STEELE STREET OCEANEERS: Cold, Cold, Cold, Ahhh.... There's the Sun!!!!!

First of all , let's backtrack a bit to what we think is a cute video of Mitch trying to explain crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay at Olversons' .

So as we mentioned in the last entry, the weather has been less than "balmy". Now that is a bit double-sided when you are on a sailboat. On the one hand, cold is cold, and grey is grey. It makes for long days and nights, especially considering we have no source of heat onboard unless you count our oven.

Here's a quick video of our typical day , this one taken just after getting off the Dismal Swamp (we were on the Pungo River, North Carolina).

On the plus side, cold weather comes from the north, we are heading south, so the winds have been terrific for sailing.

The kids have been (up until today) on the boat for 6 days straight!!! Although their world encompasses 34' x 14' ,they have done an incredible job of keeping themselves busy while allowing Lisa and I to maintain our sanity. Apart from school work , reading and crafts (and a bit of Nintendo DS), they have been very creative with their time.

So yes, it's been cold and grey , but it has really helped us get south. Yesterday we managed 65 miles, which might not mean much to you, but when you average 5-6 kts, it's a very good day. It was blowing 20-25kts and we managed to maintain 9-11kts of boatspeed sailing down the Neuse River! We arrived in Morehead City , NC http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=morehead+city&sll=39.164141,-97.119141&sspn=34.075391,86.396484&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Morehead+City,+Carteret,+North+Carolina,+United+States&t=h&z=12hoping to get a spot at the Sanitary Restaurant (awful name admittedly) for $10/night, then tried for the free anchorage (full). We settled for the Town Dock (no, we didn't pay the $54.00 although we probably should have), then this morning scooted over to the restaurant .

For the first time in 6 days we saw the sun!!!! It was a beautiful day (18C) but tomorrow is calling for 22C-25C.

We opened the boat up and let things dry out while we wandered around town in and out of shops. The kids spent some of their own money, Lisa got some new boardshorts and a t-shirt while Mark priced out a new kite surfboard (an idea quickly shot down by Lisa, but reconsidered later and hopefully to be purchased in the morning).

NOTE TO ALAN AND COLIN: A Cabrinha 5-Niner Thruster Directional, SWEEEEET!!!!!!!NOTE TO EVERYONE ELSE: Huh????????

So looks like the good weather will be for us for a bit. We still have alot of miles to cover before I go back to work ( we are at Mile 205 and need to get to Mile 685), but we will keep pushing and hopfully get a run or two offshore once we get south of Cape Fear.