As we raised anchor at 07:30 our plan was to enjoy a half day sail to Deltaville. It was cold but blowing less than 10kts and the seas were flat. With the currents in our favor we would have arrived at our destination at 11:00. With a few quick calculations we decided to press on the additional 50 miles to Norfolk…the ICW was finally within our reach! To me that means we are getting into protected waters where wind directions is not so important to our sail plan and most importantly warmer weather!

You might be wondering what we do to pass the time? We scour through several information apps, cruising guides and cruisers blogs. I read info about our destinations aloud to Adrien while he’s at the helm. We do frequent check and validations between our Chart Plotter’s GPS heading and depths vs our Navionics App (on line GPS). Adrien looks for short cuts, tends to the sails to maximize speed as the wind shifts. We research next stops, weather conditions & wind forecasts, check email, make lunch & snacks, taking turns at the helm through out the day, Adrien fits in a few chores, we check out Barge and Tugs passing by on Marine Traffic (give us info about larger vessels destinations, hull speeds, next ports, etc) I can’t explain it but time literally flies by!

Once in a great while the Captain takes a well deserved cat nap!

It was such a calm journey that I was able to work in the galley on my first dinner with the pressure cooker…..Pork Stew. We arrived at 18:30 lowering the hook in Fort Monroe, a small protected anchorage in Hampton VA, just north of Hampton Roads (major shipping channel for Norfolk and Portsmouth) in the James River.

BTW, dinner was delicious & tender and ready in 45 mins. Will definately do more pressure cooking on this trip! Crescent Moon arrived shortly after we settled in and joined us for dinner…a Thank You for all their guidance and new friendship!