Still in Deltaville

We spent Saturday night in Solomon Island at anchor. We had a quiet night but woke to dense fog Sunday morning. We waited till almost 9 AM but the anchorage and channel was still socked in. When we got out onto the bay it was clear and we had a good and sunny trip.

This coming Sunday it will be two weeks since we arrived here in Deltaville. Most of the warranty work has been done, we are waiting for the finish of the gelcoat work. The weather has not been cooperating, it has been very cold and we have had some rain. The work they are doing has been more extensive than we expected. When we entered Manasquan inlet the current caught the boat and drove us onto a bridge abutment. Larry was able to recover steerage and drive us off but not without some injury to the boat. We have been very happy to find out that there has been no structural damage just cosmetic damage to the gelcoat. Our trip has been an adventurous one that is for sure.

Last Tuesday we rented a car and drove to Duck, NC in the Outer Banks to visit with Patience and Steve and his family. It rained when we arrived but the sun came out Wednesday and Thursday. It was a bit cooler than last year when we visited. We relaxed and took several walks on the beach. Patience and Steve saw a large pod of Dolphins the day before. I'm anxious to see the Dolphins again myself. Patience and I collected sand washed shells for making jewelry. It was a great visit, I just wish it could have been longer. The pictures are of Patience shelling with me on the beach and Larry surf fishing.

We arrived back in Deltaville Thursday evening had dinner with Amy and Doug. The four of us decided to keep the car and do some sightseeing while we waited for our work to be done.

Friday Larry , Amy and I drove to Gloucester to the super Wal*Mart to do some provisioning. It works better with a vehicle.

Saturday we drove to Yorktown for their waterfront celebration. We got to tour replica tall ships and to watch military reenactments and to shop in a replica village. What fun!

Sunday after church we drove to Urbana a small town just Northwest on the Rappahannock. It was a rainy day and most of the shops were closed but it was fun. This weekend they have a big oyster festival but we won't have a car, maybe next year.

Monday we drove to Colonial Williamsburg and spent the entire day going from building to building reliving the past. Larry and I have been several times but we never get tired of returning it always seems different.

Tuesday we had to return the car but before we did we made use of it for another trip to Wal*Mart. Of course we have been here for so long it will be time to shop again before we leave.

Annapolis, MD

We left Cape May early Wednesday morning and arrived in Chesapeake City late that evening. When we left the channel we decided to not follow the shore line closely, the waves were breaking at the mouth and with the shoals around the cape we were figuring we would have a rough ride. It didn't make a great deal of difference because it was rough out in the open. We were glad to round the cape and proceed up the Delaware Bay and on into the river. It was the most chop we have had on the Delaware. It was a long day but we had the current and tide with us and were at times going 9.3 knots on our GPS reading which is speed over ground. When we came near the Cape and could see the Cape May Light House it brought back memories of a trip I made with two friends of mine Colleen and Mary. We had come to Atlantic City for a convention and drove to Cape May to see the light house. It was in November and very cold, needless to say we didn't get out of the car. The view is very different from the water.

My friend Colleen ask if the colors are beautiful, so the picture is for her. We have not seen vivid color until now. The leaves are finally starting to change. I think we have been chasing the season and missing the color until now. The cold temperatures we have been getting at night are turning the leaves fast.

Yesterday morning, Thursday, we left a little later than usual from Chesapeake City. It felt good to sleep in for a change. I cooked breakfast for us and we ate before we left the dock. We have been leaving quite early and eating under way, so this was a treat. The tide was against us on this leg until late in the day and we were doing around 5 knots a big difference from the day before. We expected to get a boost when the tide switched but instead we lost a knot. Amy and Doug were coming up on us fast and at first we didn't understand what was going on. I said to Larry it's like we are dragging a drogue anchor. We decided to stop and put the boat into reverse just to see, sure enough a crab pot had caught on our keel and we were dragging it. We seem to have the luck lately of picking up things in the water. Our speed increased by 2 knots after we broke free.

We arrived in Annapolis around 4:30 PM last evening and set anchor and settled in for the evening. Of course the wind picked up but we slept sound in spite of it. We took our time getting around this morning at least til the sun came up. The temperature plummeted to 40 degrees last night and is going down to 30 tonight. We spent the day at the boat show, the power boat show seeing as we missed the sail boat show. It was fun to see the very large power boats and the vendors are mostly the same for both shows.

Tomorrow we will leave early and travel the Chesapeake Bay to Solomon's Island.

Hitch Hiker In Cape May, NJ

We left Manasquan yesterday and arrived in Atlantic City around 4:00 PM. We stayed at Historic Gardiner Marina. The price per foot was $1.50 compared to $4.00 a foot at the casino/ marinas. We were all a bit nervous as we exited the Manasquan channel after the rough ride on Sunday. The waves were still around 5 foot and the wind was about 5 to 10 knots. We carried our sails for most of the trip, which kept the boat steady motor sailing.

We left Atlantic City at sun rise this morning. The ocean was quite flat with 1 to 2 foot waves. The wind was on our nose most of the trip so we didn't sail for very long. If you look close at the picture you can see our visiting hitch hiker on the deck of the boat. This little bird was a welcome intrusion to our morning. He posed while I took several shots of him/her. I have looked in my bird books but the only picture close is a Dark-eyed Junco but if that is what he is, he sure was lost. Junco's according to my reference says they live in the mountains, woods and bush. Oh well he sure was cute but flew away when I tried to give him a cracker. I guess Polly didn't want one.

We had a little excitement today in route. While Larry was down below taking a shower I felt the boat hit something. Of course the first thing that came to mind was my whale sighting two days ago. The boat began to vibrate and the lines were doing the shimmy. I slowed down and put the boat into reverse thinking we had picked up some weeds but nothing came away from the prop. I then put it into neutral as Larry requested and took it out of gear and gave it some throttle. Larry checked the engine, it didn't vibrate. Something had to be on the prop. Only one thing to do, dive over the side, wrong not me. Poor Larry he just had a shower. He put his suit on and over the side he went. He was down there for a while and when he came up was holding a very large plastic bag. It had been under the water where it couldn't be seen and when we went over it, it wrapped around the prop. After a second shower and we were under way again I shared with Larry how lucky I felt that he was able to take care of the problem.

Tomorrow we will be under way around 7:00 AM and plan to be anchored in Chesapeake City.

Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey

We stayed put another day at Half Moon Marina, the weather just doesn't want to cooperate with us. We left there Saturday morning and traveled to Liberty Park to anchor out for the night. You can see by the picture the sky was very overcast, just a very dull day. By the time we arrived in NYC the sun started to come out and shone on the city as we passed by the Statue Of Liberty. It was not quite out when we passed by the Empire State Building. It still is impressive even with out the sun.

We had a quite night and rose early to pull up anchor and leave by 7:00 AM. The seas were very high, 4 to 8 feet with winds less than 2 knots. It is very different on the ocean compared to the lake when the seas are big. On the lake it would be a rough ride because the frequency is quick and the waves crest, on the ocean they are at a longer frequency and they are more of a swell. All was well until we got to Manasquan Inlet. The tide was going out as the large waves were coming in. I was to busy holding on to go below to pick up what went flying off the shelves. It was good to get to the dock and wait until the tide stopped going out. Things will stay clam until the next tide change.

While we were on the ocean I got a thrill of a life time, a whale surfaced about 50 feet away from the port bow side of the boat. At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing. I can say I'm sure glad he surfaced that far away from the boat and not under it, he was much bigger than us. While we traveled last year there was constantly whale watch being requested on the VHF but until now we had not seen any.

Tomorrow we plan to be in Atlantic City for the night.

At Anchor in Haverstraw Bay

We arrived here at anchor on Tuesday evening and are still here on Thursday. Tuesday was a very uneventful, terrific nights sleep, more than what we can say for last evening. The winds came up and at 10:00 PM Amy and Doug dragged anchor and lucky for all of us Larry went up above to check. They were coming at us like a freight train. Larry hollered over and they very quickly brought up their anchor and reset it. It took two tries to reset. Needless to say we all are sleep deprived today but at dock in Halfmoon Marina in Croton on the Hudson.

Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and anchor in Liberty Park. We may be there for two days if the weather forecast stays the same for the ocean down the coast of Jersey. High winds and large waves not the kind of sail we are looking for.

We are all looking for a quiet nights sleep, tomorrow is another day!

Stepping Our Mast in Catskill,NY

Several days have past since I've been able to access the internet. The days seem to run together. The last I journaled I mentioned lock 17, the picture is of that lock with Doug and Amy passing through it. The gate lifts up over your head and gives you a shower as you pass through. It's the only gate that is over head when it opens. One of the flood gates is closed and also lifts over head and gives a shower.

That Wednesday evening we tied up to a town dock in Canajoharie took a walk to town and watched the sunset. Canajoharie is known for the library and art museum but it was closed, we'll have to catch it next time though. They closed while building a new facility and this past Spring were flooded out when the river and canal had high water due to the amount of rain. This gave them a set back for reopening. It is amazing what damage the floods created and not only to the canal locks in June.

Thursday we traveled 58 miles to the flood gate above Waterford and the Flight of Five Locks. It was a good day with some sunshine. We tied up on the wall just West of the flood gate ready for morning departure.

Friday we were looking forward to a short day. We had the flood gate to go under and five locks that are one after another right after the flood gate to lock though. We planned to tie up on the wall in Waterford and explore the town but their was no room in the Inn and it was raining very heavy at this point. In fact it rained all through the night before. We had no choice but to go all the way to Catskill, which was another six hours and one more lock. We went for it and were glad we did, as we traveled down the Hudson River near Albany the sun began to shine and dried us out. We arrived in Catskill at the Riverview Marina about 5:00 PM. It was nice to plug into the electric and get warm.

Saturday morning we became a sailboat again by stepping our mast. It went up smooth and easy, that's always a good thing. Patience arrived around noon to spend the night and part of Sunday with us. She gave us a hand with the final steps of putting the boat back together. Patience, Amy and I took a break and went to the store for a few provisions. It was nice not needing a large amount since I stocked the boat with many non-perishables before we left. When we got back we did a few more things to help Larry before we set out for dinner or shall I say attempted to set out for dinner. Our plan was to go to Anthony's an Italian restaurant we ate at last time though Catskill. They were closed for renovations, so we decided we would go to another one that was closed last time, they had an hour wait, so we left. We then tried another at the other marina we had been to last fall, they were closed for a private party. We were beginning to think we would have to go back and cook on the boat which, none of us had the energy to do. We finally ended up where we were the night before with Doug and Amy.

It had started to rain last evening and continued though today, letting up in the afternoon only to down pour around 4:00 PM. During the lull we fueled the boat, paid our bill and moved our boat to the dock at the restaurant for the night. You guessed it the one we ate at last night. I was going to make lunch but Patience said I'll buy you lunch let go in, so we did. The owner provides the dock and you are welcome to stay the night if you eat here. Yes you guessed it again we will eat dinner here tonight. We say free docks are good we would rather spend our money going out to dinner.