Fall, 2016

Dec. 1 - 31, 2016 Thursday / Saturday

December passed slowly but yet quickly. We made a quick day trip to St. Pete and had lunch with good friends (Bart and Ellie Farney – former DF 44 owners) before Barb had right eye cataract removed on Dec. 6. Barb again had a few days of minimal activity. Doing nothing isn’t good for this gal. Barb did finish a Christmas wall hanging but did a lot of poor language as she quilted it on her little Bernina – the machine opening was very small and the bulk didn’t help with free hand quilting. Eye surgery was successful so on Dec. 8 she was able to drive without glasses – had to have driver’s license changed as she now has 20/20 vision in both eyes (of course the new lens did all the correctly). Jeanette (Dave’s sister) arrived on the 15th and helped us celebrate Christmas. Dave surprised Barb with a new sewing machine and we both surprised Jeanette with a short vacation to St. Augustine to see the Christmas lights and purchased her a surger that she had wanted for a while. Jeanette left on the 27th and Barry and Elaine Tarrant (Barb’s Aunt and Uncle) came for a day visit on the 29th. We didn’t really celebrate the New Year by staying up late, but did have a nice dinner. The boat has had some TLC this month but not by Barb. The pool has been a great way to relax as the weather has been unseasonably hot. We haven’t had any rain so it is very dry. We are watering some bushes more due to the lack of rain.

Applique Christmas Tree and free hand quilting using Christmas tree pattern along with Star pattern. First attempt at free hand quilting.

My new Bernina sewing machine that is made for quilting and embroidery. it practically sews on its own.

Nov. 15 - 30, 2016 Tuesday / Wednesday

Christmas decorations are up but no snow.

We spent the rest of the month closing the boat and opening the house. We were very excited to see the new landscaping as the bushes have really grown. We had to do some house cleaning and opening up for living in the house, but we took days to start this process. It did feel good to sleep in a land bed and have garbage disposal and dishwasher in the kitchen. We started lists of to do projects and contacted companies for some upgrades and maintenance work on both the house and boat. We swam, walked and biked and really started to relax. Thanksgiving was quiet with just the two of us eating turkey etc. Yes, we made the full dinner and ate from it for a few days. Barb finished a Christmas quilt wall hanging and was able to put it up as we put up all Christmas decorations before Barb was forced to move slowly, not lift and not bend. Barb had cataract surgery on left eye on Nov. 29 – can see well with one eye done. But healing time required minimum activity. The days passed quickly this month.

Nov. 14, 2016

We called Ortona Lock at 7:00 to see if it would be open all day, only to learn that the restricted schedule was being enforced. So we took time leaving Moore Haven Dock. It is a 65 mile run from here to home and we could make it if all bridges and locks didn’t delay us. We slowly traveled the Okeechobee waterway and didn’t have any trouble with bridges as they opened for us immediately. We had a number of boats pass us, but we weren’t concerned until we arrived at Ortona Lock to find 6 boats in front of us – oh no! Behind us was Wild Good (DF 41 – Jim and Ann O’Malley). While we had timing correct, we didn’t anticipate all these boats. We did get into the first lock, but Wild Goose ended up waiting over 30 minutes for a lock through. We were not happy campers as the trawler in front of us wouldn’t turn off engines so we smelled their fumes for 20 minutes in the lock. We were now on a mission as we were 40 miles from home and it wasn’t noon yet. We thought we would be under idle speed due to manatee zone in Ft. Myers area, but we were a day early for the speed zone to start so we only had to slow down for marinas. We arrived home at 5:22 (sunset was 5:35) and had electric hooked up. We finally relaxed after three days of fast and long travel. Let the weather turn nasty! We are home.

This has been a long trip for us. We traveled 4288.82 miles in 176 days. But only 85 of those days were actual travel days. It took 46 days to get to Georgetown, ME and 39 days to get home. We traveled through 14 states (they are all listed in this log). We spent 58 nights in marinas, 9 nights on mooring balls, and 17 nights at anchor – we helped the local economy in many places. We had no major issues with the boat – a few annoying items that we had repaired along the way but Hallelujah performed beautifully! The crew didn’t do as well. Dave had back issues coming south – mostly stress. Barb had difficulty navigating due to not being able to see well. We sat out one named storm (Colin) and two hurricanes (Hermine and Matthew) and lots of wind and rain, but relatively little fog. We passed but didn’t connect with hundreds of crab pots and lobster pots, and didn’t connect with anything on the keel except mud. We didn’t pick up any mice, rats, or other four legged creatures (met people along the way that did), but we found one cockroach on board – Barb went nuts with traps – and we picked up a large number of stink bugs while in the Chesapeake coming south – we were finding them after arriving home. Not sure how they lived for over a month. All in all it was a great adventure.

Nov. 13, 2016

The St. Lucie Waterway.

We traveled 70 miles today – a little shorter, but probably the tensest day of the whole trip. First, we had trouble getting out of the slip due to a 6 foot 2 by 4 floating behind us. Then as we traveled up the St. Lucie River, may fast boats passed us, so when we got to the first lock we had to wait over thirty minutes for a lock through. Dave didn’t do well in getting us to the wall in the lock so that was frustrating. Then when we got to the Port Mayaca Lock (which is usually a drive through) we had to wait another half hour just to go up one foot. Thus, we were later than expected getting across Lake Okeechobee which is a 40 mile run across the lake. Even though the lake was calm and had extra depth we still had to make the Moore Haven Lock before 5:00 -- thus the tension. But we again put the peddle to the metal and pushed Hallelujah’s engines. We made the lock with 45 minutes to spare. Then we found the free wall was almost full of boats but we were able to sneak in on the eastern end while another boat ahead of us was trying to figure out where to go. We were in this spot on the way north and knew the power pedestal didn’t work well, so when it failed Dave went out and was eaten alive by mosquitoes while he plugged into another outlet. We did have a quiet night and slept well.

Nov. 12, 2016

Ok, weather is not changing so we do another long day to Stuart FL – 81 miles. We again set the engine at 2100 rpm and covered this distance in 9.5 hours. Not a bad run, but there were places that we had skinny water. We didn’t watch tides today as much as timing for bridges and trying to make the marina before dark. After docking, we found we were next to His and Hers (remember the Norfolk picture) and across from us was a Krogen named Lilly. Betty Robinson was aboard and we had cocktails on Hallelujah while she shared her travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands (WOW). She did this with one other woman aboard – more of an adventure than we would do. As we were really tired, we went out for dinner and ended up sitting at a bar to eat – something that we can’t remember ever doing. Dinner was great (we hit happy hour so had more wine than we should have had).

Nov. 11, 2016

This was an interesting day. We always check weather in the a.m. before departure. Opps! The weather window we thought we had was closing down. We made the decision to travel faster and farther. So instead of going into Titusville (a 50 mile run) we went to Eau Gallie which was an 85 mile run. We pushed the engines and were able to maintain 8.5 mph. This was amazing as we passed through a 10 mile stretch that was a manatee zone – no wake area. We saw lots of manatee in the channel (probably close to 30 that we actually saw – some with their nose out of the water and others with tail fin flapping) and were constantly on the radio telling boats behind us what we were seeing. We arrived at Eau Gallie marina and had friends come aboard for a couple of hours. They live here and we saw them on the way north. Unknowns to us, other friends were in the marina also but we didn’t see them. This was a long day for us, but we didn’t feel too tired and we are still checking the weather window.

Nov. 10, 2016

We traveled south 53 miles to Daytona, FL. As we passed Palm Coast, we texted Reality so they knew we made it this far. Yes, they passed us while we were at Jekyll Island. The run was uneventful today and we arrived early enough that we took on fuel and had a pump out.

Nov. 9, 2016 Wednesday

Izzy-R on mooring ball at St. Augustine.

We went 53 miles into St. Augustine, FL today. While we usually stay at a marina, they were full so we took a mooring ball in downtown. The currents didn’t seem to bother us trying to pick up a ball. Dave’s had back problems for the past week and he had difficulty helping get the second mooring line attached but we managed and the marina was very helpful in coming out to collect money instead of us having to get the dinghy down. About 5:00 a DF 49 took the mooring ball behind us – OMG it is Izzy R. We met them in 2011 while in Staniel Cay. They were on their way to the Caribbean. They have just returned to the US and were heading north. They stopped on their way to shore for dinner and we talked for a few minutes. The day was very pleasant and the winds are down. We continue to review tides for shallow areas but believe we have a good weather window for the next week.

Nov. 8, 2016 Tuesday

C Ghost traveling south to St. Augustine.

Today we entered FL going 42 miles to Alligator River anchorage. We traveled with C Ghost (a sailboat). This lovely young couple was moving their boat to St. Augustine, FL. While we had waited for winds to subside, the waves in the waves in St. Andrew’s Sound still made for a rough ride – but the stabilizers really helped us while other boats bounced a lot! We again had timing right for tides as we had no difficulty with shallow water south of Fernandina Beach, FL. We again had current and winds from different directions at the anchorage but we are getting used to this. Just set the anchor alarm to make sure we held. A few boats we had seen in the past came in so there were about 6 boats in this anchorage. The day wasn’t bad for traveling and we had current with us most of the way.

Nov. 3 - 7, 2016 Thursday / Monday

The first thing we did this a.m. was watch the sail boat leave the anchorage. He had no trouble but didn’t stay as close to the red side as we had coming in – that may have been our problem yesterday with shallow water. We had no difficulty leaving following the sailboat out. Today we had the “Mud River” – another shallow area in GA. We did fine and had the rising tide that gave us enough depth – at least 9 feet under us. But we didn’t calculate timing for Jekyll River which we took near low tide (had 7 feet under us most of the way). We went 56 miles to Jekyll Island Marina today. We were trying to make a safe place before the winds started to blow and this was it. We stayed here four days waiting for winds to die and inlets to have smaller waves. We enjoyed taking bike rides each day and explored most all of the island. Beaucoup came in and we again had cocktails aboard. We did a fair amount of cleaning and computer work while here. We did see a number of boats pass us that we knew but didn’t feel the urge to travel in heavy winds.
As we traveled south on the 3rd, we saw this barge collecting destroyed boats. Note the one boat name “Island Girl”. This barge passed Jekyll Island marina the next day with even more boats on it. We saw the boats a third time in Fernandina Beach being off loaded at a boat yard. Not a good sight to see.

Barge loading damaged pleasure craft in AICW

Barge moving boats to Fernindina Beach, FL (passing Jekyll Island)

The beach on Jekyll Island

Hallelujah at Jekyll Island Marina (the AICW is the left side of boat.

Nov. 2, 2016 Wednesday

Wahoo River Anchorage.

Today we had a very shallow area to traverse, but we were able to time the tides correctly and took Hell Gate on a flooding tide almost at high tide. It is interesting that we took over an hour to plan todays run based on one nine minute section of the AICW. We did 48 miles and anchored in the Wahoo River. We were not sure about the anchorage as we had the same difficulty of trying to set the anchor with winds perpendicular to the current. But we were fine and a small sailboat came in and anchored behind us. We again had a shallow area to cross on this river and were not sure about leaving but we did fine getting in. This is a pretty spot but fairly open to winds.

Nov. 1, 2016 Tuesday

Herb River anchorage

We left Beaufort, SC and traveled south 45 miles today to an anchorage south of Savanah, GA on the Herb River. The day was nice but we were traveling alone and this seemed really strange. There were no issues with shoaling today as we made sure we were getting to shallow places at high tide (about 7 feet tide swing in GA). Anchoring was a bit of a challenge as the current and winds were not aligned. We sat sideways to the river instead of with the current. One other boat came in and anchored in this small river behind us.

Oct. 31, 2016 Monday

Today was a 35 mile run to Beaufort, SC and the end of traveling with Reality. While they went to the city marina we went a couple of miles further south to a different marina. The day was an easy one with no big deal about inlets shoaling and strong currents. It was also a comfortable day on the fly bridge. In the afternoon, Barb got the courtesy car and picked Lorrie up to do a grocery run. We didn’t think about Halloween until we got the the grocery store and saw people in costumes. We didn’t see much celebration around the marina in the evening. It was pretty quiet. We said our goodbyes as Reality will be staying here for an extra day while we really want to take advantage of weather and get further south. We want go get home.

Oct. 30, 2016 Sunday

After much discussion as to tides and currents, we decided to just go this a.m. We are crossing the Charleston Harbor and going through Elliott’s Cut (which has very strong currents) to an anchorage 50 miles south. As we left the anchorage (without the sail boats), we found some fog that was gradually lifting. When we got to the Charleston Harbor we were confronted with two container ships – one coming in and one going out. As we were in the lead, we felt we had time to get across the shipping lane, so put on a little speed and went across, but the outbound freighter wanted Reality to stop and let him pass. Rodger stated he had time to clear the shipping channel and be across it before the freighter arrived. (the picture shows that Rodger did indeed have time). We made Elliott’s Cut as the currents went slack so didn’t have to worry about strong currents, but the rest of the day was spent with opposing currents so travel was slow. The alternative was to not travel until noon and arrive at our anchorage late in the day – guess the sail boats did that as they pulled in just before dark.

The early morning fog just north of Charleston, SC.

Reality with container ship behind him.

Oct. 29, 2016 Saturday

We did a 58 mile run today that wasn’t too bad. The shoaling around Awendaw Creek did have us slowing down – only 7 feet under the hull, but we didn’t go aground today – think we learned our lesson. Reality was in the lead today so he was giving us depths as he went through the area and we followed them closely. Today we had a number of sailboats trailing behind us asking for bridge heights and depths as we went through. They were grateful for our help. We went into Dewees Creek to anchor, a different anchorage for us – see the picture. This area is starting to be marsh so we were on a small river (only 19 feet deep at high tide and 10 feet at low tide) and no wind protection to speak of. But we had a quiet night along with four sail boats behind us and some boats scattered along other creek channels.

The AICW - Hallelujah is following Reality.

Reality at anchor in this small creek - we anchored behind them.

Hallelujah with our sailboat trail behind us.

The sailboats behind Hallelujah - we are one long line of boats.

Oct. 28, 2016 Friday

We went 53 miles south today, but it was the slowest day of the whole trip. Due to flooding after Hurricane Matthew, the Myrtle Beach area was flooded. They had just opened the bridges across the AICW and there were lots of boats trying to get through this area. The Coast Guide put a speed restriction on all boats traveling south of Myrtle Beach for 25 miles – no wake!! And it was strictly enforced. As DeFevers have lots of wake, we had to really slow the engines down, so much that sailboats were passing us!. There was one bridge, Socastee Bridge that had to open and we had a line of 12 boats for this bride. As we were in the lead, we were asked to hold station so the bridge only opened once. At first we couldn’t understand why the speed restriction but after a few miles we understood why, people were shoveling mud out of their houses - with furniture, appliances, cloths scattered over yards. It was a very eye opening experience and one we really wouldn’t want to have. We went into a very large anchorage along with about 12 other boats. The evening was very quiet.

Butler Creek anchorage looking forward across boats.

One shoreline of the anchorage

Oct. 27, 2016 Thursday

Today was a 35 mile run to Myrtle Beach, SC (finally out of NC). But we should have learned yesterday about green cans. Today we went aground in Shallotte Inlet as Dave went too far to the green side – this time we were hard aground. Reality passed us and asked if we could get off. It took about 15 minutes bud Dave was able to back off with the help of current and lots of engine power. Then we were directed to not follow the buoys as they were not correctly positioned in this area – so we took reds on wrong side and got back to deeper water. That enough excitement for the day! We made it to a marina and Dave relaxed while Barb did some laundry. Reality met up with friends so we spent a quiet evening aboard.

Oct. 26, 2016 Wednesday

Today was a 33 mile run but it wasn’t our best day. Within 20 minutes of pulling anchor we bumped ground as we got too close to the green side of the channel. We were in the lead, but Rodger said there wasn’t much water on the red side either. So we started to be more careful as we traveled through a well designated shallow area called Snow’s Cut. We did connect with the Cape Fear River as the currents ebbed so we got a good ride down the river. We stayed in a marina tonight and went out to dinner – Southport, NC. Again we were staging for the next day’s run.

Oct. 25, 2016 Tuesday

Today was a short one as we only went 34 miles to another anchorage. We were positioning the boat so that we would have the help of current tomorrow for the Cape Fear River run. There was only one bridge today that we had to worry about and the anchorage was just off the AICW. We passed this strange pink house along with their pink boat – really! There were a fair number of fishing boats that rushed past us in the afternoon as we sat at anchor, but we had a very quiet night even though we were close to the AICW.

We see lots of interesting things along the AICW but a pink house? Really!

Reality at anchor.

Oct. 24, 2016 Monday

Mile Hammock anchorage.

We made the decision to head south today even though the winds were still up. We only went 44 but we had a couple of bridges that delayed the days travel because they only open on the hour. We anchored on the south side of Camp Lejeune in a well-protected anchorage. We did see one 55 foot boat drag anchor – they didn’t have enough scope out for the winds. Luckily, he didn’t come towards us. Reality was in the lead today so it was another easy day of navigation.

Oct. 21 - 23, 2016 Friday / Sunday

The past time on Reality is jigsaw puzzles. Rodger is joined by Barb and Pam to try and finish this puzzle before we have to move south. We did finish

We did a short run to Beaufort, NC. We usually stay across the river at Moorehead City, but they had no dock for us. This was a small working community marina on the edge of town. We had Red Head (65 ft offshore trawler with the Siegels aboard pass us early in the day. We first saw this new to them boat going north in the Chesapeake in June, then again at Solomons as they were with us at the rendezvous. Just an example of how people continue to cross paths when traveling by water. We spent time in Beaufort due to winds. We walked the town and had a great time exploring local events such as their Saturday farmers market (with live animals to pet and local theater group performance), the downtown marina and the local maritime museum. The marina gave each boat a pound of fresh shrimp so we had a group dinner of grilled shrimp. On Sunday, Short Vacation (another DF 44 that we met at the rendezvous) arrived so we had a dock party and invited other boaters from the dock. All in all our time here was relaxing and we got to see some more history.

Hallelujah with screens up, Reailty across the dock and Short Vacation beyond Hallelujah - 3 DF's on one dock.

The docktail party - with more than DF people.

Oct. 19 / 20, 2016 Wednesday / Thursday

Today we only went 49 miles to River Dunes Marina (very fancy place). We had a certificate for stay one and get one night free. We took advantage of a marina and did laundry. Amici (another DF 44) came in later in the afternoon and we had docktails aboard Hallelujah and then went out to dinner. On Thursday we piled into a courtesy van and explored Oriental, NC and ended the day with cocktails on Reality. It is fun to explore with other people and get to know them better. The picture is of the three women in front of the lunch restaurant. There wasn’t much to this little town, but we were able to see what was there.

Hallelujah on the face dock at River Dunes Marina

Lorrie, Sally and Barb at lunch in Oriental, NC.

Oct. 18, 2016 Tuesday

Reality in the lead across Albemarle Sound.

Today was a 68 mile run across the Albemarle Sound and down the Alligator River to the Pungo River Canal. The sound is very shallow so it isn’t doable in bad weather, but we lucked out and had a good run across as the winds weren’t very strong. There were about 20 boats running the same course so we again had a lot of wakes to watch out for. Reality took the lead today so we didn’t have to worry about navigation too much. We went into a very secure anchorage for the night along with about 7 other boats, but it was very quiet as the mosquitoes were so bad no one could be on deck.

Oct. 17, 2016 Monday

Today was a 62 mile run through Norfolk, Chesapeake, and into the AICW. The bridges had just opened a couple of days so the southbound traffic was heavy. The Norfolk Lock was full so we had a lot of boats to contend with. As we were a slower boat, we had faster boats passing us but we were faster than sail boats so we were passing them. We got to know which boats to stay away as they didn’t slow when passing. Dave had a frustrating day. But we had fun texting and radio talking with Reality (Lorrie and Rodger Swink). Today we had the lead. We went into Broad Creek to anchor. It was well protected for the SW winds so we had a quiet night – except for the mosquitos and about 12 other boats anchored here.

Reality following Hallelujah through Norfolk.

Boats coming out of Great Bridge Lock - and that is another DF behind us - His and Hers

Oct. 16, 2016 Sunday

Today we left early as we were going 61 miles into Portsmouth VA where family will come aboard. We wanted to arrive early enough to rest before they came aboard. There was a lot of traffic on the water today especially after we entered Hampton Road area, and the currents there really slowed us down. We were waked a few times, but thankfully the stabilizers worked well. Family arrived at 5:30 and stayed for a couple of hours. We took time to make plans for tomorrow with Reality (anchored just outside the marina).

Oct. 15, 2016 Saturday

We traveled 64 miles south to Deltaville, VA today. The weather was good and while we had opposing currents about half the time we were able to maintain 8 mph. We had a dock for the night while Reality and Short Vacation went to an anchorage. It was a relatively uneventful day on the water. It was very quiet after a couple of weeks of being with people.

Sept. 23 - Oct. 14, 2016 Friday / Friday

We had a one day weather window so made the run to Solomons, MD – 53 miles south. This is the site of the 2016 DeFever Rendezvous of which Barb is the registration chair. Due to iffy weather, we decided to just come into the marina and spend a month (or close to it). Barb had to finish up rendezvous registration and didn’t want to get stuck somewhere before the rendezvous started. The Spring Cove Marina is a lovely place. We went swimming on Friday, then other committee members started showing up and we got going on various events for the rendezvous. The marina has courtesy cars, but we decided to use our bikes and get some exercise by biking to the grocery store. We did spend time each day cleaning (really cleaning everything). It rained some during the first week that slowed the exterior cleaning down. We also were able to get the dinghy down and explore some of the Patuxent River. On Friday Sept. 30 we rented a car and drove to Chesapeake, VA to see family and complete funeral internment for my brother. It was a sad weekend for the family. While we were gone, Beaucoup came in (couple we met in Cape May). They were docked next to us for the next week plus. Back at the boat, we continued working on the rendezvous. On Monday, Oct 3 some of the DeFever Cruisers started to arrive so activities at the marina began to include cocktails and meetings. The rendezvous was scheduled to start on Friday Oct. 7, but Hurricane Matthew was coming our way, so the decision to cancel the rendezvous was made. The hurricane never reached us, but there were a number of boats in the marina by this time and also some members had checked into the hotel. So the group (which by Sunday reached 30 people), came up with daily activities. Fun was had by all. The rendezvous co-chairs (Jack and Bob) really supported the NonDezvous event. They also helped to make our time in the Solomons fun and entertaining. Some of the boats left on Monday Oct. 10 to head south, but we made the decision to stay (as we had paid for a month), and the bridges in Norfolk were closed due to Hurricane Matthew flooding. We relaxed, continued to get to know DF boaters and talk about the trip south. On Friday, Oct. 14 we rented a car and five of us went to the Annapolis Boat Show. We had a good day and the weather wasn’t bad, a little windy but not enough that boats in the water were difficult to board. We had been watching weather and carefully monitoring AICW conditions, so the decision to take off on Saturday was made. While we were the second boat to arrive at Spring Cove Marina, we were not the last to leave. But we were traveling with Reality – DeFever 44 with Lorrie and Rodger Swink aboard. A wonderful, fun couple to travel with. As we traveled south, I wrote an article for the DeFever Cruisers Magazine and the editor Peggy Bjarno helped with editing and adding photos. I have tried to put the magazine document up here if you want to read the article and see even more pictures.

Lorrie, Peggy, Hans, Rodger, Jim at docktail party.

First Docktail with the sun out!

Craig Calkins, Pam Short, and Ann O'Malley with orange crush drink

Dinner at Jack & Gail Cheveney's home

Barb, Suzie, and Lorrie at spaghetti dinner in the rain.

Bob & Sue Hodes, Dave & Barb Reinken, Gail & Jack Cheveney, Rodger & Lorrie Swink - the planning committee.

Sept. 21 - 22, 2016 Wednesday / Thursday

We traveled 50 miles south to Annapolis, MD and our karma wasn’t with us as we had opposing current the entire way. But the water was fairly calm and the winds were light. We arrived, docked and Barb immediately started scouting out the downtown area for tourist activities. We had dinner ashore on Wednesday. We spent all day Thursday playing tourists. Dave walked his feet off but we saw a lot of Annapolis and even had a tour of the Naval Academy. We were both tired by 5:00 Thursday afternoon so just stayed aboard for the evening.

The Sassafras River.

The Naval Academy Residence Hall - All students reside in this one huge building!

The Maryland State Capital Building - it is the oldest state house in the country that is still in full use today.

Hallelujah at dock in Annapolis City Marina

Sept. 18 - 20, 2016 Sunday / Tuesday

We were going to spend another night at this anchorage, but two events happened. First the weather forecast changed (not for the better), and second the holding tank was full. The last pump out must not have been a good one. It was afternoon by the time that we discovered the need for a pump out so we decided to go up the river to Georgetown as that was the closest place for a pump out. They also had a slip that we could use. We ended up staying for three nights as the weather deteriorated quickly. It poured on Monday and then there were winds on Tuesday. We spent much time in the cabin doing “stuff”. As the marinas are not close to town, we didn’t have much opportunity to walk around.

Sept. 17, 2016 Saturday

We were off the dock at first light today. This was the first day that we could hopefully catch the currents correctly for going up the Delaware Bay and into the Chesapeake Bay. We had an unbelievable ride north doing over 9 and sometimes over 11 mph up the Delaware Bay. We entered the C & D Canal before noon (50 miles in 5 hours!). We not only got through the C & D Canal, but we entered the Sassafras River which is in Chesapeake Bay. We did have opposing current as we went up the Sassafras River, but not bad. We anchored for the night off Turner Creek but it was lumpy until the sun went down due to all the boats going up to Georgetown and marinas. The day was beautiful – not too hot and the ride very calm but fast. We went 93 miles in 9 hours – WOW!

Sept. 13 - 16, 2016 Tuesday / Friday

We made the 44 mile run to Cape May early in the morning as the winds were to pick up at noon. We just made it in and docked next to Amici (44 DeFever). Ted and Sally Grave came over for cocktails and we got to know them – we had been emailing them for the past couple of weeks about the rendezvous and traveling south. They made a straight run from Connecticut to Cape May – glad we didn’t try that! They had one very uncomfortable run! We spent the next three days doing boat cleaning, rendezvous work, grocery store runs (had to do multiple trips on the bikes with backpacks), and laundry. We met a lovely Canadian couple on Beaucoup. They came over for cocktails and we gave them info on parts of the loop. The winds did blow, but not as bad as predicted. We also were waiting for the current times to be good for heading up Delaware Bay.

Atlantic City from off shore - heading south.

Carolyn Ann following us south to Cape May.

Sept. 12, 2016 Monday

Atlantic City from our anchorage with a full moon.

There was a weather window for the next 36 hours, so at first light we were off the dock, behind Glory Days and Carolyn Ann for the 98 mile run to Atlantic City. While the waves were mostly behind us, we found the run south to be lumpy but the current was with us so we did arrive at the anchorage before sunset. There were a few other boats in the anchorage this time – while on the way north we were the only boat there. Atlantic City had beautiful lights at night, not sure the picture really tells what we saw.

Sept. 10, 2016

We did a fast trip down the East River and ran into a lot of boat traffic that we tried to avoid on the Hudson River. We arrived at the Great Kills Yacht Club to find multiple looper boats so had a docktail party at the marina tiki bar. Some people were going into New York on Sunday, but we made the decision that we were not attempting the crowds as it was 9-11 and there was a huge gathering at the new memorial. We did walk to a small grocery store and got some more interesting food to help us get to Cape May. It was hot on Sunday so we rested knowing the run on Monday would be tiring. The winds are again up so we were glad we weren’t on the Atlantic today.

.Throg's Neck Bridge - the East end of the East River coming from Long Island Sound

The Brooklyn Side of the East River.

The United Nations Building.

The Empire State Building

The Battery from east of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Statue of Liberty from the south side of Government Island.

A WW II battle ship coming in for the 9-11 ceremony. There was a fire boat welcome before entering the Hudson River.

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge with the tail end of a freighter that passed us on the lower Hudson River. We had to move out of his way as he came out of NY.

Sept. 9, 2016 Friday

We crossed Long Island Sound today doing 46 miles to Port Washington, NY. This is the staging area for the East River in New York City. We took a dock as the weather was hot and Dave wanted a good nights sleep. Didn’t do anything special here but some boat cleaning and reviewing the charts for the run tomorrow. We needed another hiding hole for a day layover so Barb researched and found a marina in Great Kills that we could go to. Reservations were made so we relaxed knowing we had a place for tomorrow.

Sept. 8, 2016 Thursday

The back of Falkner Island - we were out of waves for a little while.

We did a 52 mile run to Stratford, CT in the morning. While the waves were not bad, the currents were against us most of the run so travel was slower. In the afternoon, Barb did laundry while Dave walked to store for milk. We used the marina wifi and downloaded a lot of stuff we were not able to access while in Humburg Cove. This is another Brewer Marina and they were most helpful today.

Aug 31 - Sept. 7, 2016 Wednesday / Wednesday

We made decision to return to the Connecticut River and Humburg Cove which is a very well protected hurricane hole. The 68 mile run wasn’t the smoothest as the Rhode Island Sound was pretty churned up, so much so that we had to steer and not use the autopilot. The winds were mostly behind us and it was sunny so while we rocked we were able to move. The Conn River was an easy 5 mile run and much calmer. We found Humburg Cove to be very empty so had our pick of mooring balls. As the dates suggest, we were here for a while. It rained most of Thursday, but Friday saw the mooring field fill quickly with boats coming in for Labor Day Weekend. We took the dinghy into Essex for lunch and shore time to walk around. On Saturday, Hermine was making its way up the east coast. More boats came in to hunker down. We started preparing for a direct hit, by taking down all canvas, moving things inside the boat or tying them down on the deck. The picture shows Dave putting line protectors on our extra mooring ball line (a heavy black line) as the marina told us we would be fine on a ball. We were not the only boat in the Cove preparing to stay and sit out the hurricane. We spent Sunday doing last preparation and Monday we got the tail of the Hurricane with winds over 40mph, but the hurricane veered east before coming into Long Island Sound. We had rains on Tuesday so we weren’t able to put the canvas back up until Wednesday. This was really an interesting experience!

The Griswold Inn with lots of historic pictures on the walls.

The water wasn't warm, but Dave dove in to secure chaffing gear to mooring lines.