Cheesypig Bay, 8-18 June

I will do a brief write up on this stretch as time is tight and we have been making brisk(as far as weather permits) progress to move on to our respective destination...
26 June, I have added some photos

Baldhead Island -> Kiptopeke - 8-10 June - 312NM

We left Baldhead Island, after ensuring that Colin wasn't going to make our lives miserable... We left the Marina on a slack tide - as opposed to when the tides were rushing in the Cape fear river making for an interesting entry..  We had to go out approx 12 miles, just to round Cape Fear, the second most confused bit of sea I have been in.  The winds were about 5-10 kts from behind and once we rounded the cape, they picked up to close on 30, fortunately that didn't last too long and we were soon able to proceed with the rest of the trip being uneventful, till we rounded rounded Cape Hataras, going into the Bay.  This without a doubt is the most confused bit of sea I have been in, even with 5kts of wind the waves about 1m in hight are just leisurely bouncing into themselves, in no particular pattern - one can only imagine what it must be like when they get motivated....  Fortunately we didnt't experience them in an excited state, we were well past that point. actually the following day, when when a cold front that was forecast to only be with us at 2000, missed the memo and surprised us... FOrtunately it was a weak front, blowing straight down the bay, which made the ride rather uncomfortable, with waves about 1-2m just crashing into the boat...  This made for rather slow progress...  We finally made it to Norfolk, more specifically the entry to the Bay at about 1900 and anchored on the NE point.  The sunset was again quite spectacular...

Sunset on the 8 June 2016

Sunset on 9 June 2016

Kiptopeke- > Sandy PT, 11 June, 42 NM

We set off early with a forecast of an easterly which was nice for us, as we were heading NNW..  That lasted for about 2hrs, and then it dies, which meant we were motoring up river with 0.5-1.5kts of current against us....  We eventually made it up to Sandy Point, where we anchored for the night, prepared for a 30-40kts of winds and a thunderstorm..  Fortunately for us we had neither, the active weather seems to have missed us..

Sunset

Sunrise

Sandy Pt -> Soloman Island 12 June, 48NM

We left anchorage and were aiming to make some good time as some more active weather was predicted for the next two days.... No sooner we were into the main bay, the wind picked up to a healthy 15-20kts, from our Port aft quarter, which was really nice... We were making quite good progress 6-7kts and the trawlers were just about to overtake us, when we altered out course to N.  This meant we were on a beam reach, which meant we were doing 8-9 over ground, which was really nice and before long, the trawlers were just a spec in the horizon...  As we were approaching Soloman Island, on the Patuxent River, we dropped our sails  and the wind picked up, to 20-26, down the river, exactly on the nose... DOH!!! We got into dock and secured the boats for the night... We were fortunate in that we missed the bad winds, we stayed another day as the winds were still blowing 15-20, from the North, exactly the direction we were going in , so we stayed another day...

Aksun shot (I did actually do some sailing ;-)

At dock in Soloman Island

Rum flavoured rum at the Tikki bar (two o these bad boyz and one is ready for bed :*))

Had Crabe cake burker and this was the view

Soloman Island -> Annapolis, 14 June, 52NM

We left Soloman Island with a forecast of 5-10kts of wind from the NE.  We were heading North, so we weren't to bothered by that... As per the forecast weather in that part - the wind was between 15-20 and was whipping up short S%$^ty chop, we had no choice bu hug the shore and make slooooo progress on to Annapolis..  We got to Annapolis at 1800, and snugged the boats, did a quick shop and called it a night... The following day Nordic Belle was having some electronics issues sorted, I was cleaning the boat. That afternoon met up with Brian (friends of Stephanie and Brian) and he kindly took us into town and then showed me some of the watering holes in Annapolis...  The town looked quite nice, definitely worth a visit to explore a bit more...

At dock in Annapolis

Annapolis -> Worton Creek, 16 June, 27NM

We left at noon and decided to make it a short day as there was a nasty bit of weather on it's way..  The wind started at about 5 and was slowly creeping up and there were about 3 notice to mariners warning of sever thunderstorms.  We managed to tuck into Worton(expecting to find a who and some doctor Zeus character in the hood) creek and we were watching the storm all around..  Fortunately for us it missed us, all we got was round 2100 a bit of a lightning show as we were well shielded from the NE, which is where the storm was coming from.

Anchorage at Worton Creek, there was quite a major stor passing to the east of us..

Worton Creek -> Georgetown, 17 June, 20NM

I got up early as usual and decided to check my bilges (they had been dry for over a month), there was water in the bilges... Which wasn't good, I re-tightened all the keel bolts and kept an eye on the situation.  I got to Georgetown, tied up and things looked good.. I then made reservations in NY Liberty Landing Marina for Tuesday and Wed this coming week.  I re-checked, there was more water than I was expecting, I dried the bilges and monitored the situation.. I am taking on about 0.5l of water an hour and it's from the keel/hull joint, which I was warned could last 5years or not...

I have decided to continue, as I have about 400 NM to go and then I put her on the hard.

I have also decided to put her up for sale, as I am going back to Toronto and back to grown-up land...  After an awesome year and a half of meeting wonderful people and visiting wonderful places and experiencing things that will stay with me till my dying days.. I have to say has been humbling and made me appreciate how fortunate I have been.

So the next few days the itinerary will be through the CnD Canal, anchor, down the Delaware and up the Atlantic to NY. Stay there for two nights, and on to Rhode Island, through the Big Apple, long Island Sound and to Rhode Island, which should take me till Friday..  I will update the blog with Photos and the routes I have sailed the..

 Our view as we were having dinner (Torstein, Mishelle and I)

Daffy and Co..