Well, we've done it. We've left, gone, said our goodbyes, dropped the dock lines and literally sailed off into the sunset; or motored off to be more exact. Not that we went very far. Memorial day weekend turned out to be a warm sunny mostly windless weekend. If nothing else we wanted to get away from the dock to an anchorage with a little more breeze.
But we left with a nice send-off from our marina friends and the support and well wishes from many friends and relatives. A few thank yous are in order. Thanks to Marcy and Eddie for taking care of the mail and our accounts and for allowing us ample storage room in a place where storage space is at a premium. Thank you Rick and Jane and Dave for taking care of our large furniture that is too delicate to store. Thanks to Skip and Harriet for all their encouragement, advice and help. Thanks to the wonderful folks at NAL, Kernan and UMMS for being understanding and supportive. Alright, this sounds a little to much like the Oscars, enough of that.
The big job this week was moving and we both hate to move. But the moving of our remaining possessions to storage went well if not a bit traumatic. Three days of us packing, one day for Allied to wrap and move the stuff, one day to clean and check out with the property manager; turned out to be a hectic week.
As if to reward our hard work, we left the marina a 6:30 pm Saturday evening and motored out to what the locals call Half-moon bay, just into the Rhode River. What had been a warm day was just cooling into a comfortable evening. The light northwesterly breeze gave us an clear view of the West River opening up into the Chesapeake Bay beyond. As our dinner sizzled on the grill, the champagne got itself uncorked, and a perfectly round moon began it's steady rise, illuminating all and all around. Life is good!
And now for the cat update. All cat haters, please disregard this next section. Atlas, being the bolder cat found himself in all kinds of difficulties. He quickly discovered that he could jump into and out of the open forward hatch. Trouble is, the hatch is not always open. One early morning while we were asleep, Atlas tried to jump out of the closed hatch. With a thud, he smacked his head against the hatch cover. Ouch! But soon, he was causing other trouble. He found he could easily jump off the boat and onto the dock. In just a few days, we retrieved Atlas from both on top of and inside of several boats at the marina. The first night he jumped off and left the dock. We found him crying at the next dock down. Guess he forgot his way home. But leaving the dock has resolved this wandering problem, at least temporarily. The morning after we left, Atlas went from one side of the boat to the other trying to figure out just what happened to the dock. He just know that it was there somewhere!
Even Apollo has gotten a little more comfortable. Seems that he prefers being out at sea. Our first night anchored out he was roaming topside like never before. They still don't like it when we run the engine and quite frankly they don't think much of sailing either. But we're taking it a little slow so they have time to adjust. At least they have no trouble sleeping on board; anywhere, anytime. That is, except 4:30 in the morning!
