in it as well. That was it. Our restraint was gone! At first, he just ordered one scoop in a dish to share. That quickly changed to two scoops in a dish. Best ice cream so far this trip!
We continued our walk and started walking past a woman and her children sitting on benches also enjoying ice cream. She had seen us in the café and asked if we had enjoyed our ice cream. We were soon engaged in a wonderful conversation. We learned that she had grown up in New Bern but was now living in Virginia. She was visiting her mother and wanted her children to visit the town where she was raised. We asked her about Tryon Palace. She told us that New Bern had once been the capital of North Carolina and Tryon Palace had been the governor’s house. She also mentioned New Bern as the birthplace of Pepsi. Soon after our delightful chat we returned to Betty Lou.
It had been a pleasant, more relaxed day.
More about Tryon Palace: “Tryon Palace, formerly called the Governor’s Palace, New Bern, was the official residence and administrative headquarters of the British governors of North Carolina from 1770 to 1775.” It was seized by patriot troops in 1775. In 1792 the state capital was moved to Raleigh, and the main building of the palace was burned to the ground. In 1950 it was reconstructed using the original architect’s plans. It is now a state historic site and open to the public. I read this on Wikipedia. You can look it up if you are interested in learning more.
Captain’s Comments:
Day 14 of the Chesapeake Chase. And Pancake Day. Worth starting the generator.
After pancakes, we pulled the anchor and headed out onto the Neuse River upstream toward New Bern. This river is very popular with the sailboat crowd. After a short exit from any of several marinas, you are in a wide-open river, with minimum current and good wind coming in from the ocean across Pamlico Sound. By 1000 (on a Saturday) the river was busy with sail and motorboats alike. We watched the two Minnesott Ferries cross the river, seeming to meet in the middle every half hour.
As we head upriver, the water turns brown again—not muddy, but brown with tannins.
On approach to New Bern, I hailed the Galley Stores Marina on VHF several times with no response. Eventually, I called them on cellular—they don’t have a VHF. I asked for my slip assignment and received a number, but the person on the phone didn’t know if it was on the up or down river side of the marina. When asked what side I would be tying up on, the response was left—they didn’t know about port. (It actually turned out to be a starboard side tie with stern in.)
A “dock” hand met us at the dock but didn’t know how to tie a cleat hitch. Several of the cleats at our slip were loose, and the dock didn’t appear to have been washed down in years, with multiple missing boards. I followed the dock hand up to the office, quite a hike across a parking lot, after we were tied so I could check in (they already had accepted my payment on Dockwa). I asked about the showers and was given a key on a string. I asked about Wi-Fi–several clerks didn’t know the password, but the snack counter cook gave her best guess (it didn’t work very well). On the way back to the boat, I checked out the showers (two single occupancy rooms); they were passable.
Galley Stores Marina is actually a gas station/convenience store with a marina out back. I asked some of the other boaters in the marina who said the owner/manager actually knew about boats, but that they had trouble hiring staff. My guess is that a lack of training leads to high staff turnover, too. We checked out on Sunday morning. The office/gas station/convenience store was closed, so I hung the key on the door.
New Bern was named after the founder’s hometown, Bern, Switzerland. “Bern” is an old Germanic word for bear. Bern, Switzerland, was originally named by a group of hunters who named the city after the first animal they came across during a hunting expedition, hence the town mascot makes sense as seen at the top of this post. New Bern was the first state capital of North Carolina and, founded in 1710, is the second oldest city in NC.