Dodging Hurricanes, Finding Treasures
We check back in with the Orton/Bagnall family as they dream of white sand beaches, crystal clear warm water, abundant marine life and bonfires on coconut palm-laden islands on the next leg of their adventure.
Log 1 - Tony, Bea, Sami and Brooke
After fixing up our new second-hand catamaran our first destination would be as far away from these romantic dreams as we could possibly imagine. Brackish water, built up suburban areas, and not a coconut palm tree to be seen, well that's what we thought anyway!
The hurricane season was upon us and, for safety and insurance reasons, we needed to move our floating home above Cape Hatteras on the East Coast of the USA to avoid tropical storms. Very similar to how vessels cruising the South Pacific choose New Zealand for a destination for the summer months to dodge tropical storms and hurricanes in the Pacific.
The area we decided to cruise and use as a safe haven for 4 months was Chesapeake Bay. This is a massive waterway on the East Coast of the USA with a shoreline of over 1,000 nautical miles that weaves in and out of anchorages, rivers and creeks, making it a great place to duck for cover in nasty weather conditions - and the largest estuary in the USA.
The first mission was just to get to the Chesapeake, which required an 800 nautical mile offshore passage - 4 nights and 5 days at sea - with a tropical storm brewing a few days behind us. Once we entered the Bay, bereft of anything from our initial dreams, it was up to us to make our own adventure and fun.
We learnt how to catch and cook the famed blue crab, the kids mastered how to catch the tasty striped bass, and we spent most of our time finding remote creeks. We enjoyed watching bald eagles, osprey and giant herons hunt for fish while taking in the tranquil peacefulness of calm anchorages.
We sailed our vessel all the way to Washington DC for a real life history lesson and found a remote sandbank where we searched for 8-22 million-year-old fossilised shark teeth. It seemed like every town had a museum in this history-rich area and before we knew it our time had come to an end.
Now we will safely head to the Bahamas for our next adventure. Our lesson from this journey so far is to enjoy and make the most of where you end up or stand, search and look beyond the rough surface as paradise is really what you make of life.
Stay tuned for more updates on the family’s journey in our upcoming issues and follow their channel on YouTube.