Home Again!

We stayed a night in Dowry Creek, did laundry, grocery shopping and got caught up with Mary and the gang. The next day we anchored in the Little Alligator River and then traveled to Great Bridge and tied up at the free dock, just before the bridge and the locks that lead into Norfolk. There we met three boats that had sailed from Australia and one on them is headed for Maine later in the season! They had some stories to tell and one boat, Jack Tar, had met some friends of ours from the Rockland Yacht Club in their travels.

Emme in the ICW

In the morning of the 23rd we went through the bridge and transited the locks and headed towards The Top Rack Marina where there is a free slip if you eat at the Marina's restaurant, the Amber Lantern. It is one of the best restaurants that we have found on the waterway so a stop there was welcome. As it turned out it was also a convenient place for Lloyd to join us; it is close to his friend's house and the airport. He flew in from Maine to crew since Mary was leaving for home a couple of days.
Mary left on the 25th for Freeport to get some gardening  and other chores done before starting work so Lloyd and I were on our own. We left Little Creek Va. around 1:00 PM and sailed non stop to Block Island a 353 mile trip in 50 hours. We were able to sail most of the time and had some fantastic sailing off  the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula. On the 28th we sailed to Newport RI to pick up another crewmember, Dave, who had done the trip with me last year. Onset Ma. was the next stopover where we anchored to await favorable current in the Cape Cod Canal. After passing through the Canal, we decided to stop in Provincetown as Lloyd had never been there and Dave and I enjoyed our last visit. We visited the museum, visited the Pilgrim's Tower, enjoyed fresh oysters and dined ashore. We left Provincetown around 10:00AM and headed straight for Freeport as the forecast was for bad weather later in the day on Sunday. By 7:00 AM Sunday morning Emme was back on her mooring and we were packing our bags.
We had a great journey, met many wonderful people and explored the beautiful waters of the Abacos, and the east coast travelling 3181 nautical miles in the process. Emme is safe and sound in Freeport Harbor awaiting summer cruising in Maine and perhaps another adventure next winter.