Thursday, June 30, 2011

Back in the water and on track!

Back in the water!



It was doubtful, though.  Just before our turn to be hauled back into the water, we got word that the travel lift had a broken hydrolic line.  ggrrrr.... But, they got it fixed, and we were back in the water by 4:30 ish.  whew! 

Because it was late, we were the last boat hauled, and we promised to be gone by  7 a.m. tomorrow, we were allowed to stay at the dock for the  night.  But we can't wait to leave tomorrow!  Wind is supposed to be from the north, directly against us, so it will be a short day.  Maybe 15 miles to Tangier Island.  Not sure yet.  But we're ready to go.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

We left the dock!

We didn't get too far, though, only a few hundred yards away.  Latitudes was in need of a few "out of the water" maintenance jobs, so we threw our lines and motored over to the nearest marina that could pull us out of the water.  And they did!


All in all, things looked pretty good on the hull.  Luke spent time scraping off barnacles and touching up some of the bottom paint.  I went after the "ICW mustache", the brown stripe along the water line.  This is from the tanic water of the Dismal Swamp.  A little "Iron Off" and elbow grease, and you get an amazing difference.



If nothing unusual happens tomorrow, we'll be back on that travel lift and back in the water!  Friday we'll set sail for the northern Chesapeake.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

On the boat again!

It seems that our 6 weeks or so at home barely existed... First, my little stint at the hospital, then a never-ending bacterial infection, probably picked up at the hospital. After that, Luke developed a viral infection, which took forever to clear. Then my dad had vascular surgery on his leg, which necessitated my staying with him in NC for a week or so. He’s doing well, so we’re back to sailing, but staying in the States this summer.

We did have some good visits with friends and my daughters. It was great to see everyone again and spend some time with them. Too little time, I’m afraid.

We found time to do a few little adventures, like watching the Blue Angels Airshow.  They do some amazing maneuvers!



Visited the Peaks of Otter.



Had 5 dead trees removed from our yard....THAT was interesting, especially for those of you who are familiar with our yard!


Smoke LOVED being at the house. Lots of birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc, visited our back yard, much to her pleasure. She spent a lot of time on the screened porch, being a cat.  She also discovered TV – Cats 101 in particular.



Back to Latitudes, she remembered it.



Fish and shore birds are a pretty good substitute for the woodland birds at home.



Our plan – as those things go – are to have Lats pulled and put on the hard tomorrow (Wednesday) and do a few things to the hull. Hopefully we can be back in the water on Friday, or we’ll be stuck out of the water until after the 4th. We much prefer to be in the water. It lets us use our toilet, sinks, and air conditioning and sail!  We’ll provision her with loads of food and cat necessities this afternoon, preparing to head up the Chesapeake. The thought is still to spend time in Maine, heading back south by Sept. 1.  I'll begin blogging on a regular basis as soon as we set sail!