August 20 – September 12, 2024; 15646 nm and 2002 days after departure from La Rochelle

The last 100nm to Deltaville before heading home were an easy peasy trip. But before we actually arrived there we spent nine beautiful days in Annapolis. Just enjoying the charm of the city with its right amount of entertainment. In between relaxing and enjoying, we started to clean up Altimate to get her set up for being alone for a few weeks. Our next destination was St Michaels about 20nm south east of Annapolis. An historic, laid back pretty town with many chic and expensive shops and restaurants. The cute little town offered a variety of activities connected to water. Fun things like sailing, boating, kayaking, fishing etc. as well as museums, art galleries, antique shops and more. Many restaurants, bars and ice creme parlours ensured the satisfaction of culinary delights. Or to say it short: A vacation spot for people who like to spend a lot of money. It reminded us a bit of Sylt (a German Island) where in some areas people like to show off their richness. Sometimes we too like spending money (I wonder who doesn’t?) but even more fun was pretending to belong to the fancy upper class league😉. The best part though was the gorgeous anchorage where we stayed. At the end of a creek, almost alone, surrounded by nature yet very close to town – absolutely beautiful!!! (See feature pic as well)

In St. Michaels as well, we enjoyed the lazy atmosphere. Strolling through town was on our daily agenda including window shopping and here and there having a stop to enjoy a beverage or a gelato. One day we felt like needing some cultural impact and visited the Chesapeake Maritime Museum (CBMM). The Museum explored and preserved the history, environment and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region. It was interesting to learn about the development of that area but the best part for me was the Charity Boat Auction which happened to be at the day we visited. (Gently used boats were accepted for sale and every sale directly supported the CBMM’s mission.) It was hilarious to watch and especially listen to the person who was running the auction. I have no idea how he was able to speak that fast!!! Absolutely amazing and so much fun to listen to!!

After 5 days in our pretty and very calm anchorage the weather forecast showed a promising window to head further south. The plan was to sail for about 45 nm, then set the hook for an overnight stop and continue the last 35 nm the next day until Little Bay which was only 10nm before Deltaville. There we wanted to spent the night before arriving at Deltaville Yacht Centre (DYC) where Altimate would be hauled out. Well, we started as planned hoping to be able to sail for a change and not to motor all the way. It turned out much better!!! The weather was just great we had strong northerly winds which pushed us nicely south the Chesapeake Bay. In fact we were so fast that we decided to go all the way (70nm) down to Little Bay in one leg. It was a fantastic sail. I think it was the nicest sail since we arrived in Beaufort in April at the east coast. Finally a whole trip without motoring! Back to proper sailing- yeaaaahhhhh. We had a good night’s rest and were happy to have an extra lazy day.

Wednesday the 4th of September we finally arrived in the late morning at DYC. A small though very organised and well maintained marina. For one night we were docked in front of the haul out lift in a very narrow service alley. In between us and the lift another sailing boat and the task to turn Altimate. Thinking about turning her in that narrow channel seemed almost impossible for us and didn’t let us sleep very well. Even though the marina staff told us not to worry. Ha, easy for them to say! They didn’t know that Altimate’s turning circle is huge like a truck. And to steer her backwards speed was absolutely necessary. With those requirements we couldn’t think of an easy relaxing manoeuvre. So adrenalin started to flow through our venes and got us a little stressed while waiting for the haul out. Fortunately the marina guys did despite our doubts!!! In less than 15 minutes they conjured Altimate calm and smooth backwards into the lift. The solution was amazingly easy. We just had to pass the other sailboat and then steer Altimate´s bow sharp to the dock right in front of the sailboat where the boys were holding her bow. The wind helped to push her aft and when it was possible to throw the lines the staff pulled her slowly into the crane. Such an easy, relaxed, calm and professional manoeuvre. We were amazed and indeed thankful!!! Why couldn’t we sleep again?

The next week passed by fast. We had millions of task to do which kept us busy. Our favourite highlight project was renewing the head hoses including the toilet ones. Yeah fun project!!! Boat yoga for El capitano and removing urine stains for me. Either job a delight!!! And because we liked it so much we happened to do it on our anniversary day. Great timing🙈. Apart from cleaning and other fun jobs, we organised the jobs we wanted the marina to take care of like sanding, painting the antifouling, changing the bearings of the engine shaft and making a new bimini.
In between our many tasks we still found some time to connect to other sailors. Sabrina and Tom from S/V Honey Rider had spent already quite some time at DYC. They knew almost everything and were very helpful. The marina didn’t have a washing machine so Sabrina offered me a ride to the next laundry. That was super kind as it was quite a trip. 30 min by car to a town named Gloucester. I was veeery happy about that!!! (The only possibility for me to wash would have been in another marina. That would have been boring and very time consuming.) With Sabrina it was an entertaining laundry morning including a sight seeing tour of the area. Nice company and jobs done all at once was just fantastic. Chatting while driving, chatting while washing, chatting while drying and chatting while folding. Doing laundry can be fun! With clean cloth and in a good mood we both returned happily at the marina.

Sabrina also liked to organise which turned out to be great for us. When she heard we needed to go to Richmond airport the following Thursday, she didn’t want to let us take a taxi. “Too expensive” she said. Magically within an hour she had found a friend who was driving direction Richmond anyway. Isn’t sailor community fantastic?! Somebody who has never met us was more than happy to take us to the airport. He even had to take a detour as his destination was somewhere in Virginia – not Richmond airport! And we were talking here about an 1,5 hour drive, for sure not just an around the corner trip. It was just great! We almost couldn’t believe our luck and were of course super thankful!!! On our last evening Sabrina and her husband Tom happened to have organised a bbq with friends on the marina facilities. Again just our luck. We had planned to have dinner at a walkable close by restaurant. No cooking no cleaning just a relaxed evening. But just before we wanted to go, we realised that it was closed. It could have been a bummer as the next restaurant was 3 miles away (which would have been a long walk being already tired)but Sabrina and Tom immediately invited us to join their bbq evening. We were not only generously fed but also met more nice sailors including Eugene our until then unknown driver for the next day.

Then it was time to leave and off we were the next morning, Sept.12th. Super excited, and very much looking forward to see the kids, the rest of the family and our friends, we started our long trip to France and Germany.
Thank you Eugene for being so kind and entertaining taking us to the airport! We were deeply grateful and hope to see you somewhere again.