Feeling the Spring

For the first time in five years, spring surrounds me.  Brilliant white flowers of the American dogwood tree peek from mid story of tree lined roadsides.  Purple, yellow, white and pink irises decorate flowerbeds.  Azaleas and other spring shrubbery promise that winter has packed its bags.   Pink lady slippers pop up from the loamy soil of a high story pine oak forest.  May apples found in roadside ditches peek from under umbrella like leaves.  Yep, I’m feeling the spring.

While the beauty of lush greenery of new leaves and grass pleases both the eyes and the senses, there is a price to play. The damp, cold, and cloudy days have given me a perpetual chill that only cranking up the furnace can warm.

Imagine and crew left sunny, warm Great Exuma, Bahamas in late April heading for Beaufort, NC.  After motoring for three days with no wind to fill the sails we would not make Beaufort as scheduled.  We would arrive at night in the middle of a vicious front.

The pending front with potential 50-knot winds and severe thunderstorms resulted in a course change that landed Imagine in Georgetown, SC for three cool and cloudy days. We weren’t alone.  Several other boats anchored or docked near us looking for shelter from the weather.

The skies remained gray the day we left and periodic rain cells pelted Imagine on the overnight passage.  We looked as if we were going skiing.  Bibbed foul weather pants, thermal underwear, parkas and gloves kept us dry for the most part.  Morning brought the first glimpse of sunshine in several days as Imagine made its way to Moorhead City 

 For 24 hours, we stripped down to sweatshirts as we moved through the Neuse and Pamlico rivers.  The following day covered just 35 miles before having to stop at a marina to get relief from the cold weather that seems to be following us north.

Across the Albamarle Sound, through Portsmith and Norfolk the gray skies shadowed Imagine.  From the Great Wicomoco River to Annapolis, things did not change.   Finally, as we crossed the Bay Bridge connecting the Chesapeake’s eastern and western shores the sun began to burn through the gray.  A bit of sun lingered in the sky as we anchored on the Magothy River. 

It was a Saturday when we began the last leg of most recent voyage.  The wind picked up as we maneuvered the curves of the Sassafras toward Greg Neck Boat Yard.   Overall Imagine logged 3,200 miles on this latest voyage.  Grandchildren and spring greeted us.

It was 16 days since Imagine and crew left Great Exuma.  Six of those days were weather related layover days.  Overall it took10 traveling days and 1,409 miles to make it back to our homeport.