Day 14 Last night in Annapolis Harbor

Wow....2 full weeks since we left Portsmouth, RI. We have travelled 372 miles and look forward to moving toward warmer places. Today we went into town and sat for coffee on the waterfront. Annapolis is such a charming little "city" atmosphere.....especially at this time of year-before the boat show madness starts. We are enjoying our last night here before moving to Back Creek and tie up in a marina to have the water maker installed. It is further from the center and walking for Peter is out of the question with his bad knee. So we will have to dingy somewhere closer and hope for a landing spot. There are boats coming and going each day, not all heading south but we think just getting in the last days of the season. Every day we look forward to watching 3 different clubs send out their little boats to practice. Yesterday the kids were fighting heavy winds, about 3 overturned, but it didn't knock a feather out of them. Today they went out in a torrential rainstorm. This afternoon we saw s/v Arabella, a 3 masted charter cruiser which we have seen around the RI area, pull up at the city dock. It must be heading South to the Bahamas or Caribbean for the winter.

Days 12 & 13 Annapolis Harbor

The Annapolis Bay Bridge-a welcome sight at the end of a long day.
So glad we pushed ourselves on Sunday to get here because the wind has been outrageous. Yesterday it was gusting to 30k but today it has been sustained 25-30k until sundown! Lots of boats came in yesterday...some already for the boat show...have picked out their town mooring for 2 weeks. Yesterday we stayed on the boat to rest-Jane had a relapse of her cold and needed more sleep. Today we both rallied and went into the city dock to do laundry and get on land again. Pretzel loved it.....sniffing & otherwise everyplace she could. In the afternoon we took a dingy ride up Spa Creek under the draw bridge and were absolutely amazed at the number of boats, private docks, town moorings, and boats anchored there. It was chock-a-block full. We saw a boat Peter met in Northeast Harbor, ME and another boat fueling in Cape May who live in Key West winters and work at West Marine. It was really an eye opener to us since we have only seen Annapolis by car. Hopefully tomorrow we can take a dingy tour of Back Creek where our marina will be starting Oct. 1. Apparently they block off the two rows of town moorings for the boat show to build out their docks. I assume it will start sometime this weekend or Monday.

Arriving in Annapolis at 1 hour before sunset. Peter decided to relax, finally with a scotch on the rocks.

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Day 11 Annapolis, MD

YEAH....FINALLY WE GET TO STOP AND TAKE A BREATH!!!!

Actually we are very happy to have arrived in Annapolis. We woke at 8:30 to lots of rain in our little anchorage and contemplated staying there for the day. Peter fixed a hot breakfast of eggs, toast, and sausage, and Jane felt slightly worse than yesterday, probably because of the stress from the long trip. We decided to leave anyway by 9:30 because the rain started to end and the prediction was for an end to fog and rain by 11AM. We motored to the end of the C&D canal and were just crossing the Bohemia River when we were engulfed with rain and fog. On went the radar and fog horn but the channel is so narrow and it was new territory with lots of shoaling outside the markers so we turned around and dropped anchor at the mouth of the river. There were 2 boats who were in Cape May with us just waiting out the storm also. Within a half hour it completely cleared and off we went again. We're becoming such pros at anchoring!!! It's becoming Jane's second favorite thing to do......besides turning on the fog horn. The trip from there was uneventful and not too much to look at. The Chesapeake Bay is huge...more than Narraganset Bay and sometimes you feel as though you are offshore in the ocean. Today being Sunday (we think) there were only 2 large commercial ships crossing our paths. We thought we would go half way to Annapolis along the East coast but once there we could see the Annapolis Bay Bridge, only 10 miles away, and decided to go for it. We pulled in and picked up a town mooring at 6PM. They are first come first serve and there were only 5 left. We decided to stay here, right downtown Annapolis until we move to the boatyard Thursday to have our water maker installed. We will post pictures and news now every couple of days until we hit the waterway again in 2 weeks. Maybe we will see some boating friends while here?!

By the way....this message is for our friend in Florida. We are sitting on big canoe, sipping fire water, listening to missionary music ashore. Wish you were here!!!

Day 10 Chesapeake City, MD on the C&D Canal

Are we there yet????????

Today Jane woke feeling better than yesterday but not great. After checking the weather we decided that we had to leave today to go up the Delaware or we would be stuck for another 2-3 days. All we had to get through was going around the point of Cape May. Well.....there are shoals extending WAY OUT beyond the point and it was about an extra 5-6 nautical miles to our trip. There is a great canal from Cape May into Delaware Bay but the bridges are only 55' high. We need 59-60 to be on the safe side. So leaving Cape May the winds East 15-20k and waves were 5-6' breaking close together. It wasn't pleasant at all. Pretzel was zipped inside her carry case, tied to the radar arch, wrapped in a down bag, Jane was bundled beside Peter holding on with a death grip, praying, and Peter was hand steering through the waves. He is the hero in this story!!!! Anyway once in Delaware Bay the conditions were suppose to improve but actually didn't for the first 5 hours. We were in a better angle to the waves and had our storm sail out to stabilize us but the wind stayed strong. We saw about 7 other sailboats going along our route-in fact we passed out 4 of them (it's always a race when other boats are nearby) and even passed out a large barge being pushed by a tug!!!! We had the current with us and averaged 7-8k for speed. Where Delaware Bay narrows and you can see land on both sides it becomes the Delaware River, or so the charts say. Once passing the Salem Nuclear Power Plant we knew the end was in sight. Only 5 miles to the C&D Canal. This canal is 13 miles long and connects the Delaware River with Chesapeake Bay. We entered the canal with only 10 miles to go.....about 1.5 hours. No waves, no wind, but it started to rain #*@# it!!! We pulled into this little anchorage along the canal at mile 10 and dropped the hook (anchor) at 7PM. It was a very long 10 hour day. Peter made dinner and then Jane went to bed. We'll see what tomorrow brings! We think today was the last time being in the open ocean. From now on we should be in the intracoastal waterway. It wasn't hard to tell....the canal water definitely doesn't look like ocean water. (Turned off that salt water flush toilet!!)

Hey...does this look familiar?? It's on the C&D canal!!

Day 9 Staying put in Cape May

This morning the wind was howling out of the North, the air was cold, and it was raining. Jane woke with a full blown head cold which Peter had last week. She is spending the day in bed sleeping and taking vitamin C. Peter is doing some grocery shopping. The marina guys are really nice...offered to drive Peter to the grocery store. On a day like this, when you are sick, it's really nice to have a warm comfortable cabin and saloon (opps...typo, I meant salon). We really are happy to have bought this boat for the comfort factor alone.



Two spaces along the dock from us is a boat from Newport, Seafari II, with a family of 4. They have been living aboard since August, docked in NEB to have some work done, and are also heading South for the first time. They are planning to head straight to the Carribbean from Norfolk with the help of a few friends from Newport. Peter is looking at the charts of Delaware Bay. Once again there is so much shoaling and shallow areas on eith side of the shipping channel....and the river is HUGE!!! Timing the tide and wind will be everything on this trip. NOAH has small craft warnings up today and tomorrow for the entrance to the bay with 6+ foot waves. Not to mention the waves kicked up by commercial ships!

Day 8 Cape May, NJ

Wow! Last night we sat on deck just looking across at the casinos lit up. It really was an impressive sight but we could not get a good picture of it. Unlike this morning, we woke to large fishing boats motoring by, lots of trash floating in the water, and the low tide smell was terrible. Next time we would definitely skip Atlantic City by water.

We were up at 6:30, still mostly dark, and could not leave because our starboard running light is out and we have not been able to get a bulb to fit. So at 7:30, engine & instruments on and ....OMG the depth reading was flashing 0.0-0.1. Well ,we tried to move slightly forward and the boat remained at the dock. So....engine off, instruments off, and we sat to have cereal and wait for the tide to come in, trying to ignore the odorous emmanations coming from the area. An hour later the depth was reading 0.5 so Peter moved forward and it was just enough to turn to starboard and get into the small channel.

Once out into the Atlantic conditions were perfect. The water was relatively calm, 1-2' rolling waves, partly sunny, warm air, and 10k winds from WSW. We had both sails up for quite a while while motor sailing and made the 33-35 NM in a record 5 hours. Our speed was 7-8k most of the way. We are at a nice little marina, South Jersey, which has a washer/dryer which we were anxious to use. We have been on the boat now for 8 days and only off on land 3 times.

It looks like we will be here for a few days now because the weather is turning. Small craft warnings out for Fri & Sat. and the wind is wrong for travelling the Delaware River. We will poke around Cape May, do some grocery shopping, and clean.

Day 7 Atlantic City

Peter was up at 6AM out checking on the status of anchor, boats, and weather. Just after he crawled back into bed it started to rain. That was the end of sleeping so we decided to get up, make coffee and map out our day. Three of the boats who were anchored with us were leaving but after checking our satellite weather program we decided to wait an hour since there was a huge cell of heavy rain over us. So at 8:30, anchor up, and away we went. Once out of the bay we actually had rain on & off most of the way along the coast and the waves were 3' rollers. Not too uncomfortable but a little cold and soggy. Every now & again the sun came out to tease us before the next rain cloud descended. Pretzel was a real trooper, staying in her little case, but we had to wrap it in a garbage bag to keep her dry. The wind prediction was way off. There were mostly 15+k winds and right on our bow so we couldn't put any sail out to help.

All of a sudden we saw Atlantic City in the distance. A number of really large buildings sitting right on the beach. The clouds were hanging over the tops of the buildings. They seemed so close but were another 5 nautical mile away....an hour by boat. We called ahead for a dock tie up at Gardiners Basin....attached to the Atlantic City Aquarium. The price was right---$1.50 per foot of boat...a far cry from Trump's marina at $5.00 a foot!!!! We are sitting here looking across at Trump Towers and Harrah's complex. No gambling though.
We spent the rest of our day having a little "Tiki Bar" drink next door and then reading & watching boat traffic.

Day 6 Barneget Bay, NJ

We had a great night's sleep after a long day yesterday. By 8AM we motored to the fuel dock in Sandy Hook to top up our fuel tank and by 8:30 were off. We decided to not wait for s/v Auto Voyager because we wanted to get going as far as we could. Atlantic City would have been 10-12 hours and our starboard running light is out so we can not motor after dark now. So our destination was to be Barneget Bay, NJ. We radioed ahead to another boat who made the NYC passage yesterday with us, s/v Symmetry. They were also headed to the same location so we stayed in touch during the day. The New Jersey coastline is just ocean to the left and beach, houses, condos to the right. A straight line all the way South. The weather was really good, calm seas, but the wind was on our nose at 10k and it was cloudy, making the passage kind of cold. Today we travelled about 40-45 miles...another 8.5 hour day. After 2 hours we picked up some current and were able to average about 6.2k. Our main sail went up after 3 hours, tight into the wind, and that added another few tenths to our speed. We heard from yesterdays "angels" who guided us through NYC, s/v Auto Voyager, and they were headed right to Atlantic City, arriving around 10PM. Part way through the voyage Jane had the helm and noticed our GPS was losing all detail around Manasquam Inlet. Well, that created a few extra heartbeats because our destination is know for being a shallow inlet prone to shoaling!!!! And we did not have a paper chart. One of our oversights in buying charts & guides was the New Jersey Coast. In fact none of the guide books list Barneget Bay as a stop over for sailboats!!! So Peter called Navionics (Thank God for cell phones) and they guided him through changing the chip without having to turn off the navigation or autopilot! We thought our New England chip was good to Cape May but it wasn't! Anyway we made it into Barneget Inlet by 4:30PM. We drifted through a little sand bar just before reaching the anchorage field but are now happily swinging for the night on our anchor. Jane is enjoying her glass of wine, Pretzel is sleeping again, and Peter is reading Latts & Atts. Tomorrow we head for Atlantic City, hopefully!!

Day 5 Sandy Hook, NJ

This was a lazy morning and cold. Frost formed on the hatches for the first time. We slept until 7:30. The plan was to leave after 8:30 to get the Southwest current along the sound to City Island. Today we planned to travel about 35 nautical miles so we could take our time in the morning. Peter filled the water tanks and washed the decks, which were covered in salt from our rough crossing to Block and Shelter Island. Jane worked on yesterday's blog and cleaned a little below. We left the marina at 9:45AM and had a current all the way to City Island. At noontime we saw the skyline of NYC in the distance and excitement started to build. Once we were close to City Island Jane hailed on the VHF for a mooring. There are no moorings, only slips. Welcome to New York!
As we pondered what to do we heard 2 sailboats just ahead of us ,on the VHF who were planning to go through the city. The East River at Wall St. was closed until 7PM and again 7AM tomorrow for security reasons. That would have given us a big problem getting through tomorrow so after chatting with one boat we decided to followed it (s/v Auto Voyager) all the way through the East River, Hell Gate, and New York Bay to Sandy Hook. We've made our first acquaintance along the route South, Judy & Bob. Thanks so much for your advice today!!!
The currents going through the East River and Hell Gate section were very strong. Our boat maxed out at 13.4k, which we have never seen before! Because of the security restrictions on the East River we did not meet any large commercial tankers passing to Long Island. That made our trip easy and more enjoyable! Jane managed to take the wheel for about an hour trying to maneuver the currents and all the ferries and water taxis. The waterway is just as busy as the streets in NYC. We crossed under 10 bridges along the way. Only 1 bridge had to be raised because we could not pass through the west side of the East River near Wall St. and the UN.
There was so much to see that we could not begin to describe it all. So we have added lots of pictures. New York is awesome from the water!!!

The pictures are in order of our passage. The East River, NYC skyline at Newark Airport and under the bridges, Hell Gate (where the East River turns and the Bronx River joins it), The UN and Empire State Bldg., Lady Liberty, and the end of Manhattan where the World Trade Center Stood.

Day 4 Port Jefferson NY

In order to take advantage of the currents we were up at 5:30 AM. FREEZING COLD!!!!! Donning long underwear and wearing full sailing gear we started off the mooring by 6AM. Current was taking us along at 8k towards Plum Gut. This is the passage way between Long Island Sound and Gardiner Bay....similar to Woods Hole but way less complicated! Beautiful sunrise on the way!Approaching Plum Gut our speed increased and topped out at 10.9k going through. On the other side the water looked like it was boiling!!!

Once we settled down for our easy trip to Port Jefferson we were a little warmed by the sun and no wind. Motor sailing was the order of the day. Long Island currents were definitely in our favor. Our constant speed was between 9k and 9.5k all the way. We travelled apx. 53 nautical miles today and made the trip in 5 hours under engine power. We thought it would be an 8 hour day!

Jane's high school friend, Kathy Giglio, and her husband, Frank, joined us on board in Port Jefferson. We all turn 60 this year and have been celebrating every decade birthday since turning 30. Yikes...that was so long ago! They brought shrimp, olives, mozzarella, bread & wine so we munched through the late afternoon. Then dinner ashore, birthday cheesecake for dessert and finally a goodbye. Time for bed.

Day 3 Derring Harbor, Shelter Island

Last night we both were tossing & turning from the loud splashing and rattling around the boat. Winds were 20k and higher from the North so waves were funneling in through the Block Island harbor entrance. Glad to be on a mooring!!! Conditions did not look better at 6AM and were afraid we would have to stay another day. The bright spot was Pretzel! Another day of doing her business on the boat-thank goodness because we would be very wet taking the dingy ashore. By 10:30 the winds were calmer so off we went. Between Block and Montaugue, NY there were 3ft waves and winds 15-18k. We were able to use both sails reefed to stabilize the boat and made great time with the current. Arrived in Derring Harbor at 4:30, filled the fuel tank and picked up a mooring. We plan to leave early tomorrow...6AM to get the benefit of currents east through Plum Gut and then southwest to Port Jefferson. Apparently there is a festival across the water in Greenport and we might see fireworks at 9...if still awake.

Day 2 Block Island Again

We were up and ready to go at 6:30AM to take advantage of the currents toward Long Island. Peter had slept through since 7PM the night before....not feeling better but still not any worse. Pretzel promptly did all her business on the poop deck-and received a treat for it. Thank goodness she didn't forget how to go on the boat. NOAA predicted small craft warnings of 2-3ft seas with winds of WSW 14-17K. Well we managed to get out around R2 outside the channel, turned 278' toward Long Island and made the quick decision after 15 min. or so to turn around and head back. Conditions were worse than yesterday. Wind was sustained 22K with gusting 25-27K and we were crashing over 4-6' waves. We had the strongest current with us but were only going 2.3K over ground when we should have been able to move at least 5K. With Peter not feeling well we decided to head back into Block Island and have another day of R&R. Hopefully Peter will benefit from this. The sun is out and sitting out of the wind it is OK. Jane thinks it's pay back for leaving without paying for the mooring!! Stay tuned and hopefully we will move tomorrow.

The Poop Deck

Poop Deck flush

Day 1 The adventure begins!

We were determined to leave on Thursday morning as planned but the greatest plans are made to be cancelled...or postponed. We woke to really cold temps and found our heater not working. Brr! Jane went to do a last load of laundry at 7:30 and Peter was able to get Ocean Options to come over and diagnose the problem. With no car we were limited on doing anything else and did not want to sit on the dock. Once people started coming for the weekend it would be more difficult to get away..not only those good bys all over again. Our heater was fixed by 11:30, just a disconnected wire forgotten after solar panel installation. So $95 dollars later we reversed from the dock, fueled up, and started out Narragansett Bay, saying good byee to everything we saw. Good bye NEB. Goodbye Prudence Island. Goodbye Jamestown & Newport. It is a little daunting and bittersweet but we look forward to new adventures ahead. Our sail to Block Island was under 6-8 ft following seas for 4 hours heading southwest so we were happy to arrive. It is deserted and we had our pick of moorings. No one answered our call in near 5PM and no one came out to collect $ so we will see in the morning. Peter is not feeling well...cold symptoms-possibly mild flu but he is resting & drinking lots of water. Once we leave Block Island tomorrow it is all virgin territory so there should be no problem finding us on the GPS tracker. Wish us luck!

Back to the boat.

Sept. 14 we left our beautiful house to fly back to Providence. Pretzel was booked onto the flight & after a little whining while waiting for take off she promptly fell asleep in her carrier under the seat. After 2 hours Jane had to use the facilities and upon returning to the seat.....Pretzel was awake and out onto Peter's lap. He is such a pushover. Anyway we were very happy with the "dog" experience and glad Pretzel got her wings. So now maybe she can go with us to Colorado sometime! Once back we reprovisioned and made some visits to family and friends. It's hard to keep saying goodby over and over.

A little Florida Fun

We wasted no time getting used to the weather again. It is so similar to the Irish weather reports. Sunny with clouds and rain in the afternoon. Rain is an understatement! Deluge is more like it. Every afternoon we had thunder storms with 1-2" of rain. We actually had to drain some water out of the pool to keep it from overflowing! Peter and Jane both played golf, ate out a few times, and went to Downtown Disney for an evening & an ice cream!!!

Pretzel, the gecko hunter

Yesterday Jane discovered 2 large geckos residing in our screened pool area. Peter tried, unsuccessfully, to trap them in a container. They are very fast little buggers. Pretzel thought this was great fun so she raised her tail and perked her ears up into hunting mode and started chasing real and imagined geckos. We haven't seen her move so fast in a long time! She looked like a puppy playing.

Today we had a home visit from the resident vet in our community. He is just wonderful, examined Pretzel and talked to us about her and our plans for about an hour...all for the wonderful price of $25.00!!! Anyway he told us that she has a heart murmur, grade 2, and explained the symptoms that we should look for if it gets worse. Right now she is ok. The good news is that it is very treatable with meds and all we have to do is call our vet and he will call in a prescription to any pharmacy. Any canine specific medication we can order from petmeds.com with his prescription. Our little girl is getting older but we feel so good about this new vet. He is willing to work with us while on the boat through phone calls and tell us what we can do and if we need to see another vet. He gave us a list of things to keep on the boat for Pretzel and talked about her upcoming plane flight back to Providence. This was a big worry for us wondering how to handle sickness, injuries, etc. with her. Now if it could only work with our medical doctors!!!

Back home again

September 29 we were on the road at 4:15AM returning to Florida. We have to deliver our car and leave it there then fly North September 14. We then plan to start our trek South on the Inter Coastal Waterway. After a grueling 16 hour drive to Georgia on Saturday, our drive home on Sunday was finished in only 5 hours. Record time thanks to Peter's speed control option!!

September 30 home again! After unpacking and cranking down the AC temperature we took off to our friends house, Fred & Verena. It was party time celebrating a myriad of things....good medical news, a new grandchild, return of the prodigal sailors, and a $10,000 win at the casino...congratulations Howie. Nice to see all our Solivita friends again. Time for some R & R, pool cool off, visiting with friends, maybe a little Disney or Sea World, and a little golf.