Saturday, February 13th was looking discouraging for getting out and making our last 135 miles home. But we didn't recognize it and besides, the next day was Valentine's Day and we needed to be with the sweeties!
Greg swept most of the three inches of snow off the boat and we got off at 7:02 am, which was two minutes after the hot coffee store in Surf City opened.
The scene was amazing. Everything was covered with snow and the traffic on the streets was at a standstill. We were off on the waterway, however, and we were making good time with the fuel filter change allowing the engine to run well.
Today the engine ran cool for the first time in about twelve engine hours and we were glad to have that concern off our mind. This more or less proved that the engine thermostat needed to be changed and the mechanics in Southport hadn't done it yet.
The waterway on NC's coast is absolutely packed with gorgeous homes. All pastel colors and so expensive looking. About one in twenty was for sale and many appeared vacant. Greg and I wondered how many were having coffee looking out at us on a snowy day navigating on the ICW? We had to appear crazy and we were heading NORTH to boot.
We bought our last fuel for the trip at Sea Gate Marina in Newport, NC. We were still 70 miles from home but this was the last convenient stop for fuel. We called ahead to see if they were open since North Carolinians are paralyzed when it comes to driving in snow. They were thinking of closing up early, but, no, they'd wait an hour for us.
When we arrived, they were dealing with about eight inches of snow and were incredulous that we were boating. They tried clearing their gas dock but it was too heavy to deal with using a broom. We got our fuel and made friends there.
One curious fellow explained that his wife was filling in running the marina for her friend who owned the marina and that they were transplanted yankees too. They agreed that NC yankees are better than NC natives because we chose to live in NC.
I tried to buy coffee but they hadn't made fresh coffee. They had a brewed on demand machine but it didn't make hot coffee. Only hot coffee would do. They let me use a microwave to heat it up. I went to pay. Lady said no she couldn't accept money for the coffee what with the walks not shoveled and having to use the microwave and all. I thanked her and told her she made a big mistake. If she knew how much we were willing to pay for that coffee she would never have given it away!
We got to the Neuse River, near Oriental, NC just about dusk. It is a pretty big body of water and we expected that we might have a bumpy ride here. With the sun setting, the waters calmed and we had a great ride. We could see far ahead a tug boat pushing a barge. We were amazed that we were able to catch up to it at our slow speed.
The tug was actually timing his entrance into the last narrow part of the ICW due to a southbound tug was already in the "ditch". When the southbound tug cleared, the northbound tug started with us only 200 yards behind. Since it is now dark and we don't have radar, it was VERY comforting to be on his coattails.
We arrived at the Pamlico River, on the western side of the Pamlico Sound at around 8 pm and we were able to navigate our home waters intuitively until our 10:30p dock time. We had a hard time docking however.
You see, the boat was covered with a half inch of ice and we couldn't get on deck to tie it up!
Believe me, after almost 16 hours, we found a way.
Joe Miller
February 15, 2010
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