April 27-28, 2021 Mill Creek Anchorages I and II

 Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Day 142.

It was a relaxing morning. We had poached eggs a la Roland (delicious). We were still in the southern Chesapeake Bay (Virginia). It was a pretty day: sunny, and the water was a beautiful blue, but it was really windy. 

We were on auto pilot most of the day with Gail and/or Mike standing by on watch. Captain Roland got to relax and read. At the end of the cruising day, the Captain steered into the Mill Creek anchorage; it was a little tricky.

We had arrived at Mill Creek at approximately 3:30pm. There was no wind, it was warm and beautiful. Roland and Mike took down the dinghy, and Gail and Mike sent Captain Roland and me off on a dinghy ride. It was fun but the engine, although it kicked over on the first pull (very nice!), started sputtering at high speed. This was a brand new motor! We lowered the speed but didn’t go too far from the boat, as Roland did not want to row back. Never a dull moment... on Magic Moments! There is always something to deal with, something that needs to be fixed or replaced.

The creek was fairly empty, there were a few homes that were visible from the water. Later two boats joined the anchorage. It was peaceful and scenic. After grilled turkey burgers for dinner, I had a zoom, did yoga and worked on the blog. We did have some time for the four of us to go out and look at the moon and the stars. It was a very large, full moon, with light clouds dancing on its face; it was really spectacular.......unfortunately, photos could not do it justice.

Since leaving Norfolk, we have been in the Chesapeake, rarely seeing land while cruising; just water until we anchor. The Chesapeake is one big bay!

Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Day 143.

The sun was already up when I awakened. The anchor chain had been clanging all night like small fireworks or banging chains noises. Captain Roland believes, after 4 1/2 months, he had a fix- for this problem (yay!). He planned to put a towel in a strategic place.......better late than never.

It was cool and comfortable on this third day of primarily only water views while cruising. At approximately 11am we cruised from Virginia into Maryland (no signs in the Bay: “Welcome to Maryland”). … So close to home… Yet so far… Only days now. I worked out and stretched before coffee and breakfast (yogurt), and my first shower ever underway. So much free time from boat duty (crew and Captain Roland do it all) so, my job is the blog, WIL, MAG, emails and bills. 

We were in open water, there were very few boats (we were here before the “season”). It was sunny and there was no wind. However, although the weather was perfect for the flybridge, after the morning we had to go into the pilot house, the biting flies were intolerable. Really?.......hopefully the only one of the ten plagues we will experience!

At approximately 3:30pm, we passed under the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge, in the Patuxent River, and passed Point Patience, and the Solomons. It was still sunny and comfortable, but the little bugs were all over outside. Thankfully, they were bigger than our screen mesh, so we could keep the doors open and enjoy the fresh air. Gail was steering most of the day; since we passed Mobjack Bay, she and Mike were on known territory.

Note: A new term I learned that day was “free board“ which is the part of the boat above the waterline. Easy to use in a sentence..... “Waxing and buffing the free board is a really big job on Magic Moments!”

At 4pm, we anchored in Mill Creek (Maryland versus Mill Creek, Virginia, last night), joining another trawler and a sailboat, but there was plenty of room. It was a little crazy at first because there were fast boats and jet skis zipping all around, and then some thrill seekers out for the evening, screaming as they went, as if they were on a roller coaster, whipping figure eights on the water. At dusk, peace settled in the cove, and it was beautiful, warm and calm.

To celebrate our last dinner with our crew on board, we had an amazing rack of lamb dinner, grilled with eggplant and asparagus, followed by salad, with a very nice red wine. Yum!

We planned to arrive tomorrow at Hartge, where we started this journey on December 6, 2020, Day One.

April 8-9, 2021 Off shore St Augustine to Beaufort SC

 Thursday, April 8, 2021. Day 123.

At 1:30pm, we entered the ocean from the St. Augustine inlet, and cruised about 9 miles offshore on our way to Beaufort, South Carolina.

The day time offshore was OK, not necessarily fun, but OK. I was able to edit my blog for about an hour without any motion sickness. Off shore segments are long and to me, rather boring, but they have a purpose. Ocean passages eliminate several long days of intense steering in narrow ICW channels which is very wearing on the captain ( I’m not crazy about them either ). So, the ocean it was.

I was patched and “wristed”, and, actually was able to sleep well between my watches. On this trip, unfortunately, Captain Roland did not sleep very much or very well. He had to make a couple of course adjustments during my watch (I hated to awaken him, but no real choice), to avoid freighters, especially near Savannah (which had been the case going south so no surprise ). When I was on watch through the day and night, I listen to books and played solitaire on the phone and checked the radar and our speed and a few other dials. I was sorry to miss both the sunset and sunrise, both on Roland's watch, but happy to get some sleep.

Captains note: this is one of my favorite sunset photos. it has not been altered or enhanced at all, this was the actual colors, was amazing..

The crossing was calm (for the ocean); the wind maybe 10 to 15 knots

Friday, April 9, 2021. Day 124.

When I awakened, we were in Port Royal Sound on the way to Port Royal Island which is surrounded by the Broad River and the Coosa River. Beaufort is on the Beaufort River which winds through the penninsula. At 10:18am, we were back on the ICW. It was interesting in the morning to pass Hilton Head, and Parris Island. I’ve never been to Hilton Head nor Parris Island, (unlikely I will ever go to Parris Island).

It was not easy getting a slip in Beaufort but we did manage to get one at Safety Harbor in Port Royal. We had preferred the Beaufort marina but they were booked solid until September 2021!

Kadey Krogen owners have a group of current and former boaters who volunteer to be harbor hosts. They offer to help with information and, in some cases, even transportation in their areas. They invite Kadey Krogen owners and other boaters to reach out to them when the boaters are visiting their location. I reached out to the Harbor Hosts in Beaufort, South Carolina and in Charleston, South Carolina. This was the first time I tried reaching out to a Harbor Host and I didn’t know what to expect for sure. Vicki and Mac, from Beaufort responded and we discussed getting together. Mac has been fully vaccinated and Vicki was getting her second vaccination in a couple of days. We all agreed to wear masks and to keep the windows open in the car. They had a giant four person pick up truck.

We docked at Port Royal Marina at 11:45am and I was thrilled that the overnight was behind us. I showered and dressed and went for a walk and hoped to have lunch at the marina restaurant “Mark 244”. We heard they were serving soft shells, and we love soft shell crabs. The area in which the marina and the restaurant are located it is very cute; small neat homes, beautiful foliage, very cool but casual and accessible and very natural. When we approached Marker 244, we were told it was an hour wait and by the way they were out of soft shells. We made a reservation for 6pm (they said they were getting another three crates of soft shells for dinner) and we went back to the boat and had leftovers for lunch.

The restaurant was obviously a lunch place, there was an hour wait an it was packed at lunch. At dinner, not so much. We were one of the few occupied tables and learned that they serve soft shells, one way only: fried and on a bun – we had waited all this time for a sandwich! It was however the biggest soft shell Roland had ever seen. We had our traditional rose wine (the prices, interestingly enough, are high for a glass but quite reasonable for the whole bottle), so of course, we drank the whole bottle.

Dinner was a bit early so we walked to the supermarket about a mile away and bought a few things back to the boat. I confirmed arrangements for tomorrow with Vicki and Mac. They offered to pick us up at 9:30am to go to the local farmers market, take us to a supermarket or other stores for any provisioning and then, to tour Beaufort. They had recently sold their Kadey Krogen 39, “Confetti“, and bought a house. Keeping in touch with the Kadey Krogen family was important to them, and they knew our PO's (prior owners), and our boat. All of us were looking forward to Saturday, and our first Harbor Host experience.

Lap of luxury March 25 - 28, 2021

 Thursday, March 25, 2021. Day 109 .

Up early so I could get to the ladies room at the boaters' lounge (there was only one bathroom for the women and it as a bit of a walk). Because there was no water on the boat, I was dependent on the public facilities.

I ran 3 miles around the marina and walked another half mile. After breakfast I went back to do another couple of loads of laundry.

The repairman called this morning and said he would, in fact, be there today (Yay!), but not until the afternoon. This was really great. It delayed our plans to go to the supermarket to get food for Passover, but getting the hot water tank in and operating was the most important thing.

I spent the afternoon by the pool (the facilities at the Williams Island Marina club were absolutely lovely), and brought lunch from the bar at the club to Roland, who was on the boat helping Dave the repairman. I was totally enjoying this time in the lap of luxury, while doing Roland and Dave the favor of staying out of their way.

Talking to the waiter and waitress at the pool bar, I learned that all of Williams Island is a membership club. As a transient boater, I was a “guest”, and could pay with my credit card (they added a small fee - that was the case also with the a Island Grille where we had dinner the night before). It was a beautiful afternoon and I enjoyed the opportunity to be sitting outside by the pool relaxing and doing almost nothing. And, I was thrilled that Roland and Dave completed the work on the hot water heater. Magic Moments was back in operation again.

Friday, March 26, 2021. Day 110.

   

It was warm and lovely. I woke up early and swam laps for 40 minutes to the pool. There was nobody else there; it was just delightful.

Roland had assembled our folding bikes, while I was swimming laps, so that we could go to the supermarket and do some other errands. Aventura has every store one can think of within a reasonable distance. I was familiar with the shopping area because I had passed by Aventura for years when I lived part time in Bay Harbor Islands, which is fairly close by. 

 We cycled to a supermarket, and I was pleased that would be able to put together a reasonable facsimile to a Seder. Bryna was coming to join us Saturday evening for the first night of Passover; our first dining-in guest on the boat since we left on December 6, 2020.

Saturday, March 27, 2021. Day 111.



Williams Island is quite beautiful. It is dense with high-rises, although they appear to be barely 1/4 occupied. It is our understanding that many of the units are owned by central and south Americans, Mexicans and Russians. A place for some folks, apparently, to keep their resources. Many of the boats at the marina are also owned by Hispanics and Russians.

Saturday morning we walked to West Marine, about a mile or two, to pick up our new dinghy motor and some equipment that we needed for this gas outboard. The motor weighed 59 pounds so it would not be possible for us to carry it back to the boat. Fortunately one of the employees at West Marine said he would drive it over and drop it off during his lunch hour. That was terrific, and Captain Roland remunerated him generously. We are really hoping that the outboard makes using the dinghy a joy.

Williams Island is lovely, the pool was terrific, the weather was wonderful, and I was enjoying my “vacation” in Aventura. After a few more trips to a different supermarket on the bikes, Roland and I spent most of the rest of day preparing our Seder dinner, cooking and preparing the Seder plate, and setting the table.

Bryna arrived before 5pm, with our yacht club membership and my replacement credit card that we had arranged for her to bring us from Philadelphia, and we took a brief tour of the island. She had to leave by 8:30pm because South Beach had a curfew until April 12 , due to the mobs and lawless behavior of tourists during spring break.

I think the hit of the Seder dinner was the brisket that Roland made in the Instapot.

Sunday, March 28, 2021. Day 112.

The original plan was to leave today to go back to the upper Keys. I went swimming for about 45 minutes (I love swimming laps in this incredibly great pool that I have all to myself in the morning). Roland wanted to stay another day, so we lucked out and they agreed that we could extend our visit, one more day.

Back to Fort Myers

  Sunday, February 14, 2021. Day 70. Valentine’s Day.

When we got up in the morning it was overcast. Before long, the fog rolled in and we could see nothing. After a reasonably short time, the sun burned off the fog and it was actually clear and beautiful, but still really windy. So it is on the water: we are pretty much dominated by the weather.

We had hoped to try the SUP‘s today but the wind made that impossible.

Roland made me a wonderful Valentine’s Day breakfast: Nutella crêpes; delish! with sliced bananas (our nod to healthy eating). We were rather disappointed that, again, neither dinghy practice nor stand up paddle boards were possible.

Around 11:50am, we pulled up the anchor after four nights at “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Pine Island Sound, making our way back to Legacy Harbour Marina, slip C 6, in Fort Myers.

As was the case with every other time that we passed this way, it was enormously crowded. It was a Sunday, it was a beautiful day, and Monday was Presidents’ Day, so this was a long weekend. We passed every type of boat imaginable from the smallest to the largest fortunately, they all observed the “slow“ area requirement (it is a manatee zone”). 

I steered for a while. It was very windy as we approached the marina: the wind was 27 knots. Although we had been in and out of the marina once before, and were therefore, somewhat familiar with the zig and zag to get to C 6, the wind was really heavy and Captain Roland made his turn into the slip too tight for the first two tries. Fortunately, he was able to back out and the third time, his docking was perfect.

After our initial docking, we had to readjust all the fenders on both sides and retie the lines in a way that would enable me to embark and disembark on my own. It was not my favorite set up. MM was too long for this narrow slip. Sassy, the boat in the adjoining slip (we shared the finger dock), took up 90 % of the width at one point with their access ladder, and I had to hoist myself off the dock onto the boat and sort of jump off to disembark. Not really comfortable, but it is high season and the marinas are packed. After we retied the lines, I was able to get on and off.

We had been at anchor for four nights and five days and because of the strong wind, we hadn’t been able to get off the boat at all or practice getting the dinghy down or try the SUPs. I was looking forward to stepping on land, going to an outdoor restaurant, going for a run, riding our bikes, and walking around town.

When we call the marinas and/or the bridges and/or locks on the radio, the dock masters and lock and bridge tenders always address the caller as “captain”. It is interesting to hear them only use the title; names (except for the boats' names), are not relevant, and there is a certain panache to hearing the respectful reference to the title. Throwback civility that is missing in our casual world today.

My job, when docking and de-docking, is to be at the stern to make sure that there is adequate room for the various turns and maneuvers, especially when and if the captain has to back up. We wear headphones so that we can speak to each other in a calm and clear manner, although the Captain is at the helm, and I am in the stern, many feet away. The headphones are commonly called “marriage savers” (the reason for this nickname should be patently obvious!)

I do believe that I could be more helpful with respect to directions; as an example, I knew that Captain Roland's first two turns were much too tight; if the Captain were open to my input, he would have waited to make this difficult turn, and docked perfectly the first try. I stand prepared to assist when we get comfortable enough to exchange more information over the “marriage savers”. We have docked only 14 times, and just our luck, usually in heavy wind! It is not easy and the Captain is getting better and better.

After we arrived at the dock, we proceeded to address all the tasks, in addition to adjusting the fenders and the lines, that have to be made: the motor is turned off, the electrical and water lines connected, the breakers changed from DC to AC, the engine temperature checked, fuel tanks and water tank and holding tank levels checked, opening and closing of the sea cocks, and the time and hours noted of the engine and generator, if it had been on, etc., etc., and etc.

It was Valentine’s Day so we got ourselves together; I even applied lipstick, put on jewelry and a nice pair of shoes. We walked into town and stopped at the Twisted Vine courtyard hoping to have our Valentine’s Day dinner. Of course, we did not have reservations. But it was only 4 o’clock and they agreed that if we could would leave by 5:30, we could have dinner. The courtyard was totally empty, and we had a lovely dinner. 

The food was good (not great), and a little overpriced. We had a nice rose (we shared three glasses), and we shared seabass and short ribs. The dessert was perfect for Valentine’s Day: key lime pie, which was a little small, and a flourless chocolate torte, which was quite generous, and perfectly delicious.

All in all, a very nice Valentines dinner, and we were out of there at exactly 5:30, as agreed. We had started the day with Nutella crêpes, and ended with a very rich, dark, flourless chocolate tort with a lovely rose wine and a walk. What more could we ask?

Monday, February 15, 2020 Presidents’ Day. Day 71.

The day was very windy, even in the marina. I ran 3 miles to and around Edison Ford Gardens and Estates. It was hot and humid; okay outside, but not comfortable in a closed boat. The AC was necessary; it seemed to be working well enough. Thankfully. It is good to solve a problem so we have capacity for the next challenge! I finished listening to Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama, and continue d listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Our visit to Legacy Harbour Marina in Ft. Myers, was supposed to be just for a couple days but the forecast showed heavy winds for much longer. We talked to the marina about staying longer. Although it was not really what we wanted to do, it was the only prudent plan. I had plenty of paperwork to do, and bills to pay. We walked to the supermarket at least once a day, zoomed with friends and ate some very interesting dinners that Roland prepared. The highlight of the day was a call from Lee County; it is possible that we may be able to get our second shot through the county which would be a great relief.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021. Day 72 to Sunday, February 21, 2021 (02/21/2021).

The weather was not perfect, but certainly more tolerable than Texas, New England, Philadelphia, and New Jersey; we had no snow, it was overcast and windy, but the temperatures were mostly mild. The next few days in the marina were spent doing “housework” and “paperwork” and working on Wil and MAG (Mid Atlantic Angel Fund).

We took a walk each day or rode our bikes (taking the bikes off the boat and assembling them was a challenge). I attended a Wil zoom program on Khmer Villages, which reminded me of our visit to Cambodia in October 2019, which we loved.

One evening we went to dinner at 10 Twenty, in a courtyard around happy hour. Most of the customers went to the rooftop deck and we sat alone (thankfully), in the courtyard and had a great dark beer; I had a bison burger, and Roland had smoked brisket flat bread; very good. On the menu were two “Philly” variety sandwiches (we did not order them, but I was mildly curious).

We went to the supermarket frequently, and Roland was having fun with the air fryer and the Instapot. He made egg bites in the Instapot and fried chicken in the air fryer. Both worth repeating.

I got my first opportunity to buy Girl Scout cookies; always an important pleasure of mine. My personal rule is that whenever I see girl scout cookies for sale, I buy at least one box, and engage the girls is conversation. It has been important to me for decades. I bought one box of thin mints and one box of Tagalongs....my favorite!

Again, in the Florida tradition, we rode our bikes mostly on the sidewalk, which really goes against my grain. But apparently it is the tradition here, especially because very few people walk in Florida. Whenever possible I worked out, ran, stretched, and did yoga. I was eating and drinking way too much to ignore serious exercise.

At the suggestion of my next door neighbor boater, Janice, I went to the next dock to meet Susanne, a real character. Susanne and her husband John, live aboard their boat for five months in the marina. They are from Ocean City, New Jersey, about 5 miles from our house in Ventnor. We had a fun discussion, and exchanged boat cards (that's what boaters do). She and John have sailed the world she told me. Maybe we will get together this summer in NJ, after we all have been vaccinated.

Most of the time, there were thousands of these little teeny bugs all over the boat. Our neighbors said that they’ve been in this marina for five years and they’ve never seen it this bad. It was bad. I blamed these bugs for my itching problem, but nobody else seemed to be bitten by them.

On one of our walks, we stopped and had lobster rolls at Masons; really good, almost Maine quality! On one of our bike rides we stopped at Kings Table which turned out to be a Cuban restaurant, and it had a Philly version of a Cuban sandwich. Old home week! We didn't order it, but it was the second restaurant in Ft Myers to feature a Philly style sandwich.

Another Kadey Krogan 44 (very new) stopped in the marina for a night (this marina is the marina with the closest supermarket), and we met Jelles, the owner. I immediately had door envy when I saw the entrance to the back deck; it was twice the depth of Magic Moments's door; so sensible, so easy to get on and off, so sad that KK didn't think of that back in 2007 when MM was under construction! Getting off and on the boat with doors like that would be 10 times easier than what we have. It was a kick to meet him in person; I had read a lot of his commentary each morning on the KK site where people share ideas. He’s a frequent contributor. It was almost like meeting a famous columnist.

Ft Myers has several murals and sculptures scattered around town, creating interest during our walks, even though, due to Covid, we weren't shopping or going into art galleries.

While in the marina, it became apparent that our refrigerator was not operating properly, (surprise: a problem!), so Roland defrosted both the refrigerator and the freezer. It took a while, it was a pain, but it seemed to have solved the issue. I am thrilled that the refrigerator/freezer, doesn’t have to be replaced. But we will have to defrost the freezer and refrigerator more frequently. We also have to be very attentive to closing the refrigerator door, which is a bit tricky, if we don't pay attention and take our time. It’s so great that we solved a problem without having to call our guru, Scott.

While in the marina, I watched some very large boats come in and out of the slips. The ones with stern thrusters as well as bow thrusters had a much easier time. I developed my fantasy list for MM: I would like a water maker, solar panels, gas stove, stern thrusters, drawer replacements, quiet heaters and A/Cs, and deep doors to enter and exit the decks. This is just a fantasy, MM is great, just the way she is.....But, if anyone wants my 2cents, those are really great things to have. There is an item that next week will jump to the top of the list.......hang in!

We are leaving the marina tomorrow, Monday, February 22. Winds: please be gentle, we HAVE to practice getting the the dinghy on and off the top deck, and find out if the repaired motor works!

Ding Darling Anchorage

 Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Day 66.

We have been at the Legacy Harbor Marina in Fort Myers since last Sunday; 10 days. This is the longest time we have been anywhere. The week turned into a month commitment here, coming and going during the month, as they don't have room for us for the whole month. Due to the vaccine schedule in the panhandle, combined with the forecast for heavy winds, all plans had to be changed.

The way pricing works, once we were here over a week, the most economical plan was to pay for a month, although we couldn't actually stay for 30 days. Part of learning to be a boater, I needed to get a handle on the marina pricing plans. It was a bit like volume pricing, the more you buy, the lower the price per unit. So, new plan: we had to leave today, not return until Sunday, and then go and return again on certain agreed upon dates.

We were anxious to start cruising again. We spent the morning getting ready to ship out (last- minute shopping, empty the holding tank, get the lines ready, check the systems, fill the water tank,warm up the motor, etc.).

The day was a pleasure: comfortably warm (still wearing Devigi summer clothing), and sunny. The birds were singing and it was quiet on the dock; Sassy must have had an extra day at the resort because they didn’t return yesterday; we will miss them.

We had left the stern door open all night to enjoy the cool air but, not with standing having the screen in place, the little black bugs were all over the ceiling and walls of the salon. Hopefully at anchor we will not be living with these little tiny bugs.

We expected to be out at anchor for 5 or 6 days and hoped to have good Wi-Fi with our hotspot because this was bill week and it takes me two days to get everything together, reviewed, and paid for the month. The process is new for me as until we left in December, all the bills came in the mail for my review. Getting all of them on line is a system change for me, and I do not take easily to change (this may seem unbelievable to some in light of my jumping off the cliff onto Magic Moments and motoring into the sunset with almost no preparation, but it is true. I tend to resist change and my bill paying system works for me. A new system creates stress....but there was no choice). When the weather is not so beautiful, I don’t mind sitting at the computer so much. I had lots to follow up this week for WIL, and I had at least two segments of the blog to dictate and edit, so I had many things to keep me busy in addition to the dishes and cleaning. Laundry had to wait until we were back on the dock.

We were hoping to get a second vaccine closer, although it was beginning to look more and more unlikely. But we were going to give it a try. In the meantime, we determined to enjoy cruising around the general area as much as possible.

In addition to several trips back to Publix before we left and of having missed a call from Lee County which I had hoped would give me a second vaccine nearby, (I really freaked out when I realized we had each missed the Lee County call!), we finally got off the dock quite beautifully actually. Captain Roland is getting better and better at de-docking.

A good part of my day while we were cruising was spent listening to the impeachment trial. It was extremely painful listening to the details presented by the house managers; so upsetting.

We anchored in Pine Island Sound within the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, between Captiva and Sanibel Islands, where we had anchored before. The location is perfect protection from south winds and it was windier than we had hoped.

The anchorage is lovely: it is peaceful, beautiful, cool and clear, and comfortable. We had a wonderful dinner of lamb, grilled off the stern (no grilling on the boat is allowed at marinas, another advantage to anchoring), mushroom risotto, and lots of wine. While I did the dishes, we caught up on the news.

Thursday, February 11, 2021. Day 67.

The impeachment trial continued to dominate my life. I again listened on my phone, I didn't know if I’d be able to get TV reception, but I was concerned that seeing the videos of January 6, and all that led up to that day, would be far too upsetting; listening was difficult enough.

We had hoped to move to Pelican Bay (we had heard how lovely it was), but the winds were so heavy that we had to postpone moving and stay in this protected area. So there we stayed, between Captiva and Sanabel islands. The boat was rocking quite a bit with the wind so I delayed spinning until after 4pm. 

Roland put out the fishing line with lore hoping that he would be able to catch some fish. No success. We were really looking for an opportunity to test the dinghy again (we really needed the practice), and to try the stand up paddle boards. Unfortunately the heavy winds caused the delay of those plans as well. Between the impeachment trial, trying to arrange the second shot closer, simultaneously making arrangements for a second trek to the panhandle, and various computer and paperwork obligations, I had plenty to keep me busy.

Friday, February 12, 2021. Day 68. And Saturday, February 13, 2021. Day 69.

I wasn't sleeping. I had insect bites all over my arms and ankles, and the itching was driving me crazy. I was miserable. The wind was rocking the boat and the eerie sounds of the chain rubbing were not helping.

The day was cool, the morning foggy, but the wind had abated a bit. Opportunity to go to Pelican Bay, or try the dinghy or the SUPs? This is the only place nearby that was protected from the south wind so, we stayed. It is interesting on the boat at anchor: there is always a beautiful water view!

There were several other wonderful anchorages if the wind had been from the north, however that was not the situation so there we stayed. It was pretty and it was quiet, so I did my work, read, cleaned, and listened to the shocking and incredibly painful impeachment trial, for yet another day.

In the late afternoon, I got into my brand new shorty wetsuit while Roland set up one of the SUPs for me to try (I guess I look a bit like a guinea pig!). It was a little awkward the first time trying to board the board (smile), off of the swim platform (thank goodness for the staple), but the wind was still too strong and the water way too choppy. I had to paddle into the wind rather frantically to avoid being blown away from the boat. After very few minutes it was clear that the conditions were not appropriate for stand up paddle boarding. I got myself back onto the boat, not so easily, and we decided to wait until it was calmer. Unfortunately, calmer it was not going to be for quite awhile.

So, with the wind blowing steadily, we cooked, we ate, we drank, we cleaned, we listened to the impeachment trial, enjoyed the scenery, paid bills, read, and I found ways to exercise. Unfortunately, I was still sleeping very little as a result of the insect bites which were still causing me to itch all over.

We have had several weather delays throughout this trip however none have ever been as long as this one. As much as I enjoy anchoring out, I was now looking forward to returning to the marina, doing the laundry, going for a run, cycling, obsessing over getting the second vaccine shot, and waiting out the next 10 days of heavy wind.