November 6, 2010.

Here inside the fiberglass hull of the Veranda we really dislike the cold. The cold is our main motivation as we barrel south in an effort to outrun Mother Nature. We might dawdle and do some sight seeing on our way north but the trip south is usually at a dead run.

A couple of years ago we set our personal best of 9 days from Annapolis to Charleston. This year we spent a full week in Oriental and still made it to Charleston in 15 days. 8 days of traveling, a new personal best, not bad but the damn weather still caught us.

We’re anchored in Factory Creek in Beaufort, SC. The low temperature last night was 38° Fahrenheit. The dogs usually live in the cockpit but due to the dropping temps they were treated to a night below deck with the 2 legged crew.

We had the “candle of warmth” and the “lanterns of coziness” running full blast in an effort to stave off the cold. The low temp inside the boat during the night was a chilly but doable 58°. So we piled on the blankets, cuddled up the puppies and had a reasonable night.

I was up and dressed first and was surprised to hear Christy get up with a song on her lips. It was then that I realized that she wasn’t singing, she had just sat on the 57° toilet seat and her shocked gasp escaped in a kind of soprano squeal……