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.

Ready, Set, Gone

We had a whirl wind of a month in Salem seeing friends, taking care of medical issues, looking at condos and doing lots and lots of boat tasks and errands of all sorts. When we dock for a extended time, we almost always have a rental car, and because we're on familiar turf, our stay in Salem is a great time to get things done. Not exactly a relaxing stay this time, but we did accomplish a lot, and managed to get to the end of the A list of to-do's by the end of our dock reservation last Saturday morning.

The Fishing Fleet

October is prime tourist season in Salem, which turns its heritage of witch trials into a halloween fright celebration starting in late September and slowly cranking up to October 31. By last weekend, the Columbus day holiday weekend, with the streets crowded with busloads of tourists and the pedestrian mall filled with sausage and fried dough vendors, we were ready to get out of Dodge. So here we are on an anchor in Long Island Sound, on our way South.

Five weeks ago, we couldn't help but notice hundreds of schools of tiny fish just below the surface throughout our marina. When big boats with underwater lights docked near us, we watched the little fish attract large stripers up to 18 inches long. As the weeks went on, the little fish were obviously growing much bigger and we saw them schooling less frequently. Then early one morning last week, we got another lesson in the food chain. We saw more cormorants than we've ever seen at once, having a fine breakfast of little fish.

Got Netflix?

Our last days in Salem were busy preparing to travel for a couple of months. We loaded dock carts full of grocery bags onto the boat and I rearranged the panty until everything fit. I stowed a couple of cases of wine, each bottle swathed in bubble wrap, under Paul's berth. It's cool and dark under there-- our boat version of a wine cellar. There was one last trip to Trader Joe's for Pound Plus Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds, a must have for the Captain.

I made my last DVD run to to the Salem post office, with the three amazingly efficient and friendly female employees that could make anyone mourn the end of the US Postal Service. It's more amazing that general delivery not only still works, but dependably so, at least in Salem.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Then there was the last trip to A & J King, a world
class bakery only a few blocks away from our dock.
We discovered them several years ago when they first appeared at the Marblehead Farmers Market with their artisan breads. Their product line has expanded to include beautiful pastries and scones I could cry over, but the one thing we never leave without is a freezer stock of toasted walnut sourdough bread.

One of my last errands was to pick up our repaired pump. Paul had told me that the shop was something out of another century, so I was happy to make the pickup, camera in hand. The shop owner, repair person (and perhaps the decorator?) was very happy to hold the pump for me for a photo. My only regret was that he was so efficient in checking me out that I really didn't have enough time to inspect the rest of the shop and its contents. That probably would not have been polite anyway!

The Pump Man

During all the getting ready, I found myself looking forward to spending some quiet time sitting in the pilot house, with only the job of getting the boat from point A to point B safely and as efficiently as possible. We spent Saturday night at the east end of the Cape Cod Canal and Sunday morning rode the current through the seven mile cut. Somehow the canal seems like a divider between Massachusetts "home" and our winter sojourns southward. It was a beautiful day, another in a string of beautiful days, calm seas and winds-- the perfect start for our journey.