Annapolis Arrival

Larry and Robert left the Turks & Caicos Sunday afternoon, August 1, and pulled into a slip in Holiday Hill Marina Wednesday afternoon, August 11.  The forecast was for a sailing wind, though moderate; instead, there was not enough wind and they were becalmed for several days, which added a couple of days to the length of the trip.

While the weather was too uneventful, they did have challenges.  The Furuno Chart Plotter and Radar decided to take a vacation starting the second morning.  No data was on the screen.  Though Larry was able to get some old waypoints back, none of the charts would come up, nor was anything visible on the radar.  They had all the needed paper charts to chart their route, so that's what they did.  Taking regular Lat and Long readings with our handheld Standard Horizon and keeping a good log kept them occupied and on their route.

Also, on a calm day early in the trip, the engine made an unusual noise, though it continued to run.  After the second time it made the noise, Larry thought it might be the cutlass bearing and decided to not run it, not wanting to cause more serious damage.  After a few days of averaging little more than two knots, they again turned on the engine, but ran it only at low RPM's and only ran it when there was no wind. It made no more noises and they were able to use it to come into the marina.

Kenya and I had a fast, fun road trip.  We left OKC Sunday afternoon, made a detour to Ponca City, then stopped in Memphis for the night and arrived in Wilmington, NC Monday night, after 1,400 miles.  Though not exactly on the logical road to Annapolis, Wilmington is a lovely coastal city and we wanted to check it out; we're so glad we did.  Then Wednesday morning, we drove the 390 miles to Annapolis and met up with Larry!

I'm loving being back on the boat, trying to find a location for all the extras I brought on board, mostly clothes I bought because I did not take much with me when I left.  We're getting the boat in order, which will take a while.  We'll take the Furuno Chart Plotter to the dealer to have the software reloaded, and hope that's all that needs to be done.  Also, we have the engine to take care off.

Larry plans to write more info about the trip.  Plus, we'll be sharing what's happening here and what plans we make.