We departed Broad Creek Extension about 0730 knowing we had a good eight hours to our favorite Pungo River anchorage.  Our first navigational challenge is the Alligator River Bridge.  Always a challenge to time this bridge unless you are the boat in the middle.  If you are the first boat you will sit and wait for others to catch up and if you are the last boat there is a chance you won’t make the opening.  The guy in the middle has the best advantage as he doesn’t have too long a wait and is pretty well set to make the opening.  Of course all depends on the mood of the bridge tender.  Always be kind and thank them for opening the bridge…….the next time they see you they may remember you and how patient or impatient you were. The remainder of the day would be spent enjoying the fall colors and dodging logs in the water or stumps or small “islands” of grass.  The captain tried sitting on the fly bridge again today but the wind was a little cool whi...

 Leaving the Great Bridge tie up was a small adventure but after a reset of both engines, we got underway. Our dear friend Richard Nye on the Selene 57 known as Untethered was at Atlantic Yacht Basin (aka…AYB) and grabbed a picture of us as we passed under the bridge. Once you leave this spot everyone is playing catch up and doing a one whistle or two whistle pass.  The line of boats would come and go.  I think the most we had were five at once and while we passed one or two there were a few that were in a bigger hurry than us. Camden Point off the Broad Creek Extension is a favorite anchorage for us and we will be in by 3 or 3:30 at our current speed so again…..no need to rush.  We had a few bridges to contend with today but since it is a Saturday they are pretty much opening on demand so there is no waiting. The captain is in his sweet spot today.  He loves driving from the fly bridge and there is enough sun to keep him warm.  If that fails, he has his tw...

 We had a nice leisurely breakfast this morning and then pulled up anchor with hopes of getting on the free docks at the Great Bridge Locks.   Our journey with Paradigm Shift started in Kemah, Texas where we had purchased her (then known as Sauvy B).  Robert and Carolyn Chancellor cared for this vessel for years and maintained her in the best shape one could only hope for when buying an older vessel. When we purchased Paradigm Shift there were a few things we needed to do and a couple things we wanted to change.  Carolyn was such a great seamstress and thought through every detail she had put into the vessel so changing anything, while difficult, needed our own touch.  We kept some of the existing decor but changed the cover on the sofa and changed the flooring to show the beautiful teak and holly while adding a runner down the heavier traveled area.   Some folks have asked if we preferred motoring over sailing.  I must say when we approached one of th...

 With an early morning wake up call, Paradigm Shift set sail…….I mean powered up and set her sights on the beginning of her first voyage to the Bahamas.  This voyage that began this morning will take us to our favorite spots and hopefully get us to Tavernier, Florida before crossing in January to the Bahamas. We had a stop at a friends dock to pick up fuel at 10:00.  With the tide at the lowest for the day, after taking on fuel, we were sitting on the bottom.  So we patiently waited for the tide to rise.  With the precision it took getting into the slip, getting out seemed like the captain had been doing this for years.  A big thank you to our friend Rooster and the wonderful folks at Thrift Oil for making the delivery happen this morning.   With our late departure, we had time for some crew photos and the timing was perfect to set up for an “underway” photo shot by our own Robin Newland.    Selecting an anchorage knowing we would not make Gr...

As we pull away from the dock, we raise our flag in honor of the folks who have fought to keep us free.  Thank you to all the Veterans and the families and folks that support and defend this country. Off without a hitch!  Okay maybe the fact that the inverter did not appear to be working at first but that was quickly resolved.  The boys seem to be settled into their spots.  My fingers are crossed in hopes that they will remain this excited the remainder of the trip.  We will head to Great Bridge Locks today and hope to tie up between the locks and bridge for the night.   We are hoping to pick up fuel in Deltaville before heading to the bay.   Thanks to ALL that got us where we are today but most of all thanks to Robin for the tireless hours she donated in helping to make sure we were packed and ready for this journey.   I will stop here for today.  There is so much to share about the changes and the provisioning of Paradigm Shift bu that will...

It has been a while since we last posted so I thought we should catch up on things happening aboard Paradigm Shift. Our first days home would be spent washing the hull and the windows to get all the salt off from the two week trip home from Kemah, Texas.  Normally it would be Greg and I working to clean her up but unfortunately we had a small incident that would put Greg out of commission for a bit.  Seems as he was disembarking from the boat he reached back over to do something and “miss stepped” and fell into the water.  He injured his shoulder and knee and could not do anything but wait for an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon to make sure he had not torn his rotator cuff repair.  With that, our grandson, Ian picked up and helped to get the job done. Our orthopedic appointment gave us better news than we anticipated.  The thought was that he possibly had torn some of the scar tissue and possibly had some inflammation that would take a “Predpak” to help ...

  Urbanna, VA The decision has been made and our weather guru has confirmed that we should take the outside route home and should make our Urbanna target sometime Wednesday afternoon/evening.  We have a great crew that are ready to once again begin our watches of four hours on and four hours off.  Sometimes it is difficult to sleep during the day but we find you have to force yourself to take some down time so that you are sharp for your next watch.  Some of us were better at that than others but we got the job done.   Next stop is Urbanna.  We are on our way and we have four nights and five mornings with sunsets and sunrises and many beautiful miles of blue ocean waters. Patiently waiting and watching…….counting down the miles, the hours and praying that with each day the weather will continue to cooperate so that we make our target date home.  And there it is…..the sign I always look for……the Norris Bridge let’s me know we are home.