Yesterday, Thursday December 6, 2007, Lin and Moe flew from Manchester NH To Norfolk VA. We took a taxi and arrived at the Portsmouth Boating Center at about 3:30 pm. IT'S FREEZING HERE!!! Cold enough to see your breath. The winter coats we wore down on the plane sure came in handy. Shortly after we arrived at the boat, Moe surprised Lin with an early Christmas present: an electric space heater.

At 5 pm when Karen from the Marina got finished with work, she took us into town. She'd made us a 5:30 reservation for dinner at a great restaurant called Brutti's. Super meal. After we ate, the hostess from Brutti's gave us a ride back to the boat. People are so nice here.

With the cabin door closed, and the heater on, we slept pretty well after about 11 pm. It took a while to warm up, but we slept in fleece pants, warm socks and a couple layers of long sleeved shirts, so we were ok. LOVE that heater. :-)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007.

Today we left the marina at about 8:15 am. It is cold, but not as bad as yesterday. The high today was probably 45, but it was breezy and damp. Leaving Portsmouth and Norfolk (on the other side of the water), we passed some large military ships and a huge ship from Monrovia. We also passed a snow-covered barge with a snowman on it.

Our first LOCK of the trip, Great Bridge Lock, was interesting and kind of fun. We are really on the ICW! This afternoon we reached MILE 1000 of the trip. Throughout the day, we spotted 4 Bald Eagles.



Just before dark, we arrived at Midway Marina and Motel in Coinjock North Carolina, settled in on a dock with power and turned on the heat. There is a nice little store with good hot coffee, and a restaurant next door named Crabbies. The store has all kinds of supplies and even some food, but no milk for our coffee. And we must have our coffee! The gentleman running the store kindly called his wife and asked her to pick up some milk for us at a local store, which was really nice. Some of the same boats that were travelling in front of or behind us today are here, too. We'd travel alone for a long time, but everyone would catch up to each other when we'd have to stop to wait for a bridge to open.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007

We woke up early and left the marina at 6:45 am for what we expected to be about a 10 hour ride. We got to see the sun rise over the waterway, and more of the knobby-rooted trees that someone said are cypruses.


Passing through Abermarle sound was like crossing an ocean, except it was flat and calm all the way. Part of the time, we couldn't see land. We spotted a few pelicans today, and another bald eagle. Very cool! We arrived tired but finally warm at the River Forest Marina at about 4:30 pm. The temperature has been rising all day, and it's probably in the 60s. Bryce, the man who helped us tie up to the dock, says tomorrow will be in the 70s. Yay! We were pleased to find that we have free internet right on the boat, so finally a chance for Lin to catch up on e-mail for work. River Forest Marina is in Pungo Creek, in Bell Haven North Carolina. We're at about mile 135 on the ICW, and have reached mile 1101 on our trip.

On our way to New Bern NC, where we'd planned to leave the boat until our next trip, we looked on the maps and charts for a place to stop and rest. There was a little town called Oriental that sounded like an interesting place to check out. We were fortunate enough to find a free town dock, right across the street from the best coffee shop in the world, "The Bean".

Oriental is a great place! Small, cute, friendly town. Nice people, some great shops, art gallery, a handful of really good places to eat. At the Bean, we were told that the locals that hang out there often hold up signs with numbers on them, rating people as they dock their boats across the street at the Town Dock. Luckily, nobody was watching us when we came in.... although I'm sure they would have been ever-so-impressed by Lin's amazing dock-lassooing techiques.

In Oriental, there are boats and kayaks and bicicles. Lots of folks have dogs, who are all polite and give you a nice greeting. There is no leash law, and often dogs hang out on the porch of the Bean while their people are inside. Most streets do not have lines on them, and there are no streetlights that I remember. At one point, we were walking down the street back to the boat, and a couple standing on the town dock said to Moe "Are you from New Hampshire?"

Everywhere we go, there is someone who knows Moe.

This particular man was an acquaintance of Moe's from "home". Tim was in Oriental with his wife Paula, living and traveling aboard their gorgeous custom made boat. We spent some time with Tim and Paula, walked around town together, ate together, and laughed together. Tim was able to get us a spot at the place where he and Paula were keeping their boat, the Dorothy Gale. Clancy's Marina is named after a dog, which in our eyes makes it even nicer. We were able to dock directly across from Tim's boat. We decided to cancel our trip to New Bern, leave the boat in Oriental for a few months, and spend some more time there.

In town, we met some really great people: Melinda, who brought us real mistletoe that grows down there, June, who was so friendly and cheerful every morning at the Bean as we came stumbling in for our coffee, Happy, who is as lovely as her name, and Ray, who was kind enough to pick us up and drive us 30 miles to the airport at 5 am on the day we headed back home. It was hard to leave Oriental because we met so many great people in such a short space of tiem. It's beautiful and quiet there, and we are looking forward to when we go back!

Moe, Bernie and Ron flew from Manchester, headed to Baltimore.

Huge apologies from Lin, who is way behind on getting this posted due to a loss of computer memory...

OCTOBER 2007

Not worthy of jury duty, Moe woke up at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning October 2nd, deciding to get the boat further south. That was a week or two earlier then planned, but due to a slow moving high pressure system crossing the country, it looked like a perfect opportunity to move the boat down the Jersey coastline. With numerous calls to friends, comrades and family members, a victim was found. My father in law, Bernie was an able crew, with many years experience on sailboats.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2007
We departed Manchester at 0730 on Friday, October 5th. Unlike all the other times, traffic was not a problem and we arrived at City Island Yacht Club at 1230. That was even after several stops, the grocery store for provisions and West Marine for charts on the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay. We convinced a sailing coach from Cornell to bring us to the boat because the launch was out having lunch. We tried to tip him, but he would have none of that, his “good deed for the day”, he said.

So we quickly prepared the boat for departure. The boat was much more of a pleasant sight to see compared to last time. Although the flying rats visited a few times, the boat’s new seagull deterrents worked pretty well. We left CIYC at 1330 with hot and humid conditions. Although we were going to be fighting the currents through Hell’s Gate, I wanted to get fuel and get closer to the Jersey coastline for an early departure on Saturday. Plans don’t always work out.







We made it down the East river to the tip of Manhattan and arrived at the doorsteps of Liberty Harbor Marina. I tried to reach them on the phone all day but with no answer. Needless to say, at 1615, they finally picked up the phone to say the fuel docks just closed. Of course I had a backup plan, the Atlantic Boat Basin was further south, but was open until 1830 and had accommodations for us for the evening. We headed south and visited the Statue of Liberty one more time. She was shrouded with a lot more haze compare to my visit with her in August.

Having backup plans on a journey like this is always a good thing. As soon as we left the green lady, the fog just rolled right in with little warning. The last place you want to be is in NYC harbor in the fog. There is a lot of commercial and commuter traffic zipping around the harbor. We slowed the boat right down and navigated with radar and the GPS. Slowly maneuvered the boat to the shoreline and out of the shipping channel. Once we went under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that goes to Staten Island (also not ever seeing the bridge itself other than the radar screen, we took a hard right and made way to Great Kill Harbor. Richmond County Yacht Club is located in Great Kill Harbor. Although RCYC was not quite in the direction we wanted, it was going to be a safer journey. There was not much in the commercial boat traffic and no need to cross any shipping channels. We arrived just as the fog began to lift but the sun was setting.
We arrived at the mooring at 1930 having traveled 33 nm.

RCYC had a great facility with full launch service. We went ashore and had a nice relaxing dinner in a local café. Watched a little of the NY Yankee game getting mauled by another team. We had to keep our comments to a dull roar in order not to get the Yankee fans up in riled up.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2007
Fog was slow to lift in the morning, delaying our start to the big run down the Jersey Coast. We got started before the fog fully lifted at 0845. We poked our way through the fog to the Atlantic Highland Municipal Boat basin to get fuel. We arrived at docks at 0930 and fueled –(210 gals – Yikes!). Getting fuel in NJ is on average of 30 to 40 cents per gallon cheaper than on the NY side of the river.

We left the fuel docks at 1000 and then headed around Sandy Hook. There were lots of sports fishing boats out. Although the seas were a little bouncy, it was all man made. After we rounded Sandy Hook, the boat traffic was not an issue. The journey down the NJ coastline is relatively easy. We traveled close to shore 2 to 3 miles all the way down. The issue with the NJ coastline is that there are very few places or inlets to duck into in case of bad weather. The drive along the shoreline was not very interesting. The shoreline is just a row of houses with little or no green space. We used water tanks and high-rise condo projects as references points – Yuck! However, the water was flat as a pancake; just what the doctor ordered.

On the way down the shoreline, Bernie and I took shifts driving. During my off time, I researched for a nightspot for us to stay. Since we had the late start due to the fog, getting to Cape May was way out of reach. There was not many options and we were seriously considering dropping the hook inside Little Egg Harbor Inlet. However, when we arrived at the inlet, waves were breaking off shore, the chart and GPS and depth sounder had all conflicting information. There were no marks due to the continuous shifting of the sand. I made the corporate decision to head to Atlantic City. Although we would be arriving at night, the Absecon Inlet is better marked and lighted to get into and I besides that, I wanted to hit the blackjack tables.

I found at spot at the Kammerman’s Marina, which worked out perfectly. They were located only 10 minutes in the harbor. We arrived in Atlantic City and docked at 1930, one hour after sunset. We had traveled 90 miles today. Unable to find any restaurants open, we were forced to drink beer all night long. Well to be honest, we were both so wiped out from our long day; we enjoyed a toasted banana sandwich and went right to bed. Bernie is not fessing up, but I think he snuck out and hit the casinos while I was sound asleep.




SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2007
We were tied up right at the fuel dock, so at 0700 we fueled up, bought some provisions and were on our way by 0730. We had another three hours before hitting Cape May. Bernie drove while I calculated our options. Between Cape May and Cape Charles there were few options of inlets and transportation back north. We would have had to drive two long days and get in late at our final destination. Not ever seeing the place I picked out for the month layover concerned me as well. So we changed our destination to Baltimore. This route will take through the Cape May canal, up Delaware Bay, through the C&D canal and then down the Chesapeake to Baltimore. The goal was to put a long day in on Sunday, and arrive mid-afternoon on Monday, giving us plenty of time to close up the boat.

Delaware Bay is huge. We had a little haze and had difficulties seeing from one shore to the other. The seas were very calm due to the stalled high pressure system over us. We motored out way up the bay up to the C&D Canal. We arrived at the canal at dusk with another hour or so to go. The guidebook spoke of free slips in the basin at Chesapeake City. However, when we arrived, there were numerous boats anchored in the basin. So we called the Chesapeake Inn and secured a slip for the evening, all according to plan or was it luck. Today, we had traveled 101 miles with only 60 miles left to our destination.

Our provisions were low and we were starved. So we headed to town for a nice dinner. We arrived just in time prior to closing and had a great meal. The basin was very calm overnight. In the morning, as Bernie showered, I went to town to pick up breakfast and lunch; Awesome apple pie for breakfast with coffee, and grinders for lunch. When I got back, we took off and ate on the fly.







Since we traveled pretty much all the way through the C&D canal, when we departed Chesapeake City, we were vitually in the Chesapeake Bay. There was a little haze but very flat again. The bay has many crab pots but nothing compared to the New England lobster pots. We stayed a little out of the shipping canal to avoid some of the large cargo ships they were going up and down the bay. Bernie was always interested in racing them, a true sailor at heart.

We made our way up the Patapsco River up to Baltimore. The early impressions were not very good. Very industrialized to say the least. A lot more pleasure crafts than we had seen along the way. As we headed northwest up the bay, the traffic got more and more congested. We made our way into the bay to Middle Branch Mooring. After going underneath a gorgeous South Hanover Street bridge, our eyes gazed upon the new home of Cricket.

Yikes! Half the docks were wiped out in some prior storm; the remaining pillions and docks were in very tough shape. The dock master road around in a skiff and was shirtless. All the boats at the marina were, let’s say vintage ----junk. I was very disappointed. I really did not feel comfortable leaving the boat here for a month. Either it would be stripped cleaned or washed away in the next tide change. We got the boat into the tight quarters with a little effort. After the boat was secured, Bernie went on a stroll of the marina. I, on the other hand, got my guidebooks out and starting making calls. I quickly found a marina nearby which was only $40 more per month but sounded great. I told the dock master at the Inner Harbor East Marina that we would be right over. I then searched for my able crew and found him talking to the shirtless dock master. I gave him $10 for helping us and then gave him the bad news. He understood my concerns, and made our way to Cricket’s new home.

WOW! What a great decision. The Inner harbor has new docks, security and is located right in downtown. We found out that is was so cheap is because we got the winter rate. Nice! While Bernie enjoyed his book, I washed the boat from top down. The seagull mess from CIYC is slowly being cleaned off, but it is going to be a long process.
Afterward, we walked to Little Italy had had a great dinner. This part of Baltimore is very similar to the north end of Boston. It has lots of restaurants of choose from. The people were very friendly. After our meal, we slowly walked back to the boat to pack. Lin on the home crew secured us tickets on Amtrak from Baltimore to NYC for Tuesday morning at 0800.





Early on Tuesday we finished packing and took a cab to the train station. The train ride was very relaxing and quick. We arrived in New Rochelle station at 1130 and got taxi rid back to CIYC. The drive back home was with little traffic again. After stopping for fuel for the car and ourselves, we still arrived in Manchester by 1730.

Thanks Bernie! It was a great adventure.

SUNDAY September 23, 2007

The clouds have gone, and the sky is a perfect clear blue. We all had a great nights sleep, it was quiet, the water was flat, and it was a nice temperature for sleeping. Haverstraw Marina was very nice. It is huge, with so many boats they give you a map of all the docks when you check in. They have nice bathrooms with a good sized laundry room, a game room, olympic sized pool, marine store, and nice park area to walk dogs in.



There is a large sculpture at the entrance called "The Mariner's Gateway". On the way past the marina building to see it, we walked by the New York office for Normandeau Associates, which reminded Lin of some great friends she met back home, at the branch near where we now live. Small world! our neighbors on the close-by boats were all friendly and greeted us cheerfully this morning. No complaints about Haverstraw at all, it is a very nice place!


We left the marina at about 12:15, and headed north. The river is beautiful! There are huge rocky hills that raise right out of the water, which is very deep. Sometimes it is over 150 feet. Most of the river is undeveloped, or at lease appears so from the water. There are steep, rocky hills and lots of trees. Not too many houses, but a few small towns along the way, including Cold Spring, which looked just like it was right out of Mayberry. We considered stopping there, but it didn't look like we could get our boat in. We also passed a few power plants, including a big nuclear power plant. We wondered which way we'd go if it exploded. Up, I think.

We passed West Point Academy, parts of which look like a big old gray fortress. We went by Pollopel Island, and saw troops of people in huge, oversized canoes, and the ruins of what looked like it had been a castle.

Now we're at the Torches Restaurant Marina in Newburgh. We got here about 3:30 this afternoon. Lin lassoed the dock front of the cheering crowd outside the restaurant, and then a live band began to play. Ok, not really. We were parked in front of the bar, which is now piping music outside, and is surrounded by burning tiki torches. The afternoon choppy water from all the speeding boats has died down, and now the water is flat and calm. A leisurely afternoon was followed by a great dinner just up the street. We were able to get outside seating and tie Dixie on the fence next to our table. She shared our bread and drank water from a goblet. We 've gone 420 miles since our trip started. It's clear and cool, more great weather for sleeping!

MONDAY September 24, 2007

This morning we slept in until almost 8:00. We awoke to another perfect September morning, clear and blue and cool. We took off early to catch a lift north with the incoming tide, and saw some interesting sights and two old lighthouses that have been restored. There were hardly any boats on the water today, which made it extra nice. We saw a lot of trains runing along the shore. Some were sleek bullet-fast passenger trains, and others were cargo trains. We saw one cargo train with 5 engines, pulling 107 cars!

We arrived at the city of Kingston Municipal dock around noon. It's a really cute town, all of the brick buildings have been re-done and painted in different colors. We are almost next to the Kingston Maritime Museum and a trolley museum. There was a wooden boat show at the Museum and they had no room for us there, so we tied up next door at the town dock. Lin had a bunch of phone calls to deal with for work, and Moe and Dixie got their bearings on shore. After that, we all had a nice walk through town, had a great lunch at a Mexican place where Dixie was welcome to join us in the outdoor dining area. We did some window shopping, and took turns holding Dixie so the other could go into a couple of antique stores.

By mid-afternoon, it was really hot outside. We came back to the boat and Moe took Dixie on another walk while Lin did more work. There is a lot going on back home! We had dinner at a great Italian cafe, where the owner told us Dixie "was more than welcome", and then had dessert just a few doors down at a little Italian Ice shop. moe and Lin had Guiness and Mango flavored Italian Ices. The owner here gave Dixie a tiny ice cream cone filled with vanilla soft serve. She loved it! Yes, she is a little spoiled.

The temperature has dropped quite a bit, so it should be another great night for sleeping. Dixie (aka Cujo) keeps her ears tuned for any sounds, and barks like crazy if she hears anything unusual. It's just like having an alarm system on the boat.

This is the farthest north we're going to make it on this trip, and we'll be heading south tomorrow with the outgoing tide.

TUESDAY, September 25

Another busy morning of work and e-mails for Lin. Moe and Dixie went on a long walk on shore, and then we all had breakfast on the sundeck. It's a gorgeous sunny morning again, and the weatherman says it'll be another hot afternoon. Tomorrow we are supposed to get rain and thunderstorms, so we may try to get further south today than we'd originally planned. There were hardly any boats on the river today, but the few that we did see were all speeding and leaving huge wakes behind them. After a long and leisurely day, enjoying the scenery on the Hudson, we arrived back at Haverstraw, in the exact same slip we were in a couple of days ago. It was another hot day but is now cooling off nicely. September is great. We have traveled 493 nautical miles since we started our trip in June, with traveling time of 78.5 hours, traveling at an average speed of 6.3 knots. Because of the bad weather forecast for Thursday, we plan to make it back to City Island Yacht Club tomorrow. This will give us plenty of time on Thursday to prepare some type or seagull-proofing system for the next time we leave the boat.

Friday, September 21, 2007

We arrived back at CIYC at about 9:15 pm, loaded our stuff onto the launch, and headed out to the boat. Dixie was excited to be back and acts like a true boat dog now. On the launch, she stands up on the side and sticks her nose up into the wind, her long fur and tail blowing out behind her. The life jacket is no problem for her now. The launch brought us up to the side of the boat, where it’s easier to unload our stuff than onto the swim platform. Lin and Dixie climbed up first, stepped onto the deck, and ...CRUNCH!! Crunch?!? What the heck is that?!? As our eyes adjusted to the dark, we saw that the sides and deck of the boat were covered with dead crabs. Big ones, little ones, crushed ones, broken ones. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Everywhere. The seagulls must have been partying here for the whole month while we were gone. Ohhhhhhhh, there is a lot more than crabs here. There is poop everywhere. Seagull poop, thick, white and dripping, dried in layers all over the blue canvas cover of the boat, the dinghy, deck, roof, radar, and solar panels. Yuck!

This week we plan to go up the Hudson River as far as we can, then back down again to City Island. There will be a lot of sights to see, and hopefully not too many seagulls. What a mess. Well anyway, we are back on the boat and back in New York. Or as Lin was recently reminded by her brother Jeff, and to quote the famous words of Ace Frehley, WE’RE BACK, BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE….

And we definitely need some sleep.

Saturday, September 22, 2007
Moe woke up at the crack of dawn, left Lin on the boat to snooze, and took Dixie and his credit card in to town to do a little shopping. He arrived back at the boat with some oat cleaning supplies, a seagull repellant whirlie-bird thingie, some good information about a nearby IGA, two cups of coffee and two hot breakfast sandwiches. After breakfast we took the launch in, and drove into town to finish our grocery shopping. We got back to the boat and Lin put away groceries while Moe struggled to scrape and hose seagull poop and more dead crabs off of the boat. It is horrible to see in the daylight! Didn’t smell too good, either! The weather report called for clear skies, so we headed out towards the Hudson River. The weather man was wrong. It POURED. Where the seagulls had pooped on the roof, the 303 waterproofing had dissolved, and rainwater mixed with seagull poop leaked through the canvas over the flybridge and onto us. Yuck.

We left City Island Yacht Club at about 11:45 am. We traveled west on the East River to Hell’s Gate, then north up the Harlem River into the Hudson River. Eventually the rain stopped, and we had cloudy skies but decent weather the rest of the way. Since we don’t have enough water or water pressure to really wash the boat well, we booked a slip at the Tarrytown Marina, near the Tappan Zee Bridge. When we were just about there, they called Moe on his cell phone and let us know that they’d over-booked, and didn’t have room for us after all. Argh! We had no choice but to travel another hour and a half north to the Haverstraw Marina. The Hudson River is pretty, what we can see of it. There’s a lot of fog and mist, so you can’t see far. The left side is mostly heavily treed with high, straight rock cliffs, and the right side of the river is somewhat developed –but doesn’t look overcrowded, as we’d expected.

We had a nice lunch of English muffins, all natural peanut butter, big fat tomato’s from our garden, and cold milk. It is like camp, only better!

Heard on the radio: “We got some fog here, I can’t see ya”. “Put the radar on.” “Ok, I got the radar on.” “Good, can you see land?” “No, I’m on land.” There are very few boats out here today, probably a good thing.

Dixie is having a good day, sleeping under Moe’s feet as he drives the boat, begging for treats, and trying really hard to sneak up on the bow to munch on a few leftover crab shells. We arrived at Haverstraw around 5 pm , fueled up, pumped out, and moved tour slip by about 6 pm. There are a lot of boats here, some really big ones. We were fortunate that the people in the slip next to us came over and helped us tie up. The boats are very close together. People here are all very social, and have come over to introduce themselves and say hello.

After spending the morning at home packing and preparing food, we headed south around 12:30. We are getting really good at "getting ready". The drive to Noroton CT took us 5 hours, and included a brief stop to grab a sandwich and pick up some milk. We can do without most anything, but milk is critical for us, we need it for our coffee!

We spent some time unpacking and got the launch in to shore, took Dixie for a great walk to a nearby beach, and then drove into town to get Italian take-out to bring back to the boat for dinner. In the distance, we could see the sky over New York city glowing.

This morning is cool and cloudy, in the 60s, with a light drizzle from time to time. It's about 30 degrees cooler than the last time we were here. Lin walked Dixie while Moe did some cleaning of the outside of the boat. The boat is filthy! As he sprays the hose on it, black sooty foam runs off. Moe asked the dockhand if it was possibly smog from New York City, but the guy said "no, it's always like this". And then he told Moe that he uses degreaser to clean his boat. Hmmm.

TUESDAY, August 21, 2007

Seawanhaka Yacht Club, heading in towards Oyster Bay, NY. It is pretty here, but there is nothing to do. The yacht club restaurant is closed, and it's too far to walk into town. We had dinner on the boat, and Moe and Dixie had a good walk on the beach while Lin stayed back on the boat to do some work for her job. Dixie met a Canada Goose, who did not want to play, but was glad to show Dixie how to get into the water and swim. Dixie tried to follow, and enjoyed her brief swimming lesson.

We moved further down into Oyster Bay to the Sagamore Yacht Club, right around the corner from Billy Joel's house. It was pretty windy and choppy, and after sitting on the boat on our mooring for a while, we noticed we seemed to be a lot closer to the boat behind us. Hmm, could we be moving? Yep. The GPS said we'd moved... we'd actually dragged our mooring! The yacht club promptly put us on a larger, heavier mooring. This was even closer to the recently abandoned LightShip, "Nantucket". The Nantucket had been used as a floating lighthouse but is not in use any more, and since it would be so expensive to fix up, it's just been left.

We did quite a bit of walking in town here, and even more eating. So far, we've been pretty lucky about finding places with outdoor dining areas, and most of them let us bring Dixie. If they didn't allow her, we didn't eat there!

WEDNESDAY, August 22, 2007

We left the Sagamore Yacht Club at 1:00, and made the 2.5 hour trip to City Island, which is part of the Bronx, near New York City. We had some fog on the way in, but not so much that we were still able to see some interesting sights, lighthouses, other boats, beautiful houses on shore, and a tiny island called “Execution Rock”.

City Island Yacht Club is a nice, comfortable place. The people here are all friendly and helpful, and the yacht club building is an old house. There is a large dining area and bar on the main floor, and upstairs is the best womens facilities we’ve ever seen! There’s a pink powder room with stools, counter tops and a line of lighted mirrors, as well as a large ladies room and spacious, clean shower facilities. The men’s room is in the basement, haha.

We got the boat moored, finally. It was a hunt to find the mooring we’d been assigned, until we realized there was already a boat on it. So the yacht club assigned us the next empty mooring, labeled “WC”. We found out later that this stood for Walter Cronkite.

We had dinner in town, and then went back to CIYC to meet Moe's brother Marc, his wife Louise and their kids Patrick, Kim, Alyssa and Matt. They all had another bite to eat at the yacht club, and we joined them for dessert before catching a launch back to the boat.


THURSDAY, August 23, 2007

In the morning, we walked into town for some shopping and breakfast, and new pairs of sunglasses for the girls. We went back to the boat, and headed towards Manhattan. We passed Riker's Island, LaGuardia Airport, and motored through Hell's Gate. Hell's Gate is where three rivers meet up and the current can be quite tricky. There were lots of boats and bridges. Wetravelled south on the East River, past downtown Manhattan. Interesting buildings and traffic right up to the edge of the water. Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero.

.
FRIDAY, August 24, 2007

Monday, July 30, 2007:
This morning we got off to a slow, leisurely start. Dixie let us sleep in until 8, and we soon heard the shouting of the Aldo’s Bakery boat: “Andie-ahh, andie-ahh-MO!” Andiamo, according to the book that gave us information about Block Island Harbor, means “let’s go”. The bakery boat was selling muffins, éclairs and other treats from boat to boat.

After we had our coffee, Dixie demanded we do more with our day. We took the launch in to shore, and a 20 minute walk brought us to a beautiful beach with hardly anyone on it. Dixie met Finn, a yellow lab who had his own umbrella and beach blanket. Lin and Moe took turns swimming, but Dixie didn’t want to get involved with those waves.














Our great beach on Block Island. There was hardly anyone there.















Dixie at the beach. She loves the smells, but not those waves!














Leaving Block Island. We couldn't see it on the way in because of the fog.

We left Block Island about noon, and arrived in Stonington Harbor at around 2:30. We’re on a mooring at Dodson’s Boatyard. This afternoon we visited the library to check our e-mail quickly, and then walked a long way looking for an outdoor restaurant where we could bring Dixie. No luck! So, we’re back on the boat for a relaxing evening, hot showers, good food, good books and great company. We’ve traveled 192 nautical miles so far.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007:
Foggy morning at Dodsons, and an opportunity to check e-mail in the marina store. We'll head out as soon as the fog lifts... long trip planned today! Possibly heading to Clinton, but we'll see what we can find for available moorings, and how the weather holds up.

We arrived in Clinton and did an amazing job of docking the boat by ourselves. Moe snugged Cricket right up to the town dock, and Lin lassoed the cleats. We look like pros. Ha! If they only knew. We had a great lunch at a place right next to the docks called Aqua. They had a large deck and we could sit with Dixie.... but the manager came, greeted us, and told us we were welcome to come again, but without only he dog.













Lin and Dixie relaxing in Clinton.

After lunch, we went back to the boat to relax some more, and were greeted by a family of swans, who came right up to the swim platform, looking for food. They looked like they would climb right up the ladder into the boat!












A visiting family of swans

Walked into town for dinner, awakened in the middle of the night by rowdy neighbors.

Wednesday, August 1:
Long day of driving, woke up at 7, pumped heads at 7:30, almost 7 hours travel to Noroton Yacht Club, left about 4 pm, 5 hour drive home.

Woooo, here we go! We spent the afternoon today arranging and re-arranging groceries to pack into our cooler tomorrow morning. Lin's parents are picking us up at 8:30 to drive us to Marion MA. Dixie watched with great concern while we bustled around the house all afternoon and evening, boiling eggs, making fruit and pasta salads, packaging things in small, stackable containers that will easily fit into the refrigerator on the boat. Last minute laundry and packing are next. The weather is hot and muggy, and thunderstorms are threatening the next few days. Oh well, it's part of the adventure!


We have a couple of concerns about while we're gone....who will feed our adopted cat, who lives outside but loves to sneak inside when we aren't fast enough? And, how will Moe's famous bees fare while we are gone? Our fingers are crossed. Maybe Wendy will stop by and check on them....








Thursday, July 26, 2007:
We are back in Marion Harbor, at the Beverly Yacht Club. We arrived around noon-time (thanks, Mom and Dad!), after driving by Lin’s childhood home only 6 miles away. It was wonderful to see again and brought back lots of memories.














Beverly Yacht Club, at Marion Harbor MA.

When we arrived at the BYC, we went straight out to the boat with coolers and bags full of food, clothes, and supplies. Dixie is much more relaxed this time, and has been more than happy to don her bright yellow life jacket for a ride in to shore on the launch. She stands with her feet up on the seat and watches the water with her fur all blowing in the wind. We hope she doesn’t jump, because as far as we know, she’s never been in the water. We have to work on that, and get her to learn to swim with another dog who loves the water so she won’t be scared.















Dixie is much more comfortable this time!

While we were at home over the last few weeks, Moe came down to the boat with a few friends and installed two new batteries. The batteries for this boat weigh about 140 pounds apiece! We’ve run the refrigerator all day just off the batteries, and they are still showing as fully charged. To be extra sure, Moe is running the generator for a little while to give them a boost before we all go to bed, so we won’t have to worry about running the refrigerator all night.

Tomorrow we head out to Jamestown Island, just across the bay from Newport, Rhode Island. We’ve got a mooring reserved for two nights at the Conanicut Marina. Today was hot and sunny, but the weather report predicts some clouds and thundershowers over the next few days.

Heading out of Buzzards Bay

Friday, July 27, 2007
Moe and Dixie took an early launch in to shore this morning, and Dixie had a nice (successful!) walk. Lin stayed on the boat, made coffee, and read some more of The Good, Good Pig. What a great book! We left Marion at about 9:45 am, under bright blue skies with a huge hawk circling overhead. He seemed to be looking at Dixie, but he was probably just fishing.

Just cruising along....

The weather held up nicely, except for one patch of dense fog that popped up in front of us like a curtain. On the other side, there was more clear blue sky and a couple of fast ferries. We were glad we were out of the fog when we saw them!

Round Hill Point Radar Dome

Near Round Hill Point, we saw a huge radar dome. We arrived at Newport at about 3 pm, and passed some large, amazing sailboats, and Fort Adams, which we visited a couple of years ago. After docking at the marina and filling up our fresh water tanks, we picked up our mooring not too far from the Jamestown Island Bridge, and are settling in.

Coming in towards the Jamestown Bridge

There is some wind so the boat is rocking, and Dixie is uncomfortable… she’s on the couch next to Lin. There is no internet connection here, so we’ll have to post this in a few days when we can pirate off of someone else’s wireless. We took the launch in to shore and went to a great place for dinner called Tricia’s Tropi-Grill, took Dixie for another successful walk, and caught a launch back to the boat by 9 pm. We are socked in by pea-soup fog, and everything, inside and outside the boat is damp from the humidity. Tomorrow we’ll try to walk into town and see if we can get internet access at the library.

Saturday, July 28, 2007
Dixie woke us up at her usual time this morning, about 6:30 am. She’s doing better every day. We had coffee and took an 8 am launch in to shore, and headed up the hill in the main part of town to the spot Dixie had chosen the day before. After our walk, we went to a little place called “A Touch of Heaven” for breakfast outside. People are impressed by how polite Dixie is. She’s been very good, considering she’s just barely over a year old, and this world of boating is all new to her. After breakfast, we walked back up the hill to the library, where we both took a few minutes to check our e-mail. It was a really nice and very friendly library, which happened to be having a book sale: “a buck a bag”!. Naturally, Lin picked out a bunch for her and Moe to share. Then across the street to buy Dixie a bottle of water, down the hill to do a little shopping at a nice store that let Dixie shop with us, and then back to boat around noon-time. It is hot and very humid on shore, but more comfortable out here on our mooring with breezes coming from every direction. The refrigerator has run all day without draining the new batteries at all…. Those new solar panels that Moe installed were well worth the time and effort. Moe spent some time up on the fly bridge reading one of the new books with his eyes closed, while Lin continued to enjoy The Good, Good Pig.

Sailboat racing at Conanicut Marina, Jamestown, RI.

Later, Moe watched the Shields Regatta, which was right in front of our mooring field, and reminded him of the good old days, when he raced sailboats. Lin watched some of the race from the shower! Our plan for this evening, after more relaxing, is to go back into town with Miss Dixie, have dinner and take a walk in a different direction to see what we can see.

Sunday, July 29, 2007:
We left Jamestown this morning at about 9:30, after Moe and Dixie had a quick run in to shore. Breakfast was on the boat this morning, since we wanted to get out before the wind and waves picked up. About half-way into the four hour trip, we ran into fog, fog, fog. Being in the dense fog is like being alone in the dark. You don’t have any idea what is out there, or might be approaching you. The water looks the same, black and rolling, on all sides of the boat. The sky is the same color in all directions, and you can’t see the land or even which direction the sun is in. Thank goodness for radar, which tells you when something is approaching, even though you can’t see it. And thank goodness for the GPS, which showed us the direction we were going in was right. It’s strange to know a big boat is approaching from behind you, and then watch it pass you on the radar, but never see it.

We arrived at Block Island about 12:00, and were lucky enough to get a mooring in just a few minutes. You can’t reserve moorings here, it’s first-come, first-served. Streams of boats were leaving as we pulled into the harbor, which is called the Great Salt Pond.

As fast as the boats were leaving, there was a line of boats pulling in. We picked up our mooring out in front of a place called Champlin’s Resort. All afternoon, Champlin’s has had loud, bad karaoke, blasting out across the harbor.

.

.

.

Free pump-out at Block island, and Dixie makes a new friend.

After we arrived, we took the launch in to shore. We took Dixie for a walk on the rocky beach overlooking the many boats, and she was excited to wade into the ocean up to her tummy, for the first time. She had a great time trying to pick up stinky old mussel shells and run to keep them away from us… good thing we had her on a long leash! A short walk brought us to Dead Eye Dicks, where the three of us had lunch under a large canopy on their deck, overlooking the harbor. It sure is hot! We’ll relax for the afternoon, shower and have dinner on the boat.

When we were walking around the neighboring docks yesterday afternoon, we saw an old metal tug boat, which someone had lovingly and painstakingly resorted, cleaned, stripped and repainted. The tug was called “The General”, and had been made into a live-aboard. There were pretty curtains in the windows, nice wicker furniture and a huge gas grill on the decks, nice-looking lamps and pictures on the walls visible inside. In the doorway to the main cabin of the boat, a black and white cat greeted us as we walked by. He looked happy to have a big old boat for a home. Later in the evening, we heard the owner of The General come over the radio, and invite the launch operator over for “the cannon”. The cannon?? Sure enough, we sat on deck eating our dinner, and from the direction of The General, we heard two loud booms of a cannon. When our ears stopped ringing, we suddenly realized we could hear a bagpipe from over in the same direction. It was the first time any of us had heard bagpipes playing “When the Saints come Marching In”, or “Anchors Away”. VERY strange!

We’ve just returned home from our first week on the boat this year. Here’s how it went, and what we did:

Friday, 6-29-06. We spent Friday night on a mooring at Pepperell Cove, part of the Portsmouth Yacht Club in New Castle, NH. New Castle is a large island at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Our new dog, Dixie is getting used to the motion of the waves and wearing a life jacket. She is not happy, and stands like a sad statue with all four legs straight out, and her head down.

Saturday 6-30-07. The boat rocked and rolled last night from the wind, the current in the river, and the tide. Dixie slept on the bed with us for the first time. She’s usually independent, like a cat, and isn’t a cuddler. But, I think the movement of the boat had her feeling like she needed a little more security.
*

Moe looks like he is flying a plane.
*
We left Pepperell Cove at about 11 am, and headed south towards Cape Ann, MA. Moe saw a whale but Lin missed it because she was snoozing. Who was it that said it would be hard to relax? We went down the narrow, extremely crowded Annisquam River. The Annisquam is a salt water estuary, and is open to the ocean on both ends. We had to pass through some small, low bridges which made our hair stand on end just a little bit. It looked like it would be a fabulous, interesting place to kayak. There were even little houses in the middle of the river in some places!

*













Houses in the Annisquam River.
*
The village of Annisquam, at the mouth of the Annisquam River, was settled in 1631. It has been a popular place for artists and writers such as Winslow Homer and Rudyard Kipling, and "The Sound of Music" is said to have been written here. The river was shallow and people had anchored boats everywhere, so it was like an obstacle course. Lin forgot her reading glasses, and hard time reading marker numbers on the chart. After passing under two very low, narrow bridges (thank goodness one of them could lift for us!), we arrived in Gloucester Harbor, and picked up a mooring next to a huge fishing boat that could have eaten us for breakfast. Gloucester was also settled in the early 1600s, and claims to be the oldest fishing port in the country.
*

Our nearest neighbor in Gloucester.
*
After we settled in a bit, Lin picked up and passed on phone messages from work. Moe took down the dinghy, and the three of us went in to shore. After a good long walk, we found a great place to eat, where we could sit outside under a canopy and have dinner. Dixie was welcomed by the restaurant staff at the Madfish Grill in Gloucester, and the dinner was delicious. I think we are definitely starting to relax now…. even Dixie.

Sunday, 7-1-07. Wow, July?!? How’d that happen? We had a peaceful night on the boat, no rollers this time. Dixie slept with us again, which Lin loves and Moe has no comment on. We got up at 6:30, and Moe and Dixie took a dinghy ride in to shore for a walk, since Dixie refuses to pee on the pee-pads we got her to have on the boat. I guess we did a good job with house-training her! The sky is clear and the sun is hot already. Clann an Drumma on the CD player made for nice early-morning background music (high energy bagpipes and tribal drums) while we had our coffee and Dixie snoozed on the couch.
*

Moe and Dixie return from shore.
*

We left Gloucester behind us at about 8:30 am, and headed south past Boston towards Scituate Harbor.

*













Boston in the distance.
*














We passed a ship with guns in the front and a gazebo in the back.
*

We’ve traveled 58 nautical miles so far. We’re on a mooring here at Scituate Harbor Yacht Club, a really nice place with a huge pool, tennis courts, clubhouse with a kitchen, tv lounge, rest rooms and showers. The cost of staying in this pretty harbor is $35/night. We generate some of our own power with the solar panels, inverter and generator, so we don’t have any need to go to shore except if we want to, or to take Dixie in to pee. The three of us went in to explore the little town, which has very old houses with signs on them commemorating heroes and heroines of the war of 1812. We had lunch at a little outdoor café named Riva, which offers bowls of water and treats to dogs.


After relaxing on the boat for a while in the afternoon, Lin went back in to shore and did some work on her computer, while Moe and Dixie napped for a while. Later, we all went into town and had dinner at the same dog-friendly outdoor café. We were back to the boat in time to watch the sun set behind the houses at the edge of the water.













Moe at work on a beautiful day.
*

This is really a wonderful place... pretty, quiet, scenic and friendly. Dixie is curled up in a ball down below, fast asleep. Tomorrow, we are going to Sandwich MA and will stay in a slip, because they don’t have moorings, and there are no other choices on the northeast side of the Cape Cod Canal. The plan is to meet our friends Fred and Becky, visit with them, and see their new house in Yarmouth.













Dixie.
*

Monday, 7-2-2007: The water was much rougher and Dixie and Lin were sometimes uncomfortable. We traveled 31 miles in about 4 hours. We are just inside the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal, at the Sandwich Marina. There are very different boats here, mostly power boats, most of them are fishing or lobster boats. Smells like fish! This place is quite different than our last stop. A couple mega-yachts are here, too. We met up with our friends Fred and Becky for the late afternoon and a dinner at their house. Fred is a music director for MIT, and Becky works for Mass Audubon as a bird expert. Becky and Lin went out to Seagull Beach (an old teenage haunt of Lin's!) to check on some Piping Plover chicks that are almost ready to fly, and then headed to Fred and Becky’s new house for a cookout. Dixie is doing really well with her travel and boat skills! She was a good girl at Fred and Becky's, too. This socialization is really great for our puppy, who just turned one at the end of May.
*

Moe and Dixie laughing together on board.
*
Tuesday, 7-3-07: we left Sandwich Marina at about 8:30 am, and traveled through the Cape Cod Canal. Very interesting, with lots of sights to see.
*

One of the bridges in the Cape Cod Canal.
*

There are walkways along both sides of the canal, and lots of people were walking, jogging and taking their dogs out.
*

Trails along the canal.
*

Fisherman were busy along the shoreline. There were a few interesting bridges; the Sagamore, the Bourne, and a railroad bridge that was the most interesting of all.



The railroad bridge is lifted so boats can pass under.
*


Look up!
*


The Enterprise was docked at the Mass Maritime Academy, in the Cape Cod Canal.
*













Bird Island in Buzzards Bay, near Marion MA.
*

We traveled 106 total miles since we left Portsmouth, 18 miles today, and traveled for about 3 1/2 hours. We arrived in Marion Harbor around noontime, met up with Ted, a sailing acquaintance of Moe’s. Ted is letting us keep the boat on one of his moorings here at the Beverley Yacht Club for a couple of weeks. This will be our last stop of this trip, and we’ll find a way home in a day or two, go back to work for a couple weeks, and then come back here.

We took the launch in to shore with Dixie, and walked into town. There are some beautiful houses here, with gorgeous lawns and perennial gardens, and white picket fences covered with climbing roses. We stopped at the Marion General Store and bought sandwiches and juice, then ate it about a block away on a grassy park with a bandstand next to the water. Lin went to concerts there as a child with her parents, but doesn’t remember. Tonight Lin’s sister Marjorie is coming with her dog Lily, so Dixie will have a wild time. We plan to go to Ted’s house about a half-mile from here to watch the fireworks off of Silver Shell Beach, which coincidentally happens to be where Lin took swimming lessons many years ago. She remembers it as if it was a picture: cold water, lessons sometimes cancelled because of jellyfish, sometimes not cancelled and held in the rain. Silver Shell Beach just seems so much smaller now than it did back then!


We spent the evening with Ted, his wife Ann and son Pike. They had a bunch of friends over, and tons of food. The weather was perfect for fireworks! The fireworks were great for Lin and Moe, but scary for Dixie, who hid her face inside Lin's shoulder under Moe's jacket. We walked back to the yacht club in time to catch one of the last launches back to the boat, and settled in for the night.











*
Wednesday, 7-4-07: Marjorie didn't make it yesterday, so she's came today! Lin and Moe were very much looking forward to seeing her, and Dixie patiently waited for Lily. We caught the launch in to shore mid-morning, and walked into town to watch the Fourth of July Parade. This great parade went on and on, and was full of fun and colorful floats from Rochester and Marion.






























*
Marjorie arrived just after the parade... or maybe she was in it. The wind had really picked up by then, so we weren't able to go for a boat ride, but we definitely made the most of our day. Other than the wind, the weather was gorgeous and it was nice to sit on the boat and relax, laugh, and eat! We knew we were just about to end our trip, and rather than have to pack up and carry everything in the refrigerator home, we tried to empty it by eating everything. It was great to have Marjorie and Lily with us for the day! Moe's friend Nick was in Marion for a sailboat race, so we were able to make arrangements for a ride home with him. Late in the afternoon, Lin, Moe, Marjorie, Dixie and Lily took the luanch in to shore, laden with bags and packages of supplies and food. We said goodby to Marjorie and Lily, and hopped in with Nick for the ride home.


In a few weeks, we'll head out again and continue our trip!