On December 12, we left Oriental, bound for Swansboro. Close to Beaufort, NC, we broke a fan belt and didn't have a spare. We got a tow into Beaufort and lots of help from the local TowBoat / US operator there in locating a new belt. Now we have a spare. It was a new and interesting problem to install the belt, involving taking the alternator mostly off, but finally we were on our way. We stayed two nights at Swansboro, waiting out some chilly, drizzly, foggy days. We also had had a new fuel hose shipped to Swansboro and installed that there. Then we made our way to Southport, NC, close to the Cape Fear inlet, on December 17.