Finally, ready to go south…

…whenever the weather cooperates.  If you are interested in tracking us on our upcoming passage to the Caribbean, here is the link to Rockhopper’s Spot page.  We’ll also send a daily preprogrammed location email to folks using the spot (generously donated by Chuck Spencer!), and if you want to receive those emails, let us know and we’ll put you on the list.  Another way to check us out is by using a marine traffic tracking program to see our AIS signal, like marinetraffic.com.

heading into St. Michael's anchorage

We got terribly busy at the end of the year, so I’ll do a quick summary of what happened.  We visited St Michaels, MD and met up with Nicola and Marc of Averi and had a lovely time visiting the fantastic Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and having margaritas at eclectic Gina’s Cafe.  We spent a couple of nights in Solomons, MD on our way down the Chesapeake.  We sailed overnight back to NC via the busy Virginia cut and stayed overnight at a couple of lovely anchorages on the ICW.  Our broker, John, had a slip in Beaufort for us to leave the boat for a while, and Rockhopper has been here since early November. 

We spent a week in Beaufort installing and fixing a few more items (a new battery charger/remote control, pretty new LED lights).  We planned a big trip to Austria in November and December and we ordered some parts to install once we got back (companionway doors, upgraded solar panels).  Now that we are back, we planned to spend a week getting those items installed, but the weather offshore has been a bear, so we have some extra time to get things together.  Just like our time in Florida, the more time we have, the more stuff we buy.  We really need the weather to get agreeable, so we can get out of here and save some money.  Oh, we had our first overnight guest, Andreas.  He gave us a ride to Beaufort from Charlotte…thanks Andreas!

Lago Maggiore, Ascona waterfront

By the way, Austria was wonderful.  We got to spend lots of time with Eva and the whole family, celebrating some birthdays and Christmas.  We made our first trip to Berlin to see Andreas and Karen while they were visiting, and Andreas gave us the 2-day Berlin tour!  Of course, we made another trip with Beth to visit one of our favorite places:  Ronco sopra Ascona on Lago Maggiore in southern Switzerland.

So, we are sitting here in Beaufort and listening to the wind howl.  We think we'll go ahead and leave the dock tomorrow (Monday, Jan 18) and visit Oriental, and maybe New Bern.  By the looks of the current forecast, we think we’ll be able to set off on our 14-day passage (~10-15 days) on Wednesday 20Jan; however, we won’t really know until the forecast gets closer.  We hope to leave this week, but maybe it will be later, and maybe we'll decide to do something else entirely.  We’ll turn on the spot tracker when head out the inlet and into the Atlantic, and you can see what we are up to.    

Rockhopper Anchorages:

38°46.343N 076°13.827W; St. Michaels, MD, San Domingo Creek; 26-30Oct15

38°19.877N 076°27.531W; Solomons; 31Oct15 – 01Nov15

36°12.257N 075°57.781W; Little Broad Creek off the North River; 03Nov15

36°12.257N 075°57.781W; Little Pungo Creek off the Pungo River; 04Nov15

34°46.063N 076°40.288W; MBYC private slip, Beaufort, NC; 05Nov15-17Jan16