Almost Finished!

Scott at the wheel off North Carolina

When last you heard of our two heros, they were anchored in Belhaven, NC on Tuesday, May 24th. The next day they averaged 8 knots an hour, despite 20 knots of wind dead on the nose in the Albemarle Sound, and pulled up at Coinjock Marina at 6 PM. Luckily, they had made the reservations not only for the marina, but for the Prime Rib dinner that Coinjock is justifiably famous for. From Coinjock to Norfolk there are lots of opening bridges that unfortunately only open on the hour, except for the last one which closes over rush hour - very frustrating to manage the time between bridges. But when they finished that, they took off for an overnight up the Chesapeake Bay to Herrington Harbour South in the pea soup fog!

Coinjock Marina's famous prime rib dinner. Pete got the 32 oz and Scott the 16 oz - neither finished their meal and we'll have the leftovers for dinner ourselves.

We do not have radar so this was nerve wracking and neither of them got much sleep. When we sailed on the east coast we had radar and used it but down in the western Caribbean where we've been for 10 years, it's not necessary at all. So when it broke, we didn't replace it. Their method was to call a few boats, as they started out, that appeared on the AIS (Automatic Identification System that shows other boats that have it and displays your own) and ask if they had radar and if so, what they were seeing. Happily, one boat ahead of them had it and was going to the same location, so they followed it. They pulled into the Marina at 6 AM and tied up to the fuel dock. Only 5 nights from St. Augustine, FL to close to Annapolis, MD! Amazing. Later they were moved to a slip. We have reservations there for a week. The boat needs to be emptied and cleaned for showing and then moved over to Herrington Harbour North where it will be hauled up for the season. 

Tied up at Herrington Harbour South in Maryland Friday morning, May 27th.

I on the other hand drove down to my sister Paula's at Belcamp, MD for one night and then on to our son Sean and husband Will's month long rental in Washington, DC. I had dinner with my son James and family nearby. The next morning Sean and I drove down to the Marina, picked up Scott and Pete and drove Pete to National airport to catch a flight home. Scott and I will spend one night here before returning to the boat and days of hard work. We'll move the boat over to Herrington North on June 6th and haul the next day. So our 20 years of cruising is coming to an end and that's all right!

Some shots from Pete's Instagram account

The night's were fairly cold as you can see from 
Pete's clothing.

Pete was able to post on 
Instagram throughout the
trip.

Notes on the charts.