Hello dear friends and family,
It’s been over a month since I’ve updated, and much as happened. After leaving Georgia to sail north to Virginia, we encountered more technical boat problems then we have ever had. While sailing in a thunderstorm (not our choice), all our instruments took a nap, and we ended up navigating the Intracoastal Waterway from Beaufort South Carolina all the way to Deltaville, Virginia, where our beautiful BlueBelle currently sits, high and dry, some of the time without depth, wind, autopilot, and radar.
Our plan was to haul-out BlueBelle this year for some much overdue maintenance and love, but overdue may be an understatement. While navigating the (in)famous Rock Pile in Myrtle Beach, we sustained some damage to our keel, and while upping the anchor in South Carolina, Paul dropped his iPhone in the muddy river. Our Starboard transmission cable snapped, and we had to manually change gears while one of us drove (necessary for reversing, neutral and drive in a waterway rife with bridges, locks, and narrow passages and jet skis).
The ICW from Georgia to Virginia is beautiful, perilous, and unique. While Paul was busy, I was our primary driver, and became more adept at navigating bridges and railways, as well as alligators and narrow water ways. It was a totally different skill set from the ocean sailing we are used to, and frankly, I don’t think I’d do it again on a sailboat with a mast of our height. When we anchored in Deltaville, we were both so tired from 12 hours a day of driving that we slept for most of the weekend.
So, to catch up- we sailed out from the Bull River in Savannah, and suffered instrument failure from a thunderstorm. We navigated back by motor to South Carolina and then motored 600 plus miles to Deltaville, Virginia. We have hauled BlueBelle out (meaning the boat has been lifted out of the water, driven to a parking spot and set on blocks). We are paying the boatyard for some expert and necessary fixes (including a wonderful electrician who finally found the root problem in why we haven’t been able to radio or AIS for over 10 months). We have completed jobs we have put off for months.
And now, we are taking a road trip through the East Coast and seeing some of the areas that are impossible from our boat. This is our second year on the East Coast of the US, and we are revisiting some old haunts and finding new gems. After our meltingly hot 4th of July celebration last year I swore off Washington DC forever, only to find myself back here now on July 2nd, one year later. Life is funny that way.
Paul is working full time. I am exploring the Smithsonian, writing, and making sure we are fed, watered, cleaned, and scheduled. I do the driving and the minute planning.
We are experiencing an American summer like we haven’t since we were kids, something we dubbed “strawberry summer” where our intentions are to eat as much strawberry ice cream as possible, strawberries with every breakfast, strawberries with every snack and salad. Although the world and the news feel quite bleak, our tiny act of joyful resistance (eating California strawberries, wearing my California necklace) shows our constant support for the resistance.
With love from Alexandria, in the belly of the beast, and on the way to Philly this afternoon-
Paul and Lindsay
TIBURON MARINO 