Spring

Spring has come early to the Chesapeake. . . really early in fact.  Not that we're complaining, mind you.  The trees are already in bud weeks earlier than usual, and cold weather has disappeared from the long term forecast.

One of the great joys of living aboard (or of any kind of cruising for that matter) is the opportunity to get off the dock and explore.  So we've been taking sojourns to one of our favorite places here on the upper Bay:  Marshy Point Nature Center.  The place is accessible by bus, car, or boat, has several miles of really nice, marked hiking trails, and a wonderful educational center with some really fun and interesting programs open to the public, that and a cool osprey-cam on a nest out in the middle of a platform in dundee creek (at https://www.marshypoint.org/learn-more/dundee-creek-cam/)

So on a pretty, warmish morning in our all too early spring, we went hiking.  The Vernal Pond is full of peepers at the moment, the cacophony of frogs and toads and other critters can be deafening in the early mornings.

It's amazing the racket a bunch of little frogs can make.

Green is breaking out all over.  The lycopodium, a type of club moss and one of the only explosive plants of which I'm familiar (look it up), are starting to cover the wet forest floor.

Lycopodium is one of the first real signs that warmer weather is just around the corner. 

Take the opportunity to get out and off the boat for a bit after the winter's chill and stretch your legs.  Its a good way to limber up, get some exercise, and avoiding crowds right now with the Coronavirus spreading is probably a good thing.

This is one time of year that "take a hike" isn't insulting someone.

We're deep into spring prep here aboard Constellation, chasing down an irritating little fuel leak on our old Atomic 4 engine, figuring out how to store the dockside amenities that we've used all winter, and, in general, planning on destinations.  In the coming weeks we'll be doing a haul and hang to pull out our old Blackwater system (I despise the things) and replace it with a composting head, tuning our standing rigging, and making ready for sea.

So it's spring?  Where will you go?  We can't wait to be back out on the water.  See you out there.

M