It was wonderful to spend a night on anchor again, and I loved how peaceful our little anchorage was. We got under way as the sun rose and had favorable current most of the way. This section took us through miles upon miles of untouched marshland, and I loved watching the marsh awaken. Dolphins fed […]
If you now have The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” stuck in your head, you’re welcome – I do too. We needed to leave Charleston Harbor Marina at slack tide – the currents run hard, and our slip was in an awkward spot to get out of with the fuel dock just behind us. […]
Offshore sailing makes me nervous. Unlike being on Long Island Sound, there’s not always a convenient, nearby spot to duck into. Once you’re out there, you’re out there. We always choose our weather windows carefully, but I have a healthy respect for the elements and never take the time offshore lightly. Our sail to Charleston […]
Alternately, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. Now that our world revolves entirely around weather, we dedicate a lot of time to checking forecasts. We use Predict Wind, Sailflow, Windy and TZ iBoat, plus Weatherbug and Weather Underground to check local forecasts at our current location and our destination and conditions in between and […]
One of the best things about this lifestyle is getting to meet so many other people with similar interests. Another member of the Catalina Owners Association reached out and offered to meet up and help us provision or get anything we needed. We were already well stocked, just having done a provisioning run in Belhaven, […]
Today was one of the days I was most looking forward to on this trip. When we did this trip with our friend, I was in awe the whole time and I couldn’t wait to do it on our boat. It’s one of those places that you truly have to experience to fully appreciate, and […]
I was glad to see the sunrise, and by the time we finished breakfast, the parade of boats heading south was already under way. As we navigated the twisty section of channel immediately following our anchorage, I was especially glad that we’d been able to drop the hook. Being over-tired, I was prone to being […]
It was too dark to see the daymarks, but we were in an area where missing the channel meant a high probability of running afoul of fish stakes, grounding or both. Not knowing where the channel was headed, it was hard for me to buoy spot. I pulled up the charts on Chris’s phone in […]
I was so excited to finally be starting the ICW, but today was not without its challenges. The wind was up, and it made getting off the dock and getting fuel difficult. That delayed us enough that we didn’t think we could make the 1100 lock for the Dismal Swamp, and missing that meant we […]
After three or four days of sustained 20kt winds with 25kt gusts, yesterday was finally settled enough for us to depart mid-afternoon. While I was a little sad to leave Deltaville behind, I was happy to finally move on. Periods of rain and drizzle mixed with sunny skies, creating amazingly dramatic skies, including a few […]