2am wake up call and landsickness
2am. Yep, that is when the winds started. This anchorage is pretty darn good for most winds, but we sure do seem to get stuck here every now and then with a strong northwesterly wind.
2am. Kona is whining and unhappy. Every little thing that isn’t put away is now sliding back and forth, front and back and side to side. All those dishes I didn’t do, just a matter of time before they are all on the floor. We are catching air in the V-Berth, somehow Captain is sleeping through it. I was not. Thankful the last thing on my mind was our anchor holding. She was doing well, Kona and the innards of the boat, not so much. So, there I was cleaning up the boat under red light in the middle of the night while trying to not fall over all while upset I didn’t fully prepare the boat before bed.
Once I got things put away and secure, enough, I attempted to lay on the settee in the saloon with Kona on the floor next to me. She was panting. She was shaking. Not a happy puppy. I couldn’t sleep. The forecast said that the current winds were 21 knots and coming from the north. This is why we were being rocked to and fro as the waves were coming around the corner of the harbor and tossing us against the wind direction. I was not looking forward the predicted 27 knot winds in a few hours. Somehow by 4am Kona had calmed enough that I felt I could try and got back to the V-Berth to sleep. The winds really picked up but thankfully they had shifted to be coming straight at us causing us to just go up and down from bow to stern more often then being tossed port to starboard and we were all able to get some sleep.
By 8:45 Captain was up and determined to take our sad puppy to shore. I wasn’t feeling brave enough to get into the dinghy with 2-foot waves and head to shore after a rough night so I helped them disembark and come back while I watched us roll in the anchorage.
Not wanting to do anything productive on our feet or eat until the winds calmed, we spent the morning catching up on sleep (*actually just Richard), writing my blog and chilling. By 11am the waters were finally calming enough for me to do those left over dishes. Since I barely slept the night before I really needed a nap so I laid down for one just long enough to carry me though the day. I really don’t want to get in the habit of sleeping all day and not being able to sleep at night.
Around 1pm we decided there was nothing we wanted to do more then get off Ciara for a while. We thought we would take a little walk and maybe grab some pizza since we hadn’t eaten and neither one of us was in the mood to cook. Egg Harbor is one of the few places we go where we can eat out so we tend to (which is odd because we hardly ever eat out at home even). We walked Kona to the beach and back and realized that is about all the “hiking” around here other than cruising main street. We then headed to One Barrel/Pizza Brothers. We normally go at night and sit by the firepits, it was a totally different vibe at 2pm. Captain and I sat there for a long time just enjoying ourselves and meeting people that Kona introduced us to. I noticed that the ground was really moving and noted my first case of land sickness of 2026. I am reminded to why Captain Jack Sparrow couldn’t walk straight on land. It wasn’t because he was drunk…
Around 3pm a small rain cell popped up and it rained. Not a big deal where we were as they had covered seating but we did wonder “did we close the portals and companionway?” Not much we could do about it…it was just a small rain storm. This really nice couple joined us at our table not long after and we really hit it off chatting with them. Before we knew it, 6pm had rolled around and bigger storm came and rained on us again. Finally, around 8:30 we invited our new friends aboard for a night cap and Taps. I think that going on a sailboat was not on their bingo card for vacation, but we had a blast bringing them back.
Upon returning to Ciara we found that, no, we had not properly (again) left Ciara ready for the conditions. We had wet spots where you would expect them. Not a huge deal. I was more upset that I lost an entire roll of paper towel and my lined notebook was also destroyed as it laid beneath a portal. Urk.
We enjoyed bringing Jaycee and Dan back with the pup, Dolly. So much fun that they invited us to go hiking with them tomorrow morning (after they come back here for some Bloody Mary’s in the morning!).
And so our day that started slow ended with new friends (people and pups) and plans for a full day to come.
