Windy - My new favorite app

When you travel in a boat the wind is SUPER important.  Thank you Windy!

Aqua Camino - Annapolis, MD to Beaufort, NC

Greg and I decided to venture south to be in warmer waters for the winter.  The water temperatures in NC are more conducive to heating Karuna. Since we don't need to commute into the office (Thank you, covid) we secured a transient slip in Beaufort, NC at the Homer Smith marina.

I've listed the planned and actual route below.  Windy weather brought some changes and a nice opportunity to meet an "Aqua Camino (AC) family" of Holly, Chris, Skylar, Josh, Don and Cody. (Thank you, windy weather!).  I'll be posting photos and videos as well.  Please come visit if you pass by NC!  

Planned:

1. Sun 12/20 - Annapolis Landing Marina to Calvert Marina in Solomons Island
2. Mon 12/21 - Calvert to Deltaville, VA
3. Tues 12/22 - Deltaville to Norfolk, VA
4. Wed 12.23 - Norfolk to Coinjock, NC
5. Thu 12/24 - Coinjock, NC to Alligator River Marina (ARM)
6. Fri 12/25 - ARM to Belhaven (marina TBD)
7. Sat 12/26 - Belhaven to Beaufort, NC

Actual:

1. Sun 12/20 - Annapolis Landing Marina to Calvert Marina in Solomons Island
2. Mon 12/21 - Calvert to Deltaville, VA
3. Tues 12/22 - Stayed in Deltaville and visited a great sculpture garden
4. Wed 12.23 - Deltaville, VA to Coinjock, NC (TWELVE HOUR DAY)
5. Thu 12/24 - Stayed in Coinjock and met our AC family
6. Fri 12/25 - Stayed in Coinjock and enjoyed socially distanced sunset beverages with AC family and decide to caravan to Beaufort
7. Sat 12/26 - Coinjock to ARM
8. Sun 12/27 - ARM to River Forest Manor and Marina (RFMM) in Belhaven
9. Mon 12/28 - RFMM to Beaufort, NC

Rituals, Security, and Community

We're slowly making Karuna our home - establishing rituals, security blankets, and community safety nets.  Hope to post more soon and in the meantime, I wanted to share the beautiful photo below.

Days 9 - 44 (June 7th to July 12th)

Thanks for following us and apologies for being so quiet.

Resurfacing here to make a promise to fill you in on most of June and the early part of July.
I've listed below some key dates and I'll fill in with photos and more details over the next weeks.  

• 6/22 - We officially vacated Wheystone court and I headed to Lake Luzerne with the dogs (I have the cutest dog photo to post and some very scary photos from 6/21 when I was gathering all the last minute items) 
• 6/26 - Greg had captain training with Bob Paiement in Erie
• 7/01 - Greg and Captain Bob depart Erie headed for the Welland Canal (Good Canadian Border Story to follow)
• 7/02 - Transited the Welland Canal 
• 7/03 - Greg and Bob arrived in Rochester (beautiful photos to follow) - Originally planned to stay at Shumway Marina but the slip and approach were too narrow.  Moved over to Post of Rochester.  Brand new marina circa 2018.  Very nice!
• 7/04 - I and the dogs arrived to stay with Greg at Port of Rochester.
• 7/12 - We've been cleaning and organizing.  And Greg's been teaching me about the boat's systems and how to tie dock lines.  

Plans are to stay in Rochester or Oswego until 8/10 when the Canal opens.  Then Greg and Captain Bob and Greg's buddies Rich and Eric will transit through the canal to head south towards Annapolis.  We hope to be settled in Annapolis by late August.

June 22 - Leaving Vienna VA

Hard to leave such a wonderful community but very happy that we are only an hour away so can visit often.  

Packing and purging was so difficult.  Especially with no access to Goodwill or garage sales because of COVID-19.

Much gratitude to all our friends who helped physically and emotionally.  I owe you and stand by ready to support you on future moves. 

• Alyssa - For bringing the perfect sized boxes, making a goodwill run, and patching up the paint on the walls.
• Anna and Randy - For boxes, multiple Spa Anna treatments for Jazz, watching over our dock plants, the dolly, and driving to Annapolis and loading the storage unit (in record time).
• Catalina - For driving to Annapolis, and storing my "papers" which I continually procrastinate purging
• Aunt Ceil and Uncle Ben - For coming by to help with the purge and take some items for the lending space at Heritage Hunt
• Judd/Jesus - For taking a very very full car to Philly and then Lake Luzerne
• Kurt - For taking the hot tub and the bed and chaise. And for trekking stuff to Erie.
• Scott and Amy - For taking the Lexus to Erie, watching over the Tacoma, taking last minute items
• Work folks (Nate/Warren/SJ/TJ) - For helping take books and 
• Nicole - For taking stuff to Catalina's and helping with the final purge
• Taylor - For too much to list :)

Spa Anna pictures below. And then the craziness of the process is depicted by some photos from the final 12 hours before I left and my car, Klaus, packed to the rims.

Day 8 - Settled in Erie, PA 

Greg and crew pulled into Wolverine Park Marina this morning.  

Eric and Greg said goodbye to Captain Mike and got busy cleaning the boat.  Greg will call this home for a good part of June - or at least until June 16th.  End date will depend on the availability of a Certified Captain to get them through the Welland Canal - which opens to pleasure craft on June 15th.

Day 7- Headed to Wolverine Park Marina in Erie, PA

Greg and crew took the dinghy (or tender) out last night in Put in Bay and had a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant.  Today they are enroute to Erie PA.

 

Day 6 - On the way to "Put in Bay"

Sharing a link below to Karuna's journey on Polar Steps.  This is a fun app I learned about while walking the camino in 2018.  

Delivery of Motor Vessel Karuna

 

Day 5 - Where or When

Weather!  Karuna and crew encountered rough seas yesterday and it slowed their transit south.  Instead of making it to the Detroit River they spent the night at the lovely "Port Huron Yacht Club".  Thank you once again to Bill Keuster!

This is a classic "boating" reality - we can specify where -or- when.  Not both.

 

Day 4 - On the way to Detroit

Greg and crew drove through the night across Lake Huron and are now enroute to Grosse Pointe Park Marina.  *Soon* Karuna will be joining the other Kadey's on the eastern seaboard (check out all the green pins below).

*Soon* is relative - most likely it will be "August in Annapolis" or maybe September. June-Aug will be in Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and maybe Oneida Lake. 

Day 3 - Lake Huron

Greg docked the boat!  Big accomplishment :)

The plan is to stay at the mouth of the Detroit River tomorrow night. A Kadey Krogen Harbor Host from Detroit posted on the Forum and was a great find!  Thank you Bill Keuster. 

New news is that the Welland Canal "may" not open for us until July 1st.   The hunt for a GREAT marina in the Buffalo area is on.  Please send any POCs or recommendations our way. 

This is all speculative until they get closer to the canal.  To learn more here are a few resources:

• Notices
• Pleasure craft bulletins for Welland canal
• The original bulletin

Day 2 - Crossing the Pyrenees (or Lake Michigan)

Greg and crew crossed Lake Michigan last night and are now on their way to Lake Huron.  

Bumpy night with big waves. The roll was handled by the stabilizers but there was some pitch.....Big hurdle - similar to crossing the Pyrenees on Day 1 of the Terra Camino:

Jean Pied de Port to Vierge d'Orisson. The walk across the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles (the first town in Spain on the Way) is long and quite challenging, with over 1200 meters elevation gain and another 500 m descent......

The cruising life .....

May 30, 2020 - Greg and crew left Waukegan, IL bright and early this morning.  His skilled  crew includes Captain Mike Warren and Greg's best buddy, Eric Ramsey. 

The image below shows Karuna on the Krogen Finder (surreal to have our own pin on the Finder!) 

For inspiration related to "the places we will go" check out this beautiful blog from Idylltime: http://www.idylltime.com Great photos and stories....two fun pages:

• Cruising with Family (maybe Turner and Grace will visit us in a few years?)
• Guest Info (Love the common nautical terms)

Bristol

We received our boat survey a few days ago.  The surveyor categorized our boat as "Excellent" or "Bristol".  Big smile!

• Bristol Fashion
• Nautical Glossary

Also sharing below a photo of the boat on Splash down in early May.

May 13 2020: Our Aqua Camino - Moving to a Boat

We're moving to live on a Kadey Krogen Whaleback trawler style boat in Annapolis. The boat was commissioned(built) in 2003 (similar to this blog). Many parallels with planning for and walking the Terra Camino in 2018.  Sharing some links below. 

• Nice video of a typical Whaleback

• Photos of our boat

The maiden voyage June 2020:

 Stay tuned for more stories and photos of our Aqua Camino.