We left Solomons before the sun was up and were treated to a gorgeous sunrise as we motored out to the Chesapeake. We did not have enough wind to sail until we were less than an hour from home, but we put the sails up anyway for the last few miles. As we rounded the corner into Cambridge Creek we saw a group of our friends at our slip, waiting to greet us! What a nice surprise and what great friends. It is one of the many things we love about our town and why we are happy to be home. Some stats from our trip: 3260 total nautical miles 140 days on the boat 72 days of sailing Beautiful sunrise Breeze On approaching her slip Backing up into the slip (I am grateful to be lined up properly). Photo credits of Breeze On go to Katie Greeting committee, l-r: Ray, Stan, Bob (seated), Jim (with Sophie), Katie and Xander
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This morning, as we motored north on the bay, we heard a Navy patrol boat attempting to contact a sailboat on the VHF radio. The person from Navy Prince asked for the northbound sailboat crossing the Potomac. We happened to be in that area, but so were a few other boats. One sailboat that was behind us answered the call and was told to move a little farther west to get out of the Navy’s live fire range. There is a target boat on the east side of the bay and we assumed that the Navy was going to be shooting at it sometime soon. We had heard a Navy boat asking boats to move out of range yesterday so we had been expecting it. We thought we were already enough to the west, but apparently we weren’t. One of the Navy patrol boats again hailed the northbound sailboat and started moving toward us. George answered on the radio and we were indeed asked to move farther west. We did as we were asked and watched for the exercise to begin. A helicopter flew over a few times but that was all. Once w
We left Cape Charles late this morning and motor-sailed north to Ingram Bay. We stopped here last fall on our way south and thought it was a beautiful and protected spot. It is just as pretty as we remembered. As we were making our way here-and dodging all of the crab pots-George realized we would be anchoring for the first time since we left the Bahamas, about six weeks ago. Fortunately, we managed to remember how. While we were in Cape Charles yesterday we noticed a person on one of the few boats in the marina so we walked over to say hello. We met Kenny and Kristin on their very nice Lord Nelson Victory Tug boat, a cruising boat that looks like a tug boat. They gave us a tour and we later joined them at Kelly’s in town for drinks. They are a friendly and interesting couple and, like us, they love Cape Charles. Mill Creek off of Ingram Bay
We left Beaufort, NC just after 6 am on Saturday, April 13. We were mentally prepared for uncomfortable conditions for the first four hours and we were not disappointed. Once we left the protected waters of Beaufort Inlet we were heading into six foot seas, with the occasional eight foot wave. Since we were heading directly into the wind we didn’t bother putting the sails up but our progress was slow. We were expecting the seas to calm down by noon but they didn’t. In fact, they remained quite gnarly until we reached Cape Hatteras in the early evening. We did put the sails up shortly after we passed Cape Lookout in the early afternoon. Because the waves were large and confused the boat was rocking side to side and caused the halyard to become caught around the spreader and radar reflector. George had to go up on deck to get it loose; fortunately, the rocking actually helped him to loosen it this time. My usual 7 pm-midnight watch started about an hour before we made our turn at Cape H
We are still planning to leave Beaufort in the morning. We will be heading into the wind and waves for the first four hours so it will likely be quite gnarly until we round Cape Lookout. This afternoon we took another walk around town and stopped at Cru Wine and Coffee Bar. George ordered a hot cafe mocha and I had an iced latte. Their sign says they have the best coffee in town and it really is quite good. If you zoom into the photo and look at the bottom left you will see George sitting at the outdoor table drinking his mocha. After we finished our coffees way we meandered through town and walked by the courthouse with its beautiful live oak trees and azaleas. We have enjoyed our time in Beaufort but feel ready to move on.
It looks as if we will have an opportunity to leave Beaufort on Saturday, round Cape Hatteras, and enter the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday afternoon. The entire trip is just over 200 nautical miles and should take us about 36 hours. Now that the days are longer we should be able to leave just as the sun is rising and tie up to the dock at Cape Charles before dark. Of course, this all depends on the weather and is subject to change. We had some good luck yesterday and found the single bathroom and washing machine available. We did our laundry and were each able to shower. It was a blustery day here and there wasn’t much happening at the fishing end of the business here. We suspect that is why the facilities were available. In the afternoon we took the marina’s loaner car to the Piggly Wiggly for a few provisions and were back within a half hour. Two of our dock neighbors are traveling on the Intracoastal Waterway and left the dock this morning. One boat had a nice young couple from Maine
Good news! The toilet is fixed! George was finally able to stop the leaks after working on it all day yesterday and a few hours this morning. After that was out of the way we walked into town, checked out some restaurants and a few shops. We walked by Beaufort Docks, where we stayed last fall. We were surprised to see that it is less than half full, whereas last fall it was jam-packed. It seems as if it is still early in the season for boats heading north. There are more people than I originally thought staying on their boats here at Homer Smith Docks and Marina. We talked with one man who lives on his boat here and he said the bathroom and laundry are always busy, but he said the marina does have plans to add more bathrooms and laundry facilities. That would be great because it really is a nice place. This afternoon we returned to town for dinner at Moonrakers. The food was absolutely delicious but we saved some room for ice cream at the General Store. Homer Smith Seafood and Homer
At 6:00 am this morning we were in the Beaufort Channel and by 8:10 we were tied up in our slip with a full tank of diesel. Since leaving Ft. Pierce three days ago we traveled 500 nautical miles and averaged—thanks to the Gulf Stream—7 knots, a new record for us. The NE wind that was creating such havoc in the Gulf Stream yesterday and the night before did finally shift to the South and die down. By that time we had turned out of the Stream anyway. The first photo below was taken just before sunset yesterday and shows the conditions we were expecting for the previous 36 hours. Because the calmer conditions meant that Breeze On was no longer lurching and slamming, we both slept better last night. Still no whale sighting but maybe we will on our next passage around Cape Hatteras and into the Chesapeake Bay. We are staying at the Homer Smith Docks and Marina. It is a really interesting place. They have beautiful floating docks, ours is new and opened just two weeks ago. They have free
After sitting on the lifeline for 10 hours, our bird flew away last night just after sunset. We were nowhere near land and there we no other boats or ships in sight. Wherever the bird is, I hope it is safe. No whale sightings yet, but there is still time. A little while ago George spotted a dolphin and shortly after that at least a dozen of them came to play with us. They stayed and played in our bow wake for several minutes while George and I took pictures and videos. George caught the best one of a dolphin jumping. I hope you don't get tired of hearing about and seeing photos of dolphins. We never tire of them, although we are indeed tired. We have not had the most restful night and day. The wind shifted to the northeast last night which caused the waves in the Gulf Stream to increase and become confused (short waves coming from all directions.). Breeze On has been lurching this way and that and also crashing down off of the back side of the steepest waves. The northeast wind was
A bird came to take a ride with us 100 miles from land. It is always a surprise to see birds landing on our boat so far from shore. This one has been with us over an hour. We left Harbortown Marina at 7:15 yesterday morning. Although the slip and fairway are quite narrow the light winds made it relatively easy to leave the slip. An hour later we were outside the inlet and heading toward the Gulf Stream and Cape Lookout. The seas were 4 feet with a short period and wind chop on top. That made for an uncomfortable ride until we entered the Gulf Stream in the early afternoon. Surprisingly, the waves seems to calm down just a bit in the Stream. It was quite easy to see exactly where we entered the Gulf Stream; the water changed color dramatically. Between the Gulf Stream and shore the water is a bit murky with a greenish tinge. In the Gulf Stream the water is a beautiful, clear sapphire blue. George pointed out that he could see a line of the two colors of water about 200 yards from us. We
A bird came to take a ride with us 100 miles from land. It is always a surprise to see birds landing on our boat so far from shore. This one has been with us over an hour. We left Harbortown Marina at 7:15 yesterday morning. Although the slip and fairway are quite narrow the light winds made it relatively easy to leave the slip. An hour later we were outside the inlet and heading toward the Gulf Stream and Cape Lookout. The seas were 4 feet with a short period and wind chop on top. That made for an uncomfortable ride until we entered the Gulf Stream in the early afternoon. Surprisingly, the waves seems to calm down just a bit in the Stream. It was quite easy to see exactly where we entered the Gulf Stream; the water changed color dramatically. Between the Gulf Stream and shore the water is a bit murky with a greenish tinge. In the Gulf Stream the water is a beautiful, clear sapphire blue. George pointed out that he could see a line of the two colors of water about 200 yards from us.
We have spent the day checking the weather, planning our route, buying more fuel, and checking various systems on the boat. George is currently at the office checking out to give us one less thing to do in the morning. While planning our route we used a combination of Predict Wind, Fast Seas and the Windy app on the iPad. Windy is our new favorite wind forecasting app. It works especially well if you are traveling long distances because you can zoom out and see wind patterns over large distances. George discovered this afternoon that it also has a feature that gives you currents. In addition, you can overlay longitude and latitude as well as tap on the map in any location to get specific coordinates. These features are particularly useful when we are planning to sail in the Gulf Stream. Although we will have our Iridium satellite phone to send and receive emails offshore we won’t have any other internet access. We have taken screenshots of the information we might need while we are und
We have moved back on to Breeze On once again and are preparing to head north. I have prepared food for the passage and George has been attempting to fix the Wirie WiFi booster and prepare weather routing plans. While we were eating our dinner in the cockpit this afternoon I looked up and saw a large manatee and small calf swimming toward the stern of our boat. So exciting! While they disappeared under the boat George ran up to the bow with his phone to see if he could get a photo. He took a picture as they emerged from under the bow. In his haste he also took a picture of his finger, but I think it is a great picture anyway. Up until a few minutes ago we had been planning to leave tomorrow morning. A line of nasty squalls is forecast for the area north of Canaveral on Friday and we don’t want to be anywhere near the squalls. We are therefore postponing our departure until Friday morning and hope to get to either Cape Fear or Cape Lookout by the end of the day Monday. Stay tuned... M