
GTFOplan #86: Unfixed Bridge & Anchorage Mess! What's Going On?
Join us as we sail from Atlantic City to Baltimore on our Balance 482 Catamaran. We stopped for a night of sleep in a sneaky anchorage in the Delaware Bay. There was a 3 knot current which made GoTFO?? face the current rather than the wind while at anchor. After slow-rolling to catch a favorable current, we motored through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal under numerous bridges. Dennis added padding to our drain to prevent vibration noises when our engines were at low idle. What a relief! We were shocked to see the Baltimore Key Bridge is still not repaired after the impact from a container ship that killed 6 workers filling potholes on the bridge. It's been 6 months since that incident. Our cute dog, Schatzi, was excited to walk on land after 2 days on GoTFO??. And we had the best time exploring an adorable section, Canton, in Baltimore, Maryland. We loved our anchorage and will stop there again but our anchor pulled up a TON of trash. Ick! We enjoyed reuniting with friends we made in St. Augustine, Florida, on SV Meraki and SV Confetti. As we were leaving, we realized we forgot to pass along some wire to SV Confetti. Dennis's second toss from boat to pier was successful. CREDITS: Circus Waltz - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. CURRENT LOCATION: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV-GTFO/ ABOUT OUR CATAMARAN: We love our new Balance 482 - it's a perfect size for a cruising couple to handle and is a great "balance" of performance and comfort. One of our favorite features is the excellent ventilation since we mostly live as "hookers" (aka at anchor) where the boat automatically turns into the wind so we stay cool and we don't need to battle mold. We also have starlink for easy off-grid life. Our 2400 watt solar panel array also means we rarely need to run an engine to charge our batteries. ABOUT US: We saved for a our future boat, sold everything that we owned, and shipped the rest in a container to Cape Town, South Africa. We then flew there and explored South Africa by way of a safari and touring Cape Town before moving aboard our boat. We then sailed to Saint Helena, Ascension Island, Fernando de Naronha (Brazil), Martinique, Sint Maarten (Dutch and French side), the US Virgin Islands (Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas), the British Virgin Islands (Anegada, Norman Island, Jost van Dyke, and Anegada), The Bahamas (Inagua, Crooked Island, Long Island, George Town, Staniel Cay, the Exumas, and Eleuthera). We then sailed back to the United States, making landfall in Cape Canaveral, Florida. From there our destinations are endless! Both Dennis and Ann grew up military brats with Army fathers. Dennis (the Colonel) served 30 years in the US Army and his retirement pension helped us retire in our 50s. Ann (the ship's Captain) wrote Test Automation in Python and Java. Dennis and Ann met on Match.com where Ann had in her profile "Do you want to sail the world with me?" Ann easily brought Dennis into sailing, and he loved the GTFOplan of retiring early and sailing the world. After many years of saving, living on one income but earning two, and cutting back on everything possible, they saved enough to buy a Balance 482. Follow them as they get real about boat life and all the hassles of buying a new boat because we all know N.E.W. means Not Everything Works. Kisses, Ann & Dennis Twitter: @GTFOplan Facebook: https://facebook.com/anndennis.snellikin.3 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gtfoplan/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/gtfoplan Email: gtfoplan@gmail.com
