Herrington Harbour North
Samba tucked in, ready for Tropical Storm Elsa
We stayed at Herrington Harbour North almost begrudgingly at first. We needed to knock off a couple of major boat projects off of our list, in order to start our adventure as liveaboards. Because we had spent the winter and most of the spring on a mooring, none of the companies we reached out to would do work while the boat was still on a ball. So, we needed to find a slip for a few days to get the work done. Herrington Harbour North was a great option for us because they had a top-notch rigging company and electronics installer right on site. Although the slip was pricey, we were glad for the convenience and the amenities the resort afforded us to be able to check those final projects off the list.
The resort has everything you would need as a cruiser, great showers, laundry facilities, a pool, and a restaurant/bar within walking distance. We did not take advantage of many of the amenities because we were still transitioning onto the boat the few days we were docked there. But the stuff we did use was top notch. It was also a great location on The Bay and we’d highly recommend staying here.
While we were there, East Port Rigging replaced our very old jib furler and MTS replaced our radar. Whenever we told people we had the intention to go up to New England, every person told us we had to get a working radar. We had an old Raymarine radar that did not talk to our fairly new Garmin chart plotter, so we went with a brand new Garmin Fantom radar.
We had a bit of a scare because we were on a time crunch and Hurricane Elsa decided that the three days we booked a slip (months in advance) were the three days she would bless us with her presence. We spent the whole time aggressively updating the radar and hurricane predictions trying to track the storm. In the end, Mother Nature did exactly what she wanted to and luckily chose the evening to blow through the area, with minor impacts to our projects. And gave us a beautiful rainbow following the storm.
It was an emotional final evening at the dock. Brian sold his 2012 Subaru Impreza “Ingrid”, his car for 9 years. Kirsten organized the boat and finished unpacking the produce and provisions. It was an abrupt transition and we probably could have used another week. But they say that you fill the time you have, and we needed to rip the band-aid off eventually. All in all, we enjoyed the Herrington Harbour North Resort and hopefully next time we can enjoy all the amenities the resort has to offer.
Brian sold “Ingrid”, cutting our final tie to land life
