It has been ages since I updated the blog. Honestly, we are so busy having fun, I
can’t figure out when we ever had the time to work. When we last wrote, we were debating about whether to leave
Southwest Harbor in Maine. We
ended up staying another couple of weeks, doing more hiking, biking,
museum-ing, and even getting to visit with friends Jeri and Marty who were up
in Maine for training. We stayed
so long that we had to make one big 24-hour hop down to meet friends in
the Portsmouth/Kittery area. We
got to spend more time with Christy (and Steve, and Sierra) which was lovely,
and Karen came down from New Hampshire for a couple of days. We took Karen on a miserable pounding
motorsail over to Isle of Shoals, but had such a delightful anchorage, that all
was forgotten. We had a nice sail
back to Kittery, which was over too fast, and we were ferrying Karen back to
her car and saying tearful goodbyes.
We always have to make a little time for Gloucester, so we
stopped by for a couple of days before heading on down to Annapolis, MD. We arrived in Woodsback Marina on September 27
after a 72-hour sail from Massachusetts.
We were excited to have friends visit from DC (Clair, Neal, and Cara)
and to catch up with our cruising friends before the boat show took over. The boat show still manages to kick our
butts for 3 weeks, but we get a little more time off than we used to, so we
don’t live in a state of complete exhaustion. We certainly had time to spend lots of money, so we left
Annapolis after having done our part for the US economy.
We managed to get in a quick roadtrip to NC to see friends
and family, but of course, we didn’t see everyone we hoped to. Sooner or later, there will be enough
time to see everyone! We rushed
back up to Annapolis to finish off a serious bit of maintenance, say goodbye to
John and Woodsback, and set sail for Hampton, VA.
Now we are in Hampton, VA with a group called the Salty
Dawgs. We are going to the
Caribbean together, headed for the British Virgin Islands. Our original speculative departure date
was set for Wednesday, Nov 2. Due
to the weather, lots of boats left a day early, and about 25 boats decided to
wait a few more days. As of this
writing, it looks like we’ll be leaving in a few hours, at 3am on Saturday, Nov
5. It should take us 10-14 days to
get to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. The next time we write, Rockhopper will be in the Caribbean, and as usual, you are all invited (seriously)!
For this trip, the Salty Dawgs have a tracking page.
Either enter
“Rockhopper" under Name to track us, or
enter “SDR” under Group to see the whole Salty Dawg Rally. Update the dates (using a start date of
Nov 1 should be fine), and hit View Map.
Rockhopper Anchorages:
44°16.770N 068°18.549W; Southwest Harbor, ME; 18Aug-15Sep16
43°04.758N 070°42.356W; Pepperell Cove mooring; Kittery, ME;
16Sep16
42°58.730N 070°36.706W; Isle of Shoals mooring (NH/ME
border); 17Sep16
43°04.764N 070°42.363W; Pepperell Cove mooring; Kittery, ME;
18-20Sep16
42°36.652N 070°39.362W; Gloucester (mooring), MA; 21-22Sep16
42°36.748N 070°39.048W; Brown’s Fuel Dock, Gloucester, MA; 23Sep16
37°57.989N 076°29.014W; Woodsback; Eastport, MD; 27Sep15-28Oct16
37°00.982N 076°20.477W; Bluewater Marina; Hampton, VA; 29Oct-05Nov16
