We left Hampton at day break yesterday (Sunday) morning and started our way south towards Beaufort, NC, along the ICW. When we passed Norfolk two hours later it really felt like crossing our own wake from three years ago. At that time we had parted ways with Arearea and went out of the Chesapeake for a 3- day off-shore sail sail up to Cape Cod and then on to Maine. Coming down this year we finally stopped at all the places we missed in 2008 when rushing north, a very different experience this time...

After two very cold nights (5°C/40°F in the cabin this morning...) we have to admit that we are fair weather sailors and very eager to make tracks further south. From Beaufort, we hope to get a weather window early next week to leave for a (hopefully) 9-10 day passage to Jamaica. There currently is disagreement between European and US weather forecast models on the longer term outlook. We hope that the European model (its outlook is less favorable to us) got side-tracked by the Euro debt crisis ... stay tuned...