sailing

We didn't have to leave very early yesterday morning from the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center because the bridge and lock 4.2 nautical miles south has scheduled openings.  We planned to catch the 11:00am one.  We filled with water and said goodbye to Walkabout and then left just before 10:00am, leaving not much extra time.

About one mile into the trip the boat slowed from 5.2 knots to around 4, I think because we had passed through one of the mats of sticks, grass, and scum (duckweed) floating on the surface and it got stuck on the keel.  So I reversed a little to see if that would fix it and then noticed a different sound coming from the engine.  We stopped (just gliding to a stop in the middle of the very calm canal) and the strainer was packed full of duckweed.  I think some of that mat got sucked in or else reversing caused us to suck in more duckweed than normal.  With the clean strainer the sound went away so hopefully it was just the sound of the impeller sucking water really desperately or vacuum bubbles churning around somewhere.  It's pretty crazy for that to be audible over the engine noises though.

I think one other possibility is that the speed loss was due to the engine losing power from overheating (if that is even a thing?).  But then I would expect the interesting new noise to be from engine damage and to not go away.  It would be nice to have an engine temperature gauge or even to know if the overheat alarm works; that is a significant source of risk when it comes to running our engine.

We cleaned the strainer a couple more times before the bridge and it was about 1/3 full each of those times.  We cleaned it at the bridge and then went slowly through really thick duckweed to the lock a few hundred yards away.  It was completely full when we emptied it there.  I think our slow speed there was the major factor in causing it to fill up so fast, with the exceptional thickness of the duckweed contributing some.

We dropped about six feet in the lock which was pretty cool.  Then we were out of the canal and into a winding river that gradually widened which was exciting because then I could use the autopilot.  This was all very scenic, with trees (cypress?) right up to the edge.  I saw something slink beneath the surface--it looked kind of long so maybe an otter?  The strainer never took on much duckweed in the river here, and eventually the duckweed thinned out to nothing.  It was a hard day for the impeller and it is right about at its scheduled replacement after 600 engine hours so I will be replacing that soon.

On our arrival at Elizabeth City we looked around for a while at the available docking options.  There were some slips with pilings and tiny (almost useless for our boat) finger piers which would have been OK but there was a nice crosswind to make getting in there difficult.  So we tied up to an available place at a bulkhead, met the neighboring Canadian boat, and went to check in (no charge) at the visitors center.  Anna paid $5 to use their showers later and also found out about a nearby Dairy Queen, so we walked there with Louise.  Anna is getting sick so the ice cream really soothed her sore throat.

Today we left at about 9:00am and it is a very nice day: sunny, 65 degrees, absolutely calm winds, and just ripples on the water.  That's not good for sailing but very OK for crossing the Albemarle Sound as it is shallow, hence notorious for any waves being choppy and very uncomfortable.  Also it is littered with crab pots and those become much harder to see in waves.  In the Pasquotank River I spotted a massive floating stump that was right in our path...that would have been a bad one to hit!  Sometimes we hear reports of hazards like that on the VHF so I reported it to the Coast Guard and a few minutes later heard them make an announcement about it.  Maybe it will prevent a bad day for someone.

At the end of today's 45 mile trip we should be just past the end of the Alligator River.  We won't anchor at the bottom of the Alligator River itself (its more like a 3x15 mile bay than a river) because around midnight the winds are supposed to start blowing from the north, straight down the length of it.  We will go just around the corner and anchor there.

The Seven Seas Cruising Association gathering, or "gam" as they call it, started in late July with a dinghy raft-up with potluck snacks.  We failed to make anything so ended up bringing potato salad from a local deli.  We were the first to arrive and tied on to the back of the SSCA president's catamaran, and within twenty minutes were surrounded by 20+ dinghies.  Everyone started passing food around between dinghies and swapping stories and tips.  We stayed for about two hours.

The next day was a potluck lunch.  On our arrival at the dock we were surprised to see Steve and Susie Dix of Thursday's Child who we had originally met in Stuart, FL (and "accidentally" borrowed their buffing tool).  After eating, everyone took a minute or two to take the microphone and introduce themselves to the group.  We were the youngest, and a few couples had owned their boats longer than Anna had been alive!  There was a speaker from the Marine Stewardship Council who talked about their programs to "certify" different types of seafood and how they are able to positively influence the health of various fisheries.

That evening there was a social at a café in downtown Rockland and then a group of about eight of us went to see the movie Maiden which happened to be playing at the nearby theater.  It is about the first all-female sailing team to compete in the Whitbread Around The World Race and was very good.

On Sunday Anna went to a Women Who Sail (Facebook group) meetup for lunch.  During the week we sailed east about twenty miles and spent two nights in Deer Isle's Northwest Harbor.  As we approached, there was a small rocky island full of seals basking in the sun.  We passed a little closer to get a good look and there were plenty swimming in the water too.  During the full day out there we took the dinghy about 5 miles south to Stonington where we met Janelle, a lady from the gam and Women Who Sail.  Aaron tried a lobster roll there and was not that impressed.  We sailed back to Rockland and decided to install an autopilot system, so we spent a day researching and ordering parts to be delivered to Eliot and Caroline.

The newlyweds arrived on a Friday to spend the weekend sailing with us.  Saturday morning we headed east (actually mostly sailing!) and anchored on the SE end of North Haven Island by early afternoon.  We took the dinghy to Burnt Island and hiked the ~3 mile trail around the island.  For supper we had a feast of pot roast, rosemary olive oil bread, and brownies.  We made it back to Rockland early Sunday afternoon and said goodbye to them.

We lounged in Rockland Harbor for a few more days and got the autopilot installed.  Very exciting!  Then we headed east about 30 miles to a spot just north of Swans Island.  When we were about 5 miles out of Rockland we heard two super yachts (which we had seen for a few days around the harbor) talking on the radio and planning to go on the same route as us.  Over the next hour or two they caught up to us and then passed us about halfway as we exited the Fox Island Thoroughfare.  It is very fun to see the big yachts like that out and about.  At the anchorage that night it was kind of close quarters, deep, and decent current so we ended up using a mooring ball that we found there.

The next day we came around the south end of Mount Desert Island (home to most of Acadia National Park) and anchored at the head of Somes Sound.  This is billed as a fjord, the only one on the east coast (or something like that).  It was very scenic to travel the 3-4 miles up it surrounded by dramatic granite outcroppings and cliffs mixed in with beautiful tree-covered mountains (hills).

We spent about 10 days there.  The little village of Somesville has an association that maintains a landing which is open to visitors, so we were able to take our dinghy there.  In Somesville there is a library, gallery, museum, and gas station.  We never visited the gallery or museum but the library was a nice place to take a break and use Wi-Fi.  Where the boat was anchored we had only intermittent cell service.  There is a free bus service that takes people around the entire island so we used that a lot.  It would pick us up at the library and then we would usually ride that line into the island's main town of Bar Harbor.  From there most of the busses went to various destinations in Acadia National Park so it was a very nice way to get around.  We saw all sorts of sights and one day rented bicycles.  We ended up riding 25 miles on the "carriage roads" through the park!

On August 25th we sailed to Isle au Haut (eye-la-hoe) and grabbed a guest mooring in Laundry Cove which is just north of the little town on the island.  Acadia National Park occupies part of this island so we went for a nice hike there up to the top of Bowditch Mountain.  And the town had a general store where we had a couple beers and played cards on the waterfront.

August 27th we sailed back to Rockland.  We chose a route on the ocean side of all of the little islands in hopes that there would be less lobster pot buoys to dodge.  There was, but we also were exposed to waves.  The ocean swell was 4 feet as predicted with a nice long period between waves so not that bad.  We saw a couple waves that were 5-6 feet--our biggest yet.  Watching these big waves crash on the rocky islands about a half mile away was quite nice.  About halfway through the day the big swell died down, but smaller locally wind-driven waves kicked up and those weren't as comfortable.  Anna really didn't feel well and Aaron felt it a little bit.  But we made it into the Rockland Harbor and settled in to our familiar spot (have arrived here four times now).  On the 28th we did laundry and cleaned up the boat a little, and we should be ready to continue south once we get groceries.  We are keeping an eye on storm "Erin" and at this point it looks like it may send 5 foot waves towards shore where we plan to travel, so it may delay us a couple days.

We hung out in Annapolis for a few more days after our Washington, D.C. adventure.  One day I took the dinghy way up Weems Creek until the highway bridge.  There I parked it in a sort of dodgy spot and walked about a mile to the Apple Store to get a Lightning->HDMI adapter.  Now we can watch things on TV streamed using the unlimited data plan.  I also stopped at Trader Joe's and got some groceries, including a healthy stock of Anna's favorite salsa.

Louise saw the vet one day to get a checkup and rabies test in preparation for visiting the Bahamas.  We also had a diver come out to clean the propeller.  When we first put the boat in the water we could motor a little over 7 knots.  When we left Miami it was more like 6.5 knots.  By the time we left Maine 5.5 was about the max for motoring, but when sailing we could still get up to 7 knots with a brisk wind.  So I figured that the hull itself was probably not that dirty (and doesn't look that dirty from what we can see around the edges) and after cleaning the propeller we are back up near 6.5 knots when motoring.  So our bottom is somewhat dirty but we will work on that a little once we are in warmer and clearer water.  There are some regulations that prohibit cleaning ablative paint so we couldn't have the diver do the hull cleaning.

On October 29th we motor sailed all day to Solomons, MD.  We got fuel and water on arrival there and then went up a little river and anchored.  It was very quiet and peaceful there.  The next morning when we pulled up the anchor it had a crazy amount of mud stuck to it, with a weird sort of jelly quality.  It was very nasty!  We motor sailed for another day to Dymer Creek.  The first place we tried to anchor didn't hold very well and we knew the next day we were going to sit there while some decent wind blew through so we went further up into the creek and found a spot where our anchor held very well.

It blew about 15 knots throughout the day and we were happy to not be out motoring straight into the wind and waves.  The waves are always choppy and uncomfortable on the Chesapeake Bay.  Then just after midnight a cold front came through with a sudden 90 degree shift in wind direction and gusts up to 38 knots.  The boat was really swinging side to side and then as the wind would hit us on the side we would heel a bunch.  This was exciting and stressful but we had the anchor alarm running on my phone and could see that our anchor was holding in the new direction so we did fine.  After about 30 minutes the front was past and we were able to sleep well.

The wind was still blowing about 15 knots gusting to the low 20s the next morning as we left so we were ready to put in some miles sailing downwind, at least until about noon when it was forecast to die down.  I got a little greedy though and put up the full sail as I knew our downwind course would result in a reasonable apparent wind.  But this made for a little tension as we were exiting Dymer Creek through the sort of winding channel.  We came out OK and then toughed out several hours of rolling back and forth as 2-3 foot waves came mostly from straight behind us.  Anna spent most of that time staying warm and comforting Louise down below.  It was a nice sunny day so even though it was about 50 degrees I stayed warm enough with a few layers on.  As we approached the end of the Chesapeake Bay the wind and waves faded and the last couple hours were a nice smooth motor sail.

In Hampton, VA we anchored in a narrow little spot next to the channel by Hampton University.  Thursday's Child was in the nearby marina preparing for the Salty Dogz rally so we joined them for a rum toast and then supper.

The next day we met up with Joy and Dave who Anna had been talking to for the last day or two.  Anna originally met Joy in Annapolis on our way north and they were excited to have us stay with them for a few days to enjoy their house and the surrounding Newport News area.  So we met them at the Hampton public dock with some laundry and bags packed for a couple nights.  Back at their house I took Louise to the dog park just a few blocks away.  Dave took Anna to Costco to stock up on many provisions and then Anna took Louise to the dog park.  We had Papa Murphy's for supper.

The next day Joy made an excellent breakfast and then went shopping with Anna.  I took Louise to the dog park.  Then I went to the nearby Maritime Museum while Dave and Anna went to the grocery store.  The museum had a crazy collection of stuff.  There were many artifacts from the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor, the first iron-clad ships that fought in the port here (right where we drove our boat!) during the civil war, and a full size replica of the USS Monitor.  Then there was a huge Fresnel lens assembly from a lighthouse, a huge model ship collection with maybe 40 or 50 ship models that were between five and ten feet long, and an Oracle AC72 catamaran from the America's Cup race.  We went to Cook Out for supper and had Joy and Dave's special recipe margaritas later that night.

We returned to the boat around 10:00am the next day and put a few things away and then decided that if we left soon we would be able to make it through the Gilmerton Highway Bridge before it stops opening at 3:30pm for rush hour traffic.  We made it through there by 3:00pm and then arrived at the Deep Creek Lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal in time for its 3:30pm opening.  Louise had fun running around in the lock yard with the operator's dog and we raised the boat about 4 feet.  Then we tied up at the dock just past the lock.  There was one other boat there, Walkabout, and we chatted with them for a few minutes.

The lock operator had invited us to coffee the next morning so we showed up at 8:00am for that and talked about the lock, boating, and everything else until about 11:30am.  Then the lock operator went to open the nearby lift bridge and we were one our way about 15 miles to the Great Dismal Swamp Visitors Center.  The Dismal Swamp Canal is a very straight canal...we only made one turn.  It is short of shallow and is known for the trees along its banks that occasionally fall in and then boats hit them.  Clunks are expected for any boat here and we did about average for this leg, with two great whacks on the keel and two other small bumps.  Walkabout was radioing whenever they hit things so we avoided a couple by having some warning.  Also there is duckweed growing on the surface of the water and as we approached the visitors center it became so thick that it covered the entire the surface in a green layer.  The water is also VERY brown, like even where it splashes out of the engine exhaust it looks very dark brown--it has always looked foamy white there in the past.  Walkabout got the last spot at the visitors center dock so we tied up to them which was a little exciting being the first time we have ever "rafted up".

Tomorrow we will make it to Elizabeth City which is renowned on the ICW for its free docks in town.

This one covers most of July:

After the wedding we showed a few relatives the boat and then moved to near Pleasure Bay where we anchored next to a yacht club's mooring field.  Aaron flew to Iowa for a few days to do a little consulting work (and eat Taco John's for the first time in a long time!) and Anna partied with the friendly yacht club members.  After a week or so there we went up the coast to Gloucester.

In Gloucester we rented a mooring ball from a yacht club for three nights.  We wanted to do some laundry and also Anna's aunt and uncle Lisa and Ray were meeting us there.  They were on a camping trip across the country for about a month and spent several days sightseeing with us.  We enjoyed a few places in Salem and around Gloucester, especially a cool castle built by Mr. Hammond (an inventor).  Some of the yacht club members invited us to join them on Sunday night for their supper of leftovers from the weekend so we ate very well that night.  Very nice people, including Tom Silva from This Old House (he knew a lot about Charleston, SC--where we purchased the boat and spent so much time).

We spent a few more nights anchored towards the south end of Gloucester Harbor.  One day we went to walk around the downtown part of Gloucester, and checked out the historic shipyard area.  We were just reading an interpretive sign when a guy we had seen working on a boat walked up to us and started talking to us.  He found out we were going to Maine and insisted that we needed the "Taft & Taft" guidebook (the authors' last name).  Zim Zimmerman is his name, and he had already sold his extra copy to someone and so was calling around to local stores to try to find a copy for us (even offered to have his wife pick one up on her way home from work 45 minutes away).  He gave us many tips for Maine and we look forward to finding him on our way south for another chat.

From Gloucester we headed north to Isles Of Shoals.  These are some scraggly islands with a small town on one of them.  They were scenic in a way.  There was no good place to anchor except those filled by mooring balls.  People had told us that in Maine people just use mooring balls and if the owner comes you find a different one.  We hadn't quite wrapped our heads around that yet and all of the certain colored ones in this harbor were taken already so we turned northwest and headed to Portsmouth.  Things didn't go that well there either.  We tried to anchor in the only nook we could find and the anchor drug across solid stone, funny how that sound so distinctly transmits up the chain.  So we paid for one of the town mooring balls.  I (Aaron) took the dinghy to shore and found two fancy restaurants full of weekend revelers--didn't really match my down mood after the day's defeats.  So then I took the dinghy a mile or two up the river (pounding through the chop of the 3 knot current) and tied up to the city dock.  The attendant said no need to pay since it was the end of the day so off I went exploring.  The mood downtown was much the same with weekend revelers so after a beer at the brewery I went back home.  Now maybe my impression was cursed ever since reading something like "it is hard to imagine a place more actively hostile to cruisers than Portsmouth" in the guidebook but this was a low point of the trip.

The next day we anchored in Stage Island harbor, a little bay just east of Kennebunkport.  The Sunday recreators were there in force when we arrived so our best option was to shoddily anchor in water that we knew would leave us high-and-dry if we were still there when the tide went out.  As the afternoon wore on the speedboats thinned and we moved a few hundred feet to deeper water.  It was a very peaceful spot.

Portland, ME is where we spent the next few nights.  We anchored in spot on the east end near a mooring field.  As we arrived a small storm system was passing through so it took some debate to convince Anna that it was going to be a nice comfortable spot in twenty minutes.  Aaron then went to downtown Portland to see what the dinghy options were.  The only option charged $20 per day, it was evening so I talked them down to $10, had a burrito at the food coop (groceries were atrociously priced there!), a PBR at a dive bar, and then went back to the boat.  The next day we went around on the north side of Portland and Anna shopped at Trader Joe's for a bunch of groceries and a few things at West Marine.  There is just a rip-rapped shoreline to pull the dinghy up to and we didn't want to leave it unattended there, hence the solitary shopping trip.

As we left Portland we sailed amongst the islands of Casco Bay and it was gorgeous.  Our first real taste of Maine, I would say.  We intended to make it to Booth Bay Harbor but we stopped a little short, in Five Islands Harbor.  The free mooring balls there did not have pendants on them (need those to tie to) so we went back a half mile to Harmon Harbor.  We had read that a guy in there encourages the use of his mooring ball so we were finally ready to try that whole "help yourself to a mooring ball in Maine" thing out.  And then the guy came out onto his porch and yelled at us to go ahead an use his mooring ball, that it was full of kelp but should be structurally solid.  The kelp situation was no joke--it was so thick on the pendant that I couldn't lift it up (limited not by my strength but by not wanting to break the boat hook :) ) to pass our line through the loop on the end of it.  I managed to loop our line under the pendant which held us until I could hack at the kelp a bit with the boat hook and then finally lift the correct part out.  After we settled in I dropped the dinghy and went up to the pendant to hack off all of the kelp--should be easier for the next person.

Harmon Harbor was so beautiful.  It was very quiet and well protected, and we would occasionally see seals poking their heads up.  They were present around the entrance especially, welcoming us and saying bye-bye!

The next day we arrived in Rockland which was our next big destination.  The Seven Seas Cruising Association was holding a gathering there and we arrived a day early.  So we did some laundry and explored the town.

Why don't we write about things in a more timely manner?  Good question!  This was written at the end of August and describes our travels from Atlantic City in June until Aaron's brother's wedding in early July.

We walked the boardwalk in Atlantic City one day with Teri and Britt from Sea Otter.  Then we waited a day or two for good weather and headed north.  Sea Otter headed straight for Cutty Hunk Island but we wanted to go through New York.  Their neighbor from the previous night was also going to New York (Mark on The Naked Truth) and as we left the inlet at Atlantic City we saw him a few miles ahead.  We eventually caught up to him and then led just in front of him up the remainder of New Jersey.  There was a one knot current against us the entire time.  Based on some graphics that we found online, this is a normal eddy that spins off of the gulf stream.

The selected anchorage for the night was around Sandy Hook and then south a couple miles.  During this south-bound leg Aaron spotted a whale.  Anna looked in time to see the tail.  We think it was a humpback whale which are known to be found in that area.  The anchorage was a bit rocky but compensated by the excitement of seeing the NYC skyline in the distance.

The next day we got a late start to time the tides/currents, something like 10:30am.  Mark left around then too but chose to motor at a slower pace so we didn't see him until the end of the day.  We went under the HUGE Verrazano-Narrows bridge and could see the Statue of Liberty ahead!  The harbor was pretty busy, mostly ferry traffic (no cargo ships).  We headed up the western side where the statue is and bounced around on the ferry wakes there for 20 minutes or so taking pictures of ourselves, the boat, and Louise, all with the statue in the background of course.  Then we headed across to the SW corner of Manhattan and followed it eastward into the East River.  This was where the tide planning really paid off.  The East River flows up to 5 knots in either direction and we had it favorable to us.  At one point we saw 11 knots speed over ground!  Seeing all of the iconic buildings was amazing, looking down the "concrete canyons" as we passed each street was cool, and Anna loved seeing Rikers Island (big fan of Law & Order).  It was all sooo awesome, totally worth going through NYC.

We anchored between two mooring fields on the west side of City Island.  Mark joined us there a couple hours later.  For some reason we had a craving for Chinese food so we picked Mark up in our dinghy and used one of the yacht clubs docks (Mark knew someone there).  We grabbed Chinese to go and ate in the cockpit of Marks boat, a pretty nice 40+ foot center cockpit Hunter.  He works from the boat, taking phone calls from people who want to ship cars and then setting them up with shipping services.

After our night there we had a pretty uneventful day to Port Jefferson (can't remember anything about the day 2 months later!).  We got fuel and water there.  The next day was the adventure with the rain that we actually did write about back then!

We continued eastward from there, past Fishers Island and Block Island.  As we passed Fishers Island we noticed North Dumpling Island with its lighthouse, solar panels, wind generator, and well-maintained look.  Apparently it is owned by the Segway guy!  It was on this stretch that we encountered our first real fog.  We could see it off in the distance for a while and then finally we were in it.  Visibility was probably still 1/4 mile so it didn't seem too dangerous and was mostly a "cool new experience".  We don't have radar but do transmit our location on AIS so any large commercial traffic would know where we are.  Everyone else is slow enough or very very dumb, so ultimately we felt pretty safe.  Eventually we found Sea Otter at Cutty Hunk Island (five miles from Martha's Vineyard) and spent the night there.

Passage through the Cape Cod Canal was on the agenda for the following day.  On the approach to the canal we remembered that one of our battens was twisted in the sail so put the sail up partways to remove and reinsert it.  We radioed Sea Otter to ensure them that we were not crazy.  A few minutes later they put their sail up…their engine was not being reliable so they wanted to have a ready backup in the narrow canal.  A good strategy, though I think we did read something later about it being prohibited to sail through the canal.  (As we have gained more sailing experience we now frequently have the sail up in canals for various reasons.)  At the end of the canal it became foggy again for a couple miles.  We continued up the coast and anchored in Plymouth Bay.  This was easily the most wavy anchorage that we have chosen.

And the next day we arrived in Boston!  It is a busy port and there were a lot of wakes.  We went into the main harbor in downtown Boston and anchored just outside of a mooring field, sort of the only place to anchor in the proper harbor itself.  It was a wavy spot during the day with ferries and water taxis rushing around all the time but the location was unbeatable.  We eventually found out a good place to take the dinghy and spent several days before Aaron's brother Eliot's wedding exploring downtown Boston.  One evening Laura & Brandon, Eve & Jameson, and Nick & Laci came out to check out the boat and have sundowners.  Aaron got a warning from the Coast Guard for going too fast on the last trip shuttling them back and forth from the dinghy dock.

During that past week or so we were in touch with the lady who was going to enjoy the boat for the long wedding weekend and watch Louise.  Negotiations with her fell through as she asked for us to cover more and more of her costs and she apparently would not derive any value from being on the boat (we thought it was an attractive offer to spend the 4th of July weekend in Boston on a boat!).  So we took the boat a few miles east, moored it at a yacht club, and took Louise to the family's rental house for the wedding weekend.  We had a great time!

We traveled the 30 miles from Annapolis to Washington, D.C. yesterday morning via hailed ride to New Carrollton, MD and then the subway.  My priority was the National Air & Space Museum so we went straight there.  That was sort of a bust as about 1/2 of the museum was closed for renovations.  We still spent about 90 minutes looking at the rest of the displays.  For lunch we walked a few blocks to a line of about 15 food trucks that we had previously spotted.

Then we walked back to the Mall and decided to go in the National Museum of Natural History.  One of the first things we saw there was a rhinoceros gathered from Africa by Theodore Roosevelt.  When writing this post I read a little more about the specifics of that, which was part of the Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition that collected over 11,000 specimens!  We spent a good amount of the time on the animal exhibits but breezed through the mineral exhibits which I think would have been really interesting to spend more time on.  But we had more places to go!

We almost made it to the Washington Monument but then decided to go to the Holocaust Memorial Museum first, which was great.  Then we spent a few minutes with the Washington Monument, Anna walked a little on the grass with her shoes off to give her feet a break, and we checked out the WWII Memorial.  We went down the south side of the reflecting pond as the sun was sinking pretty low about an hour before sunset...very nice.  After an obligatory few photos with the Lincoln Memorial we decided that we didn't want to wait the half hour to see the sun set behind us as we watched from the steps there, so we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and then went to see the White House (from right where the National Christmas Tree will be).  Then we made the long trip back to the boat and had a late supper!

Monday was a beautiful sunny day and we motor sailed about 45 miles to Annapolis, MD.  We checked out Back Creek to anchor where we did last time we were here but it was just a little too full for us to feel comfortable.  So we looked at the map and decided we would try out Weems Creek.  15 minutes later we were there and found plenty of room for us and Thursday's Child to anchor.  I took Louise to shore for a walk and we watched old sitcoms on the Laff channel that our antenna was able to pick up.

Tuesday started off with scattered light rain.  Anna's friend Will who she worked with in Big Sky lives in nearby Crofton and he came to say hi and bring us a few packages that had been mailed to his house.  It started raining more often and I took Will back to shore.  Then he gave me a ride to the grocery store about four blocks away.  I bought about as much as I could reasonably carry (I always put the heavy things in the backpack) and then walked all the way back to the dinghy in steady rain.  As we unloaded the groceries back at the boat Anna said that some of the bags were so wet that they felt heavier from the water!  We used the generator for about an hour to make some water and heat it for showers, and charge the batteries to keep our electronics going to entertains us through the rainy day.  It was interesting that the watermaker produced 27gph rather than the 15gph that we expected in the cold water here.  My best guess is that the creek we are in is not very salty as the tidal range here is only a foot or so.

Today we met Steve and Susie on shore at 9:30am and went to tour the Naval Academy.  It was a pretty interesting tour.  We went through a couple of the big halls and towards the end saw all of the students form up in the courtyard and march in to lunch.  Then we followed them into Bancroft Hall (all 1,000 or more of them were gone into the depths of the building already) which had some great architecture.  After the tour we went into the Naval Academy Museum which had great displays about the ships, technology, leadership, etc. of the Navy in all the wars throughout the generations.  There was also a very interesting part about the research arm, especially all of the satellites that they have launched.

We walked around Annapolis a while and checked out a few shops with Steve and Susie, plus the obligatory ice cream. Tomorrow we plan to take the bus/train to DC and see a few things.  Steve and Susie are heading towards Hampton, VA tomorrow so will probably see them there on our way south in a few days.  There they will be preparing to go offshore with a bunch of boats in a rally down to the Bahamas--something like seven days at sea.  We will proceed our own way slowly down the coast but I think eventually find them in the Bahamas.

We took the dinghy over to the very nice dinghy dock at Block Island and set off for a walk.  A block away we found the Block Island Maritime Institute where there was not much going on except a couple small tanks in the parking lot with some fish and crabs in them.  A couple blocks further on we found a "Killer Donuts" stand and I tried one.  It was a pretty standard donut.

About a mile further we arrived at the 1661 Inn Animal Farm.  This is a big petting zoo basically.  We looked at a pig, some emus, cranes, kangaroos, and a yak.  Then in some pens that we could walk in they had llamas, alpacas, tiny horses, and donkeys.  We petted a couple llamas (possibly alpacas, can't remember the difference).

Then we started to work our way back.  We had lunch at The Yellow Kittens and then spent quite a while at the museum run by the Block Island Historical Society.

The next day we left and sailed (no motor) into Long Island Sound.  Just SW of Fishers Island we went through an area marked on the chart as Tide Rips.  We could see that it was pretty turbulent and when we got there the waves slapped us around a little.  They were up to three feet tall, very steep, and coming mostly from the side so they sometimes splashed into the cockpit, which is pretty rare!  For some reason the wind jumped in speed there too; fortunately we had reefed about 10 minutes earlier as it had been slowly building.  The current in that area peaked at four knots and I think we had about 2 knots favorable for most of the day.

As we traveled further Anna looked at the chartplotter and saw that the AIS data showed Thursday's Child ahead of us about 10 miles.  So she radioed them and they decided to stop at Duck Island where we were planning to go.  We anchored there and then I checked out Duck Island where there was a sign saying to stay off because of bird nesting.  Then we went over to visit and have a few drinks with Steve and Susie on Thursday's Child.

We left pretty early the next day to make it the 66 miles to Port Washington, just outside of New York City.  We ran the engine the whole time as we were sailing downwind in weak winds.  They have free mooring balls for two nights there so we tied up to one.  They also have two nice dinghy docks with really close grocery stores, hardware stores, laundromat, etc. so we took part in all those services.  After two nights on the mooring ball we moved at about 8:00am to anchor just outside the mooring field and then I flew back to Fargo for a couple meetings.  Anna's mom Karen arrived that afternoon to spend the next few days checking out New York City with Anna.

They walked around the 911 memorial and Times Square, ate at Tavern on the Green in Central Park with Anna's aunt Diane who happened to be in New York City, and saw Book of Mormon.  They had more ambitious plans but one day was so windy that the dinghy ride to shore would have been very unpleasant plus there is always some risk of the anchor dragging.  Also the train ride to the city is about 45 minutes each way, and Louise needs some attention occasionally.

When I returned from Fargo I met Anna and Karen to have excellent steaks at Del Frisco's and then we went to see Rock of Ages…very good.  Karen left very early the next morning.  Then the weather was rainy and gloomy for a few days.  As our batteries gradually drained we determined that having a generator would be worthwhile.  One factor: people in Fargo were asking me how I liked sailing and my response was always that I was ready to return to the modern life of unlimited resources--water and electricity primarily.  The Ace Hardware nearby had one generator in stock, a 3500 watt unit that was larger than we really needed, but hey with one that size we would even be able to run the AC or heat (reverse cycle AC) if needed.  So we got that, unpacked it, determined that it was 1/2" too large to store nicely under the helm seat, and returned it.  The next day I went to Home Depot and got a suitcase-sized Honda generator which is a much better fit for us.

Now that we have the generator we have only used it for four hours in three weeks but the peace of mind benefit is continuous.  We now have an easy backup plan if it is cloudy, and it makes it a lot less worrying to use some power for comfort.  To shower for example, we might use 5-10 gallons (extravagant to some salty sailors out there I'm sure) and run the water heater for 15 minutes (also extravagant, we hear plenty of people talking about hanging black solar shower bags).  Altogether that would only take about 1 hour of generator run time, or maybe 1/3 gallon of gas.  Fun fact: the generator can produce 2000 watts at full load but our battery charger can only charge at about 1000 watts, and we have 1100 watts of solar, so technically our solar panels can charge our batteries faster than the generator!

Those cloudy days were very windy also and I was quite happy to finally wake up to relative silence one morning.  The wind howls in the shrouds and the bay at Port Washington was big enough to let some waves build.  The next day the waves south of New York City had died enough that we were able to travel down to Atlantic Highlands, NJ.  We fueled up there and then when we were looking for a spot to anchor we ran aground while the depth finder said 9.5 feet of depth.  Turns out that was miss-calibrated, probably by me!  The next morning were on the move at 4:00am.  The trip to Atlantic City was about 80 miles…a very long day!  There is an eddy current off of the Gulf Stream there that flows south at 1 knot so that helped us along nicely.  We motored the whole day but had a boost from the sails as the wind blew us downwind.

The next day we went to a casino buffet for supper and then a comedy show.  Both were good!  The scale of the casino facilities and the grandeur of the finishes (with a certain level of tackiness of course) were sort of shocking after having spent a year now in campers, sailboats, and sort of rundown touristy waterfronts.  Oh yes, October 12 marked a year since we left Medora!

We motored down to Cape May the next day.  We anchored in Sunrise Lake and I took the dinghy to a nearby park that had a dock and walked Louise around for a bit.  It was definitely out of season there and everything was oddly quiet.  The holding there was not great and there was a big storm coming (we learned the next day that it was called a bomb cyclone).  So we spent the next two nights tied up in a slip.  It was very windy, 30 knots gusting to 45 knots!  We enjoyed our stay there plugged in and were able to run the heat to stay very comfortable.

The day after the winds died down, they were still blowing moderately straight down the Delaware Bay which we needed to go up.  So we stayed at the slip another night.  I tried to replace the worn out chain roller on the bow but the nut and bolt holding it there seem to be permanently joined.  We had lunch with Steve and Susie at Lucky Bones Backwater Grill and we stocked up at the liquor store.  Then the next day we left at 6:30am.  It was a bit of a nervous start as when I turned on the depth finder in the slip it showed 4.5 feet (low tide!) which would mean we have about 1 foot of keel stuck in the ground.  I guess the mud was pretty loose as we were able to back out of the slip easily, and I think the sensor is calibrated about 6" conservatively now.  We rode a great 2 knot current all the way 70 miles to Chesapeake City.  We are still there today as it has been raining all day.  And we are still hanging with Thursday's Child too!

After leaving Provincetown we sailed for a few hours across Cape Cod Bay towards the Cape Cod Canal. We motored for the last hour or so once the winds gave out. Then we enjoyed a 2 knot boost from the current in the canal, up until we came around a corner and saw a railroad bridge ahead that was lowered. Aaron had flashbacks to about 30 minutes earlier when he had built a case to Anna that there were no low bridges to worry about. The bridge operator hailed us on the radio and said he figured if we slowed down then he would have it open for us in time. That worked out and shortly we emerged into Buzzards Bay. It was beautiful with the late afternoon sun, tree covered shores on both sides, some islands, and calm waters.

A couple miles south we turned off to find a place to anchor behind Bassets Island. We saw a group of mooring balls that didn't appear to be part of a business (for rent) and about half of them were unused so we used one of those instead of anchoring. It was a very quiet and scenic spot. At night Aaron noticed that there were lights in the water like fireflies! When we splashed in the water more of them would light up. Not sure what they were, but in the morning we saw a lot of minnows in the water so maybe "fire-minnows" haha!

The next day we went to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard, motoring the whole way. We anchored just outside of the inner harbor. It isn't protected at all from the north but the winds were forecast to only be from the SE. We hurried into town to see some sights and learned a lot at The Carnegie which was an old Carnegie library turned into a museum about Martha's Vineyard.

We spent a few days exploring Edgartown and the island. One day we rode the bus around the island--pretty reasonable at $10 per person for the day. We went out to the west end where we saw some colored cliffs and were surprised by a nude beach. Then we went to the town of Oak Bluffs where we had a late lunch with two other young couples from Connecticut who were vacationing on the island. Hi Matt, Annie, Mike and Richelle! We walked around the Camp Meeting Association grounds where they have hundreds of quaintly decorated cottages ("gingerbread houses")…they are so cool! Another day we took a walking tour of Edgartown and some of the scenic buildings. The Old Whaling Church was very cool, with trick painting inside that reminded us of similar painting in a mansion we toured in Portland, ME. The next day Aaron changed the engine oil and we poked around on shore a little more.

We had intended to leave very early in the morning to go to Cuttyhunk Island but came up with the pretty good excuse that the current would not be favorable until 9:30. That current did give us a nice boost and we arrived in the early afternoon. We were hoping to get fuel there but nothing was open. Aaron went to explore the island and Anna stayed on the boat. She noticed a boat from Minnesota coming into the harbor so when Aaron returned we both went to say hi. They invited us aboard (Susan and David on SV Winneduma) where we had a great long chat and arranged to have supper the next night.

The following morning Aaron caught the attendant at the fuel dock and filled the jerry cans with 10 gallons of diesel and poured them in the tank. Then he took Louise to the beach where she ran around like a maniac and barked at waves. She needed a bath after that. Susan and David came over for supper. Anna made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots and they brought bread and salad. Very delicious!

Today we had a very lazy morning and didn't leave until 10:30. But we only had 38 miles to go so made it to Block Island by 5:30 where we got fuel and water and then anchored. Tomorrow we will explore Block Island! Then we will make our way to New York City by Tuesday. Aaron is going to fly to Fargo Wednesday-Saturday for a little work and a doctor's visit, and Anna's mom is coming to stay with Anna and explore New York City.

On Sunday we left Isles of Shoals and made it to Gloucester. We sailed 15 or 20 miles to Rockport where we wanted to stay (haven't been there yet). But when we tried to anchor, the sound of the pointy tip of the anchor dragging across granite was clearly transmitted up the chain. We tried five different spots but all we found was rock, which was frustrating because others had reported good holding mud in that area. We radioed the harbormaster for advice and to maybe just stay on a mooring ball but he was busy "looking for someone" and they had a boat out in the harbor with six divers in the water. We never heard back from him so we motorsailed around the peninsula and stayed in Gloucester.

We were able to find a spot to anchor in Gloucester's inner harbor where there is room for 6-8 on anchor. Then we rushed to shore to try to watch the second half of the Vikings game. It was not nationally televised so we were not successful. On the way back to the boat we stopped to chat with Steve from the boat Thursday's Child. We met them in Stuart, FL and had seen them about six weeks ago at the SSCA gam in Rockland, ME. He had been up to Nova Scotia while we explored Maine.

The next day we stayed put as the winds were not favorable for moving on. Louise got a walk, we had Domino's for supper, and Anna got a key lime pie. As we were walking around town we saw a large film crew near the waterfront filming for a movie called Coda.

On Tuesday we sailed to Provincetown, MA out on the tip of Cape Cod. The wind was a solid 15 knots just off of the stern so we made pretty good time, averaging 6.5 knots. As we left the protection of the Gloucester peninsula the waves built up to 3' and fairly close together so we were rolling back and forth the whole way. Aaron went to shore to walk around for an hour.

Today we woke up and figured that the waves would become unreasonable as we approached the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal--20+ knots of wind. So we stayed and will go tomorrow when we should get close to Martha's Vineyard. We plan to spend a couple days there. Now we (all three) are heading to shore for a walk.