Jos October 21, 2021 – Dec. 11th 2021
On the road again…
October…
We left Annapolis on October 21st. We made the 9:30 AM bridge opening, got gas, diesel, water, Coke Zero, and lollipops (priorities, people!) at Annapolis City Marina and hit the road. Paid for our extra nights of mooring while underway. I heart technology!
While we are sailing David always takes pictures or videos of nearby vessels and then contacts them by radio to see if they would like him to send the pictures or video. Most people appreciate it, because you don’t often get good shots of your boat while underway.
Buddy Boating…
During our run from Annapolis there was a cool sailboat (a 1964 Chris-Craft) keeping pace with us. David took pictures, got in contact, and that is how we met our new friend, Mike. He was solo sailing his boat to SC to store it for the winter. We ended up buddy boating to NC, where he was able to get a slip at a different marina.
A great time was had and he saved our asses outside Oriental when we miscalculated the fuel thing and ran too low for the lift pump (again). We anchored Tocino and then I got on Mike’s boat and we headed into Oriental for some fuel.
It was a fun ride down and we hit Norfolk/Portsmouth, went out to dinner at Roger Brown’s Sports Bar, bounced around the Albemarle Sound (conditions were ‘squirrelly’ according to the bridge tender at the Alligator River Swing Bridge. Lol!), and generally just had a lot of fun travelling together. We split off in New Bern, NC. The crew of Tocino stayed in New Bern for a couple of weeks, almost bought a house, and thoroughly enjoyed one of our favorite towns.
November…
Of course, our stay would not be complete without a medical mishap. This time it was me! I got shingles, but I seem to have gotten the lightest case possible. Hardly any itching and no pain. Thank God. We ran to urgent care a couple of days before we left, I got some meds, and we were on our way. I was super lucky because it did not hinder me from co-piloting in any way.
Our windlass remote broke along the way. We used the cockpit controls, but they stopped working about a week later. And there was much rejoicing. Yaaaaay. From then on either I or David was the windlass.
We celebrated my birthday in Georgetown, SC. Another of our favorite places. Saw all the friends we made on previous visits, hit all our favorite restaurants (Aunny’s!!), put stuff in our storage unit, and just enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days. We headed out again and met friends for lunch in Charleston and got to meet their new puppy.
Moseyed through Beaufort, SC and got to Thunderbolt Marine in Georgia. It’s all about the Krispy Kremes and laundry!
Finally Florida…
Made it to Jacksonville and stayed on the free dock. We left the next morning (11.25.21) with the intention of anchoring at the Cement Plant on our way to our next stop in Daytona. Well, let it be known, (PSA), that the cement plant is no longer a public anchorage. (Although, someone reviewed the anchorage in Aqua Map on 11.26.21. Weird.)
Regardless, we plowed straight through to Daytona in the dark and made it to Halifax Harbor Marina around 8:30PM. Halifax Harbor allowed us to tie up at the fuel dock overnight, we saw our friends, and the next morning we topped off and moved Tocino to the Bethune Park anchorage. Its’s a really rolly anchorage and since David was going to help deliver a friend’s boat to Miami, we moved Tocino to the Memorial Bridge anchorage which is in a no-wake zone, so it was a little better.
David left and I spent the next few days hanging out in the cockpit, eyes glued to the anchor alarm map and facetiming him to ask if it looked like we dragged. We seemed to be ok and I picked him up in Miami on the 11th. Got a bunch of yummies from Versailles and got back to Daytona.
More excitement yet to come… Click here
