Sandwich, MA - Almost Home!!!

Hi all. We finally left Sandy Hook, NJ yesterday at 0600. We motored sailed the entire way along the southern shore of Long Island Sound. Our first destination was going to be Block Island, but plan B was to go to Cutty Hunk - the Elizabeth Island chain near Martha's Vineyard. Plan C was Onset, and depending on time/current through the Cape Cod Canal to Sandwich, plan D. When we arrived at Block Island it was 0200, so we just kept going. When we were going by Newport, RI, it was 0500. Cutty Hunk was at 0800. We kept going and decided since the current was good to go through the canal, we went for it. Since the next anchorage after Sandwich would be Plymouth, which is a long way into the harbor, we decided to get a slip at the Sandwich Marina. We would have kept going all the way home (plan E), but tonight is supposed to get down into the 30's. The winds are also supposed to be blowing around 20 knots tonight. What the heck!!!

So here we are, hunkered down at a marina. Michele's parents are coming down to go to dinner with us. Tomorrow we'll head up to Hingham, and probably get a mooring at the Hingham Shipyard Marina (formerly Hewitt's Cove). We're very excited to be home, well almost home. Jessie is going to bring Chuey home on Tuesday and we'll go home to see Junior. We'll spend more time this summer cruising - if we can still get dog sitters - but that might be pushing it. This is not the end of the post yet. There will be more to come as we get home and continue cruising this summer. Michele doesn't need to be back to work until September!

Waiting for Weather

We are still in Sandy Hook waiting for the weather to clear up. It has been rainy, foggy, cold and sometimes very windy. We're not really having too much fun :-(. More to come later.

Sandy Hook, NJ

On Thursday we left Chesapeake, VA and had somewhat of an easy day. We went through the Elizabeth River to Norfolk, VA and anchored at Willoughby Bay which is right behind the Naval Air Station. For most of the day and into the evening we had a spectacular air show. Black Hawks and Chinooks were circling around the bay most of the day. At night, at around 8:30 P.M. an F18 jet decided to do some maneuvers right over our boat. Pretty cool stuff. We also watched war ships coming and going. At one point one of the new Marine amphibious vessels went zooming by us. It was quite the intersting stop. More pictures here: http://tinyurl.com/ICWend


The next morning we left at around 0800 to head out to sea. Our plan was to hop outside Cape Henry via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and head northeast for two days to Sandy Hook, NJ. The wind was supposed to be from the east and then southeast, then south 10-15 knots. Although the wind was behind us, it was somewhat light and variable so that we had to motor sail for both days. Our new engine is sure getting plenty of use. We stayed in sight and radio contact for both days with the three Canadian boats that left Virginia at the same time. There was also a catamaran that was also on the same route. It was comforting to know that others were out with us. Being on watch at 2:00 a.m. in the cold isn't much fun. In fact, Michele disliked it so much that on the second night, she was supposed to relieve Steve for a watch at 4:00 a.m., but didn't get up until 6:00 a.m. Steve was very gracious and let me sleep. When I did get up, we were almost at Sandy Hook so Steve just stayed up until we anchored. When we arrived in the harbor, it was crazy busy with power/fishing boats. It was a long way into the anchorage, but we made it. On Saturday, we just chilled out on the boat and caught up on sleep.

On Sunday we went ashore and did the usual grocery store run, while checking out town. It was the first time we used the dinghy since Fernindina Beach, FL. We planned to leave Sandy Hook on Monday, Memorial Day, but had to leave early to catch the current right on the East River in New York. When we woke up, we were still quite tired and opted to stay put. We went ashore again and walked a pretty cool trail that runs along the bay for a couple of miles. Dinner was stuffed peppers and rice.

Today, Tuesday, we planned to leave Sandy Hook again. However, the wind is so strong that it wouldn't be a pleasant trip. It is blowing steadily from the east at 20 knots with gusts up 35 knots. The anchorage is protected on the north and south, but wide open to the east which is making for an uncomforable, rolly day. Michele is quite miserable today :(. She wants to be home already - or at least off the boat for the day! Steve takes it all in stride. Hopefully, the seas will lay down this afternoon and we'll be able to go ashore again. This is sure a lesson in patience and tolerance.

Brrrrrrrr!

This morning it was only 50^o when we got up. Luckily it's warming up pretty quickly as we plan to leave our free dock this morning. The three Canadian boats in front of us also left, which will make it easier for us to get off the dock without taking out the dinghy or outboard on the pilings. Docking is always a challenge, but when there are pilings that can snag things on the boat it's very stressful. When we turn the bow to starboard to leave, the stern obviously pivots to port. John Ray is a very heavy boat and difficult to push off, especially when you have to be at the helm and deal with the lines at the same time. Always a huge sigh of relief when all goes well.

http://tinyurl.com/chesapeakeVA

Our planned departure was at 8:00 to go through the 8:30 Great Bridge Locks. However, since we've been at the dock for three days with virtually no sun and winds occassionally, the batteries were way down and the engine wouldn't start. So we had to pull out the generator and charge the batteries for an hour before the engine would start. (Or at least we're hoping it starts.) Steve's thinking the new engine requires more starting amps to get going than the old one. AT some point, we need to install a new charger. We haven't had this problem since installing new batteries in Marathon. I guess it's always something.

If we do get going today, our plan is to head to Hampton Roads, fill our tanks (water and fuel) and anchor for the night while we wait for the winds to clock around from the North to the East. At that point we should be able to head offshore and sail up the coast of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware and make it to Cape May or Sandy Hook, New Jersey in two nights. Hopefully it won't be too cold at night offshore. So that's our plan.

Chesapeake, VA

This morning we arrived at Great Bridge bascule bridge just before the 9:00 a.m. opening. We tied up at Atlantic Yacht Basin thinking it might be the free dock. It wasn't. The free dock was on the other side of the canal and it was full. We decided to stay tied to Atlantic Yacht Basin dock since no one was around to kick us off. We waited there for the 10:00 a.m. opening of the bridge. The bridge opens in conjunction with a lock that is just beyond it. When we went through the 10:00 a.m. opening of the bridge, there were only 2 boats going through. The 9:00 opening had about 15 boats. As luck would have it, there was another free dock after the bridge which had one spot available just for us :). Our timing was impeccable. Just after we settled in at the dock, the rain came. We were so happy to get this spot (and it's FREE). If we hadn't stopped here, we would have been traveling in the pouring rain and anchoring at Hospital Point in Norfolk, VA - which isn't that great of an anchorage. The holding is supposed to be poor, and we are expecting 20 knot winds throughout the night. We plan to hang here until we get a decent weather window to head offshore to Cape May, NJ - skipping Chesapeake Bay altogether.


Just to backtrack for a minute . . . we left Oriental, NC on Thursday and we sailed and then motor sailed all day crossing Pamlico Sound and heading up Pamlico River. It was awesome to pass by Belhaven and not stop - especially after spending 10 days for boat repairs there in November. We anchored just before the Pungo River Alligator River Canal. It was a small anchorage up a little creek with just enough depth. Just before leaving in the morning, we saw a spectacular rainbow.

On Friday, we were up and out early (8:00 A.M) and put a very long day. We motored sailed most of the day as the winds were light behind us. We put in close to 60 miles until we crossed the Albermale Sound. Since leaving Hilton Head, we've traveled over 500 miles with about 600 or so more to go! We're trucking along and at this rate maybe we'll be back by Memorial Day!

Oriental, NC

http://tinyurl.com/orientalnc

We left Hilton Head as planned on Saturday morning. All went well as we motored up the ICW to Port Royal Sound. The engine ran perfectly, yeah! Once we got into Port Royal Sound we hoisted the sails and had a great 24 hours of southerly winds and following seas. After the first night, the wind started to slow and change directions. It was expected to come from the north, but not until Monday as far as our grib files were showing. However, that was not the case. So on Sunday morning, we had to start the engine back up. We knew we would have to motor for the next 24 hours if we decided to stay offshore. So, we had to decide if we wanted to keep going or pull into the ICW. Because we wouldn't arrive at a suitable inlet until later in the day and probably after dark, we decided we would just keep going. This meant that we would need to figure out how many hours the engine was going to be running and if we would need to have the 50 hour engine checkup sooner rather than later. Decisions, decisions! Since Michele is very anxious to get home, we decided to keep going for a second night out at sea. (We were traveling at least 35 miles offshore). On Monday morning the weather was starting to get a little nasty. The clouds were thickening and lightning was looming. We were expecting this, and wanted to get tucked in before it hit. Unfortunately, right as we were entering the Beaufort Inlet, the skies opened. We got a little wet, but not too bad. Beaufort Harbor was too crowded to anchor, so we kept going up Adams Creek and anchored at a little spot where we anchored on the way down in the fall at Cedar Creek.

When we pulled into the anchorage, we noticed that Kristenly, was anchored there as well. Randy is single handling the boat home (with Rocky and Spike their two little dogs), while Nikki had to return to work (guidance counselor at a high school in Vermont.) Steve had originally talked with Randy a couple of years ago, via the IPHomeport website. Then we met him in Nassau, Bahamas where Nikki joined him. We hung out with them in the Exumas for a couple of weeks. Kristenly is also an IP38. Nikki had taken a leave of absense from her job for a couple of months, but had to return to Vermont. She'll join Randy and dogs in mid June when school gets out. We ended up going in different directions, as we headed here to Oriental and Randy headed to the Outer Banks (Cape Hatteras, Roanoke, and Kitty Hawk.) Maybe we'll bump into him again on the way up north.

So, even though we weren't quite at 50 hours on the new engine, we decided to go to Deaton Yacht Service anyway. They come highly recommended for Yanmar mechanics. If we didn't stop here, then we weren't sure how far north we'd have to go before finding another really good place for Yanmar service. We also wanted to have a reputable yard to check out the install that we had done in Hilton Head. It was a really good choice coming here. We even got free T-shirts and a hat. They're very nice here, and we love Oriental. We've been here a couple of times already by car.

We decided to stay another night here and head out first thing tomorrow morning. We'd like to go back offshore, but we won't have favorable conditions for a couple of days. So back up the ICW we will go and hopefully get to the Chesapeake by Friday. We're getting closer and closer to home sweet home.

Finally Leaving Hilton Head Island!

The boat was launched on Tuesday, May 5th, Cinco di Mayo. On Wednesday, Brooks, our Yanmar mechanic did his final magic touches and we went out for our sea trial. All went well! We were good to go, but had much to do before setting out, including paying the bill, ugh! Today Sue and Mike let us borrow their car again, and we did our final provisioning. We had a BBQ scheduled with them and their boys for dinner, so Michele made some teryaki chicken, sausage and kabobs along with corn on the cob. We had a great time at our farwell/thank you dinner.

Tomorrow morning, at high tide around 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. we will cut the lines and head out. We plan to head up the ICW for about 10 miles to Port Royal Inlet. We will head N/NE until we feel like stopping. At the minimum we will go as far as Bogue Inlet, Morehead City, NC, but would really like to make it up to Chesapeake Bay. If we have Internet we'll keep our position updated. We may be offshore for at least two nights. We'll keep you posted.