pirates?

Last night we finished the C & D canal, not a whole lot of traffic and the current was with us most of the way, we anchored out near Havre de Grace in a quiet inlet on the Bohemia River with a few other boats and enjoyed a cockpit shower and the breeze booster in the hatch made for a good nights sleep.This morning met with lots of explosions and gunfire, not pirates but from the military's Aberdeen proving ground site.Not much wake from freighters but some go fast powerboat wakes. We did start out powersailing but the breeze died until just near Annapolis.We met with the Woodwind sailing vessel in the bay here, as beautiful as when we go out in her at the boat show, this is the boat from the Wedding Crasher movie.We are at the Petrini boat yard, not fancy just a working boatyard just over the downtown bridge in Eastport. We enjoyed dinner at Chick and Ruths Deli-so  different when not crazy busy-excellent fun service and I got the worlds biggest loaded bake potato- a few more meals in my refrig now.  chris

Some tips for anyone viewing the spot location page at the bottom of this blog, if you click on a location you can zoom in and switch to a satelite view or the road view to get a better look at where we are.

Seafood Heaven

Today finished laundry and shopping for groceries-about 1 mile each way for an Acme market.We enjoyed dinner last night and tonight-fresh fish,walked and saw spectacular victorian homes here in Cape May-the town is prettier than the tourist hype.Tonight took a cab home from town-feet are tired.  I hope our pictures come up on the website- I want the purple octogon house that is for sale up the street. And yes, people watching here is the best. We are at the Jersey Shore after all.   chris

People have asked if the trip is worth it,  I will say definitly yes. We have some bad days and good days, but the good ones far outweigh the bad ones. We get anoyed at times but we are having a great time overall. I would not miss this trip for anything, the things we have seen and done so far are just great. We can't wait for the next adventure!
 Oh yes, it has been almost a month on the boat and Chris is still with me!!

cape may

Well Atlantic city was a nightmare-music until after midnite that had the bass shaking the hull-so out of there early into the Atlantic with 5-6 foot rollers but this time no pounding-a nice motor sail until the inlet into Cape May-cigarette type boats,fishing boats, ferryboats all going full steam past us leaving wakes that shook the boat so bad things flew about all over that were secured from the ocean trip-no manners in Jersey and cars  go like lunatic fast in this  cute resort town too.Once again Skipper Bob was wrong-no bus here and a solid 1 mile into town and taxis wouldnt pick up-too busy.We walked and loved the gingerbread mansions-taffy shops and had a great meal at the Lobster House near the marina.Utsch`s Marina is run by a family and well run, local package of wine,cookies and handmade soaps given with your keys-free cable and lots of clean showers.we will stay here another day to do laundry and boat maintanance and I will shop of course.   chris

The Channel into the marina is a little tricky, call ahead for directions, don't head straight in after passing red 14, turn toward 16 at entrance to Cape May canal then run 20' out from bulkhead paralel to it then turn in at small lighthouse.
 When leaving here we will head up the Delaware Bay to the C & D Canal into the Chesapeake Bay, to make this passage we have to time the tides so that we are not going against them up the Deleware bay for 54 miles.

More new pictures have been posted to the slideshow album at top of page.

atlantic city

What a long day on the water, began well with favorable winds and sun but after supper the winds and waves cranked up until I felt like I was in an episode of deadliest catch with steep waves crashing over the bow. We went from 8 knots down to bearly 5 knots-made us crawl into atlantic city 16 hrs later and pitch black and nobody to guide us to a dock. too pooped to gamble even, hope to go to Cape May in the AM if waves calm down.

sandy hook

Today we sailed down the Hudson into N.Y. harbor and past Ellis Island and the Statue of liberty-awsome site-others have said that it looked small but not at all.We have caught a mooring ball at Sandy hook,N.J. at Atlantic highlands yacht club-nice facility and will attempt the Atlantic in the am if the forcast holds.

Big Apple

Today was heavy rain so we took the commuter train just outside the Tarrytown marina and caught the segment of the Today show outdoors-while there we were offered tickets and attended a taping of the Dr. Oz show to air next month-he made a few goofs and they had a good comedian to get us going -fun. Also walked through the Theater Distric and Times Square.We had lunch at Carmines-great italian food  at a good price-beautiful sit down with tablecloth meal and plenty of leftovers in our refrig.We did lots of window shopping-loved the windows on 5th avenue and went in several stores but no room for new stuff. I did buy a cupcake for desert tonight from Magnolia bakery and real NY bagels for breakfast. I finished the day at St. Patrick`s cathedral and lit a votive in Dad`s memory-such an awsome church that I had tears from the experiance.Hope to finish the trip by water to Liberty Landing tommorrow-weather permitting.   chris
  I have added more pictures to the slide show at the top of the page, if you click on the slide show you can see it in a larger format for easier viewing. I will add more pictures as we travel down the coast.   Mike

tarrytown

Another long day, we made it to Tarrytown,N.Y. Today was drizzle and 1 to 3 foot rolling chop-lots of freighters but a wide channel.I did not care for Kingston-most of the walkable area of town was closed on monday and although showers were clean you had to feed them quarters to work-also wanted pumpout but it never materialized-same story everywhere on the Hudson, this marina actually had a functional pumpout and secure marina and  upscale, the subway station is just next to gate too.We were entertained all day by so much history-very old mansions,mountains,West Point,Culinary Institute of America.We saw large soft shell crabs stuck to walls of fuel dock and pumpout area-seafood  restaurant is in the marina too.     chris