Christmas morning was cold. I woke up well before dawn and decided to make the trip to the bathrooms here. It's about a 12-minute walk, even at a pretty good pace. I had my hands in my pockets to keep them warm and was sliding my feet a bit, because it felt like there was some frost on the docks. Suddenly I slipped and went down on the dock. My hands flew out and I caught myself with only a couple of bruises, but when I stood up I felt that the bathroom key was no longer in my pocket, nor was it on the dock. It was still dark, but I leaned over and saw that there was a lump on the water. I grabbed it, and happily it was the float on the key. It's an electronic key, so I wiped it off immediately. It still works!

After that the day got a little better. We did go to our friends' house for Christmas dinner, and that was nice. I would never have guessed when we started this journey that we'd be having Christmas dinner in Charleston with the Wollabers!

The day after Christmas started cold and rainy and ended colder and snowy. The snow didn't stick, but Monday morning we woke up to some serious ice on the docks. I took this picture on my way to the bathroom (this time the key was in the pocket that Velcro's shut). I wore my boat shoes. I really didn't buy them in anticipation of needing traction on ice. I guess I shouldn't complain, the Northeast was getting a blizzard. And it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees by the end of the week. Yeah!

I can't say that life on board is boring though. Even stuck here at the City Marina it's fun to look at the boats. I am also amazed at the tide. Today I took pictures of high and low tide to show the difference. It's about a 6-foot tide here. I also took pictures of one powerboat that has what must be a bargain slip. It's about a 30-foot boat and at low tide it's completely aground. I thought maybe it was abandoned, but it had Christmas lights on it. Today on another of the long trips to the bathrooms I saw a big dolphin surface in the lanes between the boats. (Pictures of the tide and the boat are in the gallery; I didn't get a shot of the dolphin, even though I had the camera.)

Things are looking up. Our mail has been sent and the days are getting warmer. With any luck our business and the weather will come together so we can head on out on Friday or Saturday. I'm looking forward to moving south again.