The journey begins!

We have officially begun our journey south! Two days ago we brought in all the lines and left Herrington Harbour.  We were happy, sad, anxious, READY!

We managed to sail for a few hours in the Bay, but when the wind left we fired up the iron gennie.  With a hefty blow forecast for Thursday we had a choice to make—anchor each night and hang out in Norfolk or Coinjock for the weather, or do an overnight run to make it to Elizabeth City.  We chose EC!  Frank is from there and we had planned to stop and visit with friends anyway so it just made sense.  How did we do it?  We stood four-hour watches overnight and were at mile zero of the ICW at 0415 and through the Gilmerton Bridge by 0500.  Getting there was exciting as it was really tough to make out the unlit marks and I don’t like to navigate heads-down in the electronics.

Then our plan started to come apart a little.  After a few hails and a phone call, we got into the Great Bridge Lock.  As we left at 0605 and called the bridge tender, we were very firmly informed that they keep to their schedule!  We were denied a 0600 opening and had to wait until 0900.  With nowhere to tie up on the free wall, we were stuck station-keeping for three hours.  It sucked, but with no wind it really wasn’t that bad.  At 0830 a half dozen giant motor yachts came through the lock to join us for the bridge.  One got right alongside us and basically wedged in front of us so we called and asked WTF.  Oh, he was just cutting in front of us.  Look, I get it—powerboats go faster than we do in the ICW and eventually all six went around us—but just a quick radio call would have been nice.  And after waiting for three hours, maybe we were a little eager to get out of there!  

The rest of the day down the ICW was pretty uneventful.  We stopped at Coinjock to top off fuel, then worked our way down the North River, around Camden Point, and up the Pasquatank River.  The Coasties welcomed us with a fantastic air show, complete with a C-130 Hercules taking off right over us!  The kids kept an eye out for crab pots and we dropped the hook in Forbes Bay about 15 minutes after last light.  We decided to just anchor for the night and tie up in the free slips in the morning before the winds picked up.

All in all, a great start!  The kids kept up with their schoolwork, we got great air shows at Pax River, Oceana, and Elizabeth City, and we are safely tied up.  And I was reminded that it’s honestly ok to be at the end of the line if power boats are there, too! 😁

South! (By land)

The year’s homecoming festivities came to a close this week in Charleston!  We stayed at Folly Beach and enjoyed a beautiful weekend on and around the Citadel campus.  We had a great time with old friends and had lots of great food!  

And now we will finish up business here and get headed south by sea!

Final preps

Yesterday we got almost everything out of our storage unit and stowed below.  Fuel cans have been secured on deck to new PVC boards that Frank mounted and the paddle boards are stowed on deck.  I gave the ‘ole girl a bath, and the girl child slapped some local stickers on the dinghy engine cowl to personalize it (can’t wait to acquire more!).  Fresh provisions, hoses, electrical cords, fenders, and lines are all that’s left to come aboard!

Home

Home.  Such a simple word, right?  The dictionary defines home as “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.”  The boat has been our home for almost the entire last decade, but as we prepare to begin cruising in our home, I’ve really begun to reassess what that word means.  As a family that’s been on the move constantly, it’s tough to call one geographic place home.  Just last night a couple asked where we were from and it went like, “I’m from here, she’s from there, we met in that place and we’ve lived all over.”  That is partly why I have loved living on the boat—no matter where we geographically move, we have the comfort of our home.

In the long list of zip codes we have held, we’ve been in Washington for a total of four years (split over two jobs/moves), Louisiana for a total of five years (also split over two jobs/moves), and Maryland for a total of six years (split between three jobs, but only two moves).  If you’re keeping up and doing the math, there have been a few more places scattered in there, but those are the three we’ve lived the longest.  And perhaps because we weren’t married and didn’t have kids for one of those passes through Washington, we have more connections in Louisiana and Maryland.  They are the closest geographic areas we have to “home.”  

Home is more than a place or even the walls you live in.  It’s the people, the connections, and the way of life.  We have loved our Maryland home and look forward to returning in our travels.  I took a little walk today around our marina to take a few photos of home, but the people...that’s where it’s really at.

PFD’s!

One of the many reasons I worked the boat show was to get a sweet discount on new PFD’s for the kiddos!  Both are tipping the scales at >90lbs and want auto-inflating, cozy vests.  Enter the Spinlock Deckvest LITE+.  This model fit both kids perfectly and comfortably, and I loved that it came with a crotch strap and was harness-ready.  For a little extra safety, we added the Spinlock Lume-On lights as well as Aquaventures, Inc. AIS Flare ECO with DSC to their vests.  After a thorough review of all the components, they are ready!  Here they are getting fam tours of the Spinlock Deckvest LITE+.

It was also time for us to re-arm our Mustang Survival HIT PFD’s.  We took this opportunity to blow the old cartridges so the kids could see how they work.  We had a little fun with this.  😁 I also got a sweet new ACR Strobe H2O—upgrade!

Bilge goodies (a.k.a. provisions)

As the remnants of tropical storm Nestor move through the area, I decided it would be a great day to lay in stores in the bilge!  I wanted to start this now while we have a car to get the heavy stuff to the boat.  And I want to get a better idea of what kind of space I’m working with.  And did I mention the rain and wind?  Yuck!  Perfect day to be inside with the company of the NFL on TV!

Provisioning for us is a combo of dried, canned, and fresh goods.  My plan is to put cans and heavy items in the bilge, dried goods in the settee backs, and fresh in the fridge/hammocks.  With four consumers aboard (including a boy that can eat more than either adult sometimes!), I expect to have to pull food from the bilge every 4-7 days depending on how our fresh is doing.  Anyway, here is what the haul looked like!

This is POUNDS of rice and beans (1/2 of us are vegetarian), cans of soups, tomatoes, and ravioli (the boys love it!), beer, baking supplies, shelf-stable milk, sausages, nuts, pasta, ramen noodles, boxes of wine, and even a box of vodka we decided to try!  Once it was in the boat, I got to work removing all the can labels and marking them with a Sharpie.  Why?  IF there is an influx of water, you don’t want a mess of paper clogging the bilge pump and blank can roulette is only fun for a few rounds.  I also eliminated as much cardboard as possible—pasta boxes are the bugger there and I’m still debating how I want to handle that in the long run.  Most of this ended up in plastic bins that slide in the bilge between the stringers.  Some stuff like bottles of olive oil and jars of peanut butter (all plastic!) are just laid in the bilge. Everything else was bagged in Ziplocs or FoodSaver vacuum bags and laid on top of the bins. With every move I had to make sure that drainage holes to the bilge pump weren’t blocked.

Each container includes a list of its contents and I keep a copy outside of the bilge, too.  As I pull stuff, I’ll update the lists so I have a decent idea of what we have onboard!

The reward for hauling, labeling, and storing all of this?  Brunch!  We made time for one more brunch at Ketch 22–love their crab eggs Benedict and mimosas!

The End, Part 2

Today was his “end!”  After a decade with the National Park Service, he is shifting to cruising mode. How did we celebrate?  With dinner in downtown Baltimore and a Twenty One Pilots concert with our girl and her friend!

Boat Show...DONE!

Well, THAT was an experience!  My first time working at the Annapolis boat shows was awesome!  Highlights—tons of boaters and getting to see so many boating friends as they enjoyed the show, schlepping boxes, going “swimming” with my hardworking teammates, meeting the crew of Sailing Luna Sea in person, Pusser’s Painkillers, talking with the guys from Sailrite for tips on my next project, meeting and outfitting the leading lady of Sailing Totem with footwear, getting nightly foot rubs from the kids, and getting to work with so many great folks from a great local business!  Working with Fawcett Boat Supplies was like working with a fun family and it helped us stock up on stuff we really needed.  I think next year we need “I survived the Sailboat Show Flood of 2019” shirts! 🤣  Some shots of the fun and goodies...

Boat Show Season!

It's a great time of year for boaters around Annapolis--BOAT SHOW SEASON!  I've been keeping busy in retirement by working at the famous Fawcett Boat Supplies shoe booth.  It's crazy, but fun!

This is also "departure" season as we all start to head south.  The popular question is, "When?"  Well, we don't really know!  I am working the whole boat show, Frank has one last day of work on the 15th, we have a concert to go to on the 15th, we have to take advantage of my temp employee discount after the boat show, we have a reunion to go too...we will leave sometime this month!  We are debating whether we make some southern progress before the reunion (and add docking expenses) or just wait to head out until after the reunion.  Honestly, we may not know for another week!  And I like that. I like having options!