Well, it has now been three weeks since we quit our lovely little residence on the water. One year ago on this date we left the harbor and headed south on our adventure! We have had a hard time remembering all that went on this time last year. All we have to do is to reread our log/blog and we can literally relive what was then so new to us.

We spent an hour or so tonight srubbing the daylights off the three inches of growth on the bottom of the inflatable which had collected since South Carolina.

Now we are chagrined about but resigned to being on land. I have thrown myself into the house, garden, and going back to work feverishly as has Steve with his business.

We try to get out to the boat but can only do so infrequently. It is just not the same. How could it be? I am VERY envious of our new-found friends on board "Tashmoo" and others who are southward bound in September. We read old copies of "Chesapeake Life" with a vengeance, and it brings smiles to our faces to recognize SO many places where we have been. It was so great to be gypsies and AWAY from the abominable winter weather here that we have decided to get away again, the next time this fall in a camper. Well, why not, the Clampetts (sp?) can go in an RV just as well as on the boat (which is going to Maine for the winter for a well-deserved re-fit). The plan is to go south in the fall in an RV and cruise around on wheels seeing the places that we could not see from the water, plus our beloved spots...Charleston and the like. Think it sounds like a ball, and now that Steve has been able to work from afar with his brain/talent, a laptop and a printer, scanner and cell phone....well, again, why not???

The kids are appalled at the camper idea....Mom ,are you kidding???, an RV??????????????????????????????????

For all those of you out there dreaming of doing a trip like this, find a way to make it happen..... This was the best sabbatical ever, and we can't wait to do it again (although S says next time it will be in a trawler). Linda of 1,000 chores/errands of a year ago has of necessity been left far behind. I am hoping that that persona will not creep back up on me as reality sets in for good. This trip has taught us that we need to let some, if not most all of, the trappings of everyday life, go.... You can manage so well without it all, the way cruisers do. That's the goal. We'll see if we can get there again.

I cannot recall where the following came from, Mark Twain perhaps (?), but it says it all:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off your bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

We are signing off on this blog now. It has been so much fun to do (even with all of my computer crashes and tardiness) and we hope that the text and pix have provided some of you with a bit of entertainment in dull times. Maybe we will start another blog on the next trip. We have loved all of your comments and emails...so much fun to read as we have moved every day. Thanks for keeping up with us all along the way!

Linda and Steve
aka The Gypsies
S/V Katannah


And the following... corny maybe, but oh, so very poignant.


Sea Fever

"I must go down to the seas again,
to the lonely sea and the sky.
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song
and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face
and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again,
for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call
that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day
with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume,
and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again
to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way
where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn
from a laughing fellow rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream
when the long trick's over."



L and S