Back to Annapolis

With the increase in hurricane activity, we needed to get Berkeley East further North and out of harms way, so we decided to take her up to Annapolis for the rest of the summer. While this is a relatively short 4 to 5-day trip, the passage around Cape Hatteras always puts us on edge. The point where the Gulf Stream and Labrador currents collide, Cape Hatters is know as the graveyard of the Atlantic because of the number of boats and ships that have been wrecked on her shores.

For the first part of the trip, from Charleston to Southport, NC, we where joined by John, an enthusiastic sailor, friend and neighbor in Cornelius.

The overnight passage was uneventful until early morning when the wind died and we motored through a thunderstorm. We got a good dousing of rain, followed by some lightening that hit the water very close to us. One strike was so close that it really shook the boat.

We arrived in Southport mid-day, in time for John to go ashore and back to work. We were sad to see him go but happy that we did not have to put on suits and go into an office as well. Instead, we kicked back and rested up for the remainder of the trip north.

The sail around Cape Hatteras was nice, with the wind dead behind us. We arrived at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay at 2:00 am. As is usually the case, there were a lot of large ships coming and going, and we found ourselves surrounded by tankers, cruise ships and Navy warships. We wove our way through the ships and headed up to Mill Creek, our first anchorage when we started our adventure more than a year ago.

The next morning we motored up to Solomon Islands and spent the a quiet night, before proceeding into Annapolis.

Berkeley East was scheduled for some upgrades and warranty work over the summer, so she would spend August, September and October at the boat yard in Back Bay, Annapolis. In addition to the warranty work we upgraded Berkeley East to have solar panels and a carbon fiber whisker pole.