Pros and Cons of a Winter Sailing Adventure

First off, we hadn't planned on sailing in winter weather but regrettably when we launched in Virginia into the Chesapeake Bay at the end of February, it was STILL winter!
We had anticipated spring would arrive earlier at Virginia's latitude; or perhaps we just hoped it would.
Something we neglected to take into consideration before undertaking this endeavor was the water temperature in the bay which was 44 degrees Fahrenheit or 7 degrees Celsius.  It may not sound too bad but when you're floating in it constantly it has a huge bearing on the cabin temperature.
We knew the forecasted daily high temperature (50 to 60 degrees F) but we didn't give nearly enough consideration to the nightly lows which often fell to freezing or below.
We also didn't give much consideration to how cold it would be to sail with the wind blowing across the 44 degree water.  All in all it was a chilling experience but we did come through it with some lessons learned.
Thankfully Sea Star is equipped with a Force 10 heater.  I'm not saying it made the cabin totally cozy but coupled with the propane oven on it did help us survive the deep freeze in the mornings.
Thankfully, as well, we had 4 down sleeping bags on board plus our winter boots and clothing.  All were put to good use.
Actually we found some pros to cold weather boating:  no bugs, no crab pots to dodge in the bay, no sunburn, no need to run the refrigeration and no crowds ..... every anchorage was ours alone :)
As well though there were some cons (other than the obvious).   We ended up purchasing 2 new batteries as we were unable to start our engine.
Lesson 1 - Batteries are less efficient in cold temperatures plus it's harder to start a diesel engine when it's cold.......more draw on less efficient battery.....not a good result.
Lesson 2 - Watch out for the condensation inside the boat or soon you'll find it's raining inside and snowing out.
Lesson 3 - Shorter hours of daylight make for shorter passage time.
Lesson 4 - If you want to be a fool and boat in the winter don't expect the locals to play along.  We had to jerry jug all of our fuel and fresh water on board ... no small feat.  Hopefully we have enough to make it to some place where the fuel dock is open...... down the road (ICW in this case) towards warmer climes.
The motto of the day ...... be strong and carry on.