November 1st, 2020 – – – DINGHY DELIVERY
Left Florida with the dinghy, and drove it back to Maryland. The entire way we had the hatch of Brian’s moms’ Jeep wide open, with our dinghy securely (and excessively) tied down.
November 2nd – 9th, 2020 – – – BOAT YARD & LOTS OF WORK
We brought the dinghy to the boat, and raised it up on to the arch. Since the boat is up on stilts, we let down the lines for the arch and hoisted the boat all the way up. Eight full days were spent working in the yard, preparing the boat for our next year of sailing. On the list was: sand the bottom coat; repaint the bottom coat and raise the coat line; re-patch the rudder; install our mooring protector; replace the macerator thru-hull; fix dodger window; wax hull – not specifically in that order.
November 10th, 2020 – – – SPLASH DAY
Today was splash day! Everything went great, considering that the marine lift seemed much too small for our boat. It was intense to watch get moved because I was sure the boat would take a nose dive at any second. Once in the water, we filled up on fuel and water and anchored about half a mile away to wait out the next day’s rainy weather.
November 11th, 2020 – – – RAIN SHOWER
We have learned to use the rain to our advantage. Instead of using our precious, fleeting water being held in our tanks, we harness the rain while we scrub the deck. So this morning, as the chilly rain came down, we scrubbed. We later also got our new DVD player working, and oh how wonderful it is to have a DVD player when there is no internet. Now we just need more DVDs…
November 12th, 2020 – – – SOLOMON’S ISLAND
We sailed from Galesville to Solomon’s Island. I was more cautious of sailing today than Brian was – Hurricane Eta is meeting a front, making for some nasty weather in our area. Once we were in the bay it was nothing but cold rain, choppy seas, and no wind to sail in. It ended up not being a terrible trip, but it wasn’t enjoyable. We anchored in Solomon’s Island, down Mills Creek, and looks like a very cool quaint town.
1,558 NAUTICAL MILES SAILED
November 13th, 2020 – – – SOLOMON’S ISLAND
Hung out at our anchorage. Brian began working on the next video, and I finished the logs for October.
November 14th, 2020 – – – SURPRISE WEDDING
Went in to Solomon’s Island – a very cute, sweet, relaxed town. Went took our dinghy to public dock, and when we came back there was a small wedding in procession right in front of our dinghy. We were the only onlookers, awkwardly standing in the secluded yard, and after five or so minutes decided to take another walk. We walked around the entire downtown, and we think we may like it better than St. Michaels, if only for the not-so-touristy feel.
November 15th, 2020 – – – SOLOMON’S ISLAND
Went in to Solomon’s again stock up on more produce. The gale we have been waiting for came tonight, but we were snug in our anchorage.
November 16th, 2020 – – – SAIL TO INDIAN CREEK, VA
We left early this morning to sail to Indian Creek, in Virginia. What a fantastic sailing day! Full day of sailing, beam reach with a west wind, 10-18kts. By the end of the day we sailed a hull reach until we made it to the anchorage. A small cove big enough for only a few boats, surrounded by crops and farm houses.
1,616 NAUTICAL MILES SAILED
November 17th, 2020 – – – COVE IN INDIAN CREEK
We stayed in Indian Creek, and were very well protected during the all day gale. We did feel a few 30 knot wind gusts. We spent the day replacing our boom vang line, as our other one chaffed to the point of nearly breaking.
November 18th, 2020 – – – BAD CONDITIONS
We left our protected cove to sail all day south, but we soon realized it was blowing 32kts in the bay – much higher than our predictions forecasted. There were also 4ft seas, 2 sec apart. Since we already let the anchorage, we decided to keep going, and tucked out in to Piankatank River, 3 hours away.
1,639 NAUTICAL MILES SAILED
November 19th, 2020 – – – TRADING THE BAY FOR THE OCEAN
We left at noon for our sail south. We would leave the Chesapeake Bay, and take the ocean route, around Cape Hatteras. We made it right on time to the Chesapeake tunnel, at 6:30pm. There were live fire practice drills offshore that we heard United States Coast Guard (USCG) calls for, and we had to stay 6nm away. I had the first night shift. Around midnight, we passed right through whole a whole field of sleeping shrimp boats. Even though we had no wind to sail with, we still had great weather, and small swells all night. We made a bed out of the settee cushions underneath the dodger, and it is now our favorite way to spend our overnight sails. But, it was freezing!
November 20th, 2020 – – – ROUNDING CAPE HATTERAS
It has been such a beautiful day! We rounded Cape Hatteras around noon, and you could not have possibly had better weather for it. It was completely uneventful. No wind, no waves. Several other boats and sailboats nearby, which is always comforting. Since our weather window looks so good, and continued to look good, we decided to extend the length of our passage. Instead of anchoring in Beaufort, NC, we reserved a mooring ball in Carolina Beach, NC (we still have cell service!). The front is coming on Monday, so we figured a mooring ball would be good. We will be rounding Frying Pan Shoals at Cape Lookout by midnight.
November 21st, 2020 – – – ARRIVING TO CAROLINA BEACH
Rounded Cape Lookout at midnight. S/V Crazy Horse, one of the boats we saw leave the bay, is still with us. We got in to Carolina Beach by noon, and saw lots of big brown jellyfish that looked like giant mushrooms on our way in. We moored with no problems, and were happy we made our reservation when we did, every ball was taken up. We rode in to town on our dinghy and got take-out an excessive amount of Thai food. We ate most of it, and fell asleep right after… and slept for 17 hours!
1,991 NAUTICAL MILES SAILED
November 22nd – 24rth, 2020 – – – CAROLINA BEACH
Hung out on the boat in Carolina Beach, writing, editing pictures, and working on videos. Ventured out to do much needed laundry one day.
November 25th, 2020 – – – A WALK IN THE WOODS
We left the boat to hike the nearby Carolina Beach State Park. It was a great space with lots of white sandy trails, pine and oak trees, and a wide view of Cape Fear. We hiked all afternoon. After our hike, we rode our scooters to the grocery store and bought foods for Thanksgiving tomorrow!
November 26th, 2020 – – – A BOAT THANKSGIVING
We stayed on the boat all day, relaxing and cooking our apple pies. It has been our tradition since we met to have an apple pie bake off each Thanksgiving. We can never eat all of them, but it’s fun to do. Since our oven is so small now, we have to take turns cooking our pies in the galley. We also had rotisserie chicken for the same reason, no turkey or hen will fit in our oven. Paired with mashed potatoes and a side of brussels sprouts. Our pies, lacking some typical ingredients, came out not too shabby. Brian won aesthetics, I won taste. We had a great Thanksgiving and stuffed ourselves with food.
November 27th, 2020 – – – THE VEGGIE WAGON
We hung around the boat during the day. By late afternoon we took the dinghy to the public talk to take a walk around town. We came across a little store, The Veggie Wagon Island Market, that had a ton of cool artesian foods and snacks, beer and wine. We bought some beer to sip on while we sat out on a bench and watched the moon come up.
November 28th, 2020 – – – DON’T STEAL MY MOORING BALL
With the front coming tomorrow, we decided to go to the nearby marina to fuel up and fill up our water tanks. Mooring balls had become available over the last few days, but knowing the nearing front, and worrying we would lose our mooring ball, we tied our dinghy up to the ball before we left the area. We filled up, came back to our ball, and spent the day lounging in our boat.
November 29th, 2020 – – – PREPPING FOR A GALE
We went back to the Veggie Store to have another drink. We sat outside, and I even meandered for a little beach walk while Brian stayed behind. We prepped the outside of the boat for the upcoming 40 knot winds tonight, and secured a second mooring line… just in case.
November 30th, 2020 – – – THE GALE IS HERE
I did not get much sleep last night. The big front came in, and came hard. We were swinging in the mooring field, along with everyone else. I periodically got up to look out the window, only to see that everyone is swinging in different ways. Sailboats and trawlers alike were in the mooring field, with nine others anchored just outside the field. All day the wind blew mid 30’s, and it was with a stinging chill.
We have learned to use the rain to our advantage. Instead of using our precious, fleeting water being held in our tanks, we harness the rain while we scrub the deck. So this morning, as the chilly rain came down, we scrubbed. We later also got our new DVD player working, and oh how wonderful it is to have a DVD player when there is no internet. Now we just need more DVDs…