Well, we did it! We finally pushed off from the Conanicut Yacht Club (CYC) mooring ball, #19, on Thursday, September 12 at 11:30 am! No fanfare, just a quiet departure and some nice well wishes from the launch driver.

We really didn’t have a “true” departure date. In fact, we just started to tell people we were leaving on September 10 after being asked by all of Courtney’s roommates when we were leaving. We finally decided to just pick a date out of the air and run with it….and it was nice for us to have a goal for a departure date. With the arrival of our new solar panel on Monday and the successful installation of the panel by Roger on Wednesday, and a nice weather window to depart on Thursday, we knew it was time to go!

We had a beautiful sail to Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, a little over 7 hours. Winds were from the southwest, with 20 knot breezes, on average, for a majority of the time. We had a nice beam reach once we rounded can 4A off of Newport for most of the day. This was nice for Casey as we didn’t have to “tack” him at all. He had enough of a battle just trying to stay balanced and comfortable. He did well but sure was happy to get on land at the end of the day!

Today, Friday, September 13, we enjoyed a leisurely morning on the boat and then took a 90 minute walk throughout Edgartown – such a gorgeous island town and so nice to experience it “off season.” Casey was in 7th heaven! We are in the mooring area of Katama Pond, surrounded by 6 other cruising vessels enjoying the September weekend…with more to arrive tonight and tomorrow, but overall, it is a much quieter place from the summer hurrah. As I write, Roger is practicing his guitar and very relaxed; Casey is sound asleep on our berth. Life is good.

Plans are to head over to Nantucket tomorrow and spend a few nights there.