We only had a quick hop today, just under 15 nm back to the marina. Since our grand return home wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow, our only mission for the day was to glide into the marina before 17:00, just in time to give Koko a sip of diesel and a much-needed holding tank pumpout. That meant all morning just hanging out, eating breakfast in the cockpit with the sun on our faces and not a care in the world.

An easy start, but pulling up the anchor? Mud. Everywhere. Honestly, it looked like we’d dug up half the bay. But hey, mud’s got grip—no dragging here. Thankfully, our washdown system did its thing, sparing us from turning into mud wrestlers.

The wind? Forecast said nada. But as soon as we poked out from behind the island, we got a cheeky little breeze, just enough to tempt us. Remembering the mainsail drama from yesterday, we played it smart and unfurled early before hitting the bay. Good call, because the mainsail luff rope tried to escape again, but we wrangled it back and out came all the sails. Not exactly hair-raising speeds, but moving at 2–3 knots under sail was more than expected. With time on our side, off went the engine. Koko just cruised along, all three sails up, looking like a queen. Cutter rig for the win—there’s always a setup that works, even when the wind can’t be bothered. And that code zero? Haven’t tried it yet, but one of these days it’s going to be some epic light-air reaching. Pretty sure we have all the wind angles covered now.

We actually made decent time, had to fire up the engine only near Rock Hall, then glided into the marina with loads of time left for a pumpout and diesel. Docking? Still gets my nerves going, but it’s definitely getting easier. Practice makes… well, not perfect, but less stressful, at least.

After that, Koko got a proper scrub down (she earned it) and then it was showers all around for the crew—long, hot, the works. Fresh clothes and back on the bikes for our classic Blue Heron dinner and a Blue Moon.

It’s become our tradition after every little adventure and honestly, it never disappoints. Looking back, it’s kind of wild how lucky we are to do this stuff. Already looking forward to the next trip.

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