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ruising sail boats stop in Oriental throughout the year, but it is in the spring and fall that the biggest concentrations of sailors living on their boats come to town.

The anchorage expanded Monday, and even areas not behind the breakwater became the place to drop anchor for the night.

On Monday, 20 of them dropped the hook in Oriental’s harbor, or near it. Seven boats were at anchor inside the breakwater, while another dozen or so dropped anchor between the breakwater and the Oriental bridge.

By late afternoon, at least 9 dinghies were tied up to the Oriental Dinghy Dock.

Closer to land, the dinghy dock was seeing a lot of action. By late afternoon, at least 9 dinghies were seen there as their owners went in to town for provisioning or just a walkabout.

Some more views of the Monday’s gathering of boats:

A dinghy makes its way to a boat farther out in the anchorage. As seen here, the waters inside the breakwater were flatter, but there wasn’t enough room for all 20 boats there and more than a dozen dropped anchor in front of the Oriental bridge.

There was a lot of dinghying going on, from boat to boat and boat to shore.

One boat sets its anchor as another takes on a visitor.

View from the bridge of two of the 20 boats anchored in Oriental for the night.

Rowing to the Oriental dinghy dock.

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One boat, a Wharram catamaran out of Quebec, opted to go under the bridge and anchor near Teach’s Cove.

The Wharram near where Greens and Smith Creeks merge.

The setting sun was glinting off of the metal bits on a boat from Montreal which was positioned in front of the Oriental Harbor Marina.

From the kayak launch site just on the other side of the Oriental bridge, you can usually see clear to the river. That view was blocked Monday….

… by more than a dozen boats anchored outside the protection of the breakwater, and in front of the Oriental bridge.

Some cruisers motor their dinghies to the Town Dock and tie up there, but Neville Clement wasn’t doing that this trip. When passing through Oriental on Halloween last year, he and his wife Annie watched as a steel fishing trawler plowed in to the wharf next to the Town Dock and crushed their dinghy which had been tied up there. On Monday, Neville was using the dinghy dock.

And back to the anchorage.

Posted Tuesday November 2, 2010 by Melinda Penkava