Since returning from our California vacation, we have been crazy, busy trying to get ready for our first leg of our voyage south.

Upon our arrival  to SeaQuell at 9:00 pm (after flying all day), we were greeted by a very happy girl-- Maggie was very glad for us to be home. However, we were not so happy with her. It seems she had a slight urge to 
"play" with our electronics. Several of the wires were chewed into bits. She had helped herself to resting on the newly re-upholstered setee as well. This was evidenced by an abundance of beige fur and numerous "slobber spots" on the cushions. 

So, the next day after work, we head to Kilmarnock to replace chargers,etc.
We also picked up the gift for our younger daughter's baby shower this weekend.

Becky left on Thursday , heading for Wilson for the shower. Dr.'s appointments/banking business/storage / post office stop all taken care of on Friday. Baby shower for our third grandchild was a lot of fun. Good to see family and friends. Mad dash back to Urbanna Saturday pm.

Now, to start getting ready for the trip. Don and Judy are moving their boat, Nemo, south as well, so we'll be buddying with them on this leg.

Don and Becky took both cars to Morehead City on Wednesday. Picked up our crew there too.  Jane Messer Whitten and Scott Shepard are crewing on Nemo. Our friends, Dave and Cheryl Albert are crewing on SeaQuell.
We all returned to Urbanna together in a one way rental car -- long day, but one item checked off the preparation agenda.Delicious dinner prepared by Judy-- pasta salad, quinoa salad, pork roast, tossed salad, and homemade bread. Damn, we eat good.

Rental car was returned the next day, after a final grocery run. The ladies need to get the last minute provisions.

As cruisers often do, we pooled our resources for dinner Thursday night. We had lots of good food, drink, and fun. So much fun, in fact, that Scott slept in the new hammock couch on SeaQuell.

We departed from Urbanna, VA around 8 am on Friday, Oct. 5th. Motor sailed  to Hampton, VA, where we anchored for the night. We had a little trouble setting our anchor, but finally got it to hold. Nemo pulled alongside and rafted up with us. After a great dinner of spagetti and meatballs, eggplant Parmesan, salad and homemade bread, we all crashed for the night.

Saturday brought clear skies, light winds. After a great breakfast of egg/sausage/cheese casserole and spinach omelets, we headed out again.
Motor sailed most of the day. We did set some fishing lines out, and Dave caught a tuna??--- too small to keep, but fun to reel in. 

After a great dinner of Cheryl's famous clam chowder , we start getting ready for the night. We put 2reefs in the mainsail. Everyone dons their life jackets and tethers. Jack lines in place. Snacks in the cockpit for those late night "attacks".

Our overnight sail Saturday was great--  Dave and Cheryl took the first shift, 9-12.  Robert took over around midnite and cut the engines. He had the 12-3am shift) and when Becky relieved him at 2am, we were still making about 6-7 knots steadily. We did lose our GPS once, but Robert got it working again quickly. At one point, it showed us making over 300 knots---- talk about jet propulsion!!!  Everyone was able to sleep for several hours, the seas were relatively calm and the winds were wonderful. Perfect night . Cheryl awakened a little seasick-- took some Dramamine and went down for a nap.

Sunday morning was a little cloudy, and the winds died out-- we're back to motor sailing again!   More fishing today for the guys.  While attempting to fill our fuel tank with our last 5 gallons of fuel, Dave's line starts zingin' like crazy. He's having a great time reeling in what we think is another tuna(that's what it looks like when it jumps out of the water), when it just disappears and the line breaks. Now Robert's line starts zinging away. He has a SHARK on. It appears the shark ate Dave's tuna and jumped over onto Robert's line.  It took quite a but of effort to reel this shark in-- he fought like the dickens.  We brought him on board long enough for a photo op and back in the water he went. He was 4 ft. 10 in. Long!!!!    Enough excitement for now-- it's back to fuel duty for the guys.

Sunday afternoon, Dave caught a beautiful Dorado. We think he may have been legal to keep, but no one wanted to mess with it, so we threw him back.
The weather is beginning to change-- clouds are rolling in and the wind picked up enough for us to sail a bit.  We had a slight debacle with our fishing lines--- they got wrapped around the prop-- Robert jumps in to untangle the mess, and the boat starts to pull away from him. Becky is at the helm, trying to hold the wheel in a "brake" position. He did make it safely back on board, except for some scrapes from barnacles. ( we won't mention the numerous expletives).
Cheryl is still a little seasick, but tolerating it ok.


Sunday evening is spent getting ready for another overnighter. Same drill as last night. However, mother nature has a different, more exciting plan for tonight.   The weather is beginning to get rough-- lumpy, bumpy waves while trying to cook dinner. Both Cheryl and Becky are now queasy. Around 10 pm, the lightening starts/winds pick up and the seas increase. Next comes the rain.  Cheryl is getting worse-- hugging the rails-- for anyone who sails, you know the score. I' ll omit the details. Becky is maintaining as long as she stays very still and in the cockpit. Maggie is a nervous wreck-- we had to leash her to the table-- she's ready to abandon ship.Our fuel gauge shows we have 1/4 tank-- this is gonna be a long night.

This storm just WILL NOT LET UP!!!!!  Overnight, the seas were 4-6 feet/ winds steady 22-25 knots. Rain and lightening persisted until the wee hours of the morning. We lost radio contact with Nemo hours ago. The damn GPS is acting up again!!! No one is getting any sleep tonight!! 

Monday morning finally arrives,  and the rain and lightening subside. The seas, however, just aren't ready to give it up!!  Wave height is a little less, but now the interval is about 3 seconds.  Despite a rough night, we're all in pretty good spirits-- still able to crack a few jokes about riding a bucking bronco and Cheryl chummin'.  No one feels like breakfast and it's too rough to go down below-- no coffee--- this sucks!!  

We were finally able to make contact with Nemo-- they went further offshore to try to improve their ride. They had a rough night too, but everyone is safe if not sound.

We finally made it to the Beaufort inlet and things start to settle down. Dave's sippin' sprite-- seems all the action finally got to him, too. Becky and Cheryl are feeling a little better, and Maggie has calmed significantly. Poor Robert is barnacled/ beaten/sleep deprived, but still not complaining (except about how sore his butt is from prolonged hours in the captain's seat). 

We made it safely to the Morehead City Yacht Basin around 11am. Docked with the jib still up(we forgot).  Our life sling snagged the piling and landed in the water, and one of our port visors was inadvertently removed by a fender. We are out of fuel and running low on energy, but as the Nordstrom's always say--"MAN, WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

Nemo arrived safely shortly afterwards. We had a short reunion/ celebratory cocktails, and everyone  went on their way to begin recovery efforts.  Dave and Cheryl have a condo at Emerald Isle for a few days. Jane is headin back to her boat at Matthews Point with her honey, Michael. Scott says he's heading back home to try and catch a second wind before going out with his buddies tonight( something about Monday night football).  Guess now everyone knows who the youngest in the group is!!

Another adventure complete!!