Day 22 We are on ICW (Coinjock) NC

We decided on the Virginia Cut numerous bridges some swing some railroad and our first lock!
Timing is everything as some bridges open every hour some every 1/2 hour. Bridge number one there were 12 motor yachts and 14 blowboaters, 26 boats all treading water for 1/2 hours or so waiting. Quite the experience, all huttled together and then all into the lock (directly after the first bridge). Well not all fit so the motorboats went first (faster). We cruised 6kts-8kts 1/2 the way till we got to the Currituck Sound then 10 kts till we came into Coinjock NC we basically followed the same boat all day. We are now at Midway Marina, I highly recommend making slip reservations in advance as so many boats are heading south and slip space is limited. We reserved a slip last night here. The boat next to us is from Falmouth Ma and on the otherside a sail boat from Jamestown RI. I took lots of pictures Jim will load them in later.

Day 20 Norfolk/Portsmouth VA

We finally had a day for travel though a short day 4.5 hours at 12 knots. We made it to Norfolk/Portsmouth and are now mins to the ICW. Weather on the Bay was overcast but no rain, waves were comfortable a bit choppy at the mouth of the bay going into Norfolk but not bad at all. Coming into Norfolk you could see all the military helicopters (security) and lots of chatter on the VHF from warships stating their intentions and warning boaters to keep 500yards away. Very intimadating to say the least! As we came into the Harbour there were Naval Ships EVERYWHERE and of course lots of security boats. And the sun came out just as we pulled into dock now 80 and sunny. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow as we are waiting to see where Liberty and Esperanza land as they are 1 or 2 travel days away.
Heads up! We are at Portsmouth Boating Center cheap money for a slip $50 with free internet and cable but very industrial and noisey! We'll have picures later!

Day 16 and 17 Yes, we are still in Deltaville Va

Yes, we are in a holding pattern too! After this weather front blows out of here we can all start moving again. So, yes we are still ahead of you but not gaining any more ground. At least we are in a good spot, with all the amenities. It was a beautiful day here (at dock) those very few that traveled said it was nasty out there. I guess that's the consolation. Well, we dropped all our chain and inspected it. You would of thought we had done that before we left, but no we did it today! Everything is as it should be, and in working order. Now when Esperanza says we can meet up and drop anchor we will be a little more prepared and a bit less intimidated.
Oh and by the way, the store here carries all the skipper Bob books does anyone need anything? I know Scott and Lane have become fans, if you need any of them let me know we will pick it up for you.

Day 15 Deltaville VA

Finally in Va. We are at Doziers Regatta Point very nice marina and price is good 1.25 / ft make sure you let them know your an AGLCA member for the discount. They serve coffee, OJ, and donuts in the morning in the Captains Lounge along with a newspaper. They have a courtesy car , free bikes to use and a list of restaurants with shuttle service. They are owned by Doziers waterway guides and have a store with guides for sale and all the skipper bob booklets too. Very friendly !!!
Tomorrow we will move on to Norfolk VA not sure where we will land for the night we will be researching, we may stay an extra night in Norfolk or here not sure yet. We were thinking it would be nice to do the Dismal Swamp with Liberty and Esperanza. Does everyone think they can get here by Sunday night? Or Norfolk by Monday night? Let us know. Theres a Visitors Center in the Dismal Swamp where we can raft up together for the night and its free.

Day 14 safely tucked in Solomons

Well travel plans changed for the day, we were trying to decide whether to ride out the waves 3ft not really that bad but........when boats set out this morning and then came back in a short while later we decided one more day here was fine. So, I made a nice big breakfast of banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and coffee. Someone told us there was a very nice gourmet market down the street so off we go to investigate that side of town. The excercise will do us good after breakfast.

Day 13 Enjoying Solomon Islands

After we did the necessary things, laundry, showers boat washing etc. We rented bikes and headed into town. Well, I gotta tell ya, its true what they say, you never forget but the body well, I will be feeling it tomorrow. But, It was great fun!
We will be leaving here tomorrow morning and heading to Deltaville Va. this now puts us in the southern Chesapeake Bay. Deltaville was once known as the boat building capitol of the world but now most of the two dozen boat builders are gone and the town makes it living from the boating and the marine industry. Landing here puts us just one short day to the ICW which begins in Norfolk Va.

Day 12 Solomon Islands MD

We are here! A wet and colddddddddddddd journey today, canvas enclosure just got put on the TOP of the we need list. There are 3 other loop boats here that we know of and hope to hook up with them for docktails. More later when I can feel my fingers again! No pictures today but when the sun comes out it looks to be very pretty here.

Day 10 Annapolis MD

We left Chesapeake City around 9:00 am and arrived in Annapolis around 2pm what a wonderful day on the Bay, super calm and beautiful scenery. We will be here for a couple of days so we can spend some time seeing the sights. I captured some really nice photos and will post them later tonight. Time to wash down the boat its covered with salt. More to come later.

Day 9 Chesapeake City

Today we traveled to Chesapeake City rough going out of the Cape May canal into the Delaware Bay the waves were nasty and the current wasn't any better it was very uncomfortable. Things got better about 45 mins later and an hour after that it was beautiful. Esperanza was at the city dock when we got to our slip, unfortunately we didn't share more that a big wave as we went by, I just couldn't wait to hit the showers and Jim had a maintenance issue to tend to. But they looked right at home on the dock! Hope you get a move on sooner than later! See you down the waterway, I hope next time we can share a bottle or two.

Day 8 Leaving Cape May in the AM (hopefully)

Cape May is a very nice place to be stuck for a few days but it is time to move on! Last night 12 of us went out for dinner it was a nice evening 7 Canadians 1 Aussie 2 NH 2 Ma it was great fun! I am sure we will see them along the way as we are all heading south. We hope to get to Chesapeake City (only 4 hours up the Delaware Bay) there we will meet up with Esperanza. And the best part is we will be in MD and the Patriots play MD at 1pm it will be interesting watching the game on MD turf. Good night for now, hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow.

Day 6 Cape May waiting on good weather

Cruising-Is boat maintenance and repair in exotic destinations. Just finished installing new upper helm controls (was wild going into reverse all by themselves) and tested them. Sitting here with the heat on watching the rain thinking a beer or coffee? Well I guess it's a beer so I'm off to the cooler.

Day 5 Atlantic city to Cape May

Short run to Cape May with a following sea, my sewing job held up fine and it was a nice ride. here at South Jersey Marina waiting for new upper helm controls to arrive for me to install (port engine going into reverse on it's own while docking is hell ). Once I'm done and the weather improves we are off for the C and D canal.

Day 4 STILL in Atlantic City

We spent a 2nd night here as Jim needed to make some phone calls about a problem with the boat. So, laundry got done, Tuscan soup got made and little did I know that I married a seamstress, Jim actually repaired the canvas so now we have some protection from the wind. All in all a very productive day, and I can think of worst places to be. Liberty pulled into the harbour for the night as well, so we will be traveling with them when we push on to Cape May. We will spend at least 2 nights as a bad weather front is pushing in and the part Jim ordered will be delivered to the marina in a couple of days.

Day 3 New York City to Atlantic City

Today we traveled up Hells Gate It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be but then we have more power available to us to fight the current. It was a Beautiful Day for travel, cruising past Manhattan by all the buildings and to Lady Liberty was incredible to say the very least. There will be lots of pictures to follow. Since the weather was so good we decided to push on past Sandy Hook and tavel directly on to Atlantic City. Tonight we enjoyed our Dinner on the sundeck looking onto the casinos all lit up for the evening, beautiful. The only unfortunate thing was we had no Internet at the marinia we stayed at.

Day 2 Port Washington NY

Well today started out nice even though we had to take down what little canvas we had on the upper helm and travel with only a bimini over our heads. The first hour or so was ok, thankfully I had packed some cold weather gear (Hats gloves etc). About an hour and half into it the seas got crazy and traveling was uncomfortable, cold, wet with really nasty waves. It was just after Hunington Beach Long Island it got better and after that was not bad at all. We finally made it to Port Washington NY. it was exciting to see the BIG Apple skyline as we pulled into port. We thought Bob and Denise on Liberty made it here as well but after we got docked the phone rang and it was Bob the seas sent them in for a shorter than planned day and they are in Hunnington Beach. Northern Symphony cut there day short as well and they are in Saugatuck Ct.

Tomorrow the plan is to get to Sandy Hook NJ. as we plan to take our time in the New York Harbour to visit with Lady Liberty and take lots of up close and personal pictures of her. We heard from Esperanza today as well and they said Hells Gate in NY is every bit what the name implies (very bad currents) . We will see first hand tomorrow! Pictures to follow maybe tomorrow.

Day one Westport Ma. to Westbrook Ct.

Well we've arrived at Brewers Cove Duck Island CT, the trip was WINDY but the seas only ran 3 to 4 feet. The boat did great ( steering wheel didn't come off ). We just met up with the couple on Liberty from RI who ended up as our neighbors on the dock, and after a nice cold beer we're thinking about dinner. While we were walking the docks I realised that Duck Island area was Golden Lilys homeport and low and behold we found it. Jim from Golden Lily found us later in the evening. We had a very nice chat and he recommended some marinas to stay in NY and NJ. as well as other loop info.

Tomorrow is a GO!

After sitting and waiting for the weather to turn for 5 days tomorrow is a go! While the waiting has given us the opportunity to do all the things we wanted to do. The boat is more than stocked of personal belongings, spare parts, food, and fueled. We are good to go! If we sit for one more day there may not be room for us with the things we keep bringing aboard. We will be traveling with 3 other boats on a similar schedules which makes it more fun and less stressful. We will be traveling with Liberty out of East Greenwich RI. Esperanza out of NS Canada, but they have been in Westport for a month ( they are now in CT) and last but not least Northern Symphony also out of Canada (ON) they are now in Newport RI. It is nice to know there are others out there you can shout out to and maybe spend some dock time with. There are 2 other boats already in the Chesapeake Bay area heading south which we have had contact with as well, and I am sure we will find some others. Being a member of the AGLCA has allowed us, though their discussion board to hookup with others. As well as the many Harbour hosts along the way we can contact for info and guidance. So, we are off tomorrow! Thank you to those of you who have signed up to follow our journey, we look forward to hearing from you.

Getting ready to cruise! ...3 days to go...?

Lots to do! Someone asked me, What do you do to prepare to cruise and live on a boat for such a long time? Well, I will try to answer as best I can. Living on the boat for the summer has given us an idea of what to expect in some ways. First, storage space is good for the summer, but then, we have a car to hop into whenever we need to run to the store or to run home for something. That is about to change! So stocking and storing things for living is the name of my game. The galley (kitchen) is stocked with most of the things we would have at home just in a smaller scale ie. pots and pans (just cooking for 2 now) gone are all the BIG over sized cooking items. I have a feeling that the crock pot is about to be my best friend! Yes, there is a stove top (3 small burners) and an oven (sort off)convection still figuring that out. I must say I am loving my toaster oven. And anyone one who knows me knows, the real workhorse on the boat is the coffee maker. The fridge well .....we have one, smallish re fridge, boat fridges are not known to keep things REALLY cold but the freezer does, so we deal with it. Anyway the galley is usable and once you get use to it, its very doable. Though 3 months ago I felt differently. It works! We have 2 berths (bedrooms) the master has a walk around Queen size bed, a real luxury! The 2nd berth, well we have one, small, but great storage. Another luxury on a boat is 2 heads, (bathrooms) both en suite. A very large salon (livingroom) with lots of storage and a dinette table and seating for 4. This boat is considered very livable.

The sundeck has proven to be most enjoyable, there we have room for a table and chairs it has a grill where I will do most cooking, and a very large cooler in which holds all our beverages.

When underway the bridge is where we are, there we have a great view comfortable seating alot of electronics (which Jim has upgraded and been installing things for the last 2 weeks.) He has upgraded the stereo system along with new speakers. He changed out the Sirius for XM that is compatible with the new electronics which also receives XM marine weather via an updated chart plotter with built-in electronic maps for all the US and the Bahamas. This will make cruising safer.

At home (one of the few things we haven't sold) Ashley and I have been downsizing alot of our STUFF selling what we can and donating the rest. We have Sold Jims beloved truck the camper and the basstracker so the driveways has less in it now as does the house. And Ashley can feel safer with the new security system. Thankfully, we have someone to take care of the house and dog which could of been a real problem. And luckily we have some great neighbors and friends to keep and eye on things as well. So yes we have been real busy!