We arrived home on Saturday, April 22. We left Herrington Harbor, South at approximately 9:00 am expecting a smooth 30 mile run to our slip at Castle Harbor. Throughout the morning, the winds clocked around to the north and continued to build. We crossed the Bay Bridge they had reached a consistent 20 kts. plus. At the north end of Kent Island, We had to turn east and then south and I was not looking forward to gusts hitting us broadside. We got lucky! As we turned east the wind began to diminish and by the time we reached the Castle Harbor inlet they were below 8 kts. The water in the marina was smooth and we slid into our slip with no issues.

Al in all, the trip was a tremendous success! We had a wonderful time, met some terrific people (Yeah, Shanna, Webb, Brandi, and Emmy - You guys are high on the list) and saw places that we did not know existed.

We learned a lot - from the weather, the weatherman, the boat, and from and about each other. The trip was made especially wonderful by our good friends Jill & Bruce on Dreamboat. When things got rough they offered encouragement and were a wonderful company in general. Thier precise planning made the whole odyssey so much easier.

We spent six months and five days on Red Sky, with just a few days off to go to Las Vegas for my nephew Jeremy's wedding.

Jill compiled the following statistics:
2700 miles
186 days on the water
53 marinas
11 anchorages
106 opening bridges
2 locks
15 land tours
470 engine hours
0 sailing days
and innumerable smiles

The weatherman, with all his modern tools, predicts, and Aeolus laughs. Yesterday we left Tidewater heading for Deltaville. Predicted winds - 10 - 15 out of the west. Actual winds - 25 - 30 NNW with gust somewhat higher. We made it to The Hampton River.
Today - winds predicted 10 - 15 (sound familiar!) out of the East. Seas 2-3 feet. Actual winds 20+ NE 3 3 foot + seas. We are on the York river.

Six months ago we took in our dock lines and headed south out of Prospect Bay. We left the Kent Island Yacht Club and out onto the Chesapeake Bay. What a time we have had! Tonight we plan to celebrate at a favorite place here in Portsmouth, VA. - Stills (thanks again Katie Chapman).

We woke up yesterday to find that the winds were not all that bad so we pushed on. We did have 20kts crossing Currituck Sound, but I think that just moved us faster. We pulled into Tidewater Yacht Marina at about 4:00 pm. Today is laundry, install a new water pump, and celebrate! We should be home by the end of the week.

The weatherman is not our friend! He has predicted bad weather that has kept us in marinas - and the problem weather never happened. He has predicted days of perfect weather only to slam us with windstorms that questioned our ability to keep afloat. Looking ahead at the weather for the next few days we realized that there is a great possibility tomorrow and Monday would have high (25kts. +) winds and gusts much higher. That was when we had planned to cross Albermarle Sound - a body of water so large & shallow that the predicted winds could be dangerous. So, do we stay in Dowry Creek for two plus days or push on? We decided to head to the Alligator River and spend the night there - but, as we approached the marina we realized that it was quite early in the day and the weather really looked good to cross the Albermarle, so we pushed on. Crossing the sound was pretty effortless except the wind did begin to pick up in the last third or so. We saw 20kts. but nothing more and pulled in at about 5:30. We are planning two nights here just in case the winds do come. By the way, the restaurant here is famous for its 32oz prime rib - I had the 16oz and it was terrific.

Lately, I have been writing about our experiences - I want to talk about comfort today. Our 32 foot Beneteau had a pad in the aft cabin. It was okay for a few days and then you began to wake up with strange aches. Red Sky has a real mattress - and it is every bit as comfortable as our bed at home. The two most expensive comfort items have been the complete cockpit enclosure and the new autopilot. The enclosure has kept us in t-shirts & shorts when we have passed others huddled in winter coats and trying to avoid the rain. And the new autopilot is designed for sailboats 20,000lbs and up. The old one was designed for boats up to 16,500 lbs. Red Sky is 16,500 lbs dry - no water, fuel, provisions, or crew and the old autopilot could not begin to keep up. This one is smooth and easily maintains a course in any weather or sea state we are apt to be out in.

We spent last night at the Dowry Creek Marina off the Pungo River. Yep Pungo is the name - wonder where that came from.

Traveling the Neuse River yesterday morning was no fun. Strong swells off the Atlantic and a quartering 15kt breeze made for a very bumpy ride. Fortunately, our autopilot, Sir Francis Drake, was up to the task. He kept us on track for the better part of an hour and a half until we pulled into the Goose Creek Canal. The rest of the trip was smooth.

When we started this adventure we had some doubts - about our competence, comfort, planning, and just facing the unknown. We had spent up tp two weeks at a time on both Red Sky and Soulmates (our 32' Beneteau) but that was camping out vs. living for months on end. We quickly found that we had the basic skills - we could safely drive the boat, leave a dock and dock the boat - even when the wind and/or current made it interesting. Were we perfect - no! But we are much better now. The same goes for line handling. As for comfort - Red Sky has a great mattress and a comfortable main cabin. We learned to cook with gas (something new to the first mate) and even did some baking! The planning - well we did get better, thanks much to Bruce & Jill on DreamBoat. The one fly in the ointment was the weatherman - not really accurate for our needs. We ended up staying in place because of bad weather predictions and moving through less than wonderful weather that was just not supposed to be there.
I think we both can say that facing the unknown and working through it has made us stronger as a couple and in ourselves.

We are in River Dunes Marina, near Oriental, NC. We spent two nights in Beaufort (pronounced bowfort!), at the City Docks Marina - right in the middle of a very quaint downtown. Great restaurants & shopping - and a great double-decker bus tour on a 1997 London bus with wrong side driving!
We slipped the dock lines at eight am and headed up, and through a very narrow channel called Adams Creek to the Neuse River. Passing Oriental, NC to the south we headed in here. It is a lovely marina with great facilities, arriving at about 1:00 pm. Got the boat washed down, the laundry done, and all hands took showers. Today we drove the loaner car to Oriental for lunch and a bit of grocery shopping. Not really much to this town that we can see.

It is hard to believe that in a few days we will have been living on Red Sky for six months. We approached this adventure wit some wonder and a bit of trepidation. Would we be bored traveling down this narrow waterway? No! There were too many neat towns ant then there were the dolphins most of the way (even in the Chesapeake) as well as all the different birds from cormorants to majestic pelicans. We passed quite a few inlets that gave us a glimpse of the Atlantic and we wondered if we were up to going out there. Well, we did! We left Ft. Lauderdale and headed into the ocean turning south and later that day west. While anchored in the Key we were woken by what sounded like a freight Train. The wind was howling at 30+ kts. and our anchor was dragging. The wind did not let up all day and fairly pushed us further west. It caught us broadside as we turned north into the gulf. We gained some respect for the soundness of Red Sky and our skills as sailors. And then we got to spend two glorious months in beautiful Marathon.