It is 0500 and I have been awake since 0400. We tied up to the city dock at 1700 last night. Good dock, free, and allowed to be here for max of 48 hours. No shore power though. Inquired about renting a slip for the night, but @ $1.50/ft. we opted to go the free route. In the end, it worked out fine. We used the stove to warm up the cabin and were cozy until we went to bed. We thought about leaving the stove on, but erred on the side of caution to avoid the potential for carbon Monoxide poisoning.

We plan to sail to Swansboro, NC today. We will take the ICW starting at Adams Creek to Morehead City, NC. If the weather is good and the winds cooperate, we will head outside and sail the rest of the way to Swansboro. If not, we will continue in the ICW. Many reports of shoaling since the Army Corps of Engineers has not been maintaining the ICW well for the past 10 years or so. Funds for dredging have been diverted to other things by Homeland Security. Both Brent and I much prefer to sail outside. You can typically make better time, and it's sailing, which is part of why we are here!

Reflecting back on the previous 6 days, we did a lot of work on Kristinly. Installed new batteries, a macerator pump to empty the holding tank when out at sea 3 miles out, and an inverter to be able to use 110 volt AC appliances like TV, coffee pot, laptop computers, hair dryers, etc. Fixed the radar, and did all of the things necessary to recommission the boat. Brent changed the oil. We were going to change the fuel filters but there has been so few hours since the last change and the sediment bowl looks clean so we decided not to at this time. I have spent more money on this stuff than I intended, but it had to be done and that's the way it goes sometimes. I am hopeful that most of that is out of the way now. I still have a fair amount of organizing to do, and also cleaning up of the boat. I will work on that while underway. We need to get out of this cold area and going farther south is the only way.

We were actually in a position to leave Sunday, 20 January, but the winds were blowing out of the south and the water level dropped a foot and the keel was in the mud so had to wait for the winds to shift. They did Sunday night, but it was also colder than hell. We woke up to 16° and there was ¼" to ½" of ice almost all the way out of Duck Creek to the Neuse River. Jim and Frank of the marina advised that trying to punch out with the Kristinly would damage bottom paint and possibly the fiberglass hull, so we lowered the dinghy and put on the outboard motor and broke up the ice slowly. I was worried that the ice, which when broken up has sharp edges would cut into the rubber bottom and sides of the dinghy, so we were very careful. In the end, no damage done. But this whole process wasted nearly 2 hours. At one point, Brent was getting very frustrated and acting out. I told him to take a break and he settled down. I was proud of him for that. We were both growing weary of sitting and waiting and worried that this could drag on for an indefinite period of time. But we got out and made it as far as Oriental and are well situated for an early start today.

Brent and I are getting along very well, actually better than I would have thought. It was clear when we finally got underway that we need to work out some of the things like who makes the call on things when we disagree. As a rule, we talk things out and go with the best way. I would say it is a 50-50 split. Brent is very good about thinking things through and considering details that I miss. It was interesting when we were in the marina, and Brent felt we should just punch through the ice. I wasn't comfortable with that and refused. He was great and accepted my decision, frustrated clearly, but accepted that and I was grateful. We had a disagreement on navigating to the buoys when entering Oriental harbor. It was a bit of a tense moment, and Brent was mistaken. I knew I was right and was firm. He acquiesced and followed my direction and all was well. Again, I was grateful for his response. I know there will be times when I am wrong and am being very conscious about staying objective and listening to his opinions. I value them greatly. This is going to be a great upcoming 4 weeks, I am sure.

EOD - The start of the day did not go off as planned. 2 minutes after we left the dock, the engine sputtered. We thought it was just an anomaly, but about 5 minutes later after we were out of the harbor, it quit altogether. We both immediately thought it was fuel related, but Brent had a better idea as to actually why. To make a long story short, we figured out that Brent had left an auxiliary fuel pump on the day before that is designed to be used only for maintenance and when it burned up after being used the day before, a leak resulted and air got into the fuel line - a very bad thing for a diesel engine. We spent two hours trying to fix it. That set us back and we pushed hard to make our final destination: Swansboro, N34° 41' 07.6", W77° 07' 16.5" and we made it. But it is a very small anchorage and actually ran aground twice trying to find a suitable spot; very poor holding on the bottom. Finally gave up, but not after some heated words with Brent. After running aground twice, I was not interested in risking it in the middle of the night, and he doesn't seem to understand that and wanted to keep trying. The sun was setting and we were out of time. We (I) rented a slip at Casper's Marina across the way ($48). Brent and I discussed the disagreement, and he acknowledged that there can only be one captain of the boat - me. We tried to make nice, but it was a frosty dinner over a couple of beers. I hope things go better tomorrow. Destination: Wrightsville Beach, NC, about 70 miles.