Day 45

Day 45 - Sept. 29

12 nm today.  We picked up a mooring ball at $35.00/ night.  That should give us use of showers, laundry. Took a walk around town.  It's a pretty little spot with lots of history.  Stopped for supper at Chick and Ruth's.  We were told by Sillery Bay Bob that we had to eat there.  We both had the Lump Crab Cake which was too much for one person to eat, but it was very good.
We came under attack last night.  They must have come in stealth mode cause we didn't hear a thing.  Our boat survived, but Greg had to put a lot of effort into reviving the dinghy.  For a while I didn't think it was going to pull through.

Attacked by a very, very sick bird!

Day 44 - Sept. 28

Very peaceful night and woke up to sunshine and 0 kt wind.  Guess we'll motor to the next anchorage.  We're taking it slow with short hops cause we don't want to arrive at Annapolis until after the weekend which will hopeful  allow us to pick up a mooring.
Arrived at Sillery Bay by noon.  Very nice here, with some gorgeous homes along the banks.  Greg and I took a dinghy tour this afternoon to admire the homes.  Not quite as pretentious as those along the Maine coast.  These you could almost picture yourself living in.  There is a house on a small island directly behind us with a lighthouse attached.  We're trying to decide if it is a private home or something else.  There are no signs to say.  I'll check it out this evening if any lights go on.
Bob Leigh just paid us a visit.  He lives behind Little Island, which is where my lighthouse is, which by the way is privately owned.  Gentleman built it about 5 years ago as a toy, lives there once in a while.  Must be nice!  Anyway, Bob had us pull out our charts and he gave us all kinds of recommendations for anchorages from here to the end of the Dismal Swamp on the ICW, along with places to visit and great spots to eat. What a really nice guy.  Invited us to stop in for a visit on our way back and he'd give us the use of his car.  Too bad we won't be coming back this way.  :(
19 nm today.

Chesapeake City Town Hall

Private lighthouse in Sillery Bay

We're at the world famous Chic and Ruth's

Chick and Ruth's

Day 43 - Sept. 27

 Slept in today since we only planned a short hop to another anchorage.  We had in mind to repeat the same kind of day we had yesterday.  We left anchor and quickly put up the main and jib and spent two hours sailing a bracing 1 - 1 1/2 kts.  Being a Saturday meant there were more boats in the Chesapeake then Maine had lobster pots, and with no wind, it wasn't much fun.  So on went the iron sail and by 2:00pm we settled ourselves into another anchorage for the day.  Salvation ended up going to our first choice, but closer examination looked like it may be touch and go for our 5 1/2 draft, so we tucked into our second choice,  Hawk Cove behind Hart-Merrill Island.  Not a bad spot but a lot of power boaters at the beach, so I'm hoping it will quiet down after supper.
15 nm today.

Day 42 - Sept. 26

We've been waiting for the perfect day, and I think today may have been it.  I got to put shorts on for the first time in about two weeks, the winds were light, the leaves have started to change color, there were very few large power boats, and we thoroughly enjoyed a slow, quiet sail out the C&D Canal, into the Chesapeake Bay and up to our anchorage here in Still Pond.  It is just a small cove with a few houses around it.  So peaceful.  OMG! .....  There's a naked guide doing exercises on his deck!
Now... where was I,  oh yeah... This has been the most perfect day....  ;)
The only incident to comment on today was our departure from the municipal dock.  Salvation went first, and hit a shallow spot of .5'.  We decided to retrace our entrance, thinking the tide was about the same as when we entered.  I preformed a nice tight turn off the dock and then...dragged through mud and continued to plough through mud for about 100'.  Guess it would have been easier to follow Salvation :/
20 nm today.

Day 41 - Sept. 25

Rained all night and most all day today, hard.  It's been almost 6 weeks since we left home and this is the first full day of steady rain that we've had.  Used the morning to bake an apple pie, then spent some time at the Town Hall working on emails, blog, and banking.  The receptionist was a sweetheart and let us use the boardroom.  She was also the one that recommended we try the Bohemia Cafe for lunch.  It was sooo good and the waitress was great.  I then went to the Vulcan Fibre Store, deciding that I should keep myself busy by knitting a sweater.  I have never been in a yarn shop with so many selections and ideas, and the staff were so helpful.  I found a pattern on line, so she printed it off and then helped me with my yarn selection, needles, etc. I started my project tonight.  I will start it again tomorrow night :(

Day 38 - 40

  Day 38 - Sept. 22

Spent the day touring Cape May.  What a pretty little town.  It has the highest concentration of Victorian homes in America, and by the looks of it, half of them are for sale or rent.  I'll try to attach a few pictures, but we all know my luck with that. The great thing about walking around here...not a single hill...couldn't even find a bump that was pretending to be a hill.  Sweet!
N
Because of the nor'wester blowing thru, we are going to hang out here until Friday and then head up the Delaware. Tomorrow will be a day for topping up the water and diesel, and then wandering around town some more.  People have started decorating for Halloween so we're enjoying the easy walk and great scenery.
Life is GOOD!  :)

Day 39 - Sept. 23

Quell Surprise!  Here I thought we were going to have another day to relax and enjoy Cape May ( along with getting fuel, water, and groceries) when don't we get a phone call asking what we thought of leaving....right now).  We had a good weather window for today, with nasties setting in for Wednesday and Thursday, so it only made sense to go today.  So, within 1/2 hr, we got things in order on the boat and were leaving the harbour.  Initially it looked like we might have some good sailing, but as soon as we turned north in the Delaware Bay, we hit the north wind and the current and managed a crawling 4.3 kts for the next 9 hours.  Ugh!  But we made it to our anchorage (very open, so please, please let the weatherman be right and give us a NE wind tonight).

Day 40 - Sept. 24

What a nice night.  No winds, and no rolling.  Finally a peaceful night's sleep.  Woke this morning to overcast skies, but a brisk north wind so maintained 7.5 - 8 kts for several hours until we had to turn north into the wind.  I love our boat, but when it comes to pointing, she ain't worth her weight in dog poop!  I watch our speed drop to 3 kts at the same time as Salvation tucks in her nose ( or is that snubbing her nose at us) and takes off as if she's got a team of horse pulling her.
We make it to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C& D) by 10:00 am and are relieved to get in where its calmer and quieter, giving us a little break for a bit.  We're not in the canal for 15 minutes when Greg tells me to look behind.  There coming up behind us is a huge car carrier.  Those things are big.  We squeeze over to starboard to let her pass and take lots of pictures .
Because we wanted to make Chesapeake City before the weather worsened, we accepted the fact that we would be working against the tide till almost noon which was okay, until we got to  Chesapeake City just as the current came around full force.  Salvation had pulled into the city dock first, and as we came around to pull in, the current caught us and hauled us to a stop in the water.  I kept giving it more power, but it felt like forever before Peace and Quiet was able to push back and get us into the little cove.  Once inside I only had to line the boat up perpendicular to the dock the the wind/current pushed us straight in.  Nice :).  They have 24 hr free dockage, but because of the approaching storm the dock master said we could stay on.  They would never make someone leave in bad weather, so we'll have two days dockside without charge.  The dock across the way charges $2/ ft so the 2 days would have cost us $140.  The dock master (Buddy) also drove Heather and I to the grocery and liquor stores which are several miles away. A nice older gentleman who told as a lot about the area.
Another boat from Canada came in and anchored in the little harbour at the same us.  The boat, Black Hawke, is a Legend 45 from Ontario and single handed by Ross, heading to the BVI's.  He spent the afternoon with the guys on our boats and then invited us to bring our supper and spend the evening with him on his boat.  Needless to say we were all in boat envy when we saw all the extra space another 6' will give you.  It was a very enjoyable evening and I hope we meet up again as we make our way south.

Going to the C & D Canal

Greg on the beach at Cape May

Nuclear power plant on Delaware River

Debbie...don't look now, but we're being followed!

Salvation passing by the Statue of Libety

New York at intersection of Hudson and East Rivers

Day 37 - Sept. 21

Supper was amazing last night.  The other 3 all had steak and I had the Shrimp, Crab and Broccoli Tortellini Alfredo.  It was delicious and went well with the Sunset Margherita in a mason jar.  It was wonderful until 3 hours later when I started to get sick.  Not convinced it wasn't food poisoning, but it was probably me reacting to the cream sauce.  That, along with the constant bouncing from the cross wind and currents.  So I spent a lovely night in the head, and today spent part time on the helm and part time flacked out on the cockpit bench.  (And for those of you thinking it....it wasn't a hangover.)  Overall, not a very productive day.  We did, however, make it to Cape May and seem to be in a very nice anchorage.  Funny thing about that though,  we've called around to the marinas and none of them will let us use their showers or laundry, because we're at anchor, even though we would pay for them.  And to top that, most of them are too shallow to even get our boats into.  Don't they realize that if we use their facilities we would probably also patronize their restaurants and marine stores.  Oh well,  we got our shower fixed on board, so guess we'll stay home tonight and use the laundromat in town tomorrow.
Temperature in high 70's today and for the first time we are dealing with no see'ems.  I'll have to look into finding bug screen to put around the cockpit.
Today:  38 nm in overcast skies and soft 3'-4' rolls most of the day.

Day 33 - Sept. 17

Finally, after a lot of discussion, and an unhelpful call to the Coast Guard, we agreed that Richard was correct with his determination of the best time to go through Hell Gate, and left at 9:00am.  Firstly, the East River is full of garbage, and secondly, it stinks!  Guess it might have something to do with the garbage.

I'm definitely not a city girl. As impressive as the buildings were, and the massiveness of the city, I had no desire to stop and wander the streets.  Give me a quite beach any day.  We did get the mandatory picture of the Statue of Liberty, and a couple of the Empire Sate Building, so I'm good.
The ride through Hell Gate was almost disappointing.  For all the hype about the currents, and my sleepless night, it was a walk in the park.  There were a couple of bumpy spots, but we had worse sailing to Carter's Beach.
Our minor spot of excitement was getting to the New York Harbour and seeing Salvation slow down in front of us, then a phone call telling us they were having engine trouble.  They pulled into a dock and we carried on to the Statue of Liberty to get out of the way of the ferries.  Luckily we heard from them a short while later that they were on there way. Yeah!! (By the way, when they talk about The Staten Island Ferry, there are actually about 50 of them!  And I think they all travel at the same time.  I felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs trying to stay out of their way!)
Got out of the harbour and still no wind....motoring for another day, but made it to Sandy Hook and anchored by 4:00 pm.
35 nm today.

Day 34 -  Sept. 18

Had an early morning today, pulling up anchor at 7:00am. Not a lot of wind with a calm sea and soft roll.  Managed a long, boring day, motoring half of the New Jersey coast, getting as far as Barneget Bay for a total of 50 nm.  I will never want to see New Jersey by car.  Seeing it by boat is bad enough.  Totally flat, and I mean flat.  The highest points are the water towers which can be seen from miles away.  This was a very uninteresting day, so the autopilot went on and I slept most of it.

Day 35 - Sept. 19

What a night!  The predicted gusts of 20 kts did not disappoint.  It was an easy call this morning not to go out.  Winds are 16 - 20 kts with gusts of " I don't want to know".   We put out more rode which puts us fairly close to a dock, but we've been very pleased with the holding power of our anchor, so I think we'll be okay.  At least we can see if we drag any throughout the day.
Two guys are out in the harbour sail-surfing...and can they move.  It must be awfully hard on the arms though.  Not a sport for me.
An advantage to having a day off, we can get stuff done around the boat.  I keep smelling an odour from the head, so gave that a scrub down and Greg cleaned out the bilge.  Picked up TeaTree Oil in New London so I'm trying that as well to see if it will live up to its reputation for removing odours.
Made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today.  Would have been better with raisins, but you have to work with what ya got :)

Day 36 - Sept. 20

Holy Bucking Broncos Batman!  Was that a ride!!  We listened to the weather report this morning,  still small craft advisory with 10-15 kts, and 3-4 swell.  The 'boys' thought it was worth going out the harbour to have a look. HA!  I knew full well that if the seas were good we'ed go, and if they were bad, there would be no way to get back into the harbour, so no matter what they said, we were headed for Atlantic City.  And leaving the harbour, they were bad, but no worries..."I'm sure it will get better as we get out further".... I'm told.   So for the next 6 hours I'm fighting with the topsy turvy seas.  Certainly not the worst we've seen.  I'd say the second worst.  Problem here was we made the choice to do out into it.  Oh well.  We're here safe and sound, no damage done, and another day closer :)
So this afternoon, after our "one day closer" drink, we'll head up to do laundry and showers, hopefully some grocery shopping, and then I've been told the guys are taking us out for supper.  ( Hmm, think there's any guilt there?)
Oh, it was 34 nm today (felt like 70)

Day 32 - Sept. 16

I am in internet heaven.  Woke up this morning to rain, so we're not going anywhere today.  Started to play around on the laptop, and lo and behold, I pick up the server we used at the restaurant last night.  Being a smart cookie, I remembered the ID and password, and now have access to everything except my email (don't know why that is).
We had planned to do the Hell Gate run today, pass the Statue of Liberty and then on to Sandy Hook.  However, with the rain and pour visibility to navigate the East River, we decided to wait a day. (This is the very first day since leaving NS that we had rain in the morning to start the day. Figures!)  Plus, the photo ops would be non-existant.  Can not sail past the SoL without a picture.  We thought about spending some time in New York, but probably won't unless we get storm stayed.

Sunset on New York City

Lighthouse outside Norwalk Islands.  Of all the beautiful lighthouses we've passed, I get a picture of one of the boring ones.  :(

Richard checking out the New York skyline

Day 24 - 30

Day 24 - Sept. 8

Had a very peaceful night on anchor. Not a bounce, roll, or clang from the mast.  Almost felt like I was home in my own bed.  Wait a minute...this is home :)
We were pouring over the charts last night trying to find a place to make our next stop.  We chose 3 options, depending how the winds and weather would be.  We ended up at Sakonett Harbour and picked up a town mooring.  I'm still blown away by the houses that we've been seeing.  It is staggering to see the wealth here, or at least the presentation of wealth.  I wonder how many of these owners are buried in debt.  We had a good sail today, no need for the motor.  We were able to go wing on wing for a while and used the preventer for the first time.  The winds and seas were a little squirrelly so I appreciated the preventer.
With a good sail tomorrow we should pass the 500 nm mark.  I've been playing with the chart plotter and have discovered where to find the information on our track so I will try to remember to log the distance traveled from now on. I believe I turned the track on around Carter's Beach, so from there to here we've come 482 nm.

Day 25 - Sept. 9

We've just dropped anchor in Point Judith Pond after 4 hours of the wildest ride to date.  We were running with E winds 4-9 kts which would have been fine if it wasn't for the 9' waves. On the plus side, they weren't breaking and we just rolled over them.  The down side, we were taking them side on for the most part, which made for a roller coaster ride with a twist.  At one point I looked over my shoulder and had to look UP to see the top of the wave, just before we rolled up and over. FUN!!!  Needless to say, since this journey is about enjoying and not stressing, we went to Plan B and pulled in to Point Judith.  We were hoping to make Fisher Island but as they say, "the best laid plans...".
Even with the shortened trip, we did break the 500 nm mark, reaching 502 nm which was a run today of 20 nm.
In case anyone is wondering, I am a helm hog.  Since leaving La Have,  I've had the helm the entire time with the exception of pee breaks and two rest breaks on the Gulf of Maine.  This gets me away from having to deal with the sails, which I can handle, but readily admit I don't know much about.




Day 26 - Sept.10

After the time we had yesterday, I don't think anyone wanted to face another day like that, and listening to the weather, and being 2 nm inland from the Block Island Sound, it was uncertain what would transpire.  Richard called the ferryman to get a prognoses of what was happening out in the sound and was advised that the sea was much better than the day before.  With that information we decided to go for New London.  We had light winds from the N and a smooth, roley sea so with just the jib we had a very relaxing sail until noon.  At that time the wind dropped to nothing, and we motored, against a current the rest of the way.  I'm not used to dealing with currents, and it has definitely become a factor when trying to time the trips.
We finally get into the harbour, see a submarine going out, and think we've had a pretty good day.  Word of caution!  Never think you've had a great day until the day is over!!
As we're coming in to look for anchorage, I go between an island and a marker showing a rock.  I'm carefully watching my chart for depth, while Greg is on the phone to Richard to get confirmation of where we were told to anchor when.... crunch..... I've hit a rock. Luckily I was going slow enough that neither one of us was knocked off our feet, and I quickly backed up. Doesn't appear to be any damage but won't know for sure until Greg can dive under and check it out.   I looked at the chart again, and there is no way I should have hit a rock...until I zoom way in on the chart and see the notation, Hog Back.  I have to assume it means rock from the island to the rock warning sign, but the chart still shows me that I have 7'.  I am not impressed, but one more lesson learned.
Sailed  31nm in 6 1/2 hrs for a total of 533 nm to date.

Day 27 - Sept. 11
9/11   All flags at half- mast today

Today is laundry and shower day for us, then off to find some groceries.  Richard and Heather have rented a car and are headed for the Newport Boat Show.  Tomorrow we'll go with them to Defender to look for any boat stuff we think we need. May be able to luck into some boat show deals.  The plan is to spend the next two days here in New London and then continue south.  We're only about a day away from Peace and Quiet's old homeport, so may drop in there.
Spent part of today walking around New London.  It's not an impressive town, reminded us a lot of Gottingen Street in Halifax, with maybe a few years ahead on the rejuvenation projects.  It looks like the town relies heavily on the employment of General Dynamics.  Their office buildings are huge, even supplying, it appears, bus transportation for its employees to get from building to building. Once in town the streets are primarily lined with eateries, tending to the lunch and after work crowds I assume.  We enjoyed lunch at the Muddy Waters Cafe.  The tomato soup was so good and my humus and veggie sandwich is one I'll definitely try to replicate on the boat.  Delicious!!  I won't even tell you about the desserts, but we did have to bring extras back with us ;)
We went into a small museum looking for a map.  The lady was extremely friendly and helpful.  She admitted she didn't see many people, hence the crossword puzzles and crafts on the table.  Turns out the small building was the schoolhouse that Nathan Hale taught in before he became the "first spy".  The TV series Turn is based on him.  However, Nathan was killed on his very first mission.  Who knew?

Day 28 - Sept. 12

Another " hold on to your hats folks, were in for a ride" nights! The boats were bouncing like crazy, and the winds sounded like they wanted to take the mast off.  It always
 sounds worse when you're laying in bed, at least that's what I keep telling myself.  I know both Richard and Greg were up checking the anchor lines through the night.
We spent the day with Richard and Heather driving around ( Defender for the guys and Michael's Crafts for the girls). Then lunch at Olive Garden ( sooo good), followed by groceries, return of the rental car and then back to the boat.   A very full day and the weather was beautiful.  Looks like tomorrow we'll hit the road (water) again. I'm not going to miss the wake from the 3 ferries that rocked us every 1/2 hour.

Day 29 - Sept. 13
(Dad would have been 93 today.  Miss you Dad!)

We left New London at 9:00 am looking to go as far as New Haven, and amazingly, we did.  I believe  this may be one of the first times we made a long run and didn't have to pull in somewhere early.  Although we did just make it.  An hour sooner would have seen us on anchor before the rain started, and we may have missed some of the pitchy seas, but all in all, a good day.  We came 44 nm in 7 hours with just the jib.
As we sit here enjoying a rum and coke (much deserved on my part) we are contemplating something hot for supper.  I'm thinking a spicy stir fry...yum. Best pass my request on to the chef.  ;)


Day 30  - Sept. 14
( Orval - I'm 1/3 of my way to a beer!!!)

Woke up to another morning of rocking and howling winds, although the anemometer only showed 14 kts.  However, by 9:00 am it didn't look too bad and we started our day under full sail and 6-7 kts.  The wind dropped before noon and we ended up motor sailing the rest of the way.  Found an anchorage amid the Norwalk Islands.  It's very shallow around us, but we are sitting very comfortably at the moment.  Once the cigarette boats stop flying by us, I'm sure it will become very quiet. What a beautiful site out our back door.  The New York skyline wrapped up in a red sky.  We're too far away to make out anything except the Empire Sate Building, but even so, it is impressive. Hopefully I'll be able to attach a picture.  Ran out of potato chips 2 days ago, so I made a batch of peanut butter cookies this afternoon.  I'm not going to loose weight this way :(
 Today's trip - 28 nm in 5 1/2 hours.

Anchored on the Thames River, New London, Conneticut 

Someone hitching a ride on our motor

Pretty nice evening :)

I think Greg is tired.

Day 23

Sitting at a very nice Inn enjoying a beer and excellent sandwich at Marapoisetta Harbour.  We came through the Canal without issue, but it appears the signs that ask for No Wake and Not to Exceed 10 mph does not apply to the locals. Wowzers!

I'll apologize now for the pictures and narrative being out of order.  I have learned the the Ipad is not user friendly with blogspot.  So I tend to post as soon as I get something to work for me :(

Day 22

Spending another day in Provincetown.  It is an interesting place to say the least.  Luckily I was prepared before arriving here so no surprises.  My new friend Rhonda told me that "Ptown" is the second largest gay community in America.  One thing that really stands out is that there are no children here.  The Main Street  puts me in mind of Burbon Street in New Orleans, without the bars.  A lot of amazing shops, some not family appropriate. The sites were enjoyable, but must say the town is sadly lacking in friendliness and hospitality.  After the great treatment we've had in our other stops, this one has been disappointing.

Our plan was to move to an anchorage this am, but the launch driver mentioned a swim event taking place crossing right in front of our boat so advised "leave now or wait for the end of the race".  We waited and thoroughly enjoyed the 400 plus swimmers go by our boat in the Swim for Life ( 1 1/2 mile) race.  There must have been about 50 kayakers in the water as support boats ( keeping an eye on the swimmers and making sure no boats entered the swim lane).  I'll try to post a picture, but still having trouble getting them onto this blog.

Tomorrow it's of the the Cape Cod Canal!

Leaving the Cape Cod Canal. ( coasted thru at 9 kts )

Almost 400 swimmers go by our boat during the "Swim for Life" race at Provincetown.  A very windy, overcast day)

Tower Monument in Provincetown - about 400 feet his grand solid granite, built in 1910. ( still don't know why)

Naval Base Prison at Portsmouth ( now closed but used for a Jack Nicholson movie)

Richard pretending he doesn't see the girls going by! 

Debbie's Chinese Laundry

Day 17 - 18

Woke up Labour Day to dense fog.  Could barely make out the boat beside us.  Around noon, it looked like the fog was moving out so we headed out.  Just past the first island the fog moved back in and we couldn't see a thing.  I voted to go back to the anchorage, not sure if everyone was in agreement, but both boats returned.  ( I made sugar cookies that night)

The next day we woke up again to dense fog.  This time there was no lifting all day.  By 2:00pm we put the motor on the dinghy and went into the clubhouse to catch up on emails and banking.  By the time we returned to the boat it had started to rain and thunder soon followed. Another boat had come in and anchored in front of us while we were on shore.  Turned out to be "Cloud 9", owned by Rhonda and Steve from North Carolina.  I had met them in Rockland, so it was nice to go over and have a chat with them before we pulled the motor off the dinghy for the night.  They will be trying for Gloucester tomorrow, a 10 hr trip, while hopefully we will get away to Portsmouth, a 6 hr run.
(How bored am I after being stuck in fog for 2 days?  - I painted my toenails.....)

Day 19

Oh what a beautiful morning!!  No fog!!  We left at 8:30 am, had sails up and engine off within 15 minutes and sailed straight for 5 hrs at avg. 6.5 kts.  We had 15-17 kts winds from the west, changing to NW by noon with gusts up to 22 kts.  Best sailing day yet...even with all the lobster buoys.  Arrived in Portsmouth at 1:30 pm and Thank You! Richard and Heather for being ex- military.  We got dockage at the Naval Base Yacht Club for $20.00 for the night.  Sweeeet!  Also picked up a few groceries at the Commissary.  Pretty nice prices.  The sad news.....we're still in Maine.  :(

 Day 20

Woke up to another beautiful day.  Left the docks at 8:30 am and headed for Gloucester with a ripple on the water and 5 kts on the nose.  Looks like it will be another motoring day.  Saw a small pod of porpoises playing in front of the boat, but so far, not much sealife around.

Big day for me today.  For the first time since leaving LaHave, I've given up the helm to the autopilot.  I think I kind'a like it. :)

Okay, so a few minutes ago, while taking advantage of the autopilot to write up some notes, I was complaining about the lack of sealife.  Now within a 15 minute time span, we saw a seal laying in the water eating a fish, two sunfish ( good grief, they are ugly), and a shark.  Guess we just have to pay more attention.

Got into Gloucester around 3:00pm and went straight to the fuel dock.  Anchorage is not all that easy to find and we ended up in Southeast Harbour, near East Point, which is no where near walking distance to town, and even the dinghy ride would take a while.  So, no laundry done again today.  I'm counting on Provincetown tomorrow, otherwise it's going to be hand washing on deck.
So, here we congratulating ourselves for spending 2 1/2 weeks doing the "Lobster Bouy Boogey" without a single mis-step and then what do I do?  We Tried resetting our anchor tonight and got the "floating" line from the dinghy wrapped around the prop.  There was enough torque with the jammed line to shut the engine down.  Luckily Greg managed to get it unwrapped from the dinghy and didn't have to go into the water.  We took the boat for a spin around the harbour and everything seems to be okay.  Lesson learned - keep the dinghy tied close to the boat when not travelling.


Day 21

Got an early start today as we have a 45 nm run ahead of us.  First 3 hrs were great with 12-13 kts winds just off the bow so we did a steady 5 -  5 1/2 kts.  Next 3 hrs the wind died and we had to motor.  The last 3 hrs, wind was on the nose up to 23 kts and going full out we were at times only making 3 1/2 kts with water over the deck.

Got into Provincetown, and to our dismay learned both marinas charge $55 for mooring.  With the wind howling, I didn't want to anchor, plus I needed a shower and laundry.  We pick up a mooring and then learn the the shuttle for the marina with the laundry doesn't operate after 4:00.  We pick up another mooring and get shuttled in to the dock to find the showers are $1/ 4 minutes and when we walk 1/2 mile to do laundry it costs us $12.  Nuthn's cheap here but at least we'll be able to sleep well.

Sitting in the fog at Wood Island Harbour

Ups and Downs - Day 4

Woke up to sunny sky and calm sea.  7:00 am raised anchor to last 20' when the power foot lift button stopped working.  Brought the rest of chain up manually.  Steady NE winds of 10-15 kts for most of the morning when they suddenly dropped off to 2-3 kts.  Motor sailed past Lockeport, maneuvering around many, many fishing boats.  Winds shift to SW 20 kts and seas very sloppy with spray over the bow.  Dropped sails and made a run for Cape Negro arriving at 5:00 pm.


Ups and Downs - Day 5

Set to leave Cape Negro when windless jams.  Put the snubber back on and put boat hard in reverse.  Allowed us to get chain ruining again but in the process blew the fuse to the windless.
Fog moved in quickly and used our radar for the first time.  Made Cape Sable Island around noon and with good winds continued on to Pubnico.  Local (Doug) heard us chatting on the radio and met us at the Gov't Wharf to help tie us up.  He then took Greg and Richard to the gas station to fill up the Gerry cans. That evening while sitting on Salvation a trawler came in behind us.  When we heard they had a load of haddock we joked that it would be okay if a fish fell into our boat.  About 1/2 hr later, gentleman shows up with a large bag of beautifully filleted haddock caught that morning.  We each got 2 meals out of it and it was the Best fish I've ever had!!

Day 6 - 7. The Big Crossing

This was the day I was dreading.  My first night crossing and after the horror stories I'd heard about 40' waves, I was a little nervous. Left the dock at 7:00 am on glass sea and it stayed that way well into the night.  Needless to say there was no sailing.  Around 2:00 am, we get a call from Richard that he had a problem so we held back to see what the situation was.  Found out he lost his transmission.  Would have to sail the rest of the way.  At about the same time, the wind picked up and stayed steady for him to sail 5 - 6 kts to about 3:00 pm, just outside of Rockland Harbour.

We got in and cleared customs without incident and will be here until Wednesday, by which time the new transmission should be installed on Salvation.  Couldn't have found a better place to lay over.  It's beautiful here.  They even raised a Canadian flag on the dock for us.  Harbourmaster Ed and Asst. Harbourmaster Nathan were very accommodating and helpful.

Day 14

Left Rockland Wednesday morning around 11:00 am.  Another beautiful day.  We motored 1/2 way and sailed with the jib 1/2 way.  Reached Dix and High Island around 3:00 pm.  After 3 attempts, finally found a satisfactory anchorage thanks to advice of local lobsterman and spent a relaxing evening.  Three more boats came in after us.

Left anchorage at 7:30 am and headed for Burnt Island.  Arrived late morning so decided to carry on to Harbour Island.  Once we arrived saw that winds were going to blow us on shore so we skipped over to Cranberry Island and dropped anchor at 1:00 pm.  Excellent gourmet lunch of BBQ hotdogs :). Have discovered that the Maine housefly has some mariner blood.  There must have been about 30 that hitched a ride from Dix to here.  The salon was swarming with them.  They were also a little slow so was able to have a mass burial at sea for most of them.

We had a man overboard practice today.  Greg' s hat took a flying leap and I, now becoming a skillful helmsman, was able to deftly cut back and Greg picked it out of Neptune's grasp with the boat hook.  ( we were not under sail)

Very roly night on anchor and discovered that low tide put a shoal right  at our stern.  We left early the next morning before the tide reached low again.

Headed for Five Islands at 6:20am.  Beautiful winds on the quarter beam and we averaged 6 kts, hitting 8.3 kts a few times.  Best sailing to date.  We arrived at Five Islands and were on the mooring by 10:30am.   To our surprise, Salvation arrived from Rockland at 4:00 pm.  They made amazing time.

Day 15

We left five Islands at 7:00 am under calm breezes and smooth sea.  Through the main and jib up but continued to motor as wind was almost on the nose.  By mid morning the wind had picked up and the water was very roly with short waves which made for a rough ride.  We decided to make for our first stop of Richmond Island instead of trying to continue on to Biddeford Pond.  We arrived around 1:00pm and relieved to find it fairly sheltered.  Looks like more of the same wave action tomorrow with rain and thunder showers in the morning, so we'll plan on a short run to Biddeford Pond in the morning (about 2 hrs) and call it a day.

Used the oven for the first time and made coffee cake muffins.  They were a little burnt on the bottoms, but with practice I think I'll get the hang of baking with it.

To date, I am tied for the International Crib Championship title!





Day 16

Calling for thunder storms this afternoon so we are taking a short hop to get in to Wood Island Harbour before the weather gets bad.  Left at 9:00am for the short run.  What a nightmare.  Seas were about 8' and 5 secs apart, but some of those waves seemed a lot bigger.  It was a 2 hour run with motor only, but felt more like 4 hours. With the wind straight on, was no point trying to sail.  Salvation is on anchor, but we picked up a mooring for $35, which includes a shower.  After five days, the shower was worth every penny :).  We picked Richard and Heather up and went to shore for a walk.  Ended up on a beach with beautiful waterfront homes.  Very, very nice.  Was good to get out for a walk as well.  It doesn't take long to learn to appreciate small things....long, hot, showers; walks on the beach; and fresh drinking water...lol.

It has just started to rain a bit.  This is the first rain we've had since leaving N.S. on Aug. 16.  This is exactly what we need as everything, including us ( even after our showers) is covered in salt.  Everything we own needs a washing.

We plan to hit Portsmouth tomorrow.  If we go to the north side of the harbour, we'll still be in Maine.  If we go to the south side we'll be in New Hampshire.  We really, really want to stay in the south harbour.  It's been a long slug trying to get out of Maine.  Now we understand why some people make straight for Cape Cod.  I can't see that we would ever make this run again, even though it has been very beautiful.

In short....everyone should visit Maine, and the best way to enjoy it, is by car!!!