Journey's End

Day #70:  Today starts much like every other day for the last two months but ends like none other.  Up at dawn; confirm  Nellie hasn't dragged; turn off the anchor light; check the engine; check the weather forecast.  NOAA has some bad news: tomorrow there will be small craft advisories on the Bay.  While we planned to stay one more night in Solomons, today we'll head home.  Knock Off is 50' away slumbering regally in Mill Creek's calm and placid waters.  There's a simple joy to be had in idyllic conditions like these.  Funny, how tightly coupled weather and happiness are while living afloat.  

Cruising up and across the Bay is uneventful.  Entering the Little Choptank, the beginning of our home waters, everything looks at once familiar and unfamiliar. It's been two years since we plied these thin waters. In an unusual bow to conservatism we stay mostly within the channel markers.  Welcoming us home are Nick and Tammy Lyons. They've been following Nellie's breadcrumb trail on the internet and so know exactly when to come down to the dock.  At 3:39 pm we shutdown the engine marking the official conclusion to Nellie's 2013 Key West to the Chesapeake cruise.

Cruising, at least as far as destinations are concerned, is all about making it up as you go along.  The weather is the elephant in the room and there's little choice but to comply with its dictates.  That's how we found ourselves in Key West rather than the Bahamas.  Our biggest surprise was how much we enjoyed Miami Beach.  No surprise at all is how much we enjoyed the people we met along the way.  Cruising has been defined as fixing your boat in new and exotic locations--we had a bit of that too.

It was 28nm between Solomons Island, MD and Church Creek, MD today.  For this journey we put 264 hours on Nellie's engine while covering 1658nm.  DBH.