Adventure of a Lifetime

Five months in Annapolis was awesome, but Ann and I cannot stand cold weather, and so these snowbirds packed up our boat and headed South today, to warmer weather and outdoor Winter pickleball in shorts. I'd be lying if I said that I slept well last night. Embarking on a 2-3 week boat adventure is about as exciting as anything I can imagine. I was up at 4:30 a.m. and was down at the boat before first light checking the engine room against my mental pre-departure checklist.  We decided to split the distance to Norfolk and anchor at Cockrell Creek in Virginia, just South of the Potomac River. Here is the route we took. We brought our final set of provisions on board and headed to the end of our dock to board Empty Nest. The setting was gorgeous and the feeling surreal. We're about to live on board for at least 6 months. I set up the helm station, which you can see with our hill and our tram in the background. With all systems ready to go, it was time to head out. In a wonderful t...

On October 26, 2023, Ann and I left our dock in Annapolis with our new boat Empty Nest to escape the cold Winter. We stayed 3.5 months in Key West, visited the Bahamas, Dry Tortugas, and many towns along the East Coast.  Now, 2,500 nautical miles and 6 months later, we will return to our dock tomorrow. Our first year as snowbirds is almost over, and we already cannot wait for the next one.  Last night the weather was damp with sporadic rain in Norfolk. I found an indoor pickleball facility at Old Dominion University. Since we were not familiar with the area, Ann and I arrived early by Uber to a 3 hour open play session, and the location did not disappoint. In fact, I'd rate the competition as 3.8 to 4.5 level players. Ann and I lost as many games as we won, perhaps even more, which is ideal. Playing better players is the most fun. It was a blast, and the players were super friendly. I think it's the best pickleball we had on the entire trip, not counting our visits home to Ann...

Bridges, locks, fuel barges, no wake zones, waiting. That sums up our trip to Norfolk today. For those of you that want more detail, you'll find it below. Up early, we pulled up a very muddy anchor. As we headed up the ICW, Ann spent considerable time washing down the deck and the anchor. We passed the famous Coinjock marina, where we had spent the night on our trip down 6 months ago. Seems like years ago. After Coinjock, we enjoyed some open water before the real work began. Timing the bridge openings is tricky. I used to travel the ICW by boat and just wing it. I got there when I got there, and I waited until the next opening. Amateur hour. Now with all the apps and fancy instruments on Empty Nest, we knew exactly how much time we had. The first low bridge that we faced was the  North Landing Bridge. A swing bridge that opens on the hour and half hour. Our electronics indicated that we would arrive at 3 minutes past the half hour, about 40 minutes later. We decided to accelerate ...

Oriental harbor was peaceful this morning. Just a lone sailboat behind us before dawn. A light breeze and slight Westerly waves had the makings of a calm morning for smooth sailing. Our anchor was up at 6:45 a.m., and we were under way. We caught the sunrise on our bow, and everything seemed right with the world. Today's trip was just over 100 nautical miles, which took us about 10 hours. We were inside the Outer Banks on the Pamlico Sound all morning and into early afternoon. Depths were pretty good, but we had to keep an eye on things, and there were many crab pots that we had to avoid, so we could not let our guard down. When we arrived at Manteo, we opted to continue on for two more hours and cross the Albermarle Sound today to shorten our journey to Norfolk tomorrow. The river by Manteo has two bridges. The one pictured below is 66 feet, and the next one is 44 feet high in the center. Any reasonably sized sailboat will have a mast higher than that, so not surprisingly, we did ...