A pic of me after the snow melted - don't I look happy?

What a day of dichotomies! It started out cold, then in Core Creek we had our first dolphin sighting! Dolphin must be crazy - it's ccccoldddd.... There were actually 3 of them that must have come in from the ocean inlet. It was very nice to see them and made me think that it was a bit warmer than it felt - after all DOLPHINS! It must be getting warmer! Two hours later we were frozen by the cold northerly winds, then pelted with sleet, then I was navigating by my depth sounder and chart plotter because we had a whiteout. SNOW FLURRIES! Hey Gary (our favorite mechanic)? If you're reading this - we told you so... The cold is following us down to Florida this year LOL. Seriously though the snow covered our dodger window and I couldn't see through it and Wayne said that half of me was white (covered in snow). He didn't think to get a picture of me until it was all melted, then I was wet standing in the sub-freezing winds.

We saw a couple pods of dolphins later in the day and there were a couple very small ones with the others - it was so cool to see them. I tried to get pictures but they kept going underwater and getting further away. One time when I as following my route scanning the water for debris and deadheads (submerged logs) one had come up and gone directly under the bow of the boat scaring me to death. I thought I was about to hit a log then it clicked "dolphin" and I was worried about running over it. Wayne laughed at me and I realized "duh - no way"...

Then a snow flurry again, briefly, and we were cruising along following the channel pretty good when I looked down and saw 3.5 feet, "thunk"... Shit! We ran aground IN the channel, and this wasn't supposed to be one of the danger spots to look for. I looked around to make sure I was still in the channel because we just passed a green buoy and were coming up on a red one. We were, so I tried nosing to the right more - no go. I shifted to neutral and felt the wind pushing me more to the left, then nada. In looking around, I noticed all the sandbars, and houses on sand and decided that with the winds and waves, a new shoal had formed. Time to call TowBoat US again... TowBoat US, Tow Boat US, this is the Sailing Vessel Kolibrie, Over. Yes Kolibrie, this is Tow Boat US, how can I help you? Yes, we've run aground between buoys G35 and R36. Okay - I'll be there in 10 minutes... Time to make some hot chocolate... When he got there, he said I don't mean to insult your intelligence but you were probably blown off the course by the strong winds. I said, no - I'm in the channel. He said if you look behind you when you're going you'll see... That I'm in the channel? Um... yes, must have shoaled in I guess. Yes, thank you. He had us towed off and thanked us and we continued on to Swansboro to anchor for the night. We asked him about any further problems heading to the anchorage and he said nope - just stay in the channel... yep - right...

We were both frozen to the bone and opened the Drambui that mom bought Wayne 15 years ago that was aged 15 years before that. It warmed me all the way down and between that and the left over beef pie I'd made the night before, by the time I called it a night - the chill was gone from the bones.

On a side note - we have cell coverage again! Picked up all the messages - Hi Nate & Allie, and returned the calls. It's amazing how disconnected you feel just knowing that you can't just pick up the phone to call anyone. Don't know how long the coverage will last, but it's good to know it's there again!