Lettuce Tell You How Cold It Was

Chesapeake to Coinjock  |  5.5 Hours  |  32 Miles  

When I closed last night's blog with the phrase, "It will be a chilly night," little did we know how chilly it would be. On its first run of the trip, the generator was not happy. Its temperature gauge was reading high, but we nursed it along until 10:00 before shutting it off. The cabin temperature at that point was 75 degrees. We had the master cabin closed up, all the blankets and comforters out, and the little ceramic heater at the ready. The outside temperature plummeted and so did the temperature inside. We woke this morning to see ice on our windows. Not a good sign. The temperature of the master cabin had dropped to 50. A quick check of my phone revealed 25 degrees outside. Ugghh. We are definitely nowhere close to being south enough. Barry braved the inevitable, opened the master cabin door, and went upstairs to restart the generator. When he yelled back, "Now I know how the lettuce feels," I groaned. The temperature in the saloon was the same as that of the refrigerator -- 40 degrees. Thankfully, the generator gave us good heat for 30 minutes as we readied for departure. A peek outside the door revealed a layer of ice which had formed on the still ICW. Dawn's golden light only gave the illusion of warmth. We brought our lines onboard at 8:00 and headed south, perfectly timing the morning's first opening of the Centerville swing bridge at 8:30. From the comfort of the heated pilothouse, the scenery was amazing. Deep and perfect reflections were cast upon the still water. The exposed root ball of a fallen tree served as an interesting subject.

I could hear my mom in my head saying, "I just can't get warm." I had removed my foul weather jacket, but still had on six layers. My grandmother would be impressed. Other than the frigid temperature, it was a beautiful trip. The view to port was of colorful trees and a bluebird sky. To starboard we had the dark silhouettes of trees as the sun rose behind them. The compass indicated that we were indeed heading south, although the thermometer was not so sure. I finally warmed up enough to go back on deck to clean up our dock lines and to take a few photos of our wake. 

The water continued to be a mirror for the sky. Along the way we saw a few animals including a deer and a few bald eagles. Our entrance into North Carolina and the Currituck Sound was accompanied by a little breeze which formed ripples on the water. The mirror surface became sparkling diamonds. 

To deal with the generator issue we made the decision to end our day earlier than usual by docking at Coinjock Marina. As we neared the entrance to the final cut, we encountered a duck hunter zipping by and my favorite photogenic stump. We tied up, plugged in, turned on the heat, got pumped out (yay), and then got to work diagnosing the over-temperature issue with the generator. We think we got it solved and that it was just a remnant of the issue we had in The Bahamas last year. We celebrated with a walk along the facedock as the sun went down. The water was once again still and the houses across the way appeared in duplicate. We also passed by the duck hunting boats with their decoys tucked away to be deployed another day. Since we stopped short today, tomorrow will be a longer day. We will depart at first light and arrive at last light in Belhaven. Tomorrow night promises to be another cold night on the hook and we'll be counting on the generator to keep us warm. Lettuce hope all is good. 

A note of clarification: We stayed at a very nice free dock in Chesapeake that did not provide power. We have done this many times before and run the generator at night as needed for heat. The fuel used for the generator is cheaper than nightly dockage. We were able to test the generator, and glad that we did. Such is life on a boat.