Sold! We are saying a very sad goodbye to our beloved Borealis today. For some 2 years, 18 island countries, and 6,500 miles she was our home and safely carried us on an epic sailing adventure along the U.S. East Coast and through the Caribbean islands. We explored many new places, saw so much beauty, met countless new friends, and had the experience of a lifetime! We couldn’t have asked for a more dependable boat, and Borealis made the journey so much easier for two rookie cruisers. After several years of full-time travel, we are excited to be settling into land-based life in our new home state of Wisconsin, where we’re enjoying being closer to family and old friends but also bracing ourselves for our first winter in several years. ☃️ Farewell, Borealis, you’ll be dearly missed, but we know you’ll be fulfilling the dreams of another sailor very soon! ⛵️💙🌴#hallbergrassy #hr37 #sailing #adventure #cruising #drone #dronephotography 
As we return to land-based life, our beloved Borealis, a 2005 Hallberg-Rassy 37, is available for sale. She is an amazing cruising boat and ready for her new crew and next adventure. Details are available at the link in our profile ☝🏼. 
We’ve made our way to just south of Annapolis, MD to Shipwright Harbor Marina, where we took a slip (thanks @opiebea) for a few weeks to transition back to life ashore and to get our beloved Borealis ready for sale. The time has flown by as we’ve knocked out boat and life projects, met with friends, bought a car, pet Bob the yard cat, and tried to beat the Chesapeake Bay heat on the lovely grounds of the marina. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #md #deale #drone #dronephotography #marina #cat 
We spent 16 years in Washington, DC, and nearby historic Annapolis was always our favorite escape; it is just far enough from DC to feel a world away, yet close enough to go for a day to watch the boats in the harbor. If there is any silver lining from the pandemic, we found it back in Annapolis where the city closes the streets around the downtown at night and all the great pubs and restaurants are allowed to setup spacious outdoor seating. We indulged in all our favorites (and some twice) over the few days we were there, and it was also a special treat to run into the crew of the sailing school that got us into sailing, as they were docked with a group of new students in Ego Alley. #sailing #cruising #annapolis #md #outdoorseating 
After nearly two years of cruising the Caribbean, we made the trip from Norfolk, VA up the Chesapeake Bay to our starting place and home port of Annapolis, MD! What a feeling to pass through our once familiar weekend cruising grounds again, but now with so many more miles and stories under our keel. For us, this achieves the goal we set for ourselves... a sailing adventure that we’d use as a transition period from our busy lives in Washington, D.C. to “something different” afterwards. The after is becoming more clear, and excitement is high, as we plan a move back to our home state of Wisconsin to reconnect with sorely missed friends and family. But for now, we are celebrating our return and enjoying our final month or so on Borealis, while squaring away those little life details that will allow for a successful re-entry to “real life”! #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #chesapeakebay #annapolis #md #norfolk #drone #dronephotography #lighthouse 
After a couple days waiting in Cape Lookout, NC to see if the weather would clear for an offshore run around Cape Hatteras to the Chesapeake Bay, it became clear that if we wanted to keep moving north we’d need to trek inland through the Intracoastal Waterway. After all the ocean sailing we’ve been doing the last few weeks, we were actually ready for some motoring through the mostly calm, protected rivers and canals of the ICW. Along the way, we camped out in some of the most tranquil anchorages of the trip and were visited by all kinds of wildlife, including dolphins, eagles, water birds and hundreds of dragonflies. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #icw #chesapeakebay #dragonfly #dronephotography 
We weren’t able to launch the drone when we stopped at Cape Lookout, NC on our sail south in 2018, so even though we had overcast and squally weather the whole time we were there, Nick was determined to find a window to see the anchorage from above. Persistence paid off, as the rain and winds subsided for a few hours affording us great views of the tidal areas and lighthouse on the eastern shore. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #capelookout #nc #drone #dronephotography 
It’s been great taking advantage of the longer daylight hours as we’ve been working our way north, and we did just that on our long daysail from Wrightsville Beach, NC to Cape Lookout. After 12 hours offshore, we arrived to the protected National Seashore outside of Beaufort, NC just in time for a quick row ashore to walk the sandy tidal areas and watch the sun dip below the horizon. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #northcarolina #wrightsvillebeach #capelookout #beach #sunrise 
Just up the coast from Carolina Beach, NC is the city’s bigger brother, Wrightsville Beach, where we spent a night anchored and bumming around waiting on weather. The vacation spot and suburb of Wilmington was alive, even during the work week, with boats zooming along the sound and people out enjoying the beaches. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #northcarolina #wrightsvillebeach #beach #drone #dronephotography 
We cruised north through the marshes behind Cumberland Island, GA and across the Saint Andrew Sound to Jekyll Island, where we filled up the diesel tanks and timed the tides to push us back offshore for a couple more days of sailing up the east coast. It was another downwind sail, which allowed for some successful fishing in between dodging cargo traffic, and gybing the poled-out headsail several times. We came back into port on a weekend morning to Southport, NC and took a mooring ball upriver at the cute vacation town, Carolina Beach, where it was good to see people out and enjoying the beautiful weather along the shore. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #carolinabeach #northcarolina #sunset #fishing 
Just across the inlet from Fernandina Beach, FL is Cumberland Island National Seashore, a unique place we visited over a few cold days in November 2018 on our way south. The island is home to interesting artifacts like the ruins of a Carnegie estate, lots of little creatures, and never ending beaches — and seeing them all without a warm coat was a welcome change from our last visit. The highlight was spying a few armadillos foraging along the trails, an animal we never saw in the wild until we visited here. #sailing #cruising #hallbergrassy #florida #georgia #cumberlandisland #horses #armadillo #frog #dolphins #beaches #flowers 
We stayed on a Fernandina Harbor Marina mooring for a few nights, mainly to have access to their laundry facilities, but an added perk was using their complimentary beach cruiser bikes. We used them a few different times to explore the cute town and beach and grab provisions at the Publix grocery a few miles south. Undoubtedly, the best place the bikes took us was to a popular Mexican restaurant called Peppers, where we indulged in our first socially distanced dinner in months on their outdoor terrace. #sailing #cruising #fernandinabeach #florida #bike #lifeguard #beach #sunset