They say sailors’ plans are written in sand at low tide. It’s a good reminder to not get too wed to a specific plan or timeline when so much is outside our control, especially weather and boat work.
We wanted additional solar panels added to Tilia since we really love being at anchor and want to be able to charge our batteries with the sun, in addition to our engine and generator. Adding solar panels entailed having a support for them welded to the back of the boat. We’d expected that work to be complete in mid-January. We had thus planned to head south shortly after our February 3rd arrival in North Carolina.
Our first week here, we stayed at an AirBnB and then moved aboard Tilia while she was still at the boatyard where the welding was being done. It wasn’t picturesque, but it was great to settle in and begin living aboard.
The welding work was just completed last week. On Saturday, we were able to drive the boat about two hours on the Neuse River to our home marina, Marine Craft. It’s great to be “home”! We are having a few more things done here and hope to head out this weekend, around March 2nd. We will stay close to Marine Craft for a little while to make sure all the systems are working before heading south.
Hopefully by about the second week of March we will head south (those plans are written in sand at low tide!). We’ve realized we won’t make the Bahamas this year, for we’ve lost too much time. We don’t want to rush our travel: we will explore the intracoastal waterway and pretty spots in the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida.
