Florida to Maine 2006

Cat mayhem got Iris up at 5am. She tried to return to sleep but stayed up after 7. Fred slept in and then We had a pleasant late breakfast and Fred worked on greasing a squeaky winch while the generator ran. It was time to explore Pulpit Harbor. We dinghied to the town dock and then walked to North Haven. While our older cruising guide and friends had talked about the beautiful walking on country roads - perhaps the information was old. The roads were pretty - however the car traffic flew by at 40-50 mph without any shoulders on the roads. It was about a 3mi walk into the village of North Haven. Too early for lunch and the prospective lobster dinner restaurant Iris was searching for didn't pan out - the only 'lobster' place was closed for the week. We headed back to Pulpit Harbor - stopping at the North Haven Grocery for a few small items and lunch. Fred tried some blueberry coffee and really enjoyed it! Incidentally, the grocery has free wi-fi - but we didn't have our laptop with us.

Back at the boat, the forecast for the next couple of days wasn't pretty - remnants of tropical storm Ernesto were due to pass over the area after making a mess of the mid-atlantic coast. We needed a secure anchorage in which to spend the next couple of days. Holbrook Island Harbor (near Castine) would be it. We left Pulpit Harbor around 1:15 and were anchored at Holbrook in about 17' (MLW) at 4pm. We were the only ones in the small cove - altho' we knew the situation would change over labor day weekend ;-) Dinner in the cockpit was lovely, marred slightly by the appearance of pesky mosquitos. We went below at dusk and ran the generator while cleaning up from dinner. When Fred went up to set our anchor light, he found that another sailboat slipped ahead of us in the cove - anchored almost at the shoreline. We ran our heater and the cabin felt toasty - however 40s were predicted for the night!

The winds were calm - Ernesto hadn't arrived yet. Any exploring would have to be done this morning, we think. We slept in and had a large breakfast and dinghied to the rock strewn shore at 10. This was another harbor that we'd visited in 1999 but didn't explore. This time we hiked to the Holbrook Island Sanctuary headquarters and got a trailmap. The tall fir and spruce trees were beautiful as were the views of the harbor. The trails went through pastures, ruins of old estates, family cemetaries from the mid 1800s, and around a pond created by a beaver dam. The latter trail, not surprisingly, was a wet one and Iris' Teva sandals were mud-caked by the time we left the trail. At the beach we noticed that the boat that came in last night (a local one) was replaced by a couple of other sailboats. We returned to Windwalker for lunch. Meanwhile several other boats came in during the afternoon, anchoring throughout the harbor. The forecast is full of mixed-messages with small craft warnings, high seas on the coast, high winds for tonight and tomorrow. Fog. We decide to go for a 'last' dinghy ride for views of nearby Castine and around Ram Island - a small island in the harbor. Then we prepared for 'sea' by putting both the outboard and the dinghy back aboard Windwalker. If we go anywhere tomorrow, we don't want to be trailing the dink behind us. As we brought up the dinghy we noticed that it had deflated quite a bit after our long ride. There is a slow leak somewhere but the boat had stayed inflated for almost a week without adding air. Something about the long, fast planing ride hastened the leak (or did we cut the boat somewhere on the sharp rocks?). We prepared ourselves for a rough night....

The winds were from the east, as predicted. We had a quick breakfast and raised anchor at 8am. We've found so far on this trip, that our best sailing has been on days with small craft warnings and today was no exception. We had a 40 mile day ahead of us and were able to sail most of the way to the St. George River, doing 7-8 knots for much of the way! The winds were gusty however, and the autopilot wasn't handling them well enough so Fred took on hand-steering. Good thing as the pot floats became thicker and thicker. By the time we reached the approach to St. George River it wasn't clear how to even get through the maze. Fred's video-gaming steadiness brought us through unscathed! Our selected anchorage, Maple Juice Cove, was more exposed to the east than we'd like, so we selected Turkey Cove immediately across from it, and anchored at around 2:30pm just as the drizzle from Ernesto began. There were a few homes hidden on the shore. We set anchor near a small (15') sailboat on a mooring. A person (owner?) on shore watched as we anchored. We were close, but not in danger of hitting the boat; it probably looked bad from shore, however. Other than that we had the sheltered cove to ourselves. It began to rain on and off and we stayed below-decks.

During dinner we heard an engine - a small powerboat must have circled us (perhaps to make sure we weren't near the other boat?). He landed on a mooring near the house dock and dinghied ashore. By late evening it was pouring. The heaviest rain wouldn't come until the middle of the night.

Rain it did, accompanied by gusty winds. However our anchor was set well and we slept well until the anchor alarm went off at 5am. Pea soup fog and we'd turned to the west. No problem with our anchor and we weren't dragging. By 7am the fog was still thick. The forecast was for west winds - on the nose for us if we were to go to Boothbay. But the winds were forecast to be light and if the fog lifted, there was no reason to stay. We waited and by around 8:30 the cloud ceiling had risen, altho' it was still a gray day. We left at 9:30 - it was only going to be a 20 mile day. The pot slalom continued as we motor-sailed towards Boothbay. While we had a few choices of marinas, we were opting for a mooring at Tugboat Inn and Marina - where we'd stayed 3 times previously. Iris called and reserved a spot when we were a couple of hours away. In 1999 a post-labor day mooring was $15, in 2002 $18 and now $20/day. We like the Tugboat Inn because it's only a 1/2 block from our favorite lobster place as well as the village. We got in at 12:30, put the dink in the water and had lunch aboard. At 1:30 we went in to settle with the dockmaster, take showers, check email (in the hotel lobby). While we'd planned to return to the boat first, we opted to head into the village. Within minutes (this has happened on our previous trips here) - we purchased our $5 t-shirts, went to the shoe outlet for Tevas for both of us (25% off since Labor Day is the end of season here), checked out the village grocery, candy store and Sherman's Book Store where we spent quite awhile browsing its excellent selection. We love it in Boothbay and it seems to be the only place we end up splurging too ;-) The vendors all seemed to have had a good season, altho' Labor Day weekend was a semi-bust due to the Ernesto forecast.

We returned to the boat just before a brief down-pour. It looked like Frosty had a grand-mal seizure. She'd had a mild one in the morning and was to have another one around mid-night. Not great. We headed back ashore for an early dinner at Kalers (another ritual) and icecream. Iris asked the waitress at Kaler's about free wi-fi. She told us where to find the library and two coffee shops and we headed there after our dessert to make sure we knew where they were. Maybe we'll bring the laptop in for breakfast tomorrow.

After we returned to Windwalker, Iris pulled out the pc to see if she could get any wi-fi connections from the boat. There were a few with almost usable connections, Perhaps putting the laptop in the cockpit in the morning will be more fruitful!

Up early, Iris brought the pc into the cockpit. A useable connection!!! We quickly did some banking and correspondence and then brought the pc back down. Website and other stuff can happen later. Let's go in for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes with Maine maple syrup. Yum! Then back to the boat for generator run, housekeeping, website work and engine and transmission oil-changes. Plans for the afternoon including a longer walk to play miniature golf and of course, another lobster dinner. Tomorrow we have a 23 mi day to get to Snow anchorage further southwestward. It's time we start heading towards our dr. appointment in NYC on 9/18...

No miniature golf - this may have been true on our last trip here as well, but our miniature golf place had been converted to doctors' offices. We walked back and along the other side of the harbor to see if there was another dinner spot we preferred to Kaler's. We'd tried several before and they were still there - but not worth the walk. On our way back to Windwalker we made stops at Sherman's bookstore again as well as the Village Market. At the boat we updated the website and then went back ashore for our lobster dinner

The cats got Iris up at their normal hour. After a big breakfast we dinghied ashore for showers, returned to the boat and prepared for 'sea'. Our first stop was Carousel Marina for fuel and water. We got there but Brian, managing the docks, was tied up moving boats around in the marina - so we docked and waited. Fred filled the water tanks and Brian showed up. As we fueled up, we had an interesting conversation about local politics, what winters were like, and life in a small town in general. Brian had been the chef at the restaurant at the Carousel but was glad he was no longer in food service.

We got away from the Carousel at around 10:30am motoring towards The Basin. Three sailboats were ahead of us - two kept on going and the one we passed turned in towards New Meadows River as we did. However while we motored towards The Basin, it looked like they were headed to Snow Island - but not on the course we'd expect. Perhaps they encountered rocks for they came to a sudden stop, turned in place for awhile, and finally headed along the same course we were following, entering The Basin about 10 minutes after we'd anchored. We had a very peaceful evening and night. By nightfall there were about 7 other cruising sailboats in the anchorage. None of us ran generators and the only sounds were of lobster boat engines headed up the New Meadows River.

Since we'd decided to head to Provincetown, there was no point in heading out early. Our planned departure was for 2pm to arrive in P-town around 9am the following morning. A leisurely breakfast was followed by passage prep and some naps. All the other boats had departed The Basin by 9am or so. We had dinner at lunchtime so that a light dinner would suffice during the passage.

Anchor up at 2pm and off we went, motoring and then raising our mainsail. After supper, we were engulfed in dense fog at around 7:30pm. While radar helped, visibility was nill as we passed targets in the night. A full moon made the fog an eery light color and we got occasional glimpses of the moon when looking upward.

By 1:30am the fog lifted. Iris had a close encounter with a fishing vessel (close being around 1.5 mi ;-)). But when she saw 3 targets closing in quickly, she awoke Fred an hour early, much to his unhappiness. Two of the vessels (either container ships or very large fishing vessels) passed safely in front of us. However, the third vessel, something with a derrick on it, was traveling at about 20 knots. We were not in a channel and had the right of way. When he got within two miles of us, Fred decided to change course radically and turned left to avoid collision. The vessel passed within a 1/2 mile as it charged on its way.

At around 6:30am we were crossing Stellwagen Bank - famous for being a whale hang-out. We saw lots of whales - however our photography was far from successful. Based on the size and motions of the whales, we think they were Minke. As we rounded Provincetown (noting that the Race Pt buoy no longer existed) and passed several boats fishing (and probably chumming), Iris saw a very large 'fish' turn on it's side to escape collision with Windwalker. Her first reaction was that it was a dolphin - but no - that tail sure looked like a shark and it's entire length was about 10 feet with grey on top and white on it's bottom. If we snag a pot - neither of us is going in the water here!

We hailed Provincetown Moorings and were on our spot at 9am. They told us that we couldn't get a launch until noon. Fine with us - we need to sleep! After lunch we took the launch into town to check-in. Our goal for the afternoon was to walk to the mile-long breakwater, walk across it to the beach, then return to town for dinner. We got there alright - but Iris absolutely hates rock-hopping - lacking balance. She was land-sick on top of it and just standing was difficult. About 1/2 way across, complaining all the way, she suggested that Fred just go on ahead and she'd wait right there on the rocks. He declined and we made our way back. If you won't do the breakwater, will you climb the tower? Sure! But then we got the bright idea that surely we could walk to the beach since we saw cars driving on it. So we followed the road along the 'moor'. Fred saw a huge vegetation covered dune that he wanted us to scale. He was determined to have an adventure. He charged up the sand mountain, Iris went up a bit and turned around - there wasn't going to be any way to the beach from there. So she continued along the road while Fred did his thing. Aha - a trailhead. There were hundreds of bicycles attached to a fence. A path to the beach at last! Iris waited for Fred to catch up and we headed along the path 'to the sea'. We followed a few men who were ahead of us. We all were wading in the watery paths between the moor grasses, hoping there wasn't any quicksand. Far ahead we saw more men walking as couples or singles heading to or from the elusive beach. There were dunes to scale ahead as well. Neither of us wanted to wade deeper than knee deep as we were wearing our dinner attire. We asked a couple of guys returning, whether there was another way to the beach. They said they didn't think so and that it would get deeper up ahead. Time to turn around!

As we waddled back through the water we acknowledged that 1) all the people walking towards the beach were males, mostly single, 2) we were in Provincetown, 3) perhaps we wouldn't have been welcome at that beach nor been comfortable there after all. But we were still determined to reach the water and continued up the road into Province Land part of Cape Cod National Seashore. Beach at last! The road ended at a bike trail and parking lot with bath house and beach. We walked amongst families enjoying the late afternoon, walked in the water a bit, then rinsed our feet for the hike back to town.

More stops as we enjoyed cold drinks, went through a small bookstore, visited the army/navy store where Fred bought a backpack and a few marine items. Finally - our lobster dinner at Townsend Lobster. Turns out that the launch guy (who recommended the place last time and who remembered us this time) is the father of the owner! We topped off dinner with ice cream and then took the launch back to Windwalker - feeling the over 7 miles that we'd walked on our adventures.

We had a quiet night on our mooring and left Provincetown at 9, headed for the Cape Cod Canal. With the favorable current we made 8 1/2 to 10 knots. Our progress was made uncomfortable by the wind against current which resulted in steep little wavelets that had a period badly timed for Windwalker. We were still steaming ahead at 9 knots when the right turn was coming up for Onset. How in the world are we going to make the turn? We figured we'd try and if unsuccessful, may have to ride the current passed Onset, turn around and try again against the current. But Fred gunned the engine and we made the turn into the channel, only to encounter a large (eg 45') sailboat under sail tacking out the channel. Boats were veering right and left to avoid collision - and struggling to stay in the narrow channel while the guy played macho sailor. Fred yelled 'get a motor' and the guy thanked us for the advice :-) We anchored by 2pm, close to where we'd been a few weeks earlier. Iris checked phone messages. Oh no! Most of our trip had been scheduled around being in NYC for a dr. appointment on 9/18. We had a message saying the appointment had to be rescheduled. But it was Sat. afternoon and there was nothing we could do about it until Monday. Had we known earlier, we may have stayed in Maine longer, despite Ernesto.

Where to go tomorrow? Jamestown, RI - not great in the forecast NE winds. Newport would be better but we're tired of it. Bristol is close to Fred's sister, Kathie - but 15 miles further. No matter which we select, we have to be out of there around 6am to take advantage of slack current.

We both got up early since we hoped to depart at 6:30. But it was more like 7:15 when Iris finished cleaning the chain - the cement-like mud was stuck in each link. Fred had no idea what was taking so long and was frustrated when 3 other boats raised anchor and were on their way while Iris struggled on the bow. But we didn't want to head out into the channel until all was secured as Fred anticipated a maelstrom at the entrance. Our fears were unwarranted as the current was still fairly mild and our turn to the west was without mishap.

We were able to sail most of the way to Narragansett Bay, although we weren't making as good time as we hoped to. As we passed Newport Harbor, we also passed a blue-hulled Valiant 40 hull number 263 named Southern Cross. VHF Channel 16 had a stuck mike so if they were trying to hail us we weren't able to receive it. At around 2pm we decided that we'd keep on trying for Bristol. We passed Jamestown (Conanicut Marina) and went under the Newport Bridge and were almost at Prudence Island when we decided we wouldn't get to Bristol until after 6, we wouldn't be able to relax and have a Sunday paper. Let's abort and head back to Jamestown. So we did an about face and rode the current back. We were on a mooring at 3:30. The launch took us ashore where we checked-in, took a walk around town to see what was new since we were last there 4 yrs ago, took showers in the remodeled and improved bathrooms, and had dinner out at Chopmist Charlie's. We spent a rocky evening pitching from the NE winds (we expected that) but read our newspaper and watched tv. When we checked in, we made reservations for Wed and Thurs night moorings so that we could attend the Newport International Boatshow on Thursday.

The NE winds were up and conditions were pretty rough. We hailed the marina and told them we were leaving and that we'd pick up our receipt on our return on Wed. Prior to leaving the mooring, Fred juggled and rescheduled his doctor appointment to September 20th. Iris called our UPS store to have our mail shipped to Jamestown. We got underway a little after 9am headed to Bristol, RI. We motored against the wind in steep chop - sure hope Bristol is as sheltered as we expect it to be. Bristol Yacht Club could accomodate us and their launch led us to our mooring. The mooring field is huge and from a distance it looked like there couldn't be any room for another boat. But up close the spacing between boats was more than adequate and we didn't feel cramped. The wind was fairly strong from the NE but there wasn't any chop and we felt well secured for the passage of Ernesto. Iris called Brewers Capri Marina in Manhasset for reservations for 9/18-22. The person said one had to email or fax in a form and that reservations couldn't be made on the phone. Just great.... email us the form then. We'll need to plan how to get to Manhasset by leaving on Friday. We wanted to find places where we could anchor out instead of being forced to take a slip or a mooring ball. Let's work on it later - time to 'play'.

We took the yacht club launch (Bristol Yacht Club doesn't require yacht club memberships in order to rent a mooring to transients) to the clubhouse to check-in. Close by was Colt State Park. The park had a mixture of woodland and waterside paths and trails and we put in about 5 or 6 miles before returning to the yacht club and launch. It was sunny and the winds had abated somewhat and we spent a pleasant late afternoon in the cockpit. We made arrangements to meet Kathie and Ro in Bristol at 4pm tomorrow. We'll play tourist during the day! When Iris logged on she still hadn't received the reservation form from Brewers, so she found their website and sent an email with her request to the general information email address.

When Iris checked email in the morning, she saw the reservation form - she emailed that in (sans the required credit card info) and then called to see if they'd received it. The general manager said that he'd already responded to her original email and that our reservation was confirmed. One less thing to worry about - now all we have to do is get there! We'd been told that the yacht club was hosting the North American championship of "A" boat catamarans. Around 35 boats streaked by us as they headed to their racing location.

We had the launch drop us off at the Bristol town dock at around 10:30. Our first stop was the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. museum - where we spent over 3 hours viewing the displays, movie, and vessels of this fine American boat-builder team of two brothers. We fit in a self-guided tour of the Linden House on our way to meet Kathie and Ro. The house, built in around 1804, had been owned by the same family for 7 generations. All the furnishings were original - and family names included Colt (as in the park yesterday), DeWolfe, Barrymore (Ethel was married to one of the family members). We met Kathie and Ro at the waterfront and then had a casual dinner at Leo's Italian restaurant. We felt pressure to return to the yacht club before 7. The launch folks had said they'd run the launch until 7:30 but if we missed it - how were we to get back to Windwalker. And Frosty needed her meds!

Kathie and Ro dropped us off at the club house as we rushed down to the dock. Nope - no one in the launch office (but it was unlocked) and both launch boats were tied at the dock. We asked a person nearby whether the launch was still running and he said "they're gone for the night - they stopped at 7pm". It was about 7:05 and we were pretty anxious. We used the VHF radio to call the launch and yeah!, someone replied and said they'd be right down. Around 10 minutes later the launch driver showed up and took us back to the boat. The winds had entirely died down but the evening was quite chilly. Tomorrow - back to Jamestown.

We took it easy getting ready for departure because we didn't want to get back to Jamestown too early. On the other hand this was to be our chore day there - doing laundry and some provisioning. At 9:30 Fred said he'd start the engine. All was ready. Not quite - the engine wouldn't start! What now? Fred tried all his techniques to purge air. He purged the injectors, pumped the lift pump. No go - it didn't even fire. Around noon Iris called the yacht club to say that we were having some problems and could we stay on the mooring until we could get it going? No problem. She also gave us the name and number of a local diesel mechanic. We'd worried about the fuel from Havre de Grace and hadn't really been using the larger of our two tanks while in Maine. Fred had switched to that tank when in Onset. The fuel in the Dahl filter looked awfully dark. We'd never had contaminated fuel before but this didn't look good. Time to turn the boat upside down (more like the v-berth) to dig out a new filter and switch back to the 'good' fuel. We'd also run the generator to charge up the battery bank. After changing Dahl and secondary filters, checking the airflow through the turbo, purging air from every accessible tap, Fred tried again - each time with the sea water thru-hull closed so that we wouldn't flood the engine. No joy. We're stuck. Iris asked that Fred try the lift pump technique again. She cranked the engine in the cockpit with throttle wide open while he manually worked the lift pump below with the priming pump going full bore and lo and behold we had ignition! The engine sounded like it was about to take off before Iris turned back the throttle and Fred dashed below to open the thru-hull. Time to get going (now 2:30). We were able to ride the current and were on a mooring at 4:15. Iris already had her laundry and lists ready so we took the launch in, did 3 loads of laundry and while waiting, Iris provisioned at McQuade's market next door. Laundry and food stuff crammed into canvas bags, we trudged back the several blocks towards the docks, stopping along the way for a pizza dinner and ice cream. Amazingly enough we were back at the boat for Frosty's 7pm meds. Fred spent the rest of the evening working on bill paying while Iris stowed everything. What a day!

Newport International Boatshow day. We took the launch ashore at around 8:20, purchased round-trip Jamestown-Newport Ferry tickets and walked around. The ferry left promptly at 9am however when we got to Bowen's Wharf landing there was a huge motoryacht blocking the ferry's spot. The crew made a couple attempts to tie up the ferry however the passengers were going to have a difficult time getting off. So they moved to a municipal dock to let us debark and told us to check when we returned to see which dock they were using. We really didn't want to miss the last ferry back to Jamestown (6:20pm). Next stop was the boatshow ticket line. The show opening time was 10am and many of us wanted to use credit cards for our tickets. Their computers were having problems, however, and it was a little after opening before they could handle ticketing for credit cards. Opening day shake-out. Last night we'd decided that we really needed to purchase the C-Map/NT electronic chart for the NY/LI Sound/Hudson area. It's the only chart we didn't have from the Canada border down through the Caribbean. Our paper charts plus gps would have been adequate but the weather forecast for Fri/Sat was for fog. And if we had to do the trip to NY as an overnight it would simplify things. So our first stop at the show was the C-Map booth. The guy there couldn't even identify the appropriate chart for our (older) NT+ format and referred us to the Bluewater Books/Armchair Sailor booth. We tried a few other vendors first who sell the chart but couldn't burn the cartridge at the show. Bluewater, however, gave us a show discount and burned the cartridge on the spot. Our mission for the show was accomplished. Now time to make plans to meet Ed and Nancy of Syzygy - friends we'd met on our first and second trips down island. We made a date to meet at the Red Parrot at 12:30. Time to checkout the booths and boats! Always fun, especially when one doesn't particulary need anything. Then off to the restaurant where we caught up on the cruising plans of Syzygy, and their friends Gayle and Steve. Both couples were going to send their boats to USVI from Newport via Dockwise transport in mid October. Ed and Nancy have done this a few times now and have been quite satisfied with the process - not having to look for additional crew nor have the wear and tear on their boat.

Rain was in the forecast and rain it did. During lunch it started to pour, and continued to do so for the remainder of the afternoon. We had done most of the booths, and while we went aboard a couple of more boats we were reluctant to go below and drip on all the fine furnishings and wood. We made a second pass through a couple of tents to inquire about FL and Bahamas boat insurance. BoatUS folks didn't have an insurance person in theirs (altho' we're pretty sure they cover it), several others said if you're a FL resident and have insurance be happy because we're not covering FL any more. NBOA said they still wrote policies for FL and Bahamas. All painted bleak pictures. Sounds like we'll have another round of insurance woes before heading to the Bahamas in the winter/spring!

Enough of this. We opted to take the 4:30pm ferry back (still leaving from the municipal dock), rushed to the Conanicut Marina chandlery for a gallon of oil for the engine, and waited for the launch. And waited. And waited. There were several of us waiting under a gazebo. Oh no! One of the launches was being towed by the pump-out boat. And the other one was over working in Newport for some reason. While waiting, we struck up a conversation with a couple who had a Cape Dory 24 (?) - bad on names - her name was Kate) who wanted to move up to a Valiant. Fred invited them to see Windwalker (much to Iris' chagrine as the boat was a total mess!). The launch dropped the 4 of us off and we gave them a tour of our boat and talked Valiants. After they caught the launch to their boat, we had dinner and did trip planning - all contingent on the weather.

So are we going to take fuel or not? We decided to keep our small tank full since that didn't have the suspect fuel. The fuel dock was supposed to open at 8 so we headed over there right away. Fred called the marina on the VHF and they said they'd be there in a few minutes - so we docked and waited for them to open. While we were there, Iris got rid of remaining trash and we also filled our water tanks. All set for a few days before heading to a marina, we departed Jamestown at around 8:50. As we were once again sailing during a small-craft warning kind of day with favorable wind direction, we had great sailing on a broad reach and exceeding Fred's 6 knot planning number. The only negative was that it poured the entire way and it was very clammy as well. Not so nice. We got to the Stonington area (1st potential stop) too early - let's keep going. Next possibility was East Bay on Fisher Island but it was also too early and too exposed. Iris had called two places on the Thames River in New London. Thamesport Marina had moorings but no launch and to pay the $40 we'd have to pull up to their fuel dock at 8am tomorrow. Burr's Marina also had moorings ($1.35/ft - very unusual). But when she asked about a mooring for tonight the guy said no way - we're closing in 5 minutes (this was at 2pm). OK - here's Iris' proposal - Reed's says that Greens Harbor is also an anchorage. So let's go to New London and if we can't find an anchoring spot we can always rent a mooring from Thamesport. A plan! Rain and thunder as we entered the Thames River. We anchored at 3:30 in 20' between two empty moorings and got a good set on the anchor. We went below to dry ourselves out as well as the paper chart-pack which collected water because it was enclosed in a plastic envelope with a broken zipper. We dried off the individual pages with paper towels and the ink and paper quality was excellent. The ink didn't run and the paper didn't swell. We discussed options for tomorrow. We made about 41 miles today. Fred suggested that we try for Milford, a 49 mile hop. We can stay at their very nice municipal marina (see Windwalker Voyage 1), have dinner and ice cream out. Get a Sunday paper on Sunday morning. Sounded good to Iris!

It didn't seem to rain overnight and we had a pretty calm night with the occasional wake from a passing ferry or ship, as this is a commercial river. We got up early, had breakfast and were on our way in sunshine before 8am, heading to Milford. We had less than 5 knots from behind and had to motor sail. At 9:30, we figured we'd call ahead and make a reservation. This was a Saturday, however it was also the first day of their off-season. What a disappointment - they were full. And not only they but the adjoining marinas as well - filled with a yacht club trip by the Mt. Sinai (NY) yacht club. Forget Milford, where else can we go? How about Pt. Jefferson - about the same distance, 53 miles instead of 49. We changed course and motored all day in flat seas with little traffic. Pt. Jefferson has 2 or 3 possible anchorage areas and if they didn't work, we could pick up a mooring from Pt. Jeff Launch. Upon entering the harbor we could see one of the anchoring areas near the entrance - quite near the channel (and ferry traffic). We opted for the Old Field Beach anchorage - with entry via a narrow channel (altho' the area must have been dredged - the depths were far deeper than charts would indicate). The convention seemed to be moorings on portside, anchoring on starboard side of the channel. It was an area that could have accomodated many more boats and was quite protected. There were no ferry wakes, no wind and the only motion was caused by the dinghies streaming by. Lots of folks were having fun and it seemed like a nice weekend hang-out for locals and cruisers alike. We enjoyed a very pleasant evening, eating dinner in the cockpit.

A very pretty sunrise was enhanced by the calm waters. So do we stay here another day and explore Pt. Jefferson and make it a longer day to Manhasset on Monday or leave? Let's leave so we can check out yet another anchorage as well as get to Manhasset early on Monday. It was an absolutely beautiful day with warm temps, but unfortunately, no wind. So we motor-sailed, zig-zagging amongst tons of power boats out fishing for the day. We anchored in West Harbor at around 2:15 and lounged in the cockpit with temps in the 80s. Should we swim? Nah. We anchored far away from others, pretty much in the middle of the harbor. Privacy yes. Wakes yes. Every boat entering or leaving decided to do so at full-speed. Fred was starting to get sea-sick. Iris worked on the website and was also pleased to have a wifi connection. It was pleasurable to have another dinner in the cockpit. And after dinner the traffic died down and the anchorage was calm except for the occasional speed-boat. We played dominoes and decided we'd plan to arrive at the Brewer's marina a little after noon tomorrow.

No need to leave early. But do we want to stop and the fuel dock and top-off our 'good' tank and get a pump-out prior to going in the slip? The timing seemed to be right for passage through Hell-gate and the East River for Friday morning and that wouldn't allow us to get fuel then. Let's do it. We heard a sailboat trying to reach the fuel dock on channel 16 without success. Our cruising guide said they monitor 9 and 71. We tried both and reached them on 71. Someone would be with us a in a few minutes. We were about to dock ourselves when the dockmaster arrived and helped us secure. No pump-out, it's broken. Oh. Fuel was good though altho' we'd hit a new record for high price. Oil and gas prices have been dropping in the last week but apparently not here! We were charged $3.80/gal and they were asking around $4.29 for gasoline. What a rip-off. We also paid for our 4-night stay and made our way over to our assigned slip. Nice floating docks although either Iris broke our cable TV hookup or the pedestal didn't work. The dockmaster shrugged and pretty much said it may or may not be working. Oh well. We checked out the facilities - laundry room had 2 washers/2 dryers - none in use. Showers were clean but inconveniently layed out. We made arrangement to meet Iris' mother at 4:30 and we rushed to clean up the boat a bit and to take showers as well. We had a nice dinner with Iris' mom and Fred installed DSL on her computer. We logged on and weren't happy to hear that Hurricane Helene would most likely result in big swells on the weekend. Not great for a passage from NJ to Delaware Bay. We'll have to keep watching weather developments. We're glad we weren't headed through the East River today through Wed. The UN General Assembly meeting with President Bush as well as many country heads of state was playing havoc with traffic on land and sea. Our Sprint cell-phone signal wasn't sufficient to do email on the boat nor were there any 'free' wi-fi connections. We'll have to do our online work at Lilly's house.

To us, marinas are work stops. Today was to be a work day. Iris made arrangement for her mother to pick her up and drop her off at a laundromat. While she did the equivalent of 10 loads of laundry (rugs, comforter, sheets, towels- all heavy/bulky stuff), Fred changed the oil, and did quite a few maintenance tasks. Iris and Lilly went in search of a few other things Iris wanted to get and then Lilly dropped Iris off at the marina with her loads of laundry and packages. Time to get to work scrubbing areas the cats had really messed up, wiping mildewed areas with vinegar water, vacuuming and putting our slip-covers, rugs and bedding back on. We also ran the air-conditioner to dry things up some more. The boat actually felt dry and smelled a lot better!

Dinner with Lilly at Fish-Kebob. The early-bird specials include lobster and that's what why we went there. Best price of our trip, however the lobster itself was so-so when compared with Maine or Provincetown (proclaimed the best of our recent experiences). But with hummus and greek bread, large greek salads, vegetables and bulgar pilaf all included with the $15 meals, we were happy! We visited with Lilly and made plans to meet in the morning. Iris's mom was kindly going to give us a lift to the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) train station so we could catch the 9:11 train in the morning and connect with the subway to take us to Fred's dr. appointment. A productive day, albeit a slightly drizzly one.

Lilly picked us up at the marina promptly at 8:30 and dropped us off at the LIRR station. We purchased round-trip tickets to the Woodside Station in Queens where we could change for the subways. We'd never tried going this way before - previously heading into Penn Station and taking buses to the east side. But Woodside worked out perfectly and we were able to get into the city and to our subway stop in 50 minutes! We had a great doctor's visit and then went in search of a place to have lunch. It was 11:45am and we were amazed that many of our favorites weren't open yet. A couple of spots said they'd open at noon; others clearly weren't going to open until dinner. We ended up in Cinema Cafe a couple of blocks from where we'd started. Next on our schedule was a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art. It had always been closed on days we were in the city. We enjoyed the Hopper exhibit but were disappointed to see that one of the floors was closed for a new exhibit development and we didn't like the rest of the materials.

We reversed our tracks (sic) and made it back to Manhasset by 4:05 - very pleased with our train connections. We borrowed Lilly's car to get a head start on our provisioning - focusing on the non-perishable items at Stop and Shop. The car was filled to the brim when we got back to Lilly's place for dinner. We got back to the boat fairly late and Iris stowed the items until after midnight.

Iris got up early to continue stowing. It's Fred's birthday - but he decided to go along with Iris and help with the provisioning. Since we had access to the car we were going to do the major provisioning for our return trip - with the opportunity to 'top' things off ahead in Baltimore. We sent to Stop and Shop and King Kullen and West Marine - once again filling the car to the brim and returning to Windwalker around 11:30. Removing packaging and preparing items for stowing as well as actually stowing took a another couple of hours and we didn't get to Iris' mom's apartment until mid-afternoon. Iris planned to do a last load of laundry that evening but we decided to do it at Lilly's complex instead. Fred uploaded the website while Iris started the wash and Lilly and Iris went to Whole Foods for frozen fish and a birthday dessert! Iris cooked the standing rib roast - Fred's traditional birthday dish, when we got back to the apartment. We had a pleasant evening and Lilly got us back to the boat by 9pm. We had to do some passage prep for our departure early in the morning. The weather forecast still looks like we won't be able to do the passage to the Chesapeake until Mon/Tues. But the current and weather is perfect for getting through the East River tomorrow morning. Then we'll wait it out at either Atlantic Highlands, NJ or Great Kills, Staten Island - neither of which we've been to before!

Showers ashore or not? Since we had time and were up early, we took advantage of a last hot shower, at least for several days! By 8:15 we were underway and motoring towards the East River and Hell Gate. Hell Gate, just west of the Triborough Bridge, is notorious when at peak current - with waters from the East River, LI Sound and Harlem River. For a vessel our size, it's only safe to go through at slack current. We'd done it previously in the opposite direction. As we went under the Throggs Neck and Whitestone Bridges, we 'collected' other sailboats and a trawler all headed the same way. On the VHF we heard the Coast Guard hailing a motoryacht and telling them that they'd have to pass east of Roosevelt Island. (This was due to security for the UN General Assembly Meeting). There's a bridge on the east side of Roosevelt Island and we'd planned on passing on the west side. "Voyager", a sailboat, then hailed the Coast Guard and confirmed that everyone had to go on the east side. He was told that the bridge was going up every 10 minutes or so. Not a problem as long as we were in slack but if we had to wait very long it would be impossible to deal with the 4-6 knots of current in that area. We'd checked the notices to mariners last night and there was no mention of the restrictions. When we approached Roosevelt Island we saw Coast Guard and NYC Police vessels blocking the west channel. Fred hailed the Roosevelt Island Draw Bridge who told us to hurry up and catch up to a large ketch in front of us if we wanted to make the next opening. Fred replied that we were moving as fast as we could and we managed to get through with the other boat.

After that, we had an uneventful passage down the remainder of the East River and motored on to Atlantic Highlands. The mooring field was large and the convention in the harbor seemed to be anchoring on one side of the channel and moorings on the other at the harbor entry. But we saw a 'hole' between two of the first moorings and promptly grabbed it - anchoring with a good set. It better be because we plan to sit through a frontal passage there! The forecast is remaining constant - between the expected front and large ocean swells from Ernesto, Monday seems like a go. We'd overheard two slightly smaller sailboats heading offshore at around 3pm that afternoon - the forecast seemed terrible for such a passage. There were a few other cruising boats waiting for weather there and we were sure there would be more by the time the weekend was out! We played dominoes, logged on with the cell phone and prepared for a lazy day tomorrow, waiting.......

It rained in the morning and the forecast remain unchanged. We did some email and Fred reprogrammed his PC waypoint database. Cruisers continued to stream in. Several of the boats were from Canada, one was from Australia and there were a couple of US boats as well. The migration was starting! We wondered if all would head out on Monday morning. This really was the first stop on our trip so far that we were primarily waiting for weather. We prefer to move whenever we can - but if we've learned anything, it's that one shouldn't head out into deteriorating conditions. So more waiting.........

Either we're in a protected spot (probably) or the forecast pre-frontal winds haven't materialized (also likely). After breakfast and watching one of our news shows, we put the dinghy in the water and went in search of a Sunday paper. We left the dink at one of the few docks that wasn't posted, dropped off our garbage in an adjacent bin and wandered about the waterfront. We saw the dockmaster's office and kept walking towards some restaurants. As we asked about newspapers, we were directed to vending machines (empty). Next try was in small store and they directed us to a newstand near the movie theater. Success. The town was sleepy at 11am and it was too early to stop for lunch. So we hiked back to the dinghy, planed back to the boat and decided to bring the dink/outboard back up and do passage prep prior to reading the paper. We don't want to get caught with the dinghy in the water when the front gets here.

Late in the afternoon the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club launch stopped at an adjacent mooring. Shortly thereafter a large 55+ foot ketch circled us and the mooring. One of the folks onboard yelled out 'Windwalker - how much chain do you have out?' Fred replied 75'. She said she was worried about when the wind changed direction (after the frontal passage). We decided we were ok and stayed put. However we did begin to worry that after the front the larger vessel may be sitting directly over our anchor. And we want to head out at dawn. Oh well - nothing we can do about it now!

Neither of us slept well - both worried about the vessel next to us and about the upcoming passage conditions. But we had no difficulty raising anchor at 7am and heading out of New York Harbor. As we entered the ocean it looked like 6 other sailboats from our vicinity were taking the weather window and heading south. As the day and night progressed, it seemed like all of the boats either stopped at Cape May or earlier. By around 8:30am we were able to turn of the engine and sail with mainsail, genoa and then added the staysail. What beautiful conditions. We were thrilled. But by evening things weren't quite as lovely. Instead of a beam reach we were close-hauled and bashing into 2 and 3 foot chop and coming to a stop with each wave. Down came the jibs and on came the engine to power through the waves. Iris was useless when she came on watch - taking one look at the seemingly hundreds of radar targets along the shore (there were a lot of them anyway). Fred stayed up in the cockpit until 9:30pm when he went below to sleep. Iris decided not to look at the radar at all unless she saw a target she couldn't deal with. Fred got about an hour's sleep before wails from Iris got him back up there at 10:30 - we were coming up on a target in less than a mile and there was also a tug and tow ahead. The target ended up being a sailboat that we were catching and the tug and tow was a factor for them. They started to point a spotlight at their sails (not that the tug would have cared). Fred stayed up and sent Iris down to sleep. The cats were having problems and Iris got about an hour sleep. She poked her head up at 11:45pm and Fred said he wanted to talk with her. She needed to take a watch from mid-night to 3am because we'd be approaching Delaware Bay and heavy traffic at around 3:15 and he needed rest. Up she came, once again avoiding looking at the radar. (While far offshore passages have readily identifiable traffic and targets, close-in passages are filled with small fishing boats, tour boats, buoy lights and lots of lights on shore that are either red, green, solid white or blinking). Regaining some self-confidence, Iris kept us going passed several targets (fishing boats and tugs/tows). As she passed a fish haven with several boats, she saw a light pop up that looked like a bright fishing boat, outside the haven on the chart. Looks like a red - we'll pass port to port - ok. Nope - suddenly she saw a green and decided to look at the radar - two huge blips less than 4 miles away. She turned right 20 degrees and the wayward autopilot decided to turn some more. Got it under control but more shouts got Fred back into the cockpit at 1:30am. Fred's first impression was that this was a fishing boat. But as it approached, it was clearly a tug and tow and the turn Iris made was the correct one as it passed within a mile of us. By this time, we were approaching DE Bay and both decided to stay up, each with about an hour's sleep.

We approached the bay where shipping traffic lanes converge - fortunately there was little traffic except for a container ship that was behind us and passed us after we'd made the turn. By now 'dawn's early light' was gloaming and we were able to stay outside the channel as we made our way against the current. We'd arrived a bit earlier than planned and would have adverse current for a couple of hours. With light and after coffee and breakfast, we both traded off taking the helm while the other one slept an hour or so. The chop and winds started to abate by mid-morning, the current became favorable and our ETA (estimated time of arrival) at Veazey Cove became a reasonable 3-5pm instead of the 7pm or later. We caught the C&D Canal right at slack and sped through the canal with the current and were anchored in the shallow cove by around 4pm. This passage seemed a lot harder than it needed to be and we were both relieved to have it over with.

We'd been in Veazey Cove twice before and wanted to head towards our past anchoring locations. We got close but the entire cove was blocked, it seemed, by two small boats using trotlines for crabbing. All of the floats they were throwing out or raising from the water seemed connected by a single line. We didn't want to pass between the floats. Still - the water was quite shallow anyway and we anchored in about 6.5' depth. Dinner, showers and we both crashed - Fred by 8 and Iris by 9. The cats were thrilled to be allowed to spend time on deck and were both in great moods!

While there had been several wakes yesterday afternoon, the night was calm after all the traffic died down. Fred slept late while Iris looked at options for anchorages. We could stay put or move - but during breakfast we decided that we definitely wanted a marina for Annapolis and wanted to make reservations 'early'. We didn't have a good cell phone connection where we were and knew we probably wouldn't on the Sassafras River either. Leaving Veazey Cove at around 10:30am we headed back out into the ship channel and motored towards the Sassafras. Iris made use of the good cell phone connection (probably from Havre de Grace) to make reservations at Annapolis Landing Marina. They said they were giving us the only slip left they had that would fit us but a small t-head sounded just fine. While she had the phone connection she also made some other phone calls including making reservations for the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) meeting in Annapolis for Saturday of boatshow week. It takes place at Port Annapolis Marina, withing a short walk from Annapolis Landing Marina on Back Creek in Annapolis (lots of creeks here have the same names).

We went up the Sassafras and tucked into the opening of Back Creek. A small sailboat was anchored at the approximate inner-most location we could handle depth-wise, but we were pleased with where we were and got a good set. The anchorage was far enough off the Sassafras so that the occasional powerboat had no effect on us. Lots of birds and fish were jumping around us. We decided that we'd head to Baltimore for the weekend (after the frontal passage on Thursday) and with an almost non-existant cellphone connection, Iris managed (with a few disconnects) to make a reservation at the Anchorage Marina in Baltimore for Friday through Sunday. We'd never stayed there previously, although we'd visited Bea and Cles on Haida Maid there a few years earlier. Decisions made, we could relax! The cats were once again happy to be enjoying the outdoors.

The front is expected this afternoon but it's lovely this morning. Do we put the dinghy in the water and clean the hull? Nope. Do we go ashore to visit a plantation house only open from 10am-2pm on Tues and Thurs (we were anchored across from their historic tobacco hut)? Nope. We just did minor chores, read and watched Dusty happy in the cockpit, and Frosty happier than she'd been on the entire trip - walking around and around the deck of the boat. By evening, she came below on her own. By around 5pm the weather warnings on both the VHF and AM radios became alarming. The pre-frontal line of thunderstorms was appraching at 45 knots with hail and severe thunderstorms. Fred let out some more scope on the chain, we made sure that all was stowed if we needed to take action, and we waited, having dinner in the interim. While we heard boats on the radio at another anchorage, we remained alone. Even if we dragged, there wasn't going to be anything for us to hit. So we waited. And counted time between lighting strikes and thunder. Nothing ever got closer than 3 or 4 miles of us. The winds and rain hit around 7:30pm and lasted about an hour. We played dominoes and made sure we weren't touching the mast. Other than that, the frontal passage was pretty uneventful. The winds clocked, our anchor held and we went to bed. Other areas weren't as fortunate as a tornado touched down in one town in MD, and there were tornado warnings on Delaware Bay.

Despite the small craft warnings, we had a quiet night at anchor. The wind clocked to the NW after the frontal passage so we were hoping for good sailing weather to Baltimore. We raised anchor with lots of mud around 8:30 then motor-sailed, then sailed with mainsail, staysail and reefed genoa. We had 20 knots or so however not from our ideal beam reach direction so the bay was choppy and it wasn't what we'd hoped for. We motored the last hour up the Patapsco River to Anchorage Marina, docked and checked-in. All of the slips are privately owned and the owner of ours wasn't expected back, probably, until the Fell's Point festival next weekend. Trash and showers were the first order of business, followed by dinner at a new (to us) Outback Steakhouse and a walk to West Marine which just closed five minutes earlier. Oh well - we'll get there tomorrow. We continued our evening walk to Baltimore Marine Center where we'd stayed and also done a quick-haul 4 years earlier. Where Windwalker sat on the tarmac was now covered with townhouses! Back at the boat a few phone calls to Bob and K on Rima and Lynn and Don and then we made plans for tomorrow. We'd like to take the water taxi to Ft. McHenry and then roam downtown. We needed to do some banking online and didn't have a free wifi connection so paid the $6.95 for 24 hours of wifi from an outfit serving all the downtown Baltimore marinas. It was a fast connection and we got our money's worth!

We'd searched every West Marine since our departure from FL for Delo 400 SAE 30 oil. We had managed to buy one gallon in Newport but we were still looking. At last! After breakfast we went back to West Marine and found shelves of it. So Fred purchased that, along with a new washdown hose/nozzle for Iris and an extension for our water hose. We returned with our purchases and then walked to Fells Point to catch the water-taxi to Ft. McHenry. $8/person for all day water-taxiing seemed like a good deal and we made use of it!

We toured the fort - the site of the War of 1812 battle (on Sept. 13, 1814) that inspired Frances Scott Key (who was watching it from a truce ship on the river) to write the Star-Spangled Banner. Next stop by water-taxi was a return to Fell's Point - may as well have lunch there, so we stopped and ate and then returned to the water-taxi landing for a trip to the inner harbor. We lucked out to catch an outgoing water-taxi to Inner Harbor Marina where we went to the Visionary Arts Museum. This was another spot, as the fort was, that we'd always wanted to see on previous trips. The highly unusual artwork seemed, almost without exception, to be the product of untrained artists who were also severely mentally disturbed. Next on our agenda was to walk back to Inner Harbor and visit the large Barnes and Noble - one of our usual stops. Whole Foods was next, where Iris stocked up on more frozen fish. We dashed back to the water-taxi to get our frozen goods back to Windwalker. Then dinner out at Blue Moon 52 - a barbecue spot across the street from the marina. Fred worked online until our wifi connection ran out at 9:30. A fun day!