Sunday, still stuck in Beaufort, thanks to winter storm Diego. Yes, we were in the lee of the building at Town Creek Marina and other boats, but still a little bouncy. Couple of serious gusts and hard rain, all day. We’re fortunate. Inland, they are getting snow. I decorated the saloon for Christmas and Larry watched a football game on his IPad. Wind picked up in the evening, including some nasty gusts.

Monday, still raining, cold, windy. Borrowed courtesy car and went to run errands. Then picked up barbecue to bring back. Still bouncy, makes working out on the boat a bit tricky, yoga even trickier. Winds picked up at night and shifted directions. Now rocky and bouncy.

Tuesday, still here! Clear and cool. However, still windy. It would have been on the nose, hence Lizzie would become seasick. Borrowed courtesy car and went to a restaurant in Morehead City. Cox’s, a family diner, local joint. Then drove around downtown Beaufort, too cold to walk it from boat. Tomorrow we are off…….

Wednesday, beautiful, cold morning. Larry was looking for a book he lost in the courtesy car, office, etc. I got to work out while I waited. Never found the book. Cast off at 8:20, from mm203. Wow, dolphins, loons, great blues, egrets, pelicans…..tons of birds today. Seen lots of loons this trip-perhaps because we are much later than usual? Started to see roof damage, hurricane Florence ? ….then dock damage, especially near inlets. Onslow Beach Bridge, the slowest moving bridge anywhere….almost sailed into it once…. Today, a tug was coming northbound so it opened for them and we got to go too-didn’t have to wait for scheduled opening. Went through Camp Lejeune. Artillary sounds in the background. Tons of dolphins, moms with babies. Anchor down, Mile Hammock Bay, mm 244, at 2:30. Decorated the pilot house for the holidays. Loons calling, a favorite of mine….happy surprise.

Thursday, anchor up at 7:30. Cold, sunny, quiet morning. Flat, no wind. Pleasant in the sun. Lots of bird life…..quite a selection. Used to be a swing bridge that opened only on the hour, now gone. How the ICW has changed since our first trip in year 2000. Then, a landmark, the house with the full size giraffe statue. Figure Eight Island Bridge, charted as 20 feet high, bridge tender said 22-that is what we need. My stomach was in knots! We scraped the antennas all along….sometimes, I’d rather wait for an opening. Three shrimpers opened up Wrightsville Beach bridge for us ahead of schedule. We were going to stop at Carolina Beach and wait out a good tide/wind combo to cross the Cape Fear River. But, it seemed like really good conditions and enough daylight. We had perfect conditions. Panda Bear was cooking at 10.9 knots, flying for Panda Bear standards. Flat as possible. We crossed a freighter from Turkey coming down from Wilmington. Larry changed the name of this river to Cape Roses, as he thinks the name is what is concerning to me. Arrived at Indigo Marina around 4:00. Southport,NC mm 305.

Friday, here we go again…. rain, wind. Stayed put. Designed my Christmas card, worked out, cooked dinner….normal activities that still have to take place, even while living on a boat.

Saturday, rain until 3:00. Then we walked to Southport for early dinner (or very late lunch). Went to the Blue Cow Grille. I had a margarita burger and Larry had a shrimp salad….good, nothing fancy. Saw a new part of town we had not seen in prior stops during our 4.3 mile walking round trip. So ends another week….these weekly storms are slowing us down.