Moving on

Long, hot travel day yesterday.  Winds were extremely light, which makes the water nice and smooth but doesn't bode well for sailing and it brings out the flies!  As you can see - Rick had to get out of the cockpit for a little more air and hopefully to escape the flies!  Thought I would share a coule pictures made along the way of a sailboat that traveled along pretty close to us as well as a couple of "little boats" out of Baltimore that we met on the Bay!

Lastly, just had to share this gorgeous sunset from a couple of evenings ago!

Rappahannock River

Last week we spent a few days in the most beautiful and serene little cove I believe we've ever seen.  The water was crystal clear and green as grass because of all the beautiful trees that surrounded it and hung over it's banks.  There was also a beautiful little spit of white sandy beach that was just perfect for doing a little walking on and dipping your toes into the cool water.  The Ospreys were constantly flying over and diving into the water to find fish for their babies who were still sitting on the nests.  However, one afternoon we were out exploring some of the other creeks which were bountiful in every direction and we saw a mother osprey teaching two of her babies how to fly!  It was really neat to see but it was nothing in comparison to spotting and watching the bald eagles!  Apparently, this area of the Rappahannock River is one of the largest nesting grounds of bald eagles in the US.  Who knew?  One afternoon we spotted 3 eagles!  They sit up on the highest branches of dead trees and I'm guessing they choose those because there are no limbs and leaves to obstruct their 360 degree view.  We tried our best to zoom in and get some pictures but it just didn't turn out too good because of how far they were from us and we were on a "floating" boat, which doesn't bode well for zooming! 

We shared this beautiful spot with two very nice couples from nearby in VA who are vacationing together on their sailboats.  Hi Ron, Sue, Ellis and Marti!

Our next anchorage was just a little farther up the Rappahannock in the harbor of a little town named Urbanna.  It's a really neat little town that is just full of history.  During the Civil War it was a port town where they loaded tobacco onto ships that sailed to Europe (mostly England) to trade their cargo for goods that were not available in the US.  We had a little stormy weather at first but then it turned warmer and nice for Sunday and Memorial Day when all the locals came out in droves to parade in and out of the harbor in every kind of water craft imaginable!  Here too, they have a little white sandy beach and quite a few of them gathered there on Sunday to picnic and hang out on the beach.

Another beautiful anchorage

Just off of the bay.  We shared this anchorage (pictues below) with numerous other boaters for a few days last week.  We specifically chose this spot because there's a marina and boatyard there that have a very good reputation for their work and we needed to have our new autopilo installed.  True to their rep. they did a very nice job - leaving us with nothing more than calibrating it which requires a few girations under sail, which we accomplished without too much anquish yesterday morning once we were back out on the bay!

It's amazing how many interesting people you can meet in one small setting.  We talked to an old sailor/gentleman on a very rickety old cattamaran that has sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to the Bahamas and back 31 times!  As you might imagine he is extremely knowledgeable and very willing to impart some of it to anyone interested enough to listen.  We also met a woman about our age who also single-handedly sails her boat and has just returned from spending the winter in the Bahamas - simply amazing!  On the other end of the spectrum, we met a young couple and their dog (from California) on a brand new 40 ft. cattamaran who have taken two years off to "just sail"!

That's just a small sampling of all the people we did meet in just one week but I thought they were by far some of the most interesting.  I can only imagine how many more there will be as we continue making our way around the bay!

Underway at last!

Well, it certainly didn't happen as quickly as we had planned but we finally left our home base marina (below) and sailed north up the Chesapeake Bay yesterday!  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon with light winds and clear, blue-green water!  By the way - Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all of you to whom it applies.  As far as I know it was the first one that we didn't get to spend with our mothers but they both know that we love them and were thinking of them even though we didn't see them.

We had a very nice, peaceful evening anchored in this lovely spot where we enjoyed watching a gorgeous sunset and listening to our very special "boat music" CD's, which were so thoughtfully made by my sister Leslie and my good friend, Bertie.  Thank you both so much!  The assortment of artists and music genres make for hours of incredible listening pleasure!

We will certainly miss all of our friends and "neighbors" back at the marina.  It was a real pleasure to have gotten to know Mike, Jackie, Emma, Russ, Kimmy and Capt. Mike.  Emma, you will have to keep the ducks fed for me until I return.

Have a great week everyone.  We're certainly going to give it our best!

Where is Spring?

Are we in Maine?  I didn't think so but I am beginning to wonder!  I don't think they have officially announced that we are having a "noreaster" but I think we are!  It's been around 50 degrees for the past two days and the wind has been blowing between 25 and 35 mph - and they're calling for the same thing again tomorrow!  Very nasty!  My friend Samantha told me that when we get to Florida we will not come back north and at the time she said it I thought "yes, we will".  Now, I'm not so sure.  We're almost ready to scrap previous plans and head that way now!

We drove over to Virginia Beach today and went to the Virginia Aquarium.  We saw "Under the Sea" at their IMAX theatre and then had a nice mid-afternoon lunch at Bubba's Seafood.  I think we must have picked the worst Spring (weather wise) in recent history to embark on our sailing adventure.  Oh well, it will get warm one of these days and we will actually sail up the Chesapeake Bay!  Stay tuned...

Blessing of the Fleet

Late yesterday afternoon we attended The Blessing of the Fleet held by members of the two prominent yacht clubs in our marina.  We all met on the main dock and participated in saying a prayer in unison to thank God for many of the aspects vital to sailors such as friends, water, wind, rain, sun, storm, sea life and seasons.  Lastly, we asked God for guidance and protection this boating season for us Sailors of the Sea.

The Blessing of the Fleet is a tradtion that has been observed for hundreds of years and began in small fishing villages in the Mediterranean where a local priest would bless the fishermen and their boats for a safe and bountiful season.  Boating clubs and associations all over the world continue this tradition today.

Yesterday was the first time we have had the opportunity to attend one of these gatherings, which we thought was very appropriate since we will soon embark on a full season of sailing for the first time in our lives.

Last week we were blessed with several warm, sunny days and we checked a lot of the items off of our "prepare to launch" list!  We don't have a specific day or even week designated yet for leaving the dock but we believe it will be before the end of April - if all goes as planned.

Our new home!  After all the preparation and final move we have officially become "live-aboards".  Now, if we can just get some warm weather all will be well!  In the meantime we will work on our list of final preparations for cruising so we'll be ready to start out in a couple of weeks.  We've only been hear a few days but so far we are loving it!