Home in Mystic

     We made it home!

     After chasing the bad weather and stopping in Atlantic Highlands we headed through the City, New York City. We were not sure we could get going because the forecast was a little shaky but it was okay at daybreak.

     We had the current with us so the trip through the city went pretty quick. They were just attaching the spire of Freedom Tower One, World Trade Center as we were going by.

     Hell Gate was with us so we squirted out of the city and then into Long Island Sound a little later at Throgs Neck Bridge.

     We started to go into Manhasset Bay, Port Washington but changed our minds a few minutes in. We decided to go to Oyster Bay because it was still pretty early in the morning. We anchored there for two nights because we had the opportunity to visit old friends and go out to lunch with them. THANKS Nina and Guy!

     From there we went to Port Jefferson, LI, NY. We got there early and went ashore for the farmer's market and lunch. We hadn't been ashore there in quite a long time. While there it got very windy but when we left the next day the wind was right on the stern so we couldn't sail without many gybes. We don't do that. We called it a day early again and stopped at Mattituck, LI, NY. Again, we went ashore for the first time in many a year. The wind died at sunset but picked up again before sunrise.

     Our last day underway on our winter cruise of 2012-2013 started off pretty boisterous. Four foot seas with the wind out of the north at 18+ knots. We almost couldn't sail because of our course angle and a lee shore to starboard. The wind was supposed to be more NW, not N. That's the way it usually goes for us. We were making good time even with the current turning against us. 7-8 knots at times. We were about halfway along Plum Island when we were forced to turn towards Fisher's Island Sound and start the engines. It had been a very long time since we sailed with no engine assist.

     It calmed down as we neared home. It also got cloudier and colder. Brrrr.

     Home on our mooring in Mystic at noon!

Cape May

     We are now in Cape May, NJ. And it's miserable. Yesterday was miserable, too.

     Boating is miserable. Okay, not really. Just yesterday. And maybe the next couple of days. It's made worse because we're really only a few days from home and we cannot leave. Foggy. Windy. Rough seas. And very slow moving weather system.

     Yesterday we made the passage from the C & D Canal to here. It started off nice. We left at 0500 in the dark with a great current. We flew out of the canal to get to Delaware Bay and actually sailed down the Bay for five hours. Unfortunately it was another six hours to go after that. We bashed into three foot seas into the wind and this makes for a slow speed over ground. This was the better part of the six hours because...

     After we got to the western end of the Cape May Canal entrance we had to go around the cape. We can't go through the canal because of 55ft bridges so we try to sneak around the cape inside all the reefs just a few hundred feet offshore. We've done it before but not into 20kt winds and 6ft seas and against the current. Three hours to go about eight miles. Miserable.

     Now it's blowing in the harbor at near 20 AND visibility is about 100 feet. Stuck. Outside it's 5-7 ft seas from the direction we want to go. Stuck.

     We're only a week away from Mystic but the week doesn't start until we start out of here.

     Miserable.  

Out of the Chesapeake

     We have left Annapolis after three weeks. Sightseeing, shopping, maintenance, and flying off to work all accomplished.

     Small craft advisories for the beginning of this passage but not too bad. More significant were the headwinds and adverse current. Made for a slow day but we are now in Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal. It's only a short distance from Delaware and about 3 hours from Delaware Bay. We head down the Bay towards Cape May, NJ tomorrow. Not anyones favorite passage. And, as usual, the weather won't exactly be great.

     Probably be stuck in Cape May because many days of rain are coming.

Annapolis

     We are now in Annapolis. Weems Creek in West Annapolis to be a little more precise. After a few days Carol will fly off to work and I'll start on maintenance.

     While we were both here we went to the US Naval Academy again. Visiting John Paul Jones' crypt and a couple of the museums on campus.

We were also there to view the daily formation and parade the cadets have preceding lunch. It's a long tradition indicating their willingness to fight and perhaps die for our country. We noticed a little more security than normal and assumed it was because of the bombing of the Boston Marathon. It wasn't. It was because Michelle Obama was visiting. We got to see her observing the procession and her motorcade as she was exiting a while later. She didn't wave. We'll we didn't either.

     BTW: she's in the red dress on the steps.

     It'll be almost three weeks before we leave here and start our final push towards Mystic.

Catching up

     We are now in St Michaels, MD. I haven't had the time to update this blog so there's a lot to catch up on.

     After my last post we went to a spot called Pipeline Canal just before Southport, NC. No issues except for annoying crab pots in the anchorage and a number of passes by very loud Osprey helicopters from the Marine Base. We were also happy the UConn WBB team won their game and was going to the Final Four.

     Next up was the Cape Fear River and a major road block for us: Snows Cut Bridge. It's under repair so instead of a 65' clearance it had only 61'. We have a 65' mast. That's an issue. There is a 4' tide there so we had to time our passage for low tide, a little after 10am. We were 30 minutes late but made it through okay and headed to Wrightsville Beach for the night.

     The next days was cold, rainy and windy. Also slow due to current. YUCK. We ended up okay at Camp LeJeune, the Marine Base with noisy Ospreys. Deserve the noise here. We appreciate being able to use the anchorage.

     From there we went past Beaufort, NC (Bo-fert) to Cedar Creek just south of the Neuse River.

     We said we'd never cross the Neuse or the Pamlico in a north wind and here we were again. DOING IT AGAIN! It wasn't as awful as last year but we still had 3-4 ft. seas on the nose with a 15-20 kt wind. Double yuck! But we made it and stopped at the start of the Pungo River, skipping by Belhaven.

     We were up early the next day to go under the Wilkerson Bridge when it turned very foggy in the Pungo-Alligator Canal. We went aground twice in the narrow canal before following a deeper draft sailboat. A half hour of very scary. Even a barge had pulled over to wait for better visibility. It took us 11 hours to get to Coinjock where we could get internet at a marina. Internet to watch UConn beat Notre Dame. Destroy Notre Dame. Yay!!!!

     From there we had a short day to Great Bridge where we tie up to a free dock to get supplies, fuel and access to a bar to watch the last UConn game of the season.

     UConn - National Champions!

     From there we took advantage of a great weather day to go all the way to Deltaville, VA. Then a second good day to get to the Solomons where we tied up to the Jack and Kathy Locher's private dock.

     We spent a few days there due to stormy weather before heading here to St Michaels. We'll probably spend a few days here also before heading to a work stop in Annapolis.

On the Road again

     We are again underway after a three week stay in Charleston. Two travelling days brings us to North Myrtle Beach to stay at a marina so we can watch the UConn WBB game.

     Charleston is a great city, we love it but....

It doesn't have a very good anchorage. The Ashley River is deep, not well protected and it has a lot of current. I had two thunderstorms come through while Carol was away which were no fun at all. They were not the worst we've had while there but the worry is enough.

Our two passages so far to get here were a little rainy but not rough. Tomorrow we head towards Southport, NC. We get the the SC/NC border fairly early in the morning. Were timing our trip so two days from now we get to Snow's Cut at low tide, about 1000 Wed.

Why?

Because they are working on the bridge and lowered the clearance to 61 feet. Problem. Our mast is 65 feet tall. Doesn't work. Fortunately there is a nearly 4 foot tide so at low tide we may, MAY, get under it.

     Last fall while southbound Carol hit the navigation light on the bridge with our mast. That was when the clearance was at 65 feet. Whoops. We may end up taking down their scaffolding, including workers if this doesn't work out right. Then we'd have to turn around, go 20 miles to the open ocean and go offshore to re-enter at an inlet near Wrightsville beach that may be too shallow for us.

     Major pain in the...


We'll let you know what happens.

Georgia

     We are now in Georgia, near Savannah. We're at a marina strange as that may be. It's cheap and it has internet which allows us to watch SNY TV and the UConn Women's Basketball. Monday we'll go to another marina where we can walk to a bar that has TVs with ESPN and the UConn-Notre Dame game.

     It was four days to here, four windy days. Four very cold, windy days. We are at marinas mostly because of that cold. Marinas have electricity. Electricity makes heat. Freezing temps outside, 60s inside. Or mid-fifties inside at night. Livable. 30s are not.

     There is one upside to the cold and wind. One. An upside you may ask???? Yes. No gnats. The last two years when we got to Georgia the gnats were here to greet us. Eat and greet. No fun.

     The marina we're at right now is a little - uh - rural. Picture banjo music. Deliverance. People with 5 - 6 teeth. Between 2-3 people. Altogether.

     But we're having a good time. Watched UConn and had our good friends Mike and Carol stop by after visiting their granddaughter in Beaufort, SC. We had dinner and they spent the night before heading back to their home in Ft Pierce, FL. A nice surprise. And they brought pie. Apple pie. Mmmmm, good pie.

Next stops include Hilton Head and Beufort before getting to Charleston for a few weeks while Carol flies off to work. Supposed to get back up to 70 or so when we get there. We can only hope.