Thursday, 12 Feb 2009, Beaufort, NC

A quick update: We departed from Little Creek on Monday (as planned!!) at 0730. We decided to go the ICW for the first few days to re-acclimate to the boat. John & Sharlane Colton sailed with us until Atlantic Yacht Basin. We spent the night at Coinjock, NC. Altogether, a very nice day. On Tuesday we motored to Belhaven. The afternoon was fairly windy (a look into what was coming!). It was strange not seeing any other boats on the ICW. What's wrong with people? The weather is warm (kind of - at least warmer than it has been). On Wednesday we motored to Beaufort, NC (our usual departure point for sailing in the ocean to Florida). The morning started off with moderate winds from the SW. By afternoon (as we were entering the Neuse Riven for a 14 NM run to the WSW) the winds were a constant 20-30 KTS with gusts into the 40 KT range. Wet and bumpy. Once out of the river and into Adams Creek, things settled down. We are staying at the Beaufort Docks Marina and may be the only transient here! The weather for today calls for gale warnings (worse than yesterday) so we are going to stay here today and either leave tonight or early Friday morning for our ocean sail. Friday is forecast for decent weather. Sat is calling for SE and then SW winds which won't be any fun. So, we'll see if we duck back inside for Sat or just run it out to Florida. The temps are supposed to get back to normal (cold) starting Sat for we want to be as fas South as we can. More later.