Cats Cradle Southbound

Cats Cradle was hauled out at Yankee Point Sailboat Marina (our usual spot) the end of September after spending a few days in nearby Hills Creek on the Corrotoman visiting with friends. While "on the hard" the travel lift had a malfunction which caused it to partially fall into the water (see pictures.) Concerned if we would get launched when we were ready, we continued working on. Temporary repairs made the travel lift serviceable and as we were nearing completion of fresh bottom paint the weather decided to not co-operate. It was then we were informed permanent repair was scheduled for the following Monday and the lift would be out of service for 2 weeks! If we were ready first thing Monday AM they could still launch us. It stopped raining but turned very cold that last weekend and barely warmed to 50 degrees, minimum painting temperature. For 3 straight days record temps were set for the lowest high temperature on those dates. It felt more like December than October. But we finished and were launched on time. We have been proceding south since, making stops in Gloucester Point, Portsmouth and Deep Creek (Chesapeake) seeing friends. Gilligan and Scupper had a few dock walking days while in Deep Creek at the dock just after the locks. While exploring too close to the edge of the dock, Scupper slipped in. Luckily Carol was right next to her and pulled her out before her head got wet. We are currently tied up on the bulkhead just before the locks in South Mills, NC waiting for a weather window to cross the Albemarle Sound. It's a good place to wait out weather, no fetch, wi-fi, pizza place and another firefighter friend of Bernie's lives here.