Sailing around the Caribbean: SailBlogs

Sailing up the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis – End of Our Voyage

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:26:31 -0500

We had pondered taking Kikuyu up the Potomac River but after careful consideration we decided to take her up the Chesapeake, making our destination our favorite port on the Bay: Annapolis! Annapolis' harbor, with its constant winds and deep waters, is said to be "the sailing capital of the world". Annapolis is the place that inspired us to start sailing. We fell in love with its breezy harbor and the myriad sailboats plying its waters. We learned to sail in Annapolis and have visited there many times over the years. Our first sailing trip there was in 1997 in our first boat, Isabela. We had very little experience on the water and Daniel was not even 1 year old. Annapolis is also home to our engine guy and other marine services and we enjoy attending the annual boat show in October and just being tourists in this wonderful historic city, the capital of Maryland and onetime capital of the United States. (Continued...)

Hampton Virginia – Back to the Chesapeake Bay!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:18:46 -0500

After nearly 40 hours of sailing, we arrived to the Chesapeake Bay and anchored in Hampton Flats off Fort Monroe at 10:30PM on the second night of our trip. Again, there was little wind on this trip and we had to motor sail the entire trip. But given that we were rounding Cape Hatteras which can be a bad passage given the currents and counter winds that have wrecked hundreds of ships we were thankful that the weather, though not optimal for sailing, was good for making this passage. (Continued...)

Charleston, SC and Beaufort, NC

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:27:25 -0500

Our passage to Charleston was also great in terms of the weather which we knew could be stormy. We did see and hear a few storms with thunder & lightening but they were far from us. Except for 3 squalls that nearly sandwiched us and that Kim skillfully guided us and s/v Beaudacious to avoid, we just held our breath and prayed that the bad weather would not come our way. Thankfully we did not intersect a single thunder, lightning or rainfall during the entire trip. (Continued...)