Time: 11:30 local
Lat: 34 23.9’N
Log: 76 18.6 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 274 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 265 NM

After a slow and difficult night rounding Cape Hatteras, much of it motoring straight into the wind and a sloppy sea, the weather front that was predicted has passed. The wind is now behind us, and it has picked up a lot, running 25 to 30 knots. The waves are larger and further apart, and it is pouring rain.

Last night we listened on the radio as the Coast Guard sent out a helicopter to rescue three people off a sailboat who had run aground and was taking on water.

But… in our enclosed cockpit it is warm and dry, the autopilot is doing the tedious work, we are sailing fast, 7.5 to 8 knots, and as I write this we are surrounded by a pod of spotted dolphin who are putting on quite the show. Darting around the boat having a grand time, and several times now six of them kept out of the water together at least 8 feet into the air right in front of the boat.

So, windy and rough–but all is good.