Farewell, 2020 from Titusville, Florida!

After a brief stop at anchor in Rockhouse Creek in New Smyrna we arrived in Titusville and picked up a mooring from the municipal marina. First impression—this is going to be a good stop! The mooring is only $100 a week, the facilities are really nice, laundry is cheap, and mobile pump-out (up to twice a week) is included. The location is also walking distance to a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a really good brewery! The real treat? The adjacent park has a sweet skate park! The kids are thrilled!  

Loving the skate park!

We’ve ended the year by enjoying a brilliant full moon, exploring the little island near our mooring, hitting the park for exercise, and exploring the town on foot. We are going to stick around for a week so that Trent can have another paintball experience, we can visit Kennedy Space Center after the local school breaks, and so that we can hopefully see a rocket launch that’s scheduled for the night of January 4th. I’m not sad to put 2020 in the rear view mirror, and pretty content to be welcoming 2021 from the space coast.

Stunning shot of Lehe Paine and the full moon on Dec 29th from one of our neighbors 

Fun on Horseshoe Crab Island

10 nights moored in St. Augustine

We managed to secure a reservation for a mooring in the St. Augustine Municipal Marina mooring field for 10 days over the Christmas holiday! Moorings are cheap (<$25/day), the facilities are nice, mobile pump-out is easy, and it’s a fantastic location in the heart of downtown! This time of year it’s also all lit up for “Nights of Lights.” While we still thoroughly enjoyed the historic charm of the “Oldest City,” it was really crowded in the afternoons and evenings with holiday travelers. It would have been a little crowded for my taste during normal times, and given the global pandemic we chose to retreat to the quieter streets or the boat to keep some distance at times. 

On the “fun” side of things, we visited the iconic lighthouse (holy crowded!), the Oldest House (good history lesson), and the distillery (we couldn’t pass up this favorite). We walked/jogged the streets and alleys, took in the lights from sea and land, ate lots of great take-out, and celebrated Christmas from our cozy home. We enjoyed the ease of Amazon Prime/Whole Foods delivery of our provisions, and Trent spend hours hanging with me in the laundry room/lounge so he could fully update his Xbox using the marina WiFi.

Lighthouse (left) and Oldest House (right)

Around town

Nights of Lights (and our contribution to the display!)

Merry Christmas!

On the “not-so-fun” side, we were beam-on to a 40+ knot blow on Christmas Eve which caused a few minutes of “discomfort.” We had some blissfully warm days, but also had to have the heater on a few times! We also suffered a propane leak (on Christmas Day, of course!) which required a long hike with a heavy propane tank to get it refilled and two hikes through throngs of tourists to get to the hardware store for parts. In the end, the Chief Engineer simplified our propane system a bit as part of the fix. He also recommissioned the water maker! Ok, that wasn’t so bad, but it was “work!”

A pesky propane leak resulted in lots of exercise, but the water maker is also back in business!

Time to get this party rolling south into the new year!

It's tradition! Christmas carries on...

Merry Christmas, family, friends, and fellow cruisers! Every year I tend to reflect on our holiday traditions and 2020 has brought that reflection into focus even more. The holidays can be tough for some people every year and 2020 seems to have made it much harder for many of our friends and family. But let's focus on the positive! What traditions were you able to carry forward into this crazy year? What new ones did you discover?

Admittedly, Christmas 2020 isn't totally different from many of the holidays we've had over the years. When we were still a military family, we were often away from extended family and didn't travel to big gatherings. We've managed to be together, just the four of us, for all but one holiday where I was on the other side of the world with some of the best shipmates a girl could ask for. We had a few holidays near extended family, but for the most part, we keep our celebration small and intimate. So what makes for a traditional Christmas for the crew of Lehe Paine?

- Lights! While we don't carry all of our decorations on the boat these days, we do carry our LED up-and-over lights. I will unapologetically run a generator to power those bad boys! 

- Stockings! We have had the same set of stockings since the kids were babies and they are hung on our cabin doors every holiday season.

- Getting away! We prefer to celebrate "on the hook" or "on the ball," surrounded by water and nice views. Some years weather kept us at the dock. Last year we were at a dock in Bahamas celebrating and laughing with new friends.

- Christmas Eve festivities! We like to plan a dinner (usually some variant of Asian cuisine), watch movies, bake or decorate cookies, and the kids exchange their gifts from one another. We used to give them pj's that night, too, but...teenagers! Red wine...that's also part of my Christmas prep tradition!

- Christmas morning...gifts! This is when we have opened gifts from the extended family, Santa, and mom & dad. As the kids have gotten older and we've gotten more minimalist, there isn't a huge pile of presents, but everyone seems great with it.

- Food! If I've properly provisioned there will be easy, canned cinnamon rolls for breakfast! As the craziness winds down mimosas are served, gifts are stowed, and I prep whatever is needed for some sort of feast that afternoon/evening.

- Calls to family! Between cooking and relaxing the day away, we have calls and video calls with friends and family. We were doing this pre-COVID and will surely continue it into the future!

We were able to retain these traditions quite easily this year. But 2020 was hard for me (Jody) for a non-COVID reason. We don't expect to have Katreina with us next year so I was really trying to make all of our traditional things happen. She even let her brother sleep over one last time (she said they are too old for that tradition, but...)! And then she got me...got us matching bracelets to "make bonds" when we are apart. I cried...I cried a lot! It was super sweet and I absolutely love it. Katreina's gift is her trip to France, Trent ended up with a serious paintball gun, Frank's whiskey/Scotch selection was expanded, and I got a really sweet GoPro that I'll have to figure out how to use.

Wishing you all health and happiness into the new year!

And then there are the sleepless nights...

I’ve said it before...it’s not always cocktails and sunsets! Last night it was sleepless!

We pulled off the ICW by the Atlantic Blvd Bridge and were delighted to see M/V Egret, a boat we’d anchored and moored near a few other times, just finishing up on deck after anchoring. This spot is deep and narrow with a ripping current, and just for fun we had a stiff NW breeze as well. So we had to have lots of scope out for the depth, but not too much because of the limits on swing room, and we had to worry about wrapping the chain around the keel when the tide was against the current. Setting the hook in those conditions can be a challenge, too, and of course the wind and current were against each other when we dropped the hook. We dropped, set, snubbed, monitored, and set the anchor alarm.

We were down by the southern pink anchor mark.

So what’s the problem? Around 2200 the Skipper was monitoring our “track” on the plotter and saw indications of us dragging. As best we can tell, the anchor had set in the deep hole near where we tried to set it. Tide was high, wind was blowing, scope was shorter...about a 25’ shift and we stopped, but it was enough to cause anxiety. We let out more scope and I was plenty awake so I offered to stand the first anchor watch. I didn’t think we were dragging, but the extra scope had me worried about the shallows near us during the tide change. I read, researched things to do along our path, culled my photo collection, and watched our position electronically and visually. We were fine all night, but it was worth having someone watching so that at least one of us could sleep soundly.

We woke to 38F temps, sun, and a chilly wind. After weighing anchor, I hit the rack! 😴 Next stop—St. Augustine!

Adulting and playing in Jax

We tend to hit Jacksonville (Jax) on our transits for a couple of reasons—it’s near our mail facility (St. Brendan’s Isle), near our storage unit, we can provision easily, we can usually stay on base cheap, our doctor is nearby, and we are technically residents of nearby Green Cove Springs! This time there wasn’t room on base, but after negotiating a shallow spot (<6” under the keel!), we made it to the Ortega River Marina and really had a great stay. What did I like? It was tidy but not pretentious, great showers and laundry, fast WiFi, easy walk to stores (West Marine, Publix, CVS, etc.), a KILLER burrito shop next door, and super nice folks that offered us rides. I would absolutely return.

We rented a car for the week and managed to knock out medical appointments (including a few referrals), a huge mail pickup, renewing boat/car registration, a trip to the storage unit, lots of provisioning, and even a trip to a dive shop to freshen up our gear stash. On the fun side, the fam had a day of fun at a paintball field while I stuffed booze and food into the bilge. We didn’t have anything too major to take care of on the boat—only had to run up the mast to fix the steaming light (I hate festoon bulbs—so finicky in their mounts!). And we put up our Christmas lights! So we are ready for the holidays, mostly ready to cross to the Bahamas, and very ready to quarantine ourselves if needed.

Last night we also got to meet another liveaboard, Oak Meadow homeschooling family that I had connected with ages ago via Instagram. It was so great to finally meet in person, and we met another boating couple as well. That’s what’s great about being in FL—we can still have safe, outdoor gatherings without totally freezing. It really made me long for the days of boater beach parties. Someday...  

We made it out of the Ortega River and are bound for St. Augustine for the holidays!

Finally...Florida!

Ok, Florida wasn’t too great of a jump Cumberland Island, but we made it! Now we are officially in reach of warm winter fun.

We started off with a few days in Fernandina Beach split between anchoring and moorings. We like this little town—tons of great dining, sidewalk-lined streets, and even a little putt-putt course that serves great beer! We got to see some old neighbors from Herrington Harbour while there and we also welcomed another teenager to the crew with the celebration of Trent’s birthday! His big present is waiting for him at our mail facility, but he still had a great day!

And now we are on our way to a “business” stop in Jacksonville. We ALL have medical appointments scheduled this week—time to rent a car and adult! It’s a slog to get up the St. John’s River so tonight we are staying at the awesome free docks at Sisters Creek near Jacksonville. We are here with a total of four sailboats and three power boats, including old marina mates on Ka’Why Knot! So great to see them, even if briefly, as they race toward warmer weather, too!

So all is well! Lots to do in Jax, but I’m feeling good!

Cumberland Island, Georgia

When we left Beaufort temps were in the 30’s, but somehow we managed to stay comfortable on deck (even without a cockpit enclosure) and had a great transit, mostly under sail, to St. Mary’s Inlet on the Florida/Georgia border. Though we have been near here a few times before, this is the first time that we dropped the hook in Georgia to explore Cumberland Island National Seashore. Loved it! The walk around the island was enchanting...moss-draped live oaks, wild horses, ruins of the Carnegie family mansion, and miles of pristine seashore. 

We avoid the Georgia stretch of the ICW mostly because of the skinny water for a boat of our draft, but also because of the new anchoring laws that seem to have been written to discourage cruisers. Let me be clear—I support laws that work to control abandoned or homesteading boats (especially those that don’t properly discharge waste), but I’ll actively support communities that welcome cruisers. So no money spent in Georgia again this year, but I’m glad we were able to visit this amazing national park!

Beaufort...a South Carolina favorite

We came back to one of our favorite little towns on the coastal journey—Beaufort, SC! But first...how did we get here? We have never arrived here via the ICW, but have rather always come from offshore via the long inlet. We passed Charleston at 0400 on our transit and just kept going as we would end up at the mouth of Port Royal Sound at the start of a flood tide with only 10 knots of wind in the forecast. Well...that’s not how it all went down. As I was coming off my 04-08 watch dark clouds were ahead of us. Heavy rain limited visibility at times and winds were a solid “+10” over what had been forecast. As I turned into the inlet on my next watch, winds were on the beam at 20kts creating steep, short period waves. It was hell. I got pushed off my track to the other side of the channel and struggled to get back on “my side” and there was a boat exiting. My confidence was shot and I turned the helm over to the Skipper. The next hour was rough, but he got us through no problem. A few more hours up the river and we were securely moored! Whew!

Once there, Beaufort was every bit as charming as we remembered. It was also cold and windy again (is it us?), but we were able to enjoy walks around town, dining outside at Herban Market and Cafe (our favorite!), some local shopping, and the Skipper even got a visit from a college friend.

We also had to trace the source of some major water that was pooling up in our pantry over our fridge (where the microwave used to be). A leak? Condensation? After taking down some panels, drying condensation, and removing an outlet, we think we have solved the mystery. Nothing appears to be leaking (had a good rain with everything dried and taken apart and couldn’t see a leak), but we found a weird void behind an outlet that was filled with slimy, old water. We think that condensation may have pooled here over time and just recently “overflowed” on our transits, causing the pools of water in the pantry. For now, everything is dried out so we can continue to monitor it. 

Forecast is good for a cold, but easy departure from the inlet tomorrow and we are bound for Cumberland Island, GA!

Thankful...even in 2020

With hopes of heading offshore for the next big leg of the trip south, we decided to book a mooring in Carolina Beach, NC for a few days. While it was somewhere new to explore, it would also allow me to cook up a Thanksgiving feast without the added challenge of getting bounced around by seas or heeling while cooking.

The town moorings are cheap, but in great shape. For $20 a night you don’t get anything really other than the mooring, but there is a dinghy dock with public restrooms (and outdoor beach showers!) and trash bins nearby that is one block from the beach, and another dinghy dock “in town” that gets you in reach of restaurants, a laundromat, and groceries. My first impression of the town was great—a guy and his kid waved and shouted a welcome to us from their dock as we grabbed our mooring. My second impression came while I was walking to do laundry and it wasn’t as good. It was a beach town, with fast food, surf shops, knick knack shacks, and a lack of sidewalks outside of a few block area. Thankfully I shook that trip off and headed to the beach with the family for some exercise and...I liked it. The wide beach was pristine and relaxing to walk along as the cool water lapped at our feet. Ah...

Our kids did school on Thanksgiving while the adults hit the beach for a nice long walk. Lots of families were out enjoying the day, but we could all still have our own space. After school, I took the kids to the beach again for a chilly dip in the water and some body surfing attempts before we got cleaned up in the outdoor showers. We’re a little crazy, but it was fun! And we took a family photo!

After a quick Zoom call with my family it was time for our feast! Cornish game hens in the oven, brussel sprouts on the grill, potatoes and stuffing on the stove...it was a dance! Once the birds were out, the stuffing went into the oven and I got to work on gravy. Throw in deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and apple pie that had been made ahead and we had dinner! I think this was actually my best boat Thanksgiving yet, and both meat eaters and vegetarians were happy! I loved the challenge of timing the whole meal with the limited cooking space. And geeking out with a Star Wars movie after dinner capped the night perfectly. This isn’t our first “small” Thanksgiving so the curse of 2020 wasn’t a huge shock, but even I will be happy when we can have more folks around a table.

We left on “Blue Friday” and headed offshore out of Cape Fear Inlet bound for Charleston. It sucked for about a half hour while wind and tide were against each other. Poor Trent got sick twice! But it’s calmed down and we are making great time so for a second year in a row, we are blowing right by Charleston and heading for Beaufort! Katreina is on deck with me and sunrise was cloudy, but still pretty!

10 nights of cruising the ICW in NC

When we compiled our stats for our first year of cruising, it was really fun to see how we'd spent the year between anchorages, moorings, and docks. Just for fun, I decided to drill down a bit on a 10-day chunk of our transit south this season!

After spending a week at a full-service slip (water and power) in Norfolk we cast off the lines and entered the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to head south. How did we spend the 10 nights after that?

1—Free dock (no power/water), Great Bridge, VA. Pumped out holding tank and filled diesel before getting underway the next day.

2—⚓️ Anchored south of Coinjock, NC

3—Free dock (no power/water), Elizabeth City, NC. Headed ashore for dinner and laundry (and showers at Grandma's)!

4—⚓️ anchored in Alligator River, NC

5—⚓️ anchored in Alligator River, NC

6—⚓️ anchored near Dowry Creek, NC

7—⚓️ anchored in Belhaven, NC. Headed into town for dinner.

8—Free dock (no power/water, but free restrooms and pay showers) in Oriental, NC

9—Free dock (again) in Oriental, NC. While in Oriental we visited the Farmer's Market, brewery, marina restaurant, and local marine/general store, 

10—Pumped out holding tank, filled diesel, filled water and anchored in Beaufort, NC

The only free dock in Oriental that could handle our draft!

And I wrote this over two days--one at anchor in Mile Hammock Bay and now we are on a mooring ($20/night) in Carolina Beach. So I guess really this is a peek at 12 days!

This is a pretty typical routine for us. We tend to get fuel/water/pump out about once a week while on the ICW. We ate out some so that kept our water consumption down, but we do shower and cook on board most of the time. We never came dangerously close to running out of water over the 10 days. When a town offers a free dock we seek out ways to pay back the community and will try to do some shopping and dining out while we are there. We tend to anchor or take moorings a lot. We just don't need much from a marina facility and we like to be on our own, especially during a pandemic. I guess if you're into land travel, we boondock a lot!

We are going slow this trip. We've only really slowed down due to weather once (on the Alligator River) and have been trying to hit places we've skipped in the past.  At this point, I'm ready to do laundry and get a load of groceries, which we should be able to tackle while in Carolina Beach. We are going to stay put for a few days before hopefully catching a window to head "outside" and further south!

Losing a member of the crew

When we started cruising full-time we expected that there may be starts and stops. We thought the kids may push to have a “normal” bit of high school, or maybe we would settle for a bit for work, but I can’t say that I imagined we would lose a crew member before they turned 18. It’s our own fault, really. We have traveled with the kids since they were babies, encouraging them to explore the world and learn about cultures by immersing themselves in it. 

After a year of French in public school and a year of DuoLingo French, our 2nd Mate decided she was interested in a foreign exchange program. We’ve researched, discussed, thought...and this week we put down a deposit on a full year exchange program in France for her sophomore year in 2021-2022. Application is still pending, and we have COVID concerns, but it seems to be a “go.” I am excited for her, but at the same time my heart is breaking just a little. Just a year ago I retired to spend more time with my kiddos and now one is leaving me. But it will be good. Everything will be good. 🇫🇷

Tears of joy (I swear!) 😭

Great Bridge saga 2020

On our trip north last year we discovered the free docks on the south side of Great Bridge and LOVED them so we decided to do a short day out of Norfolk and just stay there for a night. We hit every single “normally open” bridge in the down position, but had an easy pass through the locks and secured a spot on the south docks. After a little jockeying of boats, our cruising family friends on S/V Traveler got a spot, too! 

We visited the museum, hiked in the woods, and had a peaceful night. We didn’t have a long day planned so we lazily prepared to leave. 

Then we got word that the bridge south of us had been hit by a barge and was closed to sea and land traffic. Boats that had left early started returning to the dock. I went for a walk in the woods and while I was gone, they announced that boats could pass. I ran back and we got underway, but we had to stop for fuel and a pump out. We knocked that out and we were off. Not so fast! When we were 1/2nm from the bridge, they shut it down again! I was so upset that my hike had possibly caused us to not get through! We hung out a bit, then decided to return to the dock. The locks had been closed due to high water, but soon a bunch of boats would come through looking for somewhere to dock and we wanted to be set in case this bridge was a long-term thing. 

We decided 1300 was our absolute cutoff for departure. We chatted with our friends, watched all the other boats milling about, and chatted with a friend of ours that was northbound and stuck at the bridge. At about 1230 word came that the waterway was open. We all quickly got underway and this time WE

MADE IT! And we got to see our northbound friend!

Why was this a big deal? We could have hung out where we were, but technically there is a 24hr limit on the dock. More concerning was a front coming through Sunday that we are trying to get to Elizabeth City ahead of, but we have a few options there. This was all just another awesome example of why we really don’t do schedules as part of our cruising! 

Ok, so how did the day end? We went 38nm and dropped the hook off the ICW south of Coinjock about an hour after sunset. We can make EC tomorrow. It all worked out!

A new MWR experience—Norfolk

A few days of smooth seas and peaceful anchorages near Solomon’s Island and Deltaville delivered us to Norfolk and yet another week in a marina. I know, we are really changing it up this year! 

Why Norfolk? It allowed us relatively easy access to public transportation so that we could continue to move our car south and the MWR marina at Naval Station Norfolk had a great reputation and great weekly rate. It was also close to family and friends. Hands down, this is the best MWR marina we’ve been to so far when considering amenities, condition of the docks, and staff. 

We didn’t really explore the sites of Norfolk (unless you count the paintball field and skate park), but we visited with local and NC friends, gave the topsides a coat of wax, and filled the bilge with food and drinks. I’d call that a good week. Oh, then the remnants of TS Eta hit and flooded everything. So much rain!

We would definitely hit this marina up again...maybe in the spring!

When size matters

Ok, fine—size matters in a lot of aspects on a boat (don’t get me started on the spare nuts/bolts box), but this time I’m talking about storage and clothing. Storage is a constant struggle on a cruising monohull with four crew...the food, parts, gear, books, clothing. 

When we lived in a house storing clothes wasn’t a problem. Even with my slew of military uniforms and our outdoor gear we never really pushed the limits of our closets, especially when we had a guest room! Once we moved aboard the boat we simplified our wardrobes a bit, my uniforms moved to our storage unit or my office, and we routinely purged items that don’t fit. 

Well...most of us purge items that don’t fit. After a recent bout of frustration with how some things were fitting I came to the realization that I was holding on to a wide range of sizes in my one drawer. In the house or pre-cruising I could get away with keeping the skinny, mid, and “more robust” wardrobes, but I’ve got to just let it go.

Today I ditched one of these sizes and bought another pair of jeans in the “right” size. I even got rid of a few shirts that were ok, but just not that flattering. I may wear the same few outfits over and over, but I’m getting better at making sure they are actually comfortable and compatible with boat life (sturdy and easy to care for). It’s a process!

Cambridge...revisited

Over the years we have visited Cambridge, MD a few times. There was the infamous grounding near the town wall, 4th of July fun, Oktoberfest, anchoring in the middle of the town basin (‘cause the wall incident sufficiently scared us off of that option!)...all visits via boat and all several years ago. I’ve always wanted to explore the eastern shore a bit more and the Skipper came up with an awesome plan—stay at a marina in Cambridge (great rates!) for a week and bring the car over so we could really explore. And it was AWESOME! Logistically this plan required me to cast the crew off and drive around each time we crossed the Bay, but the kids have really become truly helpful hands and that went very smoothly.

Cambridge Yacht Basin provided safe, clean home for the week, hurricane Zeta provided some weather excitement, and homeschooling allowed us the flexibility to explore. Cambridge businesses that we visited took COVID precautions seriously and we felt safe while out and about.

The highlights? Assateague National Seashore and State Park, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, and just walking around Cambridge and enjoying street art. We also really liked hitting up RAR Brewing for dinner and drinks—great brews, food, and staff! 

Assateague and the horses!

Blackwater NWR

Harriet Tubman NHP

Around Cambridge 

RAR Brewing

I’m glad we came back. Even without a car, I would come back. I think we had a different perspective on this visit since the kids are older and we all really liked it!

Southbound!

 It's November so it's time we got serious about pointing this boat south! We have been enjoying dockside living in Cambridge, Maryland for almost a week, but with temps in the 50's and hours of daylight dwindling, we are ready to move along. Leaving the Bay will always be tough for us as we have so many friends and family here and we love the cruising! 

We are also considering a trip to see our Midwest family. Between weather and COVID we go back and forth as to whether or not this is even a good idea, but for now we are going to keep moving the car down the coast with us so that we have the option to drive inland should we decide to go for it. It's 2020. Nothing seems to be easy.

So, what's the plan? Gale warnings are in the forecast tonight through tomorrow night so we will be staying put! After that, we will start working our way down the Bay to Norfolk where we will hopefully snag a slip for about a week to visit some more family before we continue on. A bridge on the ICW had been damaged earlier this week, but it was repaired last night so cruisers can make their way to North Carolina via the inside route again. Outside around Cape Hatteras can be sketchy, so it's good to have the inside option.

We're only a little behind where we were last year. Some cruisers religiously leave by a certain date each year, but we're a little more flexible. In this type of life, I think you need to be. I guess we'll see if this was a bad move or not as we keep moving along.

1st Cruising Anniversary!

366 days ago we brought all the lines in and left our home marina in Maryland for the full-time cruising life! That day was emotional for some of our crew, but what followed was a year of new places, new friends, new experiences, and great memories. Was it always easy? No. We had plenty of weather challenges, a few “joys of living in tight spaces,” and of course COVID-19 to contend with. We were somewhat fortunate on the COVID front as we were already homeschooling, able to isolate for long periods of time, and already used to living non-stop with just our family unit.

Just for fun, the Skipper ran the numbers to see how we spent that first year (yes, he keeps thorough logs)!

Total distance traveled: 4926nm (5669 statute miles)

# days underway: 166 (44%)

# overnight passages: 14 (4%)

# nights at anchor: 187 (51%)

# nights on a mooring ball: 80 (22%)

# nights docked: 77 (21%)

# nights on the hard (in a boatyard): 8 (2%)

It was interesting to see how many days we spent on the move! I think another fun breakdown would be looking at how many nights we spent docked where we didn’t have power/water—I would bet at least a dozen nights were docks where we didn’t have services.

Last October we also started slapping stickers on the cowl of our dinghy engine. It’s partly an anti-theft measure, partly memory collector. We didn’t get stickers everywhere we stopped, but this is what she looks like after a year!

As we sit in Cambridge, MD getting drenched by the remnants of Hurricane Zeta (wow, 2020!!!), we are chatting with other cruisers and planning the next year of cruising. 

Safe sailing, everyone! ⛵️

Lehe Paine gets interviewed by Poppin' Smoke!

I forget exactly how this came about, but I'm pretty sure Stephanie at Poppin' Smoke posted a question on her Facebook page asking about any regrets RVer's had after downsizing and hitting the road. I chimed in with my take on the shift to a sailboat and that piqued her interest! We did some remote interviews with her and the result was a 2-part interview! Poppin' Smoke is a great resource for military retirees to learn about using their travel benefits. It was fun to add "traveling via boat" to the list of topics. And Stephanie is a way better writer than I am. Check out her interviews with us here!

Part 1--Living on a Sailboat With Kids: This Family Loves Life on the Water

Part 2--This Full-Time Sailing Family is Making the Most of Their Kids' Pre-College Years

St. Michaels escape and some warm fall weather

Having skipped really cruising the bay on our way north we wanted to spend this month cruising and enjoying our old home. St. Michaels was at the top of my “must do” list. At first glance, it’s not my type of town—pricey shops, upscale eateries, art & jewelry—but this town won me over in our early years with plentiful parks, a great museum, and ice cream. It has stayed at the top of my list due to the fact that the anchoring is good, it’s walkable, and there are some great dining/drinking options. And I still love the museum! 

This visit we mostly stuck to the waters around the boat as the weather was PERFECT for paddling! Warm and calm! We anchored in San Domingo Creek and Baby Owl Cove, and we made a few trips to town to visit our old favorites—JoJo’s Cupcakes & Ice Cream, Eastern Shore Brewing, and Blue Heron Coffee. It was great to relax and enjoy some wonderful fall weather!

On-water fun

In-town fun

At home on the Chesapeake

We’ve been back on the Bay for a few weeks and have had all the excitement of a visit “home.”

We spent the first week on a mooring ball in Annapolis. The weekly rate basically gives you a free day, the showers are pretty good, and the boat-watching can’t be beat! A friend delivered our car to us so we were able to hit the local marine chandlers and head off-boat to visit family for a few days. I even got to spend a day hitting the marine stores with a fellow cruising mom—it was fun!

We ended up spending the next week in and around our old marina, Herrington Harbour South. It was great to see old friends and neighbors, and we even tied up to a dock for a few nights—hello, power and water! The kids got to go to a paintball park with Frank, so they were happy! We knocked out a few boat chores/projects while there including installation of a new nav light, a new shower drain pump guard, and a holding tank vent filter; gave the boat a good bath; cleaned the bilge; re-sealed the teak seats; blew out the air conditioning lines with fresh water; deep-cleaned the composting head and refit it for a larger liquids tank; and applied fabric guard to all of the canvas. We almost thought we were going to have a big project on our hands—the charger/inverter wasn’t working when we got back to the boat last night, but after reading up on it the Captain got it reset and working!

Work

Play

I really highly recommend Herrington Harbour South for transiting cruisers. The facilities are immaculate, the staff is wonderful, and the adjacent restaurant and market are really good!

It’s a race!

Get any two sailboats going in the same direction and it can become a race! Over the past few months we’ve met (both virtually and in-person) other kid boats. On this run from RI to MD we were in the company of S/V Jelanea, S/V Sargo, S/V Mrs. Chippy, and S/V Twig—all kid boats! As we headed for Annapolis today we managed to get close enough to Sargo to actually say hi, which was awesome as we have chatted in social media groups, but never met in person.

Then Sargo and Twig took off under spinnaker while we continued our lazy sail. They were both headed a little further south so we took photos of their beautiful boats as they headed off!

S/V Twig and S/V Sargo on a downwind run

Blue skies and a good breeze

Offshore prep and a run from RI to MD

Having dodged a bullet with the over-forecast wind in Newport, we were ready to head south! The debate—via Long Island Sound (something new!) or direct to Delaware/Chesapeake Bay (the reverse of our summer trip north)? While we would love to see some new places, the forecast was just too good to pass up—we would make the two-night push offshore. 

I don’t mind overnight/offshore transits. The kids, on the other hand, usually groan when we talk about transits like that. They equate it to rolly conditions, Trent getting sick, and rough weather because to be honest, that’s all happened on some of our transits. But not all of them! That’s just what they remember. 

So how do we prep? Other than the basic check weather, fill water, fill diesel...

On deck, jack lines are run bow-to-stern so we can tether safely if we need to go on deck while offshore. Offshore life jackets, tethers, and safety kits (EPIRB, knife, mirror, emergency blanket, personal flare) are brought out for the two main watch-standers. The dinghy is lashed to the arch to limit its motion (we could stow it on the forecastle for extra security, but we don’t generally plan long, rough passages). The Garmin InReach is charged and accessible at the nav station.

Down below we secure computers, books, glasses...anything prone to flight. I pull out our seasickness arsenal (Bonine, DōTerra ginger drops, Trent’s Relief Band). And...I prep food! What I prep depends on the conditions we expect but in general it’s stuff that can grabbed and consumed easily. For example:

- Pasta...ideally something that can be eaten cold. And stay away from tomato sauces if it will be rough—that stuff burns on the way up! My fave is some sort of Mediterranean pasta salad. We also love Mexican or Thai quinoa and chickpea-based salads for a quick meal. We make all of these vegetarian as half our crew is vegetarian, but meat can be added easily.

- Chili or Sloppy Joe’s. These are great, low-splash options for a cold passage. But...see the warning about tomato sauces above and plan a more gentle back-up if needed! Our warm, less volatile go-to is cheese quesadillas—mmmm...bread and cheese!

- Grilled chicken. You can add it to just about anything and it’s yummy even when it’s cold.

- Cheese/crackers and pita chips/hummus. Cut up the cheese before you get underway to save from dancing in swells with a knife in hand.

- Deli meat and stuff for quick sandwiches. 

- Peanut butter. 3/4 of our crew could live off only PB.

- Bagels, a.k.a. my mid watch companion. 

- Jerky. The Skipper would be irked if I failed to provision the jerky stash. There is even vegan jerky now!

- Nuts. Another easy, filling, nutritious grab-and-go.

Ok, that’s a lot of food info but it’s truly a huge part of keeping the crew comfortable and happy no matter how long the journey is. 

So how was this passage? Pretty awesome! We touched out some rough conditions on the first day and had a fantastic second day, including Katreina’s first solo watch as we were off NYC. On the second night we were within reach of several other boats (and many were kid boats!) making the same run. On the third morning we entered Delaware Bay with perfect conditions and a favorable tide. We were able to run up the bay, through the C&D Canal, and up to a nice anchorage on the Sassafras River. I’d do it again!

Heavy weather plans and prep

We have been tracking a nasty front as it marches toward the east coast for a few days and decided to hang out in Newport for it rather than head to Long Island Sound. With that decision made we had to decide—anchor or get a mooring? We started out in the anchorage, but when a boat came and ended up on our bow with very little scope out, we took advantage of a fresh opening elsewhere in the field. With good holding and room all around, we could relax and continue to consider whether we wanted to move or not. 

Well, the forecast has gotten worse, with winds in the 30kt range and gusts in the high 50’s. Another boat came yesterday and ended up about a boat length in front of us with the forecast winds. Not horrible, but not awesome. At least the wind event is mostly during daylight! After chatting with our new neighbors and trading details on our ground tackle, we’ve decided to stay in the anchorage. 

We dropped 30 more feet of chain to give a little more breathing room (and chain does us no good in the locker!), brought the snubbers all the way back to the midship cleats (more cushion for the gusts), charged the batteries, took down the bimini and connector, added some sound dampening to the halyards, wrapped the genoa sheets super tight around the sail, and will clear the cockpit of anything that can take flight after we run into town for a walk. We will be up, ready to power into the wind, fend, cut, whatever if we need to. We see all of our neighbors preparing, too, so we are in good company! Tomorrow morning should be a wild ride!