Weather Delay

Today, we we'd planned to leave at 6am again, and travel a 8-9 hour day, stopping for fuel along the way before anchoring for the night. Scott checked the weather forecast as we were getting ready to leave; it had changed. The forecast now called for a gale warning from 1pm until late tonight. That means 30mph + winds. The winds were already blowing pretty good, and there wasn't good place for us to anchor if we only traveled 2-3 hours. Based on all of this, Scott made the decision to stay put for the day. He didn't even have to ask me, as 15mph is past pushing it for me! So, we went back to bed; easy to do, as it was still dark.

When we woke up later, Scott turned on the generator, to get some heat running. He needed my help flipping a switch, located under the floor. As we peeled up the carpet, we knocked over a basil plant that we've been traveling with, and trying to keep alive in this not-to-warm weather. There was now black dirt all over the light colored carpet. I dug out the Dirt Devil hand vac, that was with the boat when we bought it. I have never really been happy with it's performance, and this was no exception. When Scott open the vac, so I could replace the bag, we'd found that it had burst, so there was more dirt everywhere. The vac also leaked dirt as I tried to take the attachments off, prolonging my clean up.

As I was dealing with my dirt issue, Scott found that our macerator pump had a leak in one of its seals. This means that we have raw sewer water leaking into one of our closets..yum! And, as icing on the cake, our microwave is starting to go. It took Scott 15 minutes to heat water for his hot chocolate. So, in Wrightsville Beach on Sunday, we'll be purchasing a hand vacuum and a microwave! The pump we hope to get here.

Now, before we left, my friend, Nan, gave me a six pack of Natty Boh beer. She said that there was one beer for a really bad day, every month we were gone. I was REALLY close to breaking open that six pack right about now!

Buy this time, I was starved and grumpy, so we prepared to walk to the Oriental Bistro for breakfast. It was currently cloudy, windy and we had a mix of sleet and snow. I put on not one, but two pairs of pants, having not seen the need to pack long underwear - dumb! I did, however, pack ear muffs and a wool sweter, that have REALLY gotten use! Scott DID pack his long underwear, and put it on, along with hat and gloves. We both have warm coats onboard. Donned in our winter garb, we set out for breakfast. The walk wasn't too bad, wind being somewhat blocked for now. Breakfast was good and hot, and my grits were GREAT!

After breakfast, we headed to the Oriental Provisoning Company. They have a big marine supply section, as well as gifts, cards and clothes. They didn't have the brand of pump we needed, so we decided to make the 1 mile walk to the West Marine Express. A man checking out heard us, and offered us a ride to the West Marine. Art, told us that all of the locals give boaters rides. He also told us that Doug runs the West Marine, and he'll match prices from the provision company and from online sites as well. Scott brought this up in the store, and we saved 30.00 on our pump! We stopped at the grocery store, next to West Marine('cause I love a grocery store trip if I can get it) and then started our walk back to the town dock. We were walking against traffic, like walkers are supposed to do, when a woman slowed her car to offer us a ride. Once we were inside, she did a u-turn and took us to the town dock. If it was warmer, I think we'd stay here..kindness and friendliness abound!

Once back to the boat, we treated ourselves to mid-day Bloody Marys. The sun came out, for the most part, but the winds really kicked up. Our boat is feeling it here at the dock, I'm sure that it's plenty worse on the water(John, aka Shorty, was gone when we woke up(the second time)this am. We hope he's fairing well, and finds a safe anchorage tonight, out of the wind). We're sitting here, just watching the traffic go by, both car and dog, and feeling the wind rock the boat...hoping that tomorrow is more do-able!