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Dear Friends and Family,

We left Great Sale, Abaco Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m. after waiting 3 days for a weather window and arrived in Charleston, SC on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. It was a rough crossing with each of us taking 3 hour watches through the days and nights as we sailed toward the US. In the Gulf Stream the slides on our mainsail broke which caused the sail to blow off the stern when John tried to lower it. He was able to pull it back aboard and lash it to the cockpit cover while I tried to keep Spunky level in the wind and ocean swells and we continued sailing on with just our genoa. We are happy to be back and tonight had long showers at the Charleston City Marina where we are awaiting a repair on our bilge pumps which also failed on our crossing requiring John to bail out the bilge with a pump and a bucket. The Immigration officer was here to meet us at the dock when we arrived and we took on fuel and washed all the salt off Spunky's decks.

This trip has such mixed feelings for us. We met some wonderful and extraordinary people who we will hope to keep as friends and stayed in some beautiful places that I may never have had the opportunity to see without our trip on Spunky. Our sadness is so great that we lost our little Moose in a car accident and he will forever rest in our hearts and on a bluff overlooking the Sea of Abaco.

Now we return to the Chesapeake to have repairs and maintenance done to Spunky and ourselves and to regroup and figure out the next step in our journey.

Our plan now is to make our way up the ICW and visit with some friends along the way and perhaps sail up the Potomac to anchor close to DC to be able to see our children and DC friends using the metro for transportation around the area.

It has been such a blessing to hear from all of you over the past 4 months and we hope to see many of you over the next several months. During our trials we were reminded how important you all are to us. You all encouraged us to continue our dream and enjoyed it along with us. You were there with encouraging words when boat systems failed and during my medical crises. You cheered our successes and Moose's new sailing skills. Words cannot describe what that has meant to us.

Please continue to stay in touch with us and share your lives and adventures as we will with you,

Love to you all,
Elyse and John