Month: May 2024

All Phases Complete

On By WendyLeave a comment

All phases of our big boat moving journey our now complete. Time to breathe. 🙂

It has been a busy couple of days since our return to Virginia. One day post arrival, we turned right around to head back to New Bern to retrieve my car from Northwest Creek Marina. We all quite literally piled into Charro’s two-seater convertible for the first leg of the nearly nine hour round-trip drive.

I-664 over the Chesapeake Bay. A much different experience by car vs. boat!

On our way south, we stopped at the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center to purchase our commemorative tees and hats and snap a couple of photos of the water. Hard to believe we had just motored through the area two days prior.

Boats tied up for the night at the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center

Yesterday, there was little rest for the weary. Charro hopped into town to run some errands, and I spent a few hours deep cleaning our boat’s very dirty interior. It sure felt good to put our girl back to rights!

Today, finally, we begin a nice three day stretch of down time before we head back to Roanoke on Sunday. We have no plans to take the boat out at all. We are just going to chill out in our new slip and enjoy the quiet and the view.

When I reflect on all that we accomplished on our week long voyage, I continue to feel so proud. There were so many “firsts”.

  1. Provisioning for the possibility of being on the water for a straight week
  2. Traversing large bodies of water in unfavorable conditions
  3. Overnighting at anchor
  4. Using the VHF radio to hail other boaters and bridge and lock tenders
  5. Locking
  6. Following nautical charts
  7. Docking for the night at a marina other than our own-and in high winds!
  8. Getting the pups through the stress of having to potty on a boat

As many of you know, we have not been sailors for very long. It was only two years ago that we decided to pursue this dream. We were each approaching the big 5-0 and came to realize that life was moving fast. If we didn’t take the leap then, we never would. And so, here we are. Already on our second sailboat, having a blast, and learning more every single day. I can’t wait to see where our next big adventure will take us.

Fair winds,

Wendy