Mike and I are in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. We try to take a nice long walk every morning. I find that I look forward to the walk. It lets us explore the town, gets us moving early, and gives us a fresh mind before we sit down to work.
On this early Thursday morning, we set out for our normal walk. We decide to walk by the Ocean Hole. We saw these sweet dogs on the side of the road. We stopped and said hello to them.
The dogs took a liking to us and escorted us to the Ocean Hole, then down the road to every spot we went afterwards. No matter where we stopped, they waited and set out with us when we were ready.
We were walking down this rural road and it looked like one of them saw something in the tall grass. The dog walked slowly, quietly, then it pounced. A baby chick. The mom of the chick started crying and causing a fuss. The dog was determined to catch the chick. He accomplished his goal and the baby chick was in his mouth. He proudly showed us his accomplishment.
The mom of the baby chick wouldn’t stop crying. Mourning the death of her baby. This piercing cry went on for as long as we were in earshot. It made me think…
Don’t we as moms have a piece of us that weeps when one of ours is in pain? Is struggling? I couldn’t get this thought out of my mind. Motherhood, whether it be a chicken or a human, motherhood is the same. Mothers love and protect their own. And grieve when something happens to our babies. I’ll never forget the sound of the chicken crying. I totally understood. I have felt the exact same way.
After a super fun two week drive across the country, we made it to Mathews, VA where we stored While One over hurricane season. It was so great to see her well taken care of! Now the work begins. We had to get her ready for the roughly 800 nautical mile trip south to Ft Lauderdale.
✅ We cleaned her inside and out.
✅ We had to unpack and put away everything we brought from San Jose.
✅ We bought provisions.
✅ Stored our car in a storage unit until we make it back to Virginia next summer.
Then we waited for a few days. We finally had a small weather window to go down the bay to York River. We took that and now were tucked in nicely in a beautiful marina, York River Yacht Haven. We were very comfortable there, but were anxious to start sailing south. We hired a captain to help us with the first leg of the trip because we read horror stories of many ships (over 600) wreck passing Cape Hatteras. Hiring an experienced captain made sense to us since this was our very first time sailing south passed Hatteras. Every morning we would wake up and look at the weather forecasts from many sources. Big Hurricane was coming up the coast. Hurricane Nicole. So we waited. She finally passed, but Captain Joe said it still wasn’t the right winds and seas to pass Hatteras. So we waited… And waited… Seven days later, Captain Joe said we had a weather window! Yah! We were both so excited to finally set sail.
Two people from Capt. Joe’s team arrived Wednesday afternoon, Captain Scott and first mate Tom.
Captain Scott
At 5am Thursday we left York River Yacht Haven. We had clear skies and following seas, and cold winds, brrrr! Most of the sail was smooth. We motor-sailed most of the day and took the sails down at sunset.
Mike checking the sails
My shift was 8am-12pm and 8pm-midnight. That doesn’t sound hard, right? The morning shift was pretty easy. It was a smooth sail most of the day. The P.M. shift was hard for me. I couldn’t see distances well, so when I saw a light, I wasn’t sure really how far it was. I was constantly looking at the chart plotter, then up in all directions. There were lots of fishing boats that were going out at night and some weren’t on AIS. So, I vigilantly kept an eye out.
We passed Cape Hatteras at 1am! Phew! You would think from then on it was easy peasy, right? Nope! Right after Hatteras we entered the Gulf Stream on the nose. While One was flying through the Gulf Stream, but it felt like we were going through a washing machine. I was terrified! Captain Scott, looked around and basically said all is well and he’s going back to sleep. Ok, I thought, if he’s not worried, I’m not worried. Having a professional give the , ‘we’re fine’ nod, is all I needed.
Capt Scott and first mate Tom
We arrived in Beaufort, NC at 1pm Friday.
Mike recording the entrance to Beaufort, NC inlet
One of my favorite things about talking to sailors is hearing their “I almost died” stories. They all have them and it’s so fun to hear them retell their tales and hear how they heroically lived through them. Capt. Scott was no different. He had a great story delivering a sailboat through Norfolk. His story was definitely one of the best ones I’ve heard in a long time. Bridge Hits Boat. I loved it.
First overnight passage, in the books. It took us 32hours to sail from Yorkville, VA to Beaufort, NC. Easy Peasy! Thanks Capt Scott!
Since the November/December anchor out, I’ve been looking forward to this trip. The deal with my broker has come to an end, the Miami boat show behind him, I needed to remove While One from the broker’s home.
Allen picks me up at 7 and then my friend, Ken, at his home. By morning of March 2, we should be landing in MIA. Shawn will meet us at the boat around 10am.
I reserved a car to pick Ken and I up at MIA, drive us to a grocery store and then on to While One.
