Having survived our second hurricane in less than two years aboard, and several weeks behind our intended departure date, we were ready to get moving south to warmer climes. Thankfully our first few days out of the Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA area were clear and sunny, though colder than we prefer. We were pleased to find the Dismal Swamp Canal open, despite the Sandy’s recent visit, and found ourselves with plenty of company as we passed through the Navy shipyards of Norfolk and made our turn into the Canal. It seems others had been delayed too, waiting out Sandy’s passing. The Dismal Swamp Canal is one of my favorite stretches of the ICW, though I’ll refer readers to our first trip through back in June, 2012 for the history. For that trip, off season so to speak, we were one of only a couple of boats on the canal, locked through with only one other boat, and were similarly one of two boats overnight on the free dock at the Welcome Center. This trip we shared the locks with eight other boats, and experienced our first “raft-up” as there were ten boats on the dock this trip through. It was a bit of a Chinese fire drill if you will at one point too as we also needed to stage the ten for different departure times to coordinate with the following days’ bridge and lock openings. In the end, Cheshire was outside on the front row, which had us leading the parade in the mist of early morning on our way to the 0830 bridge/lock opening. Being up front in the narrow canal was also a bit of an issue as we approached the bridge and discovered that the outdrive leg on our diesel engine had failed to lock into place, which meant we didn’t have our reverse gear… which is more than a small problem when approaching a bridge with a lock waiting on the other side. A bit of frantic fiddling resolved the problem, but added a little stress to an otherwise peaceful morning.
With the cold temps, we’ve been up and out earlier than is our usual habit, reason being that when the engine is running, we have heat in the main cabin. Those who know me will appreciate the challenge of having the anchor weighed and engine running before my morning coffee, but it’s been the case on several recent mornings. We’ve been very appreciative of our plastic cockpit enclosure as well, as it gives a good deal of protection from the cold when we’re underway and offers a bit of a hothouse effect at anchor. We don’t however have heat overnight when we’re at anchor, so we’ve had some chilly nights. Thank goodness for fleece blankets and wool socks. The captain has even been sleeping in a fleece hat!
Alas, our clear, sunny, cold weather was not to last. With yet another storm, a nor’easter, in the forecast, we decided to splurge on a marina (translate: we’d have heat) for a few days to wait it out. As timing would have it, we were approaching Oriental, NC. As luck would have it, SailCraft Marina, where our live-a-board adventure began, had a slip open. So here I sit, on the anniversary of our first casting off of dock lines last fall, rain falling outside, reflecting on our first year cruising. What a year it has been!
A review of our ship’s log shows visits to 21 different marinas, 73 nights at anchor, 24 nights on mooring balls and 6 nights on free docks, all scattered over 6 states. We’ve learned how to live simply. We’ve learned how to co-exist in a small space without throwing one another overboard. We’ve weathered several nasty storms, including three with names. We’ve seen countless sunsets, tons of wildlife and made some new friends. We’ve learned a lot about Cheshire’s systems and are still learning. We’ve learned a little about sailing, and have lots more to learn. I’ve learned how to blog. Mostly we’re having a lot of fun… and we haven’t sunk the boat… and no one has drowned.
All in all, we think it’s been a pretty good year.
So, we’ll hang out in Oriental for a few days and celebrate our first year on the water with some of our new friends. The forecast is for clearing skies and warmer temps come week’s end when we’ll once again cast off our dock lines and see what adventures another year brings.
And a pretty impressive year it has been with all your adventures with some very cool pictures of nature and wildlife to show for it!
Hi Lori and Mike, Glad to hear you’re on your way South again. Good sailing and have a great winter in warm weather.
Glad to hear you are making progress on the trip south!
I think it is about time you two got real jobs and stopped this monkey business……..
Not likely. So, how goes your not-retirement these days, Stevie?
Lori
My congrats to you and Mike for stepping outside the box and enjoying this opportunity of a lifetime and exploring the coast.