We have been sneaking up on the sailing.  So many things to do, so many new things to experiment.  Each causes a bit of stress, so we have been taking our time trying new things.  Today was the first time we put up the main and the second day with the jib.  We hit 7.1 knots with about 10 knots of wind in a broad reach.  Great feeling to be sailing along, faster than we were motoring, with only the sound of the waves on the bow.


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Anchored in a remote spot. We took the fleet ashore, and hiked on trails in Wye island. 

Hiked down 300 year old trail, bordered by Osage trees.

 Found proof that my Dad had a brain. Actually, the green ball is the fruit of the osage trees. They were a lot of them on the trails.



Devon died on a tree. Such a sad way to go..

Found bizarre vine.


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We made our first batch of yogurt with the heat of the engine (the Ford Lehman).  We heated up the milk and added our ingredients.  Then set it by the engine after a day of travel.  It kept the yogurt between 110 and 115 degrees.  The yogurt came out great.  Goes great with some frozen blueberries.


Then we add it to a smoothy.
 


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The moss bunker (manhadden) different name, same fish.  The were schooling up and we believe stripped bass were chasing them.  It was like watching the wave as the fish jumped.  We had no luck catching any.



As we travel, we do school work, read, and Sahara likes to draw.


Devon is reading, and in the solar oven we have jambalaya.



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We like to go ashore and see what we can find.


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We anchored off the small town Oxford.  Most of the house in the small town are historic 1700 and 1800 houses.  Except for this house, with all the locals just hate.  


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September 23rd.

Growing up, I used to visit a small town off Plum Point.  The beaches there are large sandy beaches and great for finding sharks teeth.  So we beached under a small cliff and went searching.  In an hour and a half we found a nice haul of teeth.  This place is north from famous Calvert Cliffs.  The sharks teeth are a few million years old.



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We got the outboard up and running.  Bought it used from a friend almost a year ago and have never had the chance to run it.  It ran GREAT!.  Honda 4 stroke, 9.9 hp.  It gets up on plane with all four of us in the boat.  As you can see in the pictures, the boat is not made to be pretty.  The edge is covered with fire hose.  The aluminum vs inflatable argument ended with fish hooks and crab claws.  The kids are strong enough that any 2 of us can carry the boat up on land.


We have 3 sit on top k...
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We are anchored in the Little Choptank Creek, on the western side of the chesapeak.  Nice sucluded spot.  We have had some strong winds and are sitting tight till they pass.  We had 30 knot - 35 knot winds last night with lots of rain.  We put up the sides of the dodger and bimini and it was nice and dry.  The boat is very comfortable, even in the high winds, rough waves and rain.  Sink is working great, as it the stove, electric system, etc....  Everything is going well.

For our first night/d...
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We now have the fridge fixed.  An expensive bill, but a must.  

We filled up the boat with $400 worth of food.  Only 200 was not chocolate!!!

We are now full of food, Fuel, water, and an empty holding tank (that is connected to the toilets for the non sailors).


We anchored a short distance away on a peaceful river, with no plans yet for tomorrow.  But we are ready to go anywhere.

We will probably do a little fishing and then find a nice remote spot to anchor and explore.



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We finally cut our ties to land and sailed away.  We had a beautiful sunset our first night.  A short trip out into the river, nice, safe, protected location.  The next morning, we went to Obersons to fuel up.  90 gallons later we were off.  We learned a few things on this trip.  One, the boat can't back up in a straight line to save our lives.  I went down the wrong dock way to get to the fuel dock and had to back up.  Not a very pretty sight, but nothing was hit, and we did not go aground.
W...
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