Leaving Norfolk and heading south
Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Fri 10 Jan 2014 23:40
Date 1335 (EST) Sunday 1 December 2013
Our return to the USA was on the Queen Mary 2, arriving in New York on
Tuesday 19 December. The Queen Mary 2 is a great and cost effective way to
travel if you have the time and in our case if you have 8 large bags and 12
boxes including two bicycles and an outboard engine. Fortunately we had
hired a Dodge Caravan that just took the assembled baggage train.
Returning to the boat we found that everything that should have been done in
our absence had been done, a delight and a surprise, and we were back in the
water 3 days later. A further week of dashing around equipping,
provisioning and stowing was very pleasurably interrupted by celebrating
Thanksgiving, for the second year running, with Chris and Bill Burry at
their home in Matthews about 60 miles up the Chesapeake; travelling by car
and not by boat.
With refurbished sails, additions to the electronics, a new hydrogenerator
and a host of other items a short shakedown cruise was planned. However,
viewing the forecast and seeing that the only sensible weather window for a
fortnight was the Sunday after Thanksgiving a hurried decision was made to
take it, get around Cape Hatteras and see what happened. A phone call
farewell to Gary and Greta who have so ably supported and looked after us in
Norfolk had to suffice and envelopes with cheques left for Gary to
distribute to settle accounts.
With a full tank of diesel we left Little Creek and headed for Cape Henry
with the prospect of Capes Hatteras, lookout and Fear to get around before
the next front appeared to give more seasonal stormy December weather.