Day 328, Friday May 16th

Day 328, Friday May 16^th

We wake up in Hampton and Dawson starts his day installing the autohelm part we had delivered to Bluewater Yachting Centre.  We are here for 2 nights due to rain and high winds.  We are now 1 day from our destination in Deltaville.  It really feels we have come full circle now.  The trip is winding down.  We tried to keep the journey north a holiday by not rushing, enjoying towns and time as we went along, but we both now feel anxious to start another chapter in the book of life.  There is lots of organizing and planning to put the boat to bed, and transitioning to selling the Sudbury house, and buying a house and getting moved to Toronto.

The rain starts to fall quite hard around 7 but the high winds forecasted do not appear, at least where we are.  Dawson finishes re-installing our Autohelm and it checks out so we are both happy to have “Jim” back on board.  We had missed him!   We then have an in depth discussion on whether to list Jazzebelle with a broker or to put her on the hard to sell our selves.  In the end we decide we will contract a broker, one more item to add on the list of things to do to rejoin the working world.

It rains hard until about 11:00 and then we head to the library to use the internet.  It is about a 15 minute walk to get there.  We spend about 3 hours reading contracts, blogging, planning, and general communication.  By the time we leave the library, we are now starting to discuss moving the boat to Annapolis as the broker we are going to use has recommended a few spots there.  Annapolis is about 2 days sail north of Deltaville.  Oh well, the holiday continues.....

This is our barking dog!

Dawson in front of the Barking Dog

On the way back to the boat we stop at the Barking Dog for a beer and a hot dog (to share) as a reward for all the hard work we are doing.  It is Craft Beer week at the Barking Dog so we enjoy some good local brews; a wheat beer for Julie and an IPA for Dawson.  We then stop in at the grocers to pick up a few things and some boxes so we can start packing the boat up.  We need to move everything off of it, as the advice from the broker is that Jazzebelle should be left bare of all personal items and extra gear.  Our plan is to hire a U-Haul van to cart all our stuff back to Canada.  

As we are walking back to the boat a man in a suburban offers us a lift and we accept it with pleasure.  It is these random acts of kindness that makes the trip for us.

Now it is time for laundry, happy hour and a shower.    We stop and chat to some fellow boats, Carol and Dennis of Calyx who are from Jersey and are docked across from us.  This is their 7^th year of spending winters on the boat and going back and forth up the coast.  They are departing in the morning up the Chesapeake as well.  Both Dennis and Carol are 75 years and still sailing strong!  They have to get home cause Dennis's mom is not doing well.  His 105 year old dad had passed away last year. Wow what longevity.  I touched his arm hoping to pass on some health.

A nice dinner, a game, a coffee and off to bed.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson