Tropical Storms and Tarot Cards

I've always been intrigued by paranormal/supernatural/psychic stuff. In our preteen years, Lisa, my Best Buddy Since Birth (BBSB) and I played with Ouija boards and held "seances." I read my first Stephen King novel when I was about 14. Two years ago, thanks to another best buddy (Melanie), I had an Aura reading. The Best Husband on the Planet (BHOTP) and I were getting super serious about this boat thing and I was conflicted. I didn't really have a question - like "should we do this?". It was more like I needed to better understand why I was feeling so unsettled. The Aura reading was fascinating and there was (still is) a lot to unpack. In relation to the boat life adventure, the reading provided a helpful nudge to embrace the unknown. Recently, I had palm and tarot readings by two different women about a month apart. The first told me I had intuitive/spiritual/psychic qualities but was reluctant to embrace them... the second told me something similar and that I was about to enter a "new creative" calling "with wisdom." Therefore, I bought a deck of Tarot Cards.

Enough about my quest to identify my new creative calling with wisdom using my latent psychic powers...

What is happening on Aevitas you ask?

Well, heaps! Dave has been a busy, busy man. The lithium batteries are basically done. I think there is some kind of switch still to be installed. One of the solar panels is connected and making power! I think (fingers are crossed) all the major stuff is done. We still have two halyards to replace and we may add a watermaker for our voyage south.

Speaking of our Bahama venture - we need crew! Any volunteers?

My folks came to stay with us for about a week. They came aboard Aevitas in Norfolk. We sailed to Bay Point Marina the day before their arrival. It was a nice trip down the Chesapeake with "fair winds and following seas" as the saying goes. Bay Point is on Little Creek, just off the Chesapeake and next to the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek – Fort Story. The Expeditionary Forces train here. Fort Story includes the site where, in 1607, the first permanent English settlers landed in Virginia. We saw interesting several hovercraft (or some other fast moving water craft that throws up a major rooster tail?) and across Little Creek, we could see a huge Coast Guard ship.

The slip in the marina was a little tight; fortunately Dave has become an expert boat docker (and we had help from kind folks who recognized our bewilderment). Sofie fell off the pier as we were tying up. It was her first unplanned swim and boy was she surprised! It was easy to haul her out of the water as she was still wearing her harness. I'm glad she isn't 100 pounds! We walked to dinner and had margaritas to celebrate the successful docking and dog rescue.

Mom and Ken arrived the next morning and were on board for about a minute before we set off to Yorktown. The plan had been to be more leisurely on the return trip. We were going to explore Norfolk, possibly Cape Charles, definitely Yorktown, as we worked our way back to Deltaville. But, when you live on a boat, Weather is the boss... And Weather looked a little iffy later in the week. It was a lovely day to transit from Norfolk to Yorktown. We were able to turn off the motor and just sail for part of it. We saw lots of dolphins and pelicans. Seeing dolphins never gets old. Mom and Ken took a turn at the helm.

Yorktown is worth a return visit. Docking was easy! We were able to walk to a great restaurant for dinner. The beach is lovely and the dog and I had a nice stroll around old town (established in 1682 - one of the eight original towns in colonial Virginia) at sunrise. I was so glad we had a decent day... because it was the last good weather day...

A tropical storm watch had been issued and the dock hand in Yorktown strongly encouraged us to get to our home port ASAP and hunker down. The wind picked up and the clouds started building as we made our way north. Sofie required drugs to cope with the rocky ride. We pulled into our slip by early evening and made sure our boat was good and secure before heading off to another great dinner. Soon after we returned to the boat, the action began. Aevitas was heeling quite a bit to port by the time we went to bed and for the next day and half, we were in persistent 35 mph winds with stronger gusts. The rain came down in spurts and sheets. We had never seen white caps and water that high in the marina. One of the pilings we were tied to broke. Mom and Ken got to ride out tropical storm Ophelia in a sailboat! It wasn't the experience we planned, but at least it was memorable.

On Sunday, the weather was still wet and windy. Since there isn't much to do in Deltaville on Sundays and Mondays, and the weather wasn't cooperating for a little day sail, we took an impromptu trip to Annapolis. Even in the rain, Annapolis is a fun place to be. We made a side trip to Baltimore to see Camille and meet Wyatt from Winnemucca. The time went too fast. Mom and Ken are good sports and natural sailors. I hope there are no tropical storms on the horizon for their next stay aboard Aevitas.

The Weather continued to be windy and rainy for a few more days after Mom and Ken left. Finally, thankfully, we woke up to sunshine! Not wanting to waste the glorious weather, we sailed to Little Bay and got up to 7 knots on wind power alone (ok, there was some current helping and we were only at 7 knots for a few minutes). We are getting better at trimming the sails. The dog romped on the beach and we enjoyed a beautiful, cool, calm, quiet night anchored in a bay with only one other sailboat. Life is good.

Currently, I am sitting outside on a crystal clear, sunny, 75-degree day with very light wind. The dog is sleeping next to me. The BHOTP is working on boat projects. It is peaceful, serene even. I cleared my mind of all the extraneous filler thoughts and focused on the question of what this "new creative" is supposed to be as I shuffled the Tarot deck. I spread out the cards and selected one. I drew The Star. According to the Oracle (Google) and the Tarot book, this card is associated with spirituality, purpose, connecting to the divine, inspiration. Hmm, not sure what to do with that... maybe it means to keep up with the Tarot stuff?