Category: Sunsets

The End of an Era

by markperil@gmail.com on November 6, 2015 in Boating Life, C&D Canal, Chesapeake Bay, Deep thoughts, Delaware Bay, Erie Canal, ICW, Maryland, Rainy Days, Sunny days, Sunsets • 0 Comments

That’s it – we’re done. We’re back home. Obviously, we haven’t been blogging…we’ve been in a weird head space.

It was emotional coming home…With every week on the ICW, we got a little closer to our return to society…to normal life. Oddly enough, as we got closer, we became more and more accustomed to life on the boat. We got better at reading the weather, more comfortable with things breaking, less bothered by delays…It was starting to get easier, and we were starting to figure it out. WE WERE HAVING FUN! MJSailing always said it takes a year before you really get into the groove, and we now understand what they meant. It was getting good.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

We returned to the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club on July 16, 2015. My folks threw a huge party and really made us feel welcome! We had cake and expensive champagne. We put on our smiles for the cameras. It was amazing, but it really hit us hard – it was the end of an era. Had we done everything we wanted to do?

Honestly, after TARA was safely tied up, we didn’t go back down to the boat for two months – not because we were sick of sailing, more that it was too emotional to be on Tara after living aboard for 10 months. We couldn’t see her stuck in a marina…or something…

It has taken us some time to decompress, think about what we’ve done, and absorb all of the crazy adventures. In the end, as expected, the hard times have turned into amazing stories that we reminisce about again and again. In the end, IT WAS WORTH IT.

We’re happy to be back to a big bed and hot showers. We have a comfortable place to live (thanks Mom & Dad!) and a nice grocery store around the corner. Life is good – we’re home safe and have a lot of incredible memories.

In other ways, we are sad. Operation Tropication has ended. We know if we did it again, we would do a lot of things differently…we know we would do it BETTER…but that’s life right? There’s always an opportunity to do it better, no?
Now it’s November. Many of the friends we met along the way are probably down on their boats now, preparing for their crossing to the Bahamas and beyond. Many of them are “snowbirds”, which we used to think was a dirty word, but now we have learned to appreciate.

We have started looking at boats/magazines/blogs again, thinking about the next adventure. The reality is – once sailing is in your blood, there’s no escaping it.

COMMENCE PHOTO SEQUENCE:

SURFS UP! Folly Beach

Haaaaapppppyyyy

Rent a car and drive to Trader Joes, only to find out it’s a freakin’ used furniture shop. FAIL.

Sitting in St. Johns Yacht Harbour while the years first tropical storm brews offshore

Mark’s first haircut in a long time

We love Charleston. Have we mentioned that before?

Virginia

AMERICA HAS TOUCH SCREENS TO ORDER DRINKS?!

AMERICA HAS CHEAP PIZZA?!

WTF?

Front approaching. Nature rules.

Gearin’ up

Lovely spring day in the Chesapeake (it got much worse from here).

Pops happy to be aboard!

Family sail in the Potomac

Happy Spinnaker Dad!

First Maryland Crab Experience. Holy Old Bay

Annapolis

Amazing sky in Rock Hall, MD

Amazing sky in Rock Hall, MD cont’d

Racing a major freighter into the C&D Canal

We were pretending there was an apostrophe in there. D’Urban Highway. Say it with us. D’Urban.

Overnighter! Dark night up the NJ Coast

Calm Foggy Morning – NJ Coast

FOG HORNS

Genoa blaster into Sandy Hook

33 hours, 170 miles, First overnight sail. Tired n’ thirsty

BACK TO NYC!

Printing this and putting it on the wall.

Splurging in the city :)

Continental

AirBNB loft in Brooklyn. Thanks to our host!

Picnic in the city

Cold grey megacity

Liberte

Weird Panorama

Threading the needle

Happy/Cold

Get your sway on

WRITE IT DOWN OR FORGET IT

There’s the sun!

Back to Catskill

Found our stands (amongst the chaos)

Awww yeah

Spring has sprung!

Damn. Mast down again

Passing our old friends When and If in Albany! Pretty with the mast(s) up.

Lock 1

Rainy barbee solution

Free docks are great

Glassy mornings

During our trip we were pessimists, optimists and realists.

High water delay in the ICW = visit home!

Nice to be back :)

Summer backyard greenspace

Caitie gets her hair did

West Virginia

Sister time at the lake for July 4th!

Saucy Ladies

Sistertrip to Charleston!

Rocking our July 4th swag

Mad Dog

Reliving University

Grillmaster

I wish I looked as hot as she does

Snoozin’

Spirit Cake! Cousins!

Heart Steaked Box

Rainy motoring in the ditch

Casual

Young punks. The kid second from the right is giving us the finger.

Vintage postcard moment – Holley, NY

Who knew?

Happy Place

‘Yonce

Gorgeous weather – Eastern half of the canal.

Last two locks – LOCKPORT, NY

This is it!

They had a disagreement

#Enhance

First “Canadian” in a loooong time

Tasty

MAST BACK UP! Buffalo, NY

Wally workin’ on the radar

Doing what he does best

Last night – Erie, PA

Product placement

Don’t bug me before coffee

Mmmm…Cake

MHYC we have arrived

Smile for the camera!

We’re BACK! First week in the ICW!

by markperil@gmail.com on May 9, 2015 in Boating Life, Destinations, Florida, Georgia, ICW, Passage, Sunny days, Sunsets • 1 Comment

On the road again! We love being back. We loved being “gone” too, but being back has its perks. Full fridge (including BEER, the most expensive commodity in the Bahamas allegedly), calm water, cell phone service and familiar scenery. We are making great time up the coast, flying through Florida, Georgia and part of South Carolina already. Loving doing the ICW better this time – warm weather, local knowledge, and a few more months of boating experience are making this trip up way more fun than our route down. Here are some road-trippin highlights so far:

Slightly less beardish

On the road again (this time, red to PORT)

le journal

CUMBERLAND ISLAND 2: The Found World

Still one of our favourite places

Sunrise…sunset

#streetstyle in Beaufort, SC

Happy hours and free BBQ? Southern Hospitality!

Beautiful Beaufort, SC (“Bew-fort”)

Forrest Gump celebrity spottings.

Schwing bridge / full moon

Rough winter for this guy

Fort Matanzas, Florida. The black and white makes it look kind of epic…but it was about the size of a garage.

BBQ in the Georgia marshlands (Wally’s leg, GA)

Beers in Beaufort, SC

Navigation. “Easy in. Weird current vs wind but quite scenic (for FLA)” – anchorage reviews by CL

Love dees manatees

The land of 1000 bridges

Wow – wasn’t expecting to wear this guy again. Frig!

This guy gets us every time. Hard to tell whose hair it might have been…

Classic ICW anchorage morning on the Herb River, GA

Pat’s Pics! (aka Caitie’s Mom)

by Caitlin Lefroy on February 28, 2015 in Bahamas, OpTrop, Sunny days, Sunsets • 0 Comments

SO, we were pretty distracted with our engine “issue” (physically and emotionally), then we jumped right into hosting Caitie’s parents (Pat n’ Steve) – we frankly haven’t been taking many pics nor caring about blog updates. We’ve been feeling a bit guilty, but alas…

The good news is, Caitie’s mom Pat took almost a thousand photos, and before we dropped them off at the airport I asked if we could snag a few for the old bloggity blog. Thank god she said “no problem mon!” because otherwise we wouldn’t have much to post…

We had such a great time visiting with Pat & Steve, and finally had some PERFECT weather. We miss you guys already! annnnnd thanks for being on top of the photos 😉

P1140492 P1140590 P1140504

P1140612 P1140674 P1140693 P1140843 P1140937 P1140958 P1140973 P1140990 P1150010 P1150011 P1150035 P1150055 P1150062 P1150072 P1150075 P1150097 P1150122 P1150162 P1150193 P1150214

One month in the Bahamas!

by markperil@gmail.com on February 18, 2015 in Bahamas, Berry Islands, Boat Projects, Boat Work, Destinations, dinghy, Sitting at anchor, Sunsets • 0 Comments

Ok we haven’t posted for a month! Sooooooo lets get caught up.

First of all – we’re doing this post on an iPad, using data, on a SIM card that we bought during the THREE hours per WEEK that the Bahamas telecom employee is available in black point, Exumas, since our other one expired two months earlier than we had expected. Oh yea, did we mention that was the day we had a serious engine breakdown and also the day Caitie’s parents arrived? More on that later…but please excuse the horrible editing, typos and general quality decline compared to our usual attempts at blogging…

Week 1 – the Berry Islands.

Our main man JWay came to visit (Jeff money)! We picked him up on a beach with lotsa swell – not a great decision as I fell out of the dinghy and got soaked en route to pick him up from the airport, and he got soaked on the way back to the boat. Welcome to Tara Jeff!

we spent the week exploring the relatively empty Berrys and had a blast snorkexploring including a cool visit to hoffman’s blue hole (undoubtably filled with deep sea monsters)

We caught a few fish (mackerel, amberjack, and a couple barracuda) but…the crowning achievement was the Mahi-Mahi en route to Nassau

Jeff with a sweet gaff job. Mark with a sweet filet job. Caitie taking the photos and navigating the boat..as per.

First day in the Bahamas

by markperil@gmail.com on January 16, 2015 in Bahamas, Berry Islands, Sunny days, Sunsets, Surprises • 0 Comments

Welcome to Great Harbour Cay! Canadian, American, Bahamian.

Studying up

Barracuda! Jk.

Ta-da!

Bon appetit! Thanks for the Xmas cookbook Annie!

Georgia on my mind

by markperil@gmail.com on December 5, 2014 in Georgia, Sunsets • 1 Comment

We are happy. Phase 2 so far, has been a smash success.

Without a schedule, we are free to do as we please. The weather is good, and we realize how much that helps.

So what if it has been incredibly foggy in the morning for the past few days (can’t see 500 feet ahead of the boat)…”Let’s have another coffee and leave in a coupla hours. The sun should burn it off. Can I make you some eggs?”

Here’s to hitting our stride

Dismal Swamp to North Carolina!

by markperil@gmail.com on November 13, 2014 in Destinations, ICW, North Carolina, OpTrop, Passage, Sunny days, Sunsets • 2 Comments

Damn, we’ve come a long way in 10 days!

Honestly we loved the Chesapeake Bay. We found amazing anchorages (Solomons, Jackson Creek, Chisman Creek), had some gorgeous sunsets and hope to spend more time cruising in “sailors paradise” again in the future.

For now though – let’s keep on…pressing on!

As we got into Norfolk to start the ICW, we were quickly awakened from our sleepy daze by chatter on the VHF radio. It went something like this: “Warship 89, Warship 89, this is Warship 72, Warship 72, over”….”Warship 72, this is Warship 89. Switch to bridge-to-bridge channel 13, over.”…”Copy that. Switching to channel 13, Warship 72 out”.

…all this while we see the boat (apparently named Warship 72) crossing our bow at 20 knots.

“Warship 72, this is Sailing Vessel Tara, over”

Exciting stuff!

As we got into Norfolk, we realized that the US Navy is, shall we say…well armed. There were ships upon ships upon ships lined up in the harbour (everything from aircraft carriers to “warships” to hospital/red cross boats). It was quite a sight to see.

The whole area was pretty industrial and pretty cool despite the heavy military presence.

Inspiration for George Lucas?

When we cleared Norfolk, we entered the Dismal Swamp, which actually wasn’t dismal at all. It was a nice break from the busy harbour, and reminded us of the Erie Canal that we’d transited so many moons ago.

The swamp apparently has tannins in the water which make it a very dark brown. It was like motoring through really strong cup of tea!

Hard to get a photo of the tannins haha

Next thing we knew, we were in North Carolina! We were spat out in a really nice little town called Elizabeth City. We were stoked to be there because my folks had made arrangements to drop by on their way home from SC! They pulled up just as we docked and we had happy hour on the boat, then went for a nice dinner (plus a couple bottles of wine) to celebrate! Couldn’t have been any better. Love yous!

The next day = SUN! WARM! NO WAY! IS THIS POSSIBLE?! FIRST TIME in 6 weeks where we didn’t look like we were preparing to hike up Mt. Everest?! Ah yes (warning: the next photo is rated at least PG-13. Look away while you still have a chance), let’s just say we soaked it up while we could.

We are starting to like the south

Unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy it for too long, because a cold front has been blowing in and has brought beaucoup de rain. We’re sitting down below tonight (in Belhaven) letting our foulies dry below the bimini in the cockpit.

All in all, we are REALLY happy with our progress over the past 10 days, and it feels AMAZING to finally be in the Carolinas. We may even make it to Charleston for Thanksgiving as planned (knock on wood)

Sigh Time to open a bottle of vino and make dinner.