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!