You have to be careful when you brag about the weather. Mother Nature will smack you down.
November 30 we made it up to 76F. It has been a steep downhill ride since then. I think we only made it to 35F on Tuesday of last week.
Only on Friday, December 10, did we make start making a recovery.
Still the first week of December was not a good week for clients from California to look at property.
For a while we were nothing but ice.
I was found the reports of weather in some of my former Canadian homes very depressing.
There is just something wrong when Halifax, Nova Scotia is warmer than coastal North Carolina in the winter.
I was happy that our recent Canadian visitors left while our temperatures were still in the sixties.
It would have been embarrassing to talk about what a nice place the Crystal Coast is with us being colder than their Canadian home.
Fortunately we seemed to be headed out of our bout of upside down weather.
I would rather get a nice suntan while fishing. But I guess that is asking for too much in December.
My skiff would need to be re-classified as an icebreaker to fish last week.
When the ice finally start melting on Friday, the tides got so low, that even the brave were a little reluctant to venture on the water.
While I heard a few stories of cold stunned fish, I think we might have come through the cold spell in pretty good shape.
We have been here four winters, and I think we are on our way to setting a record for the number of days that we have not managed to get out of the thirties.
In previous years, I think we have only seen one or two days. I think we are already at three for the winter of 2010, and we might see another three this coming week.
My grown children like to say that it doesn’t feel like the holidays unless it is cold.
My thought is that I have a hard time enjoying the holidays if I cannot take a boat ride down to Swansboro.
From the long range forecast, it looks like if we can get through next week, things will improve substantially.
It is hard to believe that Saturday’s 50F felt like a heatwave, and Sunday’s 61F looks like an impossible dream.
It is always the first shock of winter that is hardest to take.
When we were at 76F, I was upset that I had not switched to shorts. Now I am happy to have a warm sweat shirt and blue jeans as a refuge against the cold.
Cold weather does give you time to finish some projects.
I managed to get the last of my old posts moved to my new Crystal Coast Life blog.
There are now around 175 posts there from the last two years.
If you want to know what life was like on the Crystal Coast during one of those months, there are usually six posts that can provide a pretty good idea.
I have also made some progress on my HouseVision project.
We did manage to make it to Morehead City where this picture was taken. Harris Teeter is always on our list for a few vegetables.
I also always make a stop at Staples to pick up office supplies.
Even those of us who have fled to the coast need to do a little Christmas Shopping, and Morehead City is the place to do it.
The real estate business starts to slow down around the holidays so we do have time to plan out our days.
Actually I am glad that business has slowed. We were so busy for the last month that I got behind on a lot of things.
I get the sense that there is a building pool of buyers who want to find a spot on the Crystal Coast.
If the number of showings that we have done are any indication, I think 2011 might be the slow start of a real estate recovery.
A combination of lack of time on the water, bad weather, and a treacherous Bogue Inlet put a little damper on my fishing this year.
I am not sure how nets impact the fishing, but I know that for whatever reason, we did not catch as any large fish this year.
There is nothing that I can do about bad weather or nets, but I can make certain that i get more time on the water.
This has been a busy year, but I am ever hopeful that next year will offer more time for fishing and fun out in the Inlet.
I know that every time I find myself on the water, I have a great time.
It is funny. When you are on the water, time seems to move a lot faster.
While I love the beach, I am not crazy.
Walking on the beach when the temperature is 35F and the winds are 20 MPH is not exactly a recipe for Southern fun.
Still there seems to be plenty to do.
In January and February we will hit our winter stride.
The Aquarium, Maritime Museum, and the Core Sound Museum will all be on the agenda.
If we can get winter over by mid-February, I promise to stop complaining about this early taste of winter.
Why we love it here?
It is hard to say that any place is perfect. There always a balance between what you like and what you don't like. That also changes as you age. At one time I was close to homesteading in Newfoundland.
Today I would steer you to my articles, Ten ways Carteret County met our needs, Why I love living in Carteret County, and to the Crystal Coast Electronic Village Homepage as answers to why we have chosen this area.
From that reading it is easy to understand why we enjoy living in a small subdivision called Bluewater Cove near Cape Carteret. It is what we were looking for in a place to live. It is close to services and close to the beach but not on the beach. We have a dock behind the house and are close to some great trails. I can ride my bike in the neighborhood and not face a lot of traffic.
I also use my kayak on the White Oak River and have learned to love exploring the river and surrounding waters with our skiff.
This area also has some great festivals like the Newport Pig Cookoff, the Emerald Isle Saint Patrick's Day, the Swansboro Mullet Festival and the Swansboro Oyster Roast. We continue to be impressed with the Emerald Isle Christmas Parade.
It is a friendly area with a great future. So right now it is the spot for us. I often write about the area in my other websites. If you are a very avid reader, you might find some similar content on multiple sites, but usually the content is fairly specific to the sites.
These are additional sites might or might not be linked in the above post.
Ocracoke Waves
Crystal Coast Life Blog
Crystal Coast Blog 09
Crystal Coast Blog 08
Some archived articles