Norfolk to St. Leonard Creek

Mobjack Bay is a natural place to stop either on your way south to Portsmouth or if you are headed north up the Chesapeake. The Severn River, Ware River, North River, and East River all empty into Mobjack Bay. Last year we spent time on both the Ware River and East River, so this time we headed for the North River. All of these rivers are somewhat out of the way if you are in a hurry going either north or south, with the Severn being the most convenient but probably the least scenic.

There was no wind at all, so we motored the whole way. We went as far up the North River as our draft would allow, then came about a third of the way back down and dropped anchor where we could catch any breeze that might be kind enough to come our way--it was hot. We figured with the 5 knot wind forecast, being a bit exposed would be a good thing--did I already say it was hot? Big mistake. We couldn't figure out why a wicked swell developed, but it ended up being a very uncomfortable night.

We were out of there early the following morning and were able to sail all the way to Fishing Bay near Deltaville. It started out as a lively sail, but mostly it was slow and peaceful.


Nice clouds that evening, but this system bypassed us---missed us by thaaat much.

We spent the following day checking out all the marinas in the area. We walked many miles, but also hitched a couple of rides. The second guy was a freelance writer who writes for Spinsheet, and several other sailing magazines.

Upon leaving Deltaville we were able to sail about half the way to Horseshoe Bay near St. Marys before the wind died and we had to use the evil engine. It was hot and the jelly fish (they call them sea nettles here) had not yet arrived, so we swam in the bay at Horseshoe Bend.

We then bypassed one of our favorite anchorages on Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River and headed for another Mill Creek on the south side of the Patuxent River. This was our first time on this creek, and bad weather was forecast so we were anxious to drop the anchor and get settled.

It was a Sunday afternoon and this creek is not far from Solomons, which has about 2 million boats give or take 1.98 million. We had to use great care that our anchor didn't hit a skier on it's way down. To make a long story short, we reanchored 4 times without getting it to hold properly. On the 4th try it still would not hold (this is very unusual), but the storm had arrived so we elected to leave it down with a lot of chain, stayed at the helm and we kept the engine running. We had been closely monitoring the weather and they were talking about lots of lightning, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.

We started tracking it on our radar and it got to us very quickly, but as soon as it got to us it slowed to almost a stop. That was good because we got no strong wind, just a lot of rain and---OK it wasn't all good because we got a lot of lightning that was way too close for comfort. Fellow Texans on an Island Packet got hit by lightning from this same storm while anchored in Reedville--just a bit south of where we were. So they got hit by lightning and had to smell the fish plant at Reedville--not a good way to spend an afternoon. All their electronics got fried.


After the rain and lightning.

The following day we headed a few miles up the Patuxent River to explore St. Leonard Creek before turning around and heading back down river to Solomons. Solomons has fuel, water, pumpout, laundry and groceries so we usually stop there.

The day brought the first cool and pleasant air we had felt in a while and we were quite taken by St. Leonard Creek, so we dropped anchor and stayed a couple of days. One of our favorite spots yet, but don't tell anyone.


Beautiful Creek.


We were able to land the dinghy and do a lot of scenic walking. This deer kept trying to get away, but I track like an Indian. I mean a Native American.


Can you believe a butterfly on my blog? Am I trying to get a job with the White House or what?

Beaufort, NC to Portsmouth, Va

Our jog from Beaufort to Belhaven was wet and rainy, but otherwise uneventful.

While we were browsing in the commercial fishing supply store, Lisa made the mistake of telling the salesman how much we liked Belhaven. That's when we learned that the town had voted the mayor out of office 3 times before he got the idea that he had been fired. He had been mayor for 28 years. After briefing us on the dirty deeds of several other city officials, the salesman looked Lisa in the eye and asked "so what is it about Belhaven that you like?" One thing we don't like is that our cell phone doesn't work there.

We waited for favorable weather for our next leg. It involved 20 something miles on the exposed Alligator River and then crossing the Albermarle Sound. While transiting the Pungo River/Alligator River Canal we spotted a black bear eating berries not too far from the water. He scurried off when we passed him. A couple of miles later we saw some deer on the opposite shore. This from a crew who did not spot a single alligator from Texas all the way to Florida. We anchored at mile 59 on the ICW in the middle of 3000 crab pots.

Our final day on the ICW involved a healthy supply of restricted bridges and 1 lock. All went very smoothly. Our anchor was up at 5:35 am and we spent most of the day in the vicinity of a 2 pack tow that had anchored across from us at mile 59. He ended up in the lock with us and about 6 other boats. He took up the whole north side of the lock.

We made it to our anchorage near Hospital Point in Portsmouth/Norfolk by early afternoon, but it took 2 tries to get the anchor set. It is nice to be done with the ICW for a while. There is a 5 mph speed limit in the ship channel here, so there are virtually no wakes even though there is a ton of traffic. Because of all the ship traffic and ship yards it is quite noisy here, so if you are trying to get away for a weekend it may not be your first choice, but we get plenty of time in secluded anchorages so the noise doesn't bother us much.

Cruise ships dock right across the water from where we are at. Patrol boats keep a constant guard. One patrol boat stopped about 15 pleasure boats in a 2 hour span when we first arrived.

We are also right next to the turning basin. It is amazing watching these monsters turn 180 degrees on a dime.


Using his thrusters (maybe pods) to spin around.


After about 15 minutes, he completes his turn and heads out to sea. The next cruise ship was from the Carnival fleet and was much newer and bigger--but you can only take so many pictures of cruise ships.


German restaurant in Portsmouth.  You would think of all people, the Germans would know how to spell beer.

Monday morning we had a nice chat with a World War II veteran while we were waiting for the Memorial Day Parade to start. It is always interesting listening to a WW II vet talk--we listen with reverence and great gratitude. A big THANK YOU to ALL our veterans (and their families) who gave their lives for this incredible country. We do not take you for granted.


After the parade, we took the ferry across the river to Norfolk. We visited the Naval museum and toured the USS Wisconsin. It served in WW II and retired after the Gulf War.


Me thinks his anchor chain is larger than our anchor chain. The ugly foot is in a size 13 flip flop.

Fernandina to Beaufort, NC

We returned to the dinghy dock after getting propane and groceries only to find all the dinghies stuck in the mud. We have spent a fair amount of time in Fernandina and have never seen the dinghy dock go aground before. This was a new moon low tide, so we joined another stranded couple for some drinks as we waited for the tide to come up some.

The following morning we were off the mooring shortly after 6 and headed to Charleston, SC. It was a wonderful sail for most of the morning before the wind decided to die down. The rest of the trip ended up being a motor sail. We made good time and arrived at the Charleston Ship Channel earlier than I had anticipated, so we decided to keep going and enter the Winyah Bay Inlet at Georgetown, SC.

We arrived at the inlet just in time to take the full brunt of an ebb tide--and it's a loooong inlet. We fought the current all the way to Thoroughfare Creek which is at about mile marker 390 on the ICW. One thing we learned is you need at least 2 crew to enter or exit this inlet in mid May. One to drive the boat and one to kill flies to protect the helmsman.

When we arrived at Thoroughfare Creek we felt way out of place. It was late Sunday afternoon and the creek was full of speed boats with all their water toys. They all stared at us like we were aliens--but then they all went home and it turned out to be a great anchorage. Just don't plan on staying there over a weekend.

Skipper Bob suggested using a trip line on the anchor. I don't like trip lines for several reasons, but we decided to use one in case the anchor got stuck on a submerged log. That evening, 2 ladies in a speedboat thought they found a free fender and they were bound and determined to take it home. When we informed them the fender was ours and attached to our anchor they weren't inclined to believe us and they were not too happy--but they did leave it alone and moved on.


Thouroughfare Creek is quite beautiful.

Lisa had a bit too much time on her hands and after a rereading Skipper Bob's, decided we were not going to do this next section of the ICW. Soooo, we backtracked the 27 nautical miles to the Winyah Bay Inlet--this time with a fair tide, and we killed more flies.

We had a small window to get to Beaufort before the wind would turn NE (on our nose) for several days. So long as we got to Beaufort before late pm the following day all would be well.

It was another beautiful day and we were making great time. Some thunderstorms started to appear when we approached Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals around 10 pm. We were able to alter course to avoid one cell, then we had to slow way down to let another cell pass in front of us. So far so good. Later that night the wind and waves prematurely clocked NE right on our nose and increased to 15 - 20 knots. Needless to say, from then on it was a miserable night. And slow.

Last trip north we stopped at Morehead City Yacht Haven in--you guessed it--Morehead City. It is a great marina with nice facilities, but there is not much within walking distance. This time we decided to check out Beaufort.

Plan A was to try and anchor in front of the town docks and plan B was to check into the marina if the anchorage was as bad as the guide books say it is. Well, we chose plan B and checked in at Beaufort Town Docks. The anchorage was very congested, with half the boats anchored in the channel.

The marina has very nice docks but that's about it. The restrooms and showers are serviceable, but sort of campgroundish. For 2.25/ft + 12.50 electric per night, we would expect a little better. But the people are very nice and the dock hands are superb.

This is the first time we have been plugged in to electricity in over a year. How nice to be able to run our air conditioner! We thought about running our vacuum cleaner all night just because we could.


Wooden boat shop.


Wooden boats from the wooden boat shop in the water.


The marina has loaner cars they let you use for an hour at a time to run to the grocery store. We took advantage of that and stocked up with heavy stuff. Then I made the mistake of opening the trunk to put the groceries in. The problem was, it wouldn't shut (it had been backed into in a previous life), so I had to tie it almost shut with a grocery bag.


Docked next to some much bigger friends.

We have enjoyed our stay here, and really enjoyed being tied to a real dock for a couple of days.

Lake Worth to Fernandina

We decided to leave our boat on a mooring in Stuart, Florida while we visited Mom and Carol. The mooring field is run by a municipal marina with very reasonable rates. It's a fairly new facility located about 8 miles off the ICW on the way to Lake Okeechobee. There are many opening bridges between Lake Worth and Stuart, and most of them are restricted, only opening at set times. We were delayed at one bridge which was being worked on, but the rest of the day went smoothly.

Carol and Mom picked us up and we had a great 2 week visit with them. Now Carol and Mom can get some rest!

When we returned to the mooring field, we were able to get some projects done. I got all 3 alternator belts changed, changed the impeller on the raw water pump, and stripped and varnished the exterior teak. We have lots of teak inside, but thankfully not too much outside. Old Chinese proverb--- "teak inside good, teak outside bad". When we got the boat it came with Cetol on the outside teak. Some people like Cetol, but we don't. It looks so so right after it is put on, but eventually it looks like brown paint. Since I'm basically lazy, we decided to live with it until it needed to be redone, then we would strip it and varnish it. The day arrived when it needed to be redone, so now it is varnished.

After a year and a half sans radio, we decided it was time to install a stereo, so we were able to get that done as well. This of course involved long bike rides to West Marine for overpriced screws and Home Depot for wood to reinforce where the speakers are hung.

Just to make things interesting, we got a tear in the hypalon on our dinghy. The marina has a great dinghy dock, but you have maneuver between some sharp rocks and the end of the dinghy dock to get to where you tie up. It was dark and there was a dinghy tied up on the end that I had to get around. It was low tide which made it narrower and I slid on top of a submerged rock and then heard the dreaded hiss. It was one of those how could I be so stupid moments. We had been in and out of there a hundred times. But no do overs. An expensive mistake. We limped back to the mother ship (the dinghy has 3 separate air chambers, so we still had 2 full of air). We were able to get it fixed by a dinghy shop--they put a patch on the inside and on the outside and it looks great.

While at the marina, we met Rusty Hightower who works for Massey selling Hunters and Island Packets. In 2001 he sold us a Catalina 36 when we were on Lake Texoma. Small world. Yep, he tried to sell us a Hunter.

It was time to head north so that our insurance would remain valid. The first day we did 83 miles from Stuart to a bit past Melbourne. After leaving Stuart we took the St. Lucie River through Hookers Cove and then directly through Hell Gate. I did not make up the names nor put them in that order.

We were up early again the following morning, and made good another 83 miles to Daytona. Along the way we saw a very large dead turtle. On behalf of the Kinder and Gentler One, I would like to apologize to France for this uniquely American transgression.

The following day took us 53 miles to St. Augustine. This time through, we stayed in the main anchorage. There is a strong current here and the boats do funny things at anchor. Most of the boats were behaving, but the full keeled boats were running around putting their ground tackle to the test.


6:15 am in the St. Augustine anchorage.  A young teenage couple with a dog appeared to be living on this boat.

It was 63 miles to Fernandina. At some point we were attacked by horse flies. This kept Lisa entertained for a while.


This is the result of about 45 minutes of Lisa's day. I'm so proud. When she reached her limit, we threw the rest overboard so we wouldn't get fined. Horse fly stir fry anyone?


As we neared the St. Johns River, the military's presence became pronounced.

Other than the fly hunt, the day was uneventful until we passed the St. Johns River. From there on it got hairy. We arrived an hour or so before low tide (7 foot range) one day before the new moon. This water is not like the Keys or Bahamas. You read the chart and the rest is Braille, because you certainly can't see through it. We bumped the bottom as we left the St. Johns River to rejoin the ICW on the other side, but made it through OK. After that we had several close calls but were able to find the deeper water. About 2 and 1/2 miles before arriving a Fernandina we finally ran aground. In trying to get free, I expertly maneuvered us harder aground. It was almost dead low tide, so we decided to wait for the tide to come in and float us off. It wasn't 2 minutes later when Tow Boat Us showed up. He had a spy watching that section for potential business (we were his 3rd of the afternoon at that same spot). We have tow boat insurance with Boat US, so we let him pull us to deeper water. If we had to pay for it we would have read a book and waited for the tide to fill in. After we were free, we barely made it through the next 100 yards, but then it was deep water the rest of the way.

Now we are fueled up and on a mooring. I hope to change oil, transmission fluid and the primary fuel filter tomorrow. We also need to get propane. Then the plan is to leave Saturday to go offshore to Charleston, South Carolina.

Conception , Rum, Long Isand, Current Island, The Berrys, Palm Beach

After a couple of days at Conception, we decided to leave a day early and make our way to Rum Cay. Rum Cay is supposed to have great reefs for snorkeling and spear fishing.

The main anchorage is on the south side of the cay and offers no protection from the south or the west, so our plan was to arrive there while the wind was clocking from west to north. There is an anchorage on the north side of the cay that we want to check out, but the guide books warn that you have to weave your way around numerous reefs to get in and out. The problem is the wind almost always shifts at night. We plan to check out the north side sometime in the future.

We finally had a mild forecast providing a couple days of settled weather. The next front was supposed to be mild--light and variable, so we headed south into the swell and light winds. We rounded Sandy Point and made our way to the anchorage with no other sailboats around. The bay is beautiful. Not long after we anchored the sailboat Mojo showed up. They also came from Conception, but sailed around the east side of Rum before entering from the south.

That evening Lisa and I walked the town trying to get some leg exercise, with the plan of spear fishing on the reefs the following day. The wind had moved north right on cue and the anchorage was comfortable. When we checked weather again the following morning, the forecast had changed calling for increased winds from the south and west.

Reluctantly, we weighed anchor and headed for Callabash Bay on the northwestern side of Long Island. We would stay there for the night, and then make our way to Thompson Bay (further south on the west side of Long Island) which offers decent protection.

Callabash Bay is stunning. It has the best underwater sand we have seen yet, with no grass at all. Our preference would have been to stay there for a while, but the forecast was calling for 9 foot ocean swells from the northeast. These would wrap around into Callabash making it very uncomfortable at best. So we swam and enjoyed the water that afternoon, wishing we could stay and explore the area further.

The following day we made our way to Thompson Bay. It was a bash the whole way into wind and seas. The route was on the banks so the water was shallow--scary shallow in a couple of spots.

The anchorages at Thompson Bay are a bit shallower than we like, but it all worked out well. While there we were able to go on a long walk and do laundry.


Most of the churches have a cemetery surrounding the church.

It was time to make our way back to the US of A. We weighed anchor at 12:35 pm on Wednesday with the plan to sail overnight and anchor the following evening on the western side of Current Island. The reason for leaving at noonish was to sail the Exuma Sound at night and arrive on the banks near Eleuthera at dawn. This all worked out well, although we could have left an hour or 2 earlier since we didn't reach the banks until 8:30 am. Lighter winds than expected.


While entering the banks, we caught this Black Grouper.  Don't you wish you could do that with your jaw?

Lisa Gaddafi preparing to address the United Nations.


Yo Lisa! It's your turn to take the hook out--I got next.  In addition to this 4 foot Great Barracuda and the Black Grouper, we also caught a Cero.

After motorsailing the banks most of the day Thursday, we made it through Current Cut to the west side of Current Island and had the anchor down shortly before 5:30 pm.

By 5:30 am Friday, we had the anchor up and were headed for Fish Market Cay in the Berrys. This route took us between the Abacos and Nassau on the Northeast Province Channel. At one point, when Lisa was below, I steered toward some birds that were feeding on some fish and promptly hooked a Skip Jack Tuna.


After rejecting our initial spot to anchor, we settled on our second choice right next to another pretty beach. You can see the ocean on the other side of the beach.

The anchor was down at 3:10 pm. Our plan was to stay a day to rest up, clean some of the bottom of the boat, maybe spear fish.

It was kind of cold, but after anchoring, I dove on the anchor, then took the pole spear to look for fish. I was a bit nervous because there were a lot of grass patches around which makes bad boys harder to see. I came upon a small group of decent size Bar Jacks when I heard Lisa yelling at me to get back to the boat. I was pretty certain that meant shark so I left the jacks alone and tried to act casual on my way back to the mother ship. Lisa insisted the shark was following me at a distance, so I got out of the water. Pablo is scardo of sharkos. I normally try to be out of the water by 4 pm, and it was about quarter till. I guess he was on daylight savings time as well. We watched him prowl around the rest of the afternoon and evening and he kept coming back to the boat. He looked very territorial--so no spear fishing the following day.

We debated which route to take to Lake Worth--over the banks or the Northwest Channel north of the Berrys. We decided the conditions were right for the northern route which also would save us about 35 miles. We knew we would see more shipping on this route but we had no idea...

Not wanting to arrive at Lake Worth before dawn, we weighed anchor at 10:35 am. We sailed out of our anchorage and around the northern part of the Berry Island Chain. There were 2 cruise ships anchored at Big Stirrup Cay (aka Coco Cay) as we passed. Had we come that close to an anchored cruise ship in the US we would be in the callaboose with our boat up for government auction.

We were hoping to sail the whole way, but after bobbing along at 3+ knots for a while we cranked the engine. Not long after the sun went down we constantly had around 18 ships within a 9 mile radius. They were like sand on a beach, pebbles in a brook, acne on a teenager...We are thankful for radar. And no, I don't think we will go this route again. We ended up logging an extra 7 nautical miles dodging the big boys.

The shipping traffic finally started to thin out at around 2:30 in the morning. Lisa and I had just finished going over potential problems, I had turned to head below for a nap, and Lisa lets out this bloodcurdling scream. I turned back around, and she was still on the boat--but she had company. Then she proceeds to explain how hard the flying fish hit her before it landed in the cockpit (after arriving in Kindle range, Lisa informs me that flying fish can fly at 43 mph).

The crossing was lumpy, rolly and uncomfortable with the wind on the stern. But it was uneventful once we left the many ships behind. We arrived at Palm Beach and had the anchor down at 12:45 pm.

Georgetown to Conception

Try keeping up with these Jones'


The Internet Cafe in Georgetown. Julius (not Erving) offers WiFi, phone calls by the minute, fax, and computer repair. Not fancy, but serviceable and very reasonably priced. As you can see, whoever built this place used a tape measure with the first foot broken off. It was amusing watching one person after another whop their head on the way out--despite a sign and a verbal warning by Dr. J.

After catching up on Internet business we made an early morning departure for the Island of Conception. It was a beautiful sail up until we cleared Cape Santa Maria, which lies off the Northern tip of Long Island, then the wind died forcing us to motorsail the remainder of the way.

Upon arriving at our destination, we were surprised by the number of boats already anchored. I think there were 13 boats our first night there. The first evening, we did meet the crews of Savage Son and Far Niente--both boats were on Lake Texoma where we spent many a Saturday.


Nice beach at Conception. But the sand was like 40 grit.

We snorkeled just north of our anchorage where there was a lot of structure but surprisingly few fish. There is a large reef which extends 3 or 4 miles north of Conception, but we did not check it out. A week or so before we got there, a delivery captain ran a 60 foot luxury motor yacht onto the reef at 20 knots. The salvage crew was already done and gone by the time we got there.


The sand on this beach was 320 grit--perfect.


Lisa go kill fish.

Royal Island To Georgetown

Upon leaving Royal Island, our intent was to go to Highborne Cay in the Exumas. This would normally involve going through Current Cut, which as the name implies, is a cut with lots of current, and it bisects Current Island.

This leg to Highborne is all on the banks, and as you near the Exumas you have to zig zag around a lot of coral heads. The day was overcast, with a moderate north wind (Highborne has no north protection), so we decided to anchor on the south side of Current Island and then head to Highborne the following day.

The current at Current Cut often flows faster than sailboat speed, so the ideal plan would be to go at slack current--or at least not at max current. Also, going our direction you have to make a hard right as soon as you go through. If you mess up the current can sweep you onto a shoal. The state of the tide was not working out in our favor, so we took the long way around. This involved going past the wreck we snorkeled on, out into Northeast Providence Channel, then back onto the bank through Fleeming Channel, then backtracking north to the south side of Current Island. We could have gone through Current Cut, but I really wanted to fish (only Barracuda on the banks).


This is what I caught. I forgot to set the reel alarm, so by the time we realized the line was running out, I had about 700 yards of line to real back in.


Beautiful sunset at Current Island.

We have had very few cloudless, sunny days since arriving in the Bahamas. Clouds are not your friend when weaving through reefs. So the following morning we crossed our fingers and headed to the Middle Bank reefs on our way to Highborne. With the wind on our stern, we had a wonderful sail. We turned on the motor and rolled in the sails when we approached the shallower, reef infested leg of our route. The clouds came and went, and it was very tedious steering around the reefs. It is by far the most reef congested area we've gone through yet. When the sun is out, they are easy to see, but there were a few times when it looked like there was no way through. In reality, I'm sure there were many we could have passed over, but we are not good enough or brave enough, so we dodge them all.

We made Highborne with no problems. We stayed at Highborne for a couple of days. The first day I wanted to continue working at cleaning the bottom of the boat. The water was a balmy 70 degrees. Better than the 67 degree water the last time I dove our anchor at Royal. I had all my cleaning stuff together, got in the water, went under the boat only to find a small 3 1/2 foot shark hanging out next to our keel. I had Lisa get my pole spear (at that point I had never used it), I approached the shark in hopes that he would swim away. Didn't work. I banged on the hull and that didn't work. I considered shooting it, but didn't want a shark to be my first target. Especially since a pole spear doesn't have near the power of a Hawaiian sling. They say that sharks and barracuda will retaliate--that's just not fair. Anyway, after about 30 minutes, he still wasn't interested in leaving, so I got out of the water.

There were some reefs on the north side of our anchorage, and I was determined to try out my pole spear. So we anchored the dinghy next to the reefs as I tried to become one with the sea. I keep telling Lisa that I swim like a fish, but she thinks I swim like a fish out of water.


My first victim. OK so it wasn't a tasty Trigger fish, but a Grey Angelfish.....OOPS.  Not exactly a headshot but sheesh, he was moving.

We planned on stopping at Normans Cay, but needed to find all around protection from the next front, so we headed towards the Pipe Creek, Bell Island area. It was a cloudy day so we anchored on the SW side of Bell Island with the plan of going into either Pipe Creek or the east side of Bell Island the following day.

Just before going to bed, I popped my head out to make sure everything was OK. There was a large boat (turned out to be a barge) approaching very close to us. He looked like he was going to go right through us, so I turned on all our cockpit lights and the deck light. At that point Lisa saw him flash his lights, and then he altered course. He ended up docking at Bell Island which is privately owned. Another barge came through the following morning, but he took a proper route. We can't figure out what the first one was doing--seems like he should have been aground at the angle he was approaching us.

The following day we moved to the east side of Bell Island which would offer all around protection for the front. The front didn't clock as quickly as forecast, so we ended up staying a bit longer than we had anticipated. We did dinghy to the Pipe Creek area, and I did some snorkeling. We were also able to clean most of the bottom of the boat.


This picture is not very clear, but this float plane would land very close to our boat, drop off people on the beach and then take off near this ketch. 

Once the front finished it's business, we went out the cut to Exuma Sound and headed for Farmers Cut and Little Farmers Cay. We wanted to go a bit further south to Cave Cay, but the wind for the night was to be from the Northwest, so we decided to anchor on the SE side of Little Farmers.

It was a beautiful trip, but the anchorage was a tad crowded. We had anticipated this since the Georgetown crowd is in the process of migrating north. The anchorage was rocky sand, and when the anchor grabbed, we knew it hooked on a rock. The winds were light that night, but I kept waking up thinking I was going to have to dive on the anchor to extract it from the rock--at high tide.

While weighing anchor we saw a huge ray go air born 2 different times. That was way cool. But the anchor would not come up easily, so I got to go for a 7:15 am swim. It was a bit chilly on deck, but the water actually felt good. After 2 tries, I had the trip line attached to the front part of the anchor (with the assistance of the deck babe on the bow feeding the line). The trip line basically lets you pull the anchor out backwards. It actually worked. I was relieved. With everyone in the anchorage watching, I could not afford to fail. It's a guy thing.

We had another great motorsail, and then motor to Georgetown. Were able to make lots of water and charge all our gadgets. Had a huge fish on the spinning reel, but he threw the hook.

When we entered the harbor at Georgetown, we were surprised at how beautiful the water is. Stocking Island beaches look good too, but we have stayed close to town to take care of business.


The exit/entrance to Lake Victoria (where the dinghies dock to go into town).