The First Leg South

Point Judith, Rhode Island

Our first few days out of Salem were as near perfect cruising days as could possibly be imagined-- warm sunshine, gentle breeze and seas as flat as they ever get. After an overnight anchoring on the east end of the canal and a quick trip through the canal pushed by current the next morning, we reached Point Judith, RI. It was late Sunday afternoon of the long Columbus Day weekend, 80 degrees and the beaches were still packed as we entered the breakwater. It was hard to believe it was mid October, as it seemed such a perfect summer day.

Hauling Anchor at First Light

We had dinner out that evening with old friends who live in nearby 

Jamestown and had a good time talking with them about their recent decision to go over to "the dark side" and buy a power boat. Life long racing and cruising sailors, this will be a big move for them and we look forward to seeing them in Maine next summer in their new to them Grand Banks. Up very early the next morning, we made our way out of the marina in darkness down the Connecticut shore. We anchored that night at Duck Island Roads, and yawn, were up again early the next day to head down the Long Island Sound, en route to meet our niece and here husband, premier members of our Frequent Floater program.

World's Fair Marina -  Flushing, New York

We discovered a wonderful municipal mooring field at Port Washington, NY, near lots of restaurants and a major grocery store, and spent two nights there, one more than planned. The beautiful weather had come to an end and the rainy forecast included high winds and seas increasing over the next few days to uncomfortable heights, but we had only a short run to the World Fair Marina, right next to LaGuardia and Shea Stadium, where our guests could easily meet us. The marina is a city facility and after chasing the seagulls off the dock and dodging the duck poop, it served our purposes well-- and was well below the going rate of most NY area marinas.

We were surprised that afternoon with a visit from our great nephew, who is now in his freshman year at NYU. He stayed over after dinner and luckily, at 6'4", he still fits in the guest stateroom quarter berth!

The Battery & Freedom Tower

As we knew our schedule would be delayed due to the sea state along the Jersey shore, we opted to take our lay day in NY City, which meant leaving on Saturday when our great nephew could also join us. It is always a kick for us to go through the city on the East River, but our g-n provided a running commentary of city geography and sites for us. It's obvious he's learned a lot about the city in the two months he's been in NY. 

Farmers Market - Easton, Maryland

He left us at the end of the day in Sheepshead Bay, just behind Coney Island. The city marina facility there was not quite all that one would wish-- a dock about 20' shorter than Carry On, a line from another boat run across our bow and an interesting set of barnacled steps and a sidle along a railing, as the access to the dock was locked. But the neighborhood was interesting. Lots of restaurants, sidewalks full of people dressed up for a Saturday evening out and English the least common language heard. There was also a wonderful gourmet food shop staffed by attractive young women whose native language seemed to be Russian, and many of the well dressed shoppers also appeared to be speaking Russian. We think we'll probably stop there again and plan to do some exotic provisioning while we're at it!

Chesapeake Bay 

We had a rough and salty day down the New Jersey coast to Atlantic City-- the crew managed it well, but an exhausted yellow warbler trying to get out of the 30 knot winds flew inside our pilot house. As surprised as we all were, including the bird, someone managed to open the door on the other side and the little bird flew out as quickly as he entered. We were very happy to drop anchor in the bright neon lights from the Harrah Casino. Our guests left us the next morning and Paul and I decided to get the five hour run down to Cape May under our belt. It turned out to be a fine day, so our bravery was well rewarded!

From Cape May to Still Pond, Maryland, through the Delaware Bay and the C & D Canal, then on to Oxford the next day to visit boat friends and meet our Maine friends that weekend. We had a wonderful time in quiet Oxford and enjoyed a trip into Easton for the Saturday morning Farmers Market. Later we took a car drive around, enjoying the bucolic scenery and bought fresh local crabmeat for dinner onboard.

Wanta Go Crabbing?

On Sunday we moved down and across the Chesapeake Bay to Solomons, for our biannual visit with Scotty, our boat guru. He made a good start on our task list last night and was finally convinced to quit after our delivered pizza dinner-- he looked tired, but Paul was exhausted, and left with a "homework" list of things to do to prepare for Scotty's next day on board-- thank heavens Scotty had other work scheduled for today! 

We're here until Thursday at least, maybe Friday and will have some time to catch up, get things done, take a few long walks and relax a bit, before we start the next part of the journey south.