Hurry up and wait...and get home!

As military veterans, "hurry up and wait" is something we have known all too well over the years! It transfers well to boat life as we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature and boy does she make us hurry up and wait sometimes!

We hurried out of Charleston after one night with the intent to do an overnight passage to Beaufort, NC. In the middle of the night, thunderstorms offshore and lumpy, short-period seas drove us to head for Wrightsville Beach, NC instead. We arrived just after sunrise and grabbed a prime spot to wait out the clocking winds over the next few days. Shore access is super easy here so we went right in for a big Mexican lunch and some errands!

Passing by the T/S State of Maine at anchor in Charleston; a little bird hopped a ride with us; and we finally had a meal and margaritas ashore!

Winds were pretty strong out of the north for days. We kept looking for a chance to creep along close to shore to Beaufort but seas were still forecast to be uncomfortable (and this is supposed to be fun!). The ICW was an option, but we aren’t huge fans of this section so we waited. We booked some travel (woo hoo!), relaxed, and eventually…I got stir-crazy. We have sooooo much to do this summer and once I was rested, I became restless! So I pitched a plan…a 24-hour run to Florida and back. See, we have some things in storage that we need for travel and school next year, and some things that would be better to have on the boat this summer. With a 1-day rental I could make it there, get stuff out of storage, get our mail, sleep a bit, and get back! I left at 1730 one day and was back 24 hours later with our stuff and a bag of Bojangles biscuits for the boys. Success!

The life of a road warrior. Outside of the boat and our car, this little bit of stuff in storage is all we own.

By the time I got back Frank had also decided that we might as well take the ICW. With just a few long days in the ditch, we could be back to our marina in Maryland. After six nights in Wrightsville Beach we set off on a long, cold, windy transit to Morehead City. It honestly went fine and we had a pretty good rest despite thunderstorms in the area.

I was NOT ready for this wardrobe!

Wind, fog, and thunderstorms would continue to factor into our travels as we went from Morehead City to just south of Dowry Creek Marina. Our transit of the Alligator-Pungo Canal and Albemarle Sound the next day was one of the calmest we’ve ever had, and we had a very peaceful night on the hook in the North River, just south of Coinjock. We were up at sunrise Sunday to make the run to Norfolk, but opted to continue on until sunset and settle into a nice creek up the Poquoson River near York Point, VA to wait out some severe storms the following day.

Scenes along the NC/VA Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

We were up at sunrise again today and now here we are, heading north in Chesapeake Bay, just north of the Potomac River. Tonight we will tie up to a dock for the night for the first time since mid-December. 

I really do love sunrise on the water!

This will be our home base for the summer. In two weeks we will begin some travel that will end with our daughter returning to the U.S. after 10 months in France. We won’t spend much time on the water this summer and will instead spend our time visiting friends and family and preparing for the next chapter as this one closes. Lots of changes coming, but it’s good to be home.

~Jo, 1st Mate