Gone

After a month to the day we left Oxford Boatyard after many updates, repairs and maintenance. We also spent almost 2 weeks during that month visiting friends and family. Watched the Chicago Cubs make it to playoff for the National League Championship. As a finale to our stay we were able to meet up with many of our sailing friends at an HHSA Club rendezvous in Cambridge, MD over the weekend hosted by friends Tom and Judy Lampley.

We left Cambridge about 1230 Sunday the 25th. Originally we had planned to stop going down the Bay but changed our minds due to coming weather and the length of time it would add to the passage so we did an overnight down the Bay. Forecast was for wind to come up early in the afternoon out of the north that we could sail. As it was the wind didn't come up until the evening. We motored for  9 hrs until the wind came up and it quickly got into the 20-30 range so we sailed on only our jib and ran consistently in the 8-10 kt range. The swells also built as we got down the Bay and when going into Norfolk were probably in the 5-6'  range. We took short shifts all night napping briefly from time to time. We tied up at a dock in Portsmouth on the ICW at 0600 to for about 2 hours so we could both nap and check things around the boat before we went on.

Our trip through the bridges and locks in Norfolk was smooth and fast. We actually cleared the last bridge just after noon and motored the remaining 30 miles to Coinjock, NC where we tied up at the marina to spend the night. Tuesday morning we left later than we planned because we overslept by an hour from being so tired the night before. But we got off at sunrise albeit later than planned for our 80 mile trip to Dowry Creek in Belhaven, NC. We got in about 1730 just as the rain started.

With the weather that was threatening we decided that we would hole up at Dowry Creek instead of anchoring out and continuing on. That would also give us a chance to relax and rewind after the days of work getting the boat ready and then several long days of traveling. The marina is popular with cruisers because it is an easy in and out for the ICW and the staff is very friendly and the rates are great. There's virtually no cell phone service here but there is a working wifi and all the networks come in on TV. Tomorrow we'll push on to Cherry Point.

The weather here in NC is warmer than what we left in the Bay and after our stay we'll be on to Florida to avoid the cold.

Will do another blog article with details about the boat and work we accomplished including interior photos of the boat.