3 weeks and 900 miles later

Dear Blog,
I did not abandon you.
Love,
Leslie

In truth its been hard to create new posts as we travel because we are rarely in ports long enough for me to spend any quality time with my computer. It's so hard to believe its been 3 weeks since I wrote last! We have made it to Florida (yay!), but still have about 250 more miles to go to reach Peanut Island.


Some of the quick highlights of the trip thus far were sailing through the Cape Cod Canal, stopping in New York City (my first time there!), and seeing my brother Patrick and his girlfriend Aeryn.

The Rachel B Jackson passing under a bridge on the CCC

Passing LaGuardia Airport

NYC from the water


Hanging out with my brother, Patrick

Jesse steering us back offshore

From there we sailed straight to Little Creek, VA (a two and a half day offshore endeavor) and after a brief respite and much needed reprovisioning we were off again into the Intercoastal Waterway through Norfolk, VA and into North Carolina either anchoring or docking at night. We made stops in Great Bridge, VA, Coinjock, NC and Beaufort, NC.

Sailing Regatta in Norfolk

Passing the Naval base in Norfolk

Great Bridge, VA

King James Tavern Beaufort, NC

We left the ICW at Cape Fear, NC and made a 36-hour push to Hilton Head, SC where we anchored for a night. The next morning we hauled up the hook and set Florida in our sights. By 2:30 the next morning we were headed into Fernandina Beach, FL in a thick fog. We anchored out again and have been enjoying the warmer temps and the town as well as the beaches of Amelia Island for the week.

Sunset over the Atlantic

We hope to set sail again Sunday and make our way down the Floridian coast. Hopefully, my next post will be from our destination!



PS We've seen lots of wildlife (dolphins, jellyfish, pelicans) and even tried line fishing off the boat one afternoon but the only animal I have successfully captured was the wildest of all...

A giraffe...statue

Day 1 & 2: Southwest Harbor-Stonington-Portland or Lobster Trap Land

We boarded the boat Tuesday afternoon and after a quick stowaway of gear, we were on our way!

(That's me smiling, I swear)

We sailed through Blue Hill and Jericho Bay that afternoon and by sunset decided that it was going to be too hard to navigate through the lobster trap buoys in the dark. We anchored near Stonington, ME for the night, fixed a quick meal of chicken noodle soup, and crawled into our bunks for the evening.

We were up and at em by sunrise Wednesday morning and and spent the day negotiating more lobster trap buoys, like this:




"What's the big deal?", you may ask. Well a lobster trap buoy is attached to a long line which is attached to a lobster trap which hopefully contains somebody's tasty dinner which is somebody else's way of making a living. So driving a boat over a buoy could result in a line tangled in the boat's propeller and a mad lobsterman, neither of which is very much fun to deal with.

Anyhow, we passed safely out of Lobster Trap Land once we got within sight of Monhegan Island and continued sailing through the night. I cooked dinner:

(I am a huge fan of the gimballed stove!)

And we eventually arrived at the Portland Yacht Services docks around 12:30a.



We are currently waiting out weather, picking up a few extra snacks and heating up the place.


If you want to follow our journey, there is live tracking at the following website:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

Just click on the "Go to Vessel" drop down menu and find Rachel B Jackson. It updates more frequently than me and you can even track our progress!

We are leaving tomorrow! Packing like crazy tonight

Gearing Up

Looks like we could be boarding the boat as early as Monday! Luckily I acquired some new gear this week for the trip...




That's right, I am now a proud owner of a Grundens parka and bib pants. I bet you all can't wait to see a pic of me sportin those puppies!

Today I started gathering things together to pack up.




It definitely feels strange to be pulling out my warm weather clothes instead of putting them away. Now I just face the challenge of packing it all into two bags in three days...wish me luck!

Where I've been and where I'm going

As many of you know, I've just spent a summer in Camden, Maine working, playing, sailing, camping and in general just exploring and enjoying the state.




I am now about to embark on a trip from Maine to Florida on a boat. Specifically, we will be sailing from Southwest Harbor, Maine to West Palm Beach, FL where we will dock at Peanut Island.

(We will be off the docks on the far right!)

My new home for the trip (and the winter) will be Schooner Rachel B Jackson. There will be more details to come but for now I just wanted to share some pictures of Rachel B. Jackson. Jesse and I had the opportunity to go aboard a few weeks ago in Southwest Harbor and I snapped some pics with my iPhone. Enjoy!

The dinghy ride out

On deck

Some of the sleeping quarters

....and the galley!

More to come as we prepare to board in a couple weeks!