Goodbye "Sandy"!!!!

A few updates of our stay in Slade Creek:

This the first time in five days that we have had wifi enough to even try to post an update. No pictures but that can be later.  LATER...........

Time for a couple of shots...

not too bad for the wind we had

We are anchored in Slade Creek and have been here to hide from the hurricane.  An hour ago the sun came out ......finally we are making power!

Winds have been as high as we want to see for awhile.  One of the five boats here saw 47kts one night at 3am.  We saw a lot of 30-35kts but the noise was constant.....almost 20+ knots that just kept blowing.













The oven has been put to use making great dishes and helped keep Nati warm.  Mr Heater has earned his keep also.

Anne's "Apple-Blueberry Buckle"

While holding on we have now named our 55lb steel Spade anchor.......What else?!

ACE!

Our track for Hurricane Sandy

Overall we were in the anchorage for 6 days and then it was time to make tracks again.  It is cold again up here and that is not part of the deal!  

When we pulled out of the creek, we raised sails and had a great run down to River Dunes.  Reaching across the Pamlico Sound we again hit 8 kts in 14 kts of wind.  From there we motor-sailed down Goose Creek and the associated canal into the Neuse River.  Once in the clear we had a good run to Maw Point, hardened up and caught 3 monohulls that were motoring upwind.  We didn't lose much ground to leeward of them and only had to tack once to get into Broad Creek where River Dunes is located.  Oh, we were trying to roll them but the angle was just too tight and the distance not long enough.  Still, both of us were very happy on how tight we were able to point her......maybe we are beginning to understand how to sail a cat again!!

Moving again

Yesterday after a quiet night at the ferry dock we pulled out of town and made it through the Gilmerton Bridge and into the Dismal swamp.  We just did squeeze onto the Welcome Center dock and again we had a nice night after chatting with "Morning Star", a Kadey Krogen 36.  They rafted off us for the night and like last year we had plenty of boats for the evening.  Eight boats and 5 of them were Canadian!

I guess we aren't the only ones.....

Today, after a chance to rinse Nati down with fresh water we keep the bows pointed south.......

We are not stopping until we find "blue" water!

10 miles to nowhere......

Up early today to make the Gilmerton Bridge but it wasn't going to happen..........first the railroad bridge was broken and then the Gilmerton Bridge so we decided to bag it for the day as there were 24 boats trying to go through.  Back to Portsmouth for fuel, water and ice and then to the ferry docks for the night.  We've never done that before so hopefully we won't get kicked out overnight.

Our view of Norfolk across the river

Nati at the ferry dock

Portsmouth has a lot of nice architecture to walk around and see.  After checking out the Commodore Theater we took a few snap shoots of the big steeples.  Beautiful workmanship!

Tomorrow we try for the Dismal Swamp again........

And it's south we go......

Tuesday was the day we headed out of Spa Creek for ports and anchorages south of Annapolis.  The weather was getting cold so we had to say our goodbyes and point the bows to the bottom of the Chesapeake.  We are getting ready to head into the ICW tomorrow but over the last few days we have seen some interesting things, anchored in some Creeks with weird names and seem all sorts of life........human and otherwise!

We have been either in or by points of interest such as:

• Antipoison Creek
• The 12 Mill Creeks that exist on the Chesapeake Bay!
• Wolf Trap Point
• Windmill Point
• Mobjack Bay
• Point No Point

You name it and we have probably seen it..........how about this??!!

Anyone for water skying??

Or you could go  back to reality and see this a couple of nautical miles down the bay......

Not quite as fast but very cool...

Coming out of Little Bay this morning we had to dodge some fish traps and the Waterman were working away early to get their fill of the fish.  This trap was right in the middle of the channel.  Go figure.....

Today after a good sail for the first part of the day we pulled into Norfolk to get ready to head down the ICW and The Dismal Swamp.  But first........yep, they had to get this guy out of the channel for us!!

Size matters.....right across from our anchorage

By total coincidence we left Annapolis this year on the same day that we pulled out of the area with Grey Hound last year.  We have sailed more this time and after a long day we jumped into the shower and felt clean for dinner.........how very nice!!

Last days for 2012 in Annapolis

The last weekend came and went and we had a great time hanging out in Spa Creek with Vinny, Amy and Evan.  We even went to the Power Boat show to see if anything was different.  It wasn't and it was even smaller so now we know......

Evan now likes the digs in the starboard hull ....

Books are a good thing!

Some of the things you see in Spa Creek??!!

And can somebody tell us what this is?

On Sunday we all piled into the car and did a road trip to U of M (Maryland University) to see Katie.  Lunch was a Ledo"s and then it was off to the College Park Air Museum.  Evan was liking all the planes and other stuff and Jim O can now be a little quiet......we went to a museum!

Cleared for takeoff!

The Blonde Baron and Company

Another tough day at the office

But today was time for departure.  We had a forecast for NW wind so we dropped the mooring  at 0645 this morning and caught the 7am bridge to head out of Spa Creek.  The sail........yes, I said sail was fun as we had winds of 10-22kts behind us and we topped out at 8.5kts of boat speed.
 
Tonight is a quiet night in the Solomons and we have already seen two eagles and terns in the anchorage.  Maybe we'll go try out a new anchorage somewhere down the Bay tomorrow.  We want more heat and tonight it's going to be in the 40's!

Out of Spa Creek to points south!

It feels really good to be moving again!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you........

Last night we decided to celebrate Anne's birthday in fine fashion so we splurged and dinked down to the Chart House for dinner.  Amy & Evan met us for drinks and apps and afterwards we returned to Nati only to find "Merry Pranksters" visited while we were away.

This is what our stern looked like when we got up in the morning........

We have a few suspects and my detective skills have figured out by fingerprint analysis on Nati that their initials are "V" and "R".  I'll have to go further to review the options we have for retaliation down the road!!

Now we are talking!

Take a good look!!

Anne's first pie on board!

Annapolis Boat Show Weekend!

As we thought, there were all sorts of folks in and around Naptown for the show and I think we had most of them on board some time or the other!

Darcie & Rob had fun (and Darc didn't get seasick either!) and they left just in time for Marty & Kathy to pull into town for the weekend.  In between we saw all sorts and on Monday we had a little happy hour on board so everyone could climb aboard after the show.  Besides it was very cold so hanging out on Nati seemed to be very sensible.

All aboard!

Team Korz with Anne

Vinny, Amy and Barefoot Davis

Staying warm on Nati!

Overall we had our first party with 13 on board and I suppose it was a little close, Nati seemed to like all the people crawling all over her and all in all I think most thought she was a very capable cat.......

Oh yeah, the chicken that Kathy made was the BEST!!

Nait is a little busy!

Well, we are in Spa Creek to wrap up our stay in the Chesapeake and it has already been a busy week.  Vinny, our friend on s/v Flight Plan pulled into the neighborhood the other day.  Rob & Darcy just left this morning to head over Rehobeth Beach for a regatta this weekend (and to freeze on Sunday!).  Tomorrrow, will be the Marty & Kathy show and with luck Kevin, Tom, Sue, Erika, Reiner & Renate will be around the Boat Show this weekend.  And of course lets not forget about the rock star, Davis!  We may go see him tonight at the Ram's Head.

Spa Creek is busy and pretty well packed with boats from all over.  Folks are starting to migrate south.  We won't be far behind!!