Ship’s Log: Leaving Baltimore

This is post #1 related to our move from Baltimore to Miami in 2019. I wrote this soon after and it was so fun looking back on our journey. Enjoy!

May 14, 2019

If I had it my way, we would have had a relaxing morning to enjoy our last hours in Baltimore. However, as the gods would have it, this was not going to happen. We stayed up until 2 a.m. the night before finishing last minute projects (disclaimer: we were still not done with everything at this point). Waking up at 9 a.m., we hit up last minute errands: Starbucks for morning sustenance, Safeway for extra groceries, our usual stop at Ace Hardware, and last, but not least West Marine. Around noon the crew pow wowed on Wind Harp, getting her ready to weigh anchor. My last request was to do a final lap around the Inner Harbor. I wanted one photo of Josh, Peggy Sue, and I with the Baltimore skyline. The best picture ended up being at the Rusty Scupper while we were filling up on fuel and water. The Pride of Baltimore II was heading out and this, combined with the downtown skyline was perfect.

After fulfilling my request, we raised the main and motor sailed out of the harbor around 1:30 p.m. Not too shabby for an estimated noon departure. As we headed out towards the Key Bridge, the women steered the boat while the men finished up putting the tell tales on the foresail. Once we were out into the Chesapeake Bay, we turned the motor off and on we went. As we set sail, we had a crew meeting to discuss shifts and expectations. Starting right away we were going to be on 6 hours shifts. Josh and I would be on from 6 p.m. – 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. – 12 p.m. Jack and Marianna would be on the alternating 6 hour chunks and Tony would be swing shift to relay any information from the previous couple. And so the trip began. First leg: down the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, Virginia.

Highlights:

• Peggy and the Buffalo Chicken Slider
  • The night before, Peggy had selfishly stolen half of Josh’s dinner. Little did we know what it would mean for the first day of our journey. She ended up vomiting in the cockpit and pooping on her bed throughout the night. Poor girl! Hopefully she’s learned her lesson.
• Perfect Sailing Conditions
  • We had the perfect conditions to go south down the Bay. Averaging 6 knots all the way down, we had a steady heading all night. Despite the perfect conditions, we all still had to get used to the heeling in the cabin and sleeping in the quarter berth at an angle.
• Trying to Stay Awake
  • Once the sailing had commenced, the realization that we would just be hanging out in the cockpit settled in. In order to stay awake, we played a movie game. Each person went around saying a movie that started with the last letter of the previous movie. This is when I realized I didn’t know as many movie titles as I thought…