Bahamas 2.0 Dec 31, 2022 Lancaster Va ---> Cape Charles

By

It is rare to have a morning alarm in our lives, but today it is chirping at us before dawn to mark the beginning of our voyage south. The long planning phase has finished. It is time to go. 
The weather is just recovering from the deep winter storm that tracked across North America over Christmas. Virginia is just starting to warm up; we had our first night above freezing last night. In the last 48 hours we have been in overdrive to transition the boat from winterized to ready to sail.
Provisions are loaded and final business in town brought has been brought to closure. Weather has been checked and rechecked, in the continuous opera that all cruisers live in. 

Planning for this trip began slowly more than a year ago, and switched into full-on frenzy mode after we visited our kids & grandkids at Thanksgiving. There were plenty of the inevitable last minute twists requiring adapting the plan. But here we are. 

Adding our 2 yr old Australian Shephard, Sam, to the household 15 months ago added  to the list of provisions required for a 4 month trip: approx 60 lbs of dog food and numerous bags of treats, all vacuum packed for travel.  She managed a sneak test drive of her new toys.
Lois turned 5 lbs of butter into ghee- a type of clarified butter made by melting & boiling butter until the milkfats precipitate out.  Ghee is shelf stable & requires no refrigeration. That's important when frig space is at a premium. Ghee can be used for anything you'd use butter for.   As a bonus the milkfats turn into a delicious soft cheese.

Our usually overstocked pantry was left nearly bare.


We slept on the boat at our dock so we could make an easy and quick get away this morning. The warming air has found the dew point resulting in dense fog. The well familiar shore across the river from our house is completely obscured. The radar and gps will be used to find our way down our home river and beyond. Once out in the Chesapeake the fog continued. But fortunately dear friends Jane and Bill had made sure we had cheesecae & homemade candies to sustain us.


The crew got bored & took a nap with her new bear.
 
The entire day this was our view. The fog was too dense to see any horizon or even the surface of the water. Our fog horn honked a greeting every 3 minutes to anyone hidden by the mist that might be within hearing range. We passed perhaps a dozen local fishing boats throughout the day without incident.

We were headed to a marina in Norfolk, but when Brent spoke with them on the phone he learned their fuel dock was going to be closed until Tuesday for the holiday weekend.  Since the next few days will give us little or no wind for sailing, we really need full fuel tanks. So tonight's destination changed to Cape Charles, VA, one of our favorite getaway spots on the Delmarva Penninsula.  We'll still be well placed for moving to the ocean to sail south.

We had a little hitch hiker for the last 5 miles. It's not uncommon for birds to rest on a boat's deck, but it still always makes me feel very special when they choose our boat.  

After a stop at the fuel dock and getting tied up to the T-head dock for the night, we walked into town. As I always do when in Cape Charles, I had go buy a pint of Muddy Hummock ice cream (chocolate with chocolate covered almonds!). We dropped Sam off back at the boat and walked 2 blocks back to Deadrise Pizzaria for a nice dinner: pizza (obviously) and a roasted brussel sprout salad that was oh-so-good!  Later the city is having a crane drop a 6ft tinsel-y lit crab trap at "midnight" local time: 9:30PM   LOL Not sure I can stay up that long!

Happy 2023, friends, no matter what time you celebrate!

DEC 31, 2022

Comments

Jane said…
The journey begins!! As does the Blog so your buddies can keep up with your adventures. Smooth sailing my friends!
January 1, 2023 at 3:41 PM
Lynn and Ed said…
Looking forward to following your new adventure. Great way to start 2023!
January 2, 2023 at 11:45 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 2-4, 2023 Myrtle Beach to Cape Lookout

By
Image
 We slipped away from our place on the dock after three nights at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and turned into the ICW heading north. An hour later we turned into Little River Inlet to pass into the open Atlantic Ocean.   We sailed north about 30 miles before returning to the ICW via Cape Fear River.  The Cape Fear River was in flood tide, which was very helpful making 15 miles north to Carolina Beach.  We took a mooring provided by the city of Carolina Beach after talking on the phone with Larry the Dockmaster who is just about the friendliest guy you ever met. He was very welcoming.  Sam was anxious for some shore time, so we dinghy-ed to the town dock and walked 1 block to the ocean beach. She seemed happy to ve back near the surf. On our last visit Larry told us the best burger in town could be found at the gas station next to the dinghy dock. We enjoyed it last time & it seemed like a good way to shortcut dinner while also filling our fuel jugs. ...
Read more

Fri Sept 11 Patuxtent River to Little Choptank

By
Image
We woke up to a ruckus.  These two were being quite chatty and apparently we were anchored near their tree.  They would jabber to each other, fly off to do some fishing, then come back to the tree to brag about their catch and, undoubtedly, the one that got away. We had some nice sailing leaving the Patuxent River, light rain with the sun peaking through now & then.  The skies began to darken and the wind picked up about 3 hours into the sail.  We ended up skating though 4-6 foot seas with 17-20 kt windsfor the rest of the day.  Lots of waves over the bow, a few crashing up over the cockpit windows.  We received a text message from friends Ed & Lynn that they were anchored in the Little Choptank River.  We were not far (as the crow flies) from there, and decided to join them. A few more hours of navigating the rough water and we dropped our anchor 100 feet away from them just at dusk.  They kindly invited us over for snacks ...
Read more

Day 22 & 23 Glouster, Mass- A Brief Intermission....

By
Image
When we arrived in Gloucester, MA Sunday afternoon it was incredibly hot, part of a heat wave involving most of the nation.  We turned on air conditioning; it was lovely. Monday we had planned to relax and not move the boat, waiting for more favorable winds to allow us to move north.  That turned out to be a good call, because I was feeling under the weather and slept most of the day.  Brent made me some pizza for dinner and we played a couple rounds of cribbage. (He won as usual.)  Sometime in the evening it started to rain, and continued to pour down all night. We needed to pull out a quilt to sleep under. Tuesday morning the rain had washed the boat thoroughly, and instead of being unbearably hot we were digging into our cooler weather clothes for sweaters and wool socks. What a change! We grabbed a lull in the rain to take Shelby ashore and explore.  We walked for a couple hours in a mostly light rain.  We toured downtown Glouchester, enjoying th...
Read more