We celebrated the New Year with a bottle of Verde and stayed up just long enough to kiss at midnight. We had to get our rest because we were up at 6am on January 1st 2011 ready to start the new year!
We were getting things ready up to the last minute before we left. Even making a last minute coffee run. But the hardest part of this last prep weekend was saying bye to our family. We are both very close with our family and they will easily be what we miss the most about our previous land life.
But our adventure could not wait any longer and soon we were motoring out of the Herring Bay for the last time around 8am. We got some “I miss you” and “are you still ok” calls and had to remind our family that our sailboat moves very slow and that we won’t even be leaving Maryland today. We could literally still meet for dinner if we were so inclined.
Overall it was a good first day, emotional but good. The temperature touched 50 and we had plenty of layers on to stay warm. We got to use our autopilot for the first time which was awesome. Since there were no crab pots or boats anywhere to be seen, it made the helmsmen shift the easier of the two shifts. While at the helm Christine was able to read her Nook and I could play on my Nintendo DS. Every minute or so we look up and see continued empty bay. Easy breezy.
About 2 hours before our anchorage the conditions got worse and it looked like rain so we threw on our foul weather gear. I thought I was gonna pass out from heat exhaustion from wearing so many layers. It got a little nerve racking wondering if we were gonna get caught anchoring in the rain. Plus our anchorage had a tight and shallow entrance, St Jeromes Creek. But luckily the rain held off and after much debate we decided to take our chances going through the channel. We went very slow and soon felt the mud dragging along our keel. So we backed out the way we came and just took a nice open (unprotected) anchorage outside the creek. We made good time and were anchored by 4pm with some daylight to spare. One of our goals is to not anchor at night. After that time we almost ran into a barge, new areas at night are terrifying.
We quickly got into bed to read and plan more of the route. I procrastinated this too much and am only about 3-4 days ahead of ourselves.
From now on our blog posts will come when we find internet service. Hopefully The Wirie will make itself worth the price but the first night it found no open connections.
Next Stop Jackson Creek Deltasville, VA
7 comments:
I see you are following my blog! Thanks! And...brrrr! Looks cold!
Oops! You are not following my blog! One of your followers is....error! Anyway I had fun checking yours out!
Congrats on leaving as scheduled. Your dream is now a reality!
Congratulations on your first day as "Cruisers"! We recently bought a sailboat with a plan to enjoy our local area (Pacific Northwest) before we head off into the warm tropical region. We have been quietly reading your blog for some time and we look forward to reading of your further adventures!
Carol and Lance
www.svsyrah.com
"Cruisers"? Hmmm, I think its more a state of mind. But while I might think about it, ya'll are doin it and admittedly I enjoy the creature comforts too much at my age to do more than that. Happy for ya'll & ya go with our prayers. Keep the posts happening as the creature comforts are also a bit boring.
Chet & Karen.
Don't you have charts loaded onto your garmin devices? St. Jerome Creek shows only 3 feet at the entrance. Aground on the first day. Don't cancel that tow contract!
Jay
Congrats on making the break and living your dream. Are you going to make it as far south as Fort Lauderdale? It was in the mid 70's here today, so you'll be warming up soon.
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