Where the f%#* is all the water?

Seriously! Where is the water?!?!?? I finally take some leave from work, the kids are off of school, and we are trapped! Sure, it is freezing outside with single-digit wind chills, but that hasn’t stopped us before. Lack of water beneath the keel, however, is the ultimate party pooper. At today’s high tide, our fatho was showing 7 feet—as we draw 6’3” (and plan for 6’6” as a loaded liveaboard!), that wasn't much wiggle room. We stayed put again, hoping that the wind shift tonight will help bring water back into the bay. Right now we are sitting on the bottom and still have 80 minutes until low tide. I am crushed!

We draw 6.25-6.5 ft... problem!

Tough to see, but that's a boat that's listing to port as the keel sits on the bottom.

A non-traditional Christmas

Oh, how I've longed for a Christmas at anchor for the past 2 years! But alas, it wasn't meant to be. After filling water and warming the engine to get underway on Christmas Eve, we got stuck on a hump of bottom as we tried to leave the dock. Rather than get stuck in the channel, we pulled back in and changed our plan. Just based on the tide charts, we should have been fine, but when winds are out of the north the Chessie tends to empty a bit and tides can be lower than expected. We could have made it happen, getting underway or anchoring in the dark, but our desire to relax and goof off with the kids was strong, too. Winds on Christmas were forecast to be "sporty" so it all just kind of worked out.

We had a LAZY holiday! We played games, watched movies, and of course exchanged presents! I scored a ukulele, the boy loved his new Barcelona Messi jersey, the girl got clothes and books, and the Captain got a new back-up plotter/game platform. ;) And the whole family is going to head to the mountains to try our hand at skiing. It was a very merry day!

Time for a little Star Wars action--we have tickets to go see the new movie later this week!

Snow!

We got our first decent bit of snow this weekend! It didn’t stick well to the warm ground, but piled up nicely on the docks. And this was good snowball snow! It didn’t stay too long, but it was fun while it lasted!