Zero hour - Sojourner trip north!

The red dot is showing where the trip will start from.

 

It's zero hour here on Sojourner. We're anchored off Guana Cay, only about 5-6 miles from where we started yesterday in Marsh Harbor. In a few hours well be offshore and bound, nonstop, towards Annapolis.

Given the weather that I talked about yesterday we decided to just get the heck out of the marina and stage on anchor a little ways to the north. We left HarbourviewMarin yesterday around 3pm and set full sail in a light westerly breeze and close-reached to the northwest towards Guana. The plan originally was going to be to get through Whale Cay passage, a notoriously dangerous reef cut. But with the light air, we were only sailing about 5 knots and the sun was going down, so we bailed and anchored in Guana instead. Burgers on the grill in the cockpit last night and a nice early bedtime around 9 to get some rest for today. The moon was nearly full as we headed down below to our bunks, casting a pale blue glow over the anchorage.

I slept soundly through the night and woke this morning at 0730. The water is so still outside now that you can see clear to the bottom as if you were looking through a diving mask. There is no wind and not even a ripple on the surface. The anchor is visible directly underneath the boat, just lying on its side. Sojourner is just lying, floating on her own, the chain hanging limp from the bow. I got out of bed and immediately dived overboard for my morning swim, a ritual I learned in Sweden when Mia and I did the same from Arcturus, no matter what the weather or the water temp. 


Jim's cooking up some scrambled eggs as I type this and Les and my dad are outside discussing the downfall of society due to the fact that kids aren't pushed hard enough in school and sports. Right now the plan is to head offshore this morning and sail directly towards Cape Hatteras, avoiding the Gulf Stream until we get there due to the frontal passage on the way which we know we're going to encounter offshore. If all goes planned, we should be rounding that infamous headland in four or five days and bound for home.