CAVU day, beautiful

This is a CAVU day....beautiful

As our good friend Ron would say....This is a CAVU day! Ron is an air traffic controller and CAVU, his boat name, stands for Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited. So, yes, it was a CAVU day as we pressed on towards Norfolk. VA. We departed Jackson Creek at 0800 and arrived Willoughby Bay at 1500 where we dropped anchor just off the stern of our buddy boat, IP460 Cutter Loose.  We always prefer to come into this bay rest and then move into Norfolk or Portsmouth. It is only another 8-9 miles, but after a full day of powering down the bay, we prefer to NOT press on into the congested river with all its commercial shipping and Naval activity. This anchorage is calm and 10 feet deep everywhere. It is also a hub of Naval Air activity with helicopters, and planes working the area. It is exciting to see our servicemen doing what they do best, and I am proud to know a few personally. The excitement of the day was seeing some special ships... one a UFO from the Navy doing 33 knots (see photo below!), another world famous sailing expedition ship arriving from the Northwest Passage, and a Navy guided missile destroyer. Arriving in Norfolk is always exciting and challenging and on a CAVU day, it could not be better. The evening was topped off with a gourmet dinner aboard Cutter Loose with Eric's high school classmate Jim and wife Chris.

Photos of the day...

Wolf Trap Lighthouse, VA

NAVY UFO....we guess? It was doing 33 knots, northbound
Look at the special radar sides and check out that wake!

How about this show of power, a guided missile destroyer, the USS Ross

Then came sailing vessel PANGAEA, the world explorer
Check out http://MikeHorn.com

We dropped anchor in Willoughby Bay and enjoyed the helicopter fly overs

Radeen, Hayden, with Patrica and Eric, our friends on IP460 Cutter Loose

What a great day afloat with wonderful friends! Traveling by sailboat is easy, safe and peaceful, especially when the weather is good like these past three days. Tonight the winds are to build to 20+ after midnight and we need to move into a more protected area tomorrow. We live by the weather....that is the life of a boater.

Fall Southbound

AM Rush Hour SUN GLARE Departing Solomons
Dew covered windshields keep fogging up

Since this is our first trip south, we are experiencing new aspects of fall sailing. For example, enjoying chilly nights behind the full enclosure and waking up to a boat that is 50 degrees. We have zero visibility as the morning dew coats the windshields and the enclosure. Steam off your coffee fogging up your glasses, and wearing  fleece, lots and lots of fleece! Yes, this is FALL Southbound and we are enjoying the new experiences. One sure sign we are moving south was the arrival of the BROWN PELICAN. These sea birds are such graceful gliders as they soar inches off the water. Then they climb up, do a barrel roll and dive directly head first into the water filling their bills with fish. What a show. Mix in the constant flow of commercial shipping, car carriers, tugs pushing cranes, and container ships and you have a never ending scene to enjoy. We are into day #2 as we left Solomons MD at 0730 and pulled into Jackson Creek at 1700 running another 50+ mile day. Our motor work is working out very well as our engine is smoother, quieter, faster and more efficient.  Today, we plan to make Norfolk, VA, only 38 miles away, and rest up in Willoughby Bay before moving into Portsmouth for some explorations.

Look at the contrast of this day...

Morning mist light by the sunrise off Solomons, MD

AM Dew, washes the boat. I always say that keeping varnished teak on a boat
is like keeping your best piece of furniture outside and then TRYING TO MAINTAIN the finish!

BRRR....Radeen enjoys and finishes a book off watch

Point No Point Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay

Tug pushing a large crane up the B,ay. This was a first...

PELICANS....we are getting there now. Yes, Virginia has Brown Pelicans

Car Carrier named Horizon Leader, 656' long, 105' wide, 13 decks tall.
Carries 6,650 cars, we called him on the radio and he told us the specs, interesting!
Speed....20 knots! Get out of the way!

Smith Point Lighthouse, south of the Potomac River, on a Sunday afternoon

Container Ship with Tractor Trailer Boxes full of imported goods.
Click this picture and count the boxes wide! UNREAL

By late afternoon, the fleece comes off and we enjoy the warm sun

Anchor down in Jackson Creek along with IP460 Cutter Loose.
Another Great day....

Life is fantastic aboard a well running boat. It is simple, it is peaceful, and adventurous. Next stop...Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA, then the Dismal Swamp.

ICW South Departure

5+5=10... YEARS in the planning...for this day!
We did it, we depart for the ICW South to Bahamas.

After what seemed like forever working on the boat and preparing for our trip south, we finally left the dock in Rock Hall, MD for our first trip SOUTH on the ICW, Intracoastal Waterway. Destination the Florida Keys and Bahamas! We have been planning and dreaming of this day for well over 10 years and to actually have it arrive seemed like a dream. I have to say, the most difficult aspect of any voyage is actually leaving the dock. It is so easy to get yourself into an endless vortex of fixing one more thing, installing one more item, buying one more car load, and stowing all the items, that you might never leave. We fell into this deeply and my best guess is that we stored well over 15 dock carts of "stuff" on Island Spirit. Amazingly, it all fits! Island Packets have a lot of storage space and now we know just how much. We probably have enough onboard to sail around the world, but we are only driving to Florida. This is the reality of all new cruisers, we are told. We take too much and worry too much! So for now, we are very happy that we departed the docks and we look forward to the adventures ahead.

Here are some photos of the day...

Good friend Rich sailed out Swan Creek with us
Rich and Wanda have the coolest sailing son, Connor
Check out this great boat name: R-Wanda-OR

South of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge looking towards Annapolis
I love to photograph this structure.

Our first ship, the MSC Sindy
Those are containers or tractor trailer boxes full of imported products

1,100 feet long, 10 boxes high, 10-15 wide, and 15 rows plus below decks.
We are employing the Chinese at $1/hr while we lay off USA workers!
We need to equalize the world labor cost in all products or else we will NEVER have jobs!

Cove Point Lighthouse off Solomons, MD
with Dominion Cove Point Liquid Natural Gas Storage Tanks over the hill

We dropped anchor as the sun was setting over the bow

Radeen is a great cook and made a wonderful hot beef dinner.
Yes, that is steam rising. It is a bit nippy out here!

Boat buddies Eric and Patricia aboard IP460 Cutter Loose took this
photo of Island Spirit as we arrived in Solomons.

Overall...this was our BEST first day ever. The boat ran well, our motor work seems to be running smoothly, and the weather is PERFECT. Looks like we have 5 days ahead of high pressure.

The run south begins. Thank you for traveling along.

Summer Sail 2011 MAP

As we make final preparations for our ICW south bound departure, we created this Google Map of our summer 2011 sail to Maine.While up in Maine we attended the Norm and Mary Pierce Island Packet Yacht Owners' Rendezvous in Boothbay Harbor. We also explored many of these map pins with our good friends Eric and Patricia on IP460 Cutter Loose. What a fantastic summer as we traveled another 1,500 miles round trip. For example: 30-35 knots ALL NIGHT offshore heading north; 10+ WHALES when crossing the Portland Shipping Lanes; Hiking Acadia; FOG zero viz; Full BEATING exiting the Cape Cod Canal into Buzzards Bay with 30 knots SW against opposing 6 knot current=killer waves; Block Island paradise; Out running Hurricane IRENE; and enjoying friends along the way...

View the interactive MD to Maine 2011 larger map
See our right hand side bar for all our Google Maps

View MD to Maine 2011 in a larger map

Sept-Oct Friends

We have been slacking on our blog but we have been having a great time with good friends for the months of September and October as we have day sailed out of our home slip in Rock Hall, MD. In addition to sailing over to and enjoying Annapolis for weekends, we also have made several drives home to our beautiful home where we re-connected with good friends for a few home town BBQs. Here is a photo essay of the past month...next adventure begins soon, with the run SOUTH on the ICW!

Anita and Mark visit home for a BBQ.
Do these Grls look like college roommates? They were...

Anita & Hayden taught together at the same High School....for 1/2 year!
Sorry I left you, Anita...to go off sailing.

Jim and Hayden enter a secret pact...can't tell you.
Good time with Jim and Gail, more college roommates

Radeen and Gail sail the Chesapeake Bay
College Roommates also!

Girls....visiting on the bow, Radeen and Gail

Jim, Radeen and Gail say goodbye to Island Spirit on the docks
Great time, unexpectedly good sailing!

A beautiful sunset in a rhombus shape, how unusual!

Dianne and Gene visit for a weekend adventure and sail to Annapolis
Thank you Dianne for the great IPY new clothespin bags....very cool

The WENDY CUP RACE kicks off.
Wendy and Craig sail Island Spirit in Small Craft Advisories for Annapolis
We get in a race....Hence....the Wendy Cup is born!

We have Island Spirit locked on the bridge.
Craig is a master at the helm and upwind sailing!

We win the Wendy Cup and take mooring ball #1
My FAV in Annapolis for the weekend

We celebrate the victory meal with competitor Dave on IP35 Eau de Vie
Dave was a good sport and let us WIN as we cut to corner for the "A" spider at Annapolis

Craig provides our LIVE music program on Island Spirit
We have our usual sing along and fantastic music that Craig provides!
Thank you CRAIG we LOVE the guitar skills you bring onboard!

BRRRRR....we sail home in cold Weather, but Annapolis is so much fun.

Island Spirit knows the way....autopilot for home

I never get tired of photographing this bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge

We sail under with ease, heading for home

BRRRRR....thank you, full ENCLOSURE
This is early October,  sailing on the Chesapeake Bay

We return home to be greeted by our pet HERON, named HERBERT

OK...back to Annapolis MD for the SAILBOAT SHOW
WE love to go to this by boat....Off we go again...

Time to CELEBRATE 10 Yrs CANCER FREE!!!!!! THANK YOU Dr. Kevin Fox!
We plan a night of reflection at the Chart House Restaurant.
Radeen looks so beautiful.

Time to reflect. We bought Island Spirit when Radeen was on chemo.
Now, 10 yrs later, and 12,000+ miles we are healthy and happier than ever!

Annapolis Boat Show Time...
Five Days of boat show, Thur to Monday
Seminars on the ICW, Gulf Stream, and the Bahamas

Conrad and Myrna host THE BEST Wine and Cheese Party EVER!
Thank you team Oro Negro for a great night.

Captain Blaine Parks joins the party in Annapolis...
hey...Who let this cool dog into this party????

Sadly, there are friends who were un-photographed, like Fred & Gail who came for a Friday nite B-B-Q.  John & Nancy came to the Boat Show with gourmet meals and invited us to their new home in Lancaster for Sail-Rite sewing lessons, but there are no pictures to prove it!

So....overall....it has been a great time visiting with friends, sharing our passion for sailing and simply living the dream! We have been onboard since June 24, and it is now October 20. We have lived aboard nearly 4 months, we sailed to Acadia, Maine, and every day we appreciate how lucky we are to be here.

Thank you to all our friends for sharing in our sailing dreams!