Luckily the weather forecasters were wrong once again. The on-the-nose wind prediction turned into a nice push home with a wonderful sail up the bay and the Rappahannock River to our dock. What a fun way to come home!

The only problem with that is the thought of what comes next: hauling stuff off the boat, doing mountains of laundry, and cleaning the dirt and pollen that have been collecting on the boat because we procrastinated by saying "we'll be home soon and can do it then". Well, guess that "then" is now unless we can continue to tell ourselves we need to take a break and relax. ;-)

We're only a day away from home but are waiting for stormy weather to pass. Portsmouth has a free wall for docking, though officially overnight stays are prohibited. Rumor has it that the rule is not enforced. Wonder why that police vehicle has been parked nearby all morning?

This is the South Mills lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal that raises you up for the transit to the Deep Creek lock.

We're trying to get home without breaking too many things. So far our chartplotter has a bad power connection and quits at the most inopportune times. Then after a nice sail across the Albemarle and up the Pasquotank, we forgot to pull up the daggerboard and had a grounding that we hope didn't do too much damage - we'll find out when we lift it out at home. And last, head issues always seem to be a challenge on a long trip. It's time for a pump rebuild and we need to figure out why the holding tank doesn't drain through the valve. Though few and far between, we have been able to find marinas with working pumpout stations that don't cost $25 at just the right time.

Skydusky and Charm have had a chance to dust off the sails from Pamlico Sound to Albemarle Sound in NC with winds from the S/SW pushing us closer to home.

Since we put in at Port Royal, SC, we have been fighting strong northerly winds, currents and waves pushing against us, and drenching rain. Finally today despite chilly damp weather, we finally had the current pushing us north. Jim bought some fresh shrimp, the sun came out, and all was right with the world again.

We're trying to do 50 miles per day so we should be back in the Chesapeake in a week or so, weather permitting.