Rolianne Afloat and Abroad

We are almost to the second big step of our trip. Norfolk. We left Solomons on October 22nd, heading to a little fisherman village called Reedville. I’m not sure what we were expecting, but we arrived in a place where only fishing fleets are active, and where menhaden processing plants are cooking. It smells. 😬 Everything else was closed for the season. But we spent a peaceful night there.  We left early in the morning, heading to Deltaville. It was rocky. Not bad, just the wrong kind of waves. Julianne got sick. In our bedroom! We had to empty it in a minute, and we got lucky enough to dock in a marina where people were super nice and let us use their laundry room and showers. It was the BEST shower ever!!! We then anchored close to Deltaville for the night.  In the morning, we left to enjoy the northwestern winds to get to Hampton. It was heavy. We spent the day in the cockpit, surviving. At least that’s what it felt like for me. Waves coming from everywhere, ju...

We have started our descent South from Annapolis on October 16th, and it was fun for all of us, even with the cold weather outside! We've been squatting showers since then. ;) Our first stop has been the old town of St-Michaels. We spent only one day there, but it was very pretty! We played pirates and went to the maritime museum, thanks to our new friend John, whom Sam met at the boat show. We also had lunch in a restaurant, which was a first since we departed! A burger in an irish pub, and the kids loved the duck hunt arcade game!! We then sailed to Hudson creek in the little Choptank river for a night before heading to Scientist Cliffs, looking for shark teeth. No luck, but we did see a lot of really old shells locked in clay! Julianne collected a bunch of pretty shells before we made our way to Solomon. We spent two days here, but mostly because the winds have been pretty intense. It should get smoother tomorrow, so bye bye Solomon!

Fall has finally arrived here in Annapolis. Three days ago, we were still jumping in the water to make the heat more tolerable. Today, we bought an extra blanket and kept the oil lamp lit overnight to keep us warm. I had to go through our “Antarctica bag” for warmer clothes. Now is the time to go South. While waiting for Tuesday, we have been decorating the boat for Halloween. Hours of fun for the kids! Then, we did a little bit of cold weather cooking: spaghetti sauce and Halloween cookies. We’re ready for tomorrow!

Yesterday was worrysome. While spending some time at the mall, Julianne fell pretty hard on her forehead (yes, she was running.). That’s what appeared in less than a second. I was so scared of a concussion that the medics came to have a good look at her. We decided that she was acting normal and that a trip to the hospital was not required. Still. Worrysome. Then Michael made a quick appearance overnight, bringing impressive winds while anchored in the creek. I didn’t sleep so well.  Today is better! Julianne looks better, the winds are down and our anchor kept its ground. The sun is out, let’s go out and play!

As you know, our solar panels do not provide enough energy for our boat (our fridge is consuming so much, we've isolated it yesterday!!), so we bought a wind turbine to increase our production. Sam installed it with a recycled mast and chandeliers, which saved us a bunch of money while looking pretty damn good! Of course, the wind vanished once it was installed!! Murphy’s law. Then, Sam realized that one of our panels had a dysfunctional diode. He ordered some new ones, but until we receive everything that is needed to fix it, we shut down the fridge and bought some ice to let our batteries recharge with the little we have. I gotta say that I miss our freezer!! The good need is: Sam has been helping at the Annapolis boat show!! Yeah! While Sam was away, the kids and I did our own work on the boat. Our new friends, Norm and Chris, who once lived on a boat with three kids for a year, brought us a huge bunch of cooked crabs to pick. We cracked crabs for over an ho...