Saturday 15 February 2020
Brrrrr!

What a damn cold day!

We left the Waterside Marina at four AM to make sure the we got to our destination at Queens Creek in the daylight hours. There was more than enough light to be able to successfully leave the dock and get moving. It was a fifty-one nautical mile trip that we managed in nine hours. Pretty good, but it was beyond miserable! It was the first time that I have been at sea with Nelleke that the spray frozen the deck! We had ice on the deck, the standing rigging and the running digging the only reason there wasn't ice on me was that even at the worst of it I retained sufficient body heat to keep the spray liquid. Not that it didn't try, mind you.

On the first part of the trip, we were hailed by four separate container ships to confirm our intent or ask us to move to one side of the channel or the other. Bless AIS! It makes even the dumbest of us look a little professional.

As we trundled up the Chesapeake in the bitter cold at least the wind died down slightly and the seas lay down with it. After averaging five and a half knots we pulled into Queens Creek to visit with Chris and Bill from Plover who other members of SHYC may remember from their several visits to our town. They have been gracious enough to offer us the hospitality of a room on the hard, dinner, a bath (glory be! I have missed having a soak in a hot tub) a spot on their dock, electric plug in etc. Outstanding kindness. We even got a dog fix from their pup Flaco.

We will be enjoying their kindness until Monday when we will complete the voyage and head on over to Deltaville to leave Nelleke in the capable hands of the crew there.