In the old days before cellphones when a ship was getting ready to leave harbor it needed to recall its crew from shore leave. This was done with a flag signal.  For some reason the signal flag representing the letter “P” was used to tell crew and passengers that the ship was ready to leave, and you had best make all haste to get aboard. The flag became colloquially know as the “Blue Peter.”

So today we “hoist the Blue Peter.”  We have full water tanks, full fuel tanks.  Laundry is done.  Provisions are set in.  All repairs are complete, and major preventative maintenance projects wrapped up.  The dust, dirt, and bird droppings from a stay next to land have been washed off.  The boat and we are ready for sea. We will be underway first thing tomorrow morning.

We expect our next landfall to be near Hilton Head, South Carolina.  The passage should take 4 to 5 days.  The weather forecast  predicts light and contrary winds for the first part of our trip, the 120 miles down the Chesapeake Bay.  Once through that, the ocean trip looks easy and fast.