Home is Reached 2015

...Hayden sails to Rock Hall, MD...

And this is a WRAP. We closed the loop of Maryland to Florida to Abaco, Bahamas, to Maryland on Saturday, June 20, 2015 when we returned to our home dock in Rock Hall, Maryland. Our last blog post had us departing Portsmouth, VA and sailing for our home area of Annapolis and Rock Hall. Well, we always turn into Annapolis and take a mooring ball for a time of reflection and celebration, and this year the celebration coincided with a birthday party for Ken of  IP40 Tintean. His lovely wife, Sara, was hosting a party for Ken on Friday night in Annapolis at their condo/marina/pool resort!

Sara and Ken, our Bahamas buddies and good friends

So, after a quick stop and Thursday night / Friday morning in Annapolis, we motored over to Ken and Sara's dock and had a fantastic time visiting our buddies and swimming in their beautiful pool. The birthday party was a blast with their interesting friends and neighbors. Our mutual friends of IP460 Cutter Loose, Eric and Patricia, stopped by as they had just driven into town to work on their yacht. What a fantastic place and facilities the Severn House complex is! We can see why Sara and Ken chose to live there and dock their boats there. Top notch facilities and beautifully landscaped grounds, walkways and pool, with lively neighbors, too. Thank you, Sara and Ken, for the dockage and the great party.

Hayden and Radeen sail under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The next day, we departed to make our final jump to our home dock in Rock Hall, where we reconnected with Madelyn, the marina owner and our friend of 24 years. There is something very special to us in returning to the exact slip where we built these sailing and cruising dreams. We first docked at Spring Cove Marina in 1992. In 2001, we built and commissioned Island Spirit here. Over the next ten years, we dreamt of going off cruising and someday sailing to the Bahamas. Now, all these years later, after accomplishing many goals, we sailed back to the same slip where we first formed our dreams. There is something magical about this and we really love it. This is our HOME dock and always will be. You know that there is no place like home.

Jeff and Sharon, our good friends

While docked for the weekend, we had a wonderful time with Jeff and Sharon, our great friends of many years and fellow IP owners, IP35 Lucille. Jeff and I have worked many hours on each of our boats, Jeff more on ours than us on his. We have cruised together and even shared BVI charter vacations together. Again, it was great to come home and spend time with these dear friends.

Mike and Betsey gave us a ride to PA

Speaking of close friends, Betsey and Mike, sailing buddies from our Lake Nockamixon days in the 1980s, also dock at Spring Cove. They offered to give us a ride home to PA to find our cars and our house. What a kind gesture that was! After all, Mike and Betsy, our most loyal Island Spirit Blog followers, took our car home to PA from MD when we sailed out in October. Thank you, Betsy and Mike, for all your wonderful help and support. We really appreciate this.

Hayden and Radeen in Saltbox 13 with "The Staircase"

Arriving home in PA, we found our cars at our local service center and drove them home, where we turned on the water, well pump, water heater, drained out the old water, flushed the pipes and checked out the property. WOW, it is great to be home. We built this place in 1984, a passive solar home, super insulated, and we are very proud of the project. Inside, we built all the millwork, cabinets, staircase, moldings and trim, flooring and furniture.

Saltbox 13, circa 1984 and still looking good

THIS is our home and always will be. We love it. We call it SALTBOX 13 because the design and architectural drawings (which I drafted) went through 13 revisions until we broke ground in April of 1984. We know this house so well and that is why we keep it.

We plan to off load the boat and put her away ASAP so we can take a break from boating, That way we will be ready to head south in October for year #5 with a fresh outlook. For now, we plan to be back and forth until we close up the boat and set ourselves up at home. Thanks for sailing along, it has been a great year!

Here are some photos....

Longtime Boat Buddies, Eric and Patricia of IP460 Cutter Loose

Radeen reflects on the Bay Bridge, we are home

Island Spirit knows how to sail under the Bay Bridge

HOME, Spring Cove Marina, the best of Rock Hall, MD

Radeen and Sharon on the porch at Spring Cove

THIS is OUR place, THE HARBOR SHACK, The BEST restaurant in Rock Hall, MD
Thank you, JIMMY, and all the great staff

Radeen's favorite flower, Day Lilies, so we have many planted at home

Radeen, my favorite photo subject

A Mammatus Cloud Formation after a big storm 

Day Lilies frame our back deck

Radeen working the landscaping beds and the Day Lilies

Year #4 is a wrap and we feel so blessed and so lucky to be living this long planned dream. We are happy to share the adventures and photos with you and we appreciate you sailing along with us. Your comments are sent to us via email. We see every comment and enjoy your feedback.