We made landfall on the 4th of July. We actually didn't go ashore, but did pick up a mooring at Cuttyhunk just inside Buzzards Bay. The 5th was a bit stormy, so we stayed put and spent a relaxing day on the boat. On the 6th we slid away from the mooring into the fog and made our way carefully across the bay. As we approached S. Dartmouth the fog began to lift and we landed at the New Bedford Yacht Club undere sunny skies.
We met some friendly folks and enjoyed a short walk around town tht included a good meal ashore. From the bridge looking back toward the New Bedford Yacht Club mooring field we watched some clam diggers.
We were off again on the 7th heading for Maine.

Standing Watches

Justin and Josie stand full four hour watches this trip. In the past Justin and Josie have helped out, but now that they are 12 they get to stand regular watches. This has been a great help for Michael and me as it gives us a break on watch. We split the watches so that Michael and I each had each of the kids on our watches ie I had watch from 10-2 Justin had been on watch since 8 and Josie relieves him at 12. Michael relieves me at 2 and Josie has another 2 hours to go before being relieved by Justin.
At the beginning of the trip the winds were great and coming from the right direction s-se. The boat pretty much held a good course without having to do much correcting at the helm. Somewhere off of Cape Hatteras the wind shifted to the North and requiring us to tack back and forth to make progress in the direction we wanted to go. After another day of this we finally turned on that noisy thing we had on board called a motor so we could make a little more progress in the direction we wanted to go. This of course required a little more hands on at the wheel.
We encountered a litttle bit of rain, but no major squalls or weather that required heaving to.

Offshore Catch

Two or three other sailboats were heading offshore from Charleston Harbor about the same time we were. It was a good day to be heading offshore with winds in the right direction. We communicated with one of the other boats a few times. They went through a school of Mahi-mahi landing two within a half hour. Unfortunately we were not so fortunate and did not get a nibble all day.
The next day however found us going through a school. Michael landed one, before going off watch, put that line back out and went below. Within ten minutes both lines were spinning. I reeled in the smaller one first while Michael tried to tire out the big one. He probably fought it for at least a half an hour (or more) before finally gettin it on board. Fish for dinner. Yippee!!! Michael brought the lines in after that. The freezer was full and he was worn out. We didn't put another line out for a couple more days. We caught another Mahi-mahi, but let this one go as we still had plenty. We were hoping to catch something else, but no sudh luck. Oh well, the mahi-mahi has made for some mighty fine eating.

Moving Aboard

We finally moved aboard Rio Luna on Friday, June 13, although we still had some final cleaning to do at the house and very little was stowed. Friends helped us celebrate the move the next day at the dock/boat. We planned to depart the first weather window after Father's Day but ended up waiting for a part that did not arrive until the following Friday. We departed Cooper River Marina at 8:30 pm on Thursday, June 28th. After a quick stop at the Maritime Center for fuel we were on our way. Justin was excited to go, ready for adventure. Josie was not so ready to leave her friends for life aboard although she did look forward to going places and seeing Bar Harbor again. Their attitudes are accurately portrayes in this photo as we left Cooper River Marina behind.