The quiet times……sometimes we leave posts unwritten because we’re having such a good time that we feel terrible verifying the reality exceeds the dream. Sometimes we leave posts unwritten because we have no internet connection; sometimes we’re waiting for input; sometimes, most often in fact, the silent gaps in our postings are because we are in the “drudgery mode” of the trip.
This past eleven days have been days of mostly just work….anchor up by 7:00 am, means Tony’s up and checking in at the office and with the weather bureaus and checking all the boat systems long before first light. We have moved the boat through miles and miles of territory we saw for the first time just a few months ago (but it was colder then). We’ve had a few delays for weather, and we’ve been exceedingly lucky and/or smart in our choices to delay, hold still, or speed up. We’ve been on the edge of some harrowing systems, but we’ve been only on the edge of those systems.
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| Scott's Eggshell Scrimshaw - Bahamas 2010/2011 |
Our biggest highlight over this past stretch was Easter, spent in Portsmouth, VA with Messenger and Georgia-E. Tony and I split off from them just before the last storm (4/16). We left Wrightsville Beach and ran some long, long days covering 96 miles in one run. Those days were spent with a schedule of early up and out, then one hour shifts hand steering through the mind-numbing tedium of the ICW. We finally came to the last stretch making it through 4 bridges and a lock with precision timing, to pull in to the Tidewater Marina at Mile Marker “0”!!! And there we sat. And got off the boat to see if our legs still worked. And, went to bed later than 8:30 and slept later than 6:00!! We had a BLAST in Portsmouth, VA;) Messenger and Georgia-E pulled in on Holy Saturday after their similar, exhausting run. Never daunted, Lisa had Easter “in the bag”.
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| Endurance & Georgia E in Eggshell |
After quick showers and reconnaissance, Messenger has all three boats off for a lovely dinner-theater event that night to see “The Conspirator” at the local dinner/movie venue. We closed the night with just the Captains and First Mates off to the local Irish Whiskey Bar “Still” to enjoy some of the best imports to be found in liquid form. At first light Messenger has already had an egg hunt and baskets, and at 11:30 the three boats were sitting down to a lovely Easter brunch on the docks with sun-shading Easter bonnets and Ray-Bans feasting on Messenger’s ham and ‘sunshine salad’, Georgia-E’s mashed potatoes, Endurance’s coleslaw and watermelon and (later) a burned but edible Pineapple Upside-down Cake. If you can’t be with the ones you love, love the ones you’re with – and we do.
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| The light air sail flies as we head North on the Chesapeake |
All three boats left Easter Monday and are now in the upper Chesapeake; Georgia-E spun off yesterday for a quick tour of St. Michael’s, while Messenger and we are in Annapolis; we’ll wait out the rest of today for this nasty storm front to pass, and then to Baltimore, tomorrow. Baltimore – home away from home for us. We simply cannot wait.
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