Well, it looks like back-to-back northers for the duration… going to get in the 30’s tomorrow and rainy.  In fact this is more like a Nor-Easter with the cold wind switching back around back up to New England! Not our ideal cruising weather. Sunny is a tropical cruising cat... snow is NOT in the plan!  Packing my ski parka and hat seemed pretty stupid in August, but now it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

We headed out in 25 knots NE around 8:30 in full winter gear. We were on a dead run, so chilly at the helm but the wide river gave us plenty of space, so the autopilot handles it just fine.  We are rolling along at 6 knots with only a small jib up - very cozy below.  Jim tried to eat his cereal in the cockpit but the wind kept lowing the milk into his face!

Just as well we’re not offshore yet as there are 13 foot seas out there.  We played it just right, jibing at just the right point for a straight shot sail right into Adams Creek.  After awhile the channel narrowed so we furled up the headsail.  Wind is dropping but so is the temperature so it’s good to leave the Neuse in our wake.  Lots of evidence of Hurricane Irene around here – I guess our hurricane hole was a lot better than these!

There is really no decent anchorage around Morehead City so we plan to go to the Morehead City Yacht Basin tonight.  Tomorrow we’ll decide if Bogue Sound is tenable – this strong wind in SE through W as forecasted is going to make it impassable so until it clocks through NW we won’t head into it.  We built one slack day into the schedule for our rendezvous with Gene at Wilmington on November 1, so we might just hang out for a day…shore power and the little heater sound like a nice idea when it goes into the 30s.  

Still no Internet connection so I’m writing all this offline.  The Virgin Mobile is out of commission and Sprint has no coverage at all in this area.  So I’ll post all this when we get to MC tonight. 

PM

Made it to Morehead City Yacht Basin mid-afternoon.  By this time the wind was screaming and blowing all the water out of the bay so the current was roaring.  We had a really hard time docking but eventually got tied up. There is serious weather on the way with up to 40 gusts form the west, so Bogue Sound is going to be terrible.  We decided to relax and stay here an extra day.  Snow in NY & maybe even in DC!  Packing my parka is looking even smarter now!!  My mother always said "better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." 

We enjoyed the amenities of the marina - hot showers and a lovely "club room" with trading libary.  Then we went out to a lovely and well-deserved dinner at Floyd's 1921.    I highly recommend the fried green tomato stack with lightly fried shrimp.