We’re back on Moxie in the Chesapeake after a very busy summer. We moved into a new place in mid-June, just in time for all the wedding festivities. It was spectacular and we look forward to the next chapter with our new son-in-law as part of our family.
The wedding was a celebration of life, made all the more poignant by the loss of my stepmother 2 weeks before the wedding and Anthony’s mother 4 days after the wedding. Both women were incredibly supportive of our sailing adventures and their deaths were jarring reminders to make everyday count. We’re trying to do just that!
We arrived back at the dock in late September when the weather is cooler and the leaves were beginning to change. We had scheduled some repair work on the crossbeam and touch up painting on the boom for the last week of September, so on Sunday (9/25) we set off for a 5 hour sail towards Annapolis and anchored close by in Brown’s Cove.
This anchorage is on the “backside” of the Naval Academy and we heard Reveille every morning at 8:00 am and the Star Spangled Banner every every evening at 6:00 pm. No need for a clock! Ha! Ha!
On Monday (9/26), we motored ~ 4 miles over to the Port Annapolis Marina and were hauled out right away. A few hours later the crossbeam and boom were removed, and repairs were underway.
While those 2 items were being worked on, we did some of our own repairs including replacing the escape hatch that had been leaking from the beginning and scraping newly formed barnacles off the propellers.
The crossbeam was replaced very quickly, but we had to wait a few more days for the boom, so we went back to the nearby anchorage (instead of paying $150/night to stay at the marina). During this time, we were carefully watching the path of Hurricane Ian and the death and devastation it left in its wake. We have friends who live in Sarasota, Ft. Myers, and Orlando and feel horrible for what they’ve had to endure – so many shattered lives….
As the storm moved up the East Coast, we began to experience some minor effects as well. The temperature dropped about 20o, and we had 5 days of wind and torrential rain. It was COLD on the boat – and we had only a little tiny space heater (Back story: I had to BEG my husband to buy this heater. As always, he was concerned about the added weight and more “stuff” on board. Obviously, he made the right decision because we’re still married. Ha! Ha!).
But just because we have this little heater doesn’t mean we can run it as much as we like. See… we get our electricity from our solar panels, but with 5 days of rain, there was no sun to charge the solar panels, which means limited electricity, thus…. Very limited use of the heater… Only enough to warm the cabin up to about 62 every other hour or two. So… we wore our long johns, wrapped ourselves in blankets, and ate a lot of soup (notice the steam).
Finally, we had everything back in place and headed back to our berth at Great Oak Landing to get ready to head south. We rented a pick-up truck, got everything out of the storage unit and start putting sails on. Most of the sails are fairly manageable, but the mainsail weighs approximately 150 lbs and is hard to maneuver. The video is on “warp speed” because it took forever, but eventually we got it back in place.
Although we were “itchin” to leave, we couldn’t go very far because we couldn’t be south of Cape Hatteras, NC before Nov 1st for insurance reasons (related to hurricanes). The timing worked out well because it gave us a few days for a “ROAD TRIP” to Knoxville for the TN vs BAMA game. If you know me, you know I’m crazy about my Tennessee Vols!! It was about a 9 hour trip so we stopped 1/2 way in Salem, VA in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains and stayed at the The Inn at Burwell Place (we highly recommend it)! It was mid-October and the foliage was gorgeous!
In case you didn’t know….the VOLS WON on a last second field goal, for the 1st time in 15 years!!!! It was magic!!! Definitely an unforgettable experience!
We drove straight back to Great Oak on Sunday (16th) to do some last minute laundry and provisioning. The Chesapeake Bay is approximately 200 miles long so the plan was to slowly make our way down towards Norfolk to be ready for the 1st suitable weather window to make the jump to Hilton Head.
We stopped at St. Michael’s which is a lovely coastal town -especially in the summer. But we were there in late October and it was foggy, and chilly. Good thing we have radar because it was difficult to see anything otherwise.
From there, we moved another 60 miles south and stopped just north of Deltaville for a night. Then we headed to Yacht Haven marina (across the river from Yorktown) and anchored just up the river.
This was a beautiful, quiet spot with a lots of amenities within walking distance. We took a long walk to the grocery for last minute fresh items and ate at the marina restaurant twice.
From there we moved down to the mouth of the Chesapeake near Newport News and anchored just off of the Langley AFB runway. Most people would not choose this spot, but Anthony was very entertained by the constant F35, T38, and F15 training runs. Lordy were they loud! Luckily they stopped at dark.
The next day was November 1st and the weather was right to take the leap! So we’re headed South!