9452 miles 1000 engine hours 17 months and 17 days

Jim and I with my sister Nancy and brother in law Ron came down to welcome us back home.

 Our Old time New England marina

 Some of the photos as we enter Westport Point Harbor

 

Some of our friends that came to welcome us home

sunsets over Westport

This is the final reading from the chartplotter

when we left back in Oct of 2010 the plotter was newly installed so we started with a blank slate.  total miles traveled 9452 miles just over 1000 hours added to the engines in 17 months and 17 days.

We made it ! Finally! Our homeport Westport Point MA

We left bright and early 8am, we moved over to the fuel dock we had enough fuel but as Jim said, today its Ball to the wall!  The weather today (Saturday) is was suppose to be the best of the weekend so in order to not have to hold up again I agreed to the Balls thingy!
In order for us to hit Westport Ma it was a 95 mile day and since we wanted to fuel up which meant waiting for the Milford Boat Yard to open up, we were their first fuel sale of the season and their first pumping of Valvetec, 200 gallons later off we went.  FYI diesel $3.99/gal cheapest price we could find in CT and NY. and its Valvetec!

 John and Sue aboard Mach Turtle came over for a visit when they saw the AGLCA burgee they are also members.

I love the name, though from TX they now reside in CT.

Leaving Milford CT

It was a pleasant day of travel though be it a long one, we made it to Westport at 5pm.

I am having problems loading photos so when we get to the house I will load in more.

Part 2 of our 110 trek from AC to Long Island Sound

This is just one of the quaint homes on the Bay

Wed May 23rd continued........
Once through NYC we took a starboard turn onto the East River and through Hell's Gate to this point it was 90 miles went pretty well though it was probably a bit much after such a long day and we still traveled on another 20 miles, it was exhausting. 
We travelled to Manhasset Bay/Port Washington NY where we grabbed a mooring ball which are owned by the town, best of all they are FREE!  This is a beautiful harbor with many restaurants nearby shopping of just about anything you need, the town also operates a water taxi that runs from 8am to 10pm and to our surprise it was operating pre Memorial Day weekend.  The moorings are free for 2 days during the week and are 1 night free on weekends but they can be rented for $25 if you wish to extend you time there (the town mooring balls are Yellow there is 20 of them).  The water taxi is $8/person for a round trip ride and they will take you anywhere you wish to go in the harbor, this is a very large harbor, the town also operates a pump out boat we did not need it so I am not sure how much that is. 
This is a wonderful stop and it looks like a great place to spend some time though we just spent one night.

Another cozy cottage

We left this nice quiet anchorage on Thursday with hopes to make it to Westbrook CT a 78 mile day, we waited a couple of hours for the fog to lift a bit and headed out once again at 9am.

IT started out with the predicted 1-2' seas but was real snotty by 1pm it was more like 3-4' with a few 5' thrown in , once again things started flying around the boat we called it quits and headed into Milford CT shortening our day almost in half. 

 Oh no, its Memorial Day weekend the start of the boating season here in the northeast, we had hoped more than 2 weeks ago to be safely tucked into our marina back home by now.  We are very lucky they had a slip for us here but they told us, for only one night as the marina is booked for the long weekend! 

It is now Friday morning and the weather report does not look very pleasant, luckily they had a cancellation and a slip has opened up so we will be here for another night. Tomorrow is looking very nice and we are hoping (praying) to leave early and burn some major fuel so we can get into Westport 90 miles, tomorrow (Saturday).  Wish us luck, and we hope the fog is not too bad.

To Bob and Denise traveling yesterday was just like last time (Oct 10th 2010) but with fog!.............. "boating is fun"

NYC to the East River and onto Hell's Gate

Heading out of Atlantic City

We finally are moving up the coast of NJ in dense fog, but the seas were a gentle 3-4' nice rollers, we left Atlantic City on Wed am and travelled a whooping 110 miles through NYC and down the East River through Hells Gate.

The fog was so thick all of a sudden this was in front of us.

And this some heavy duty dredging

This is what the chartplotter looked like entering NYC harbor, you can see SweetPea on the lower right handside of the screen, we took a little different route than we had in the past.  The Tall ships were in the harbor as well as it being Fleet week so there were many military ships in and around the city.  As well as the normal traffic of ferries and sightseeing vessels.

A site to behold! 

Manhattan skyline
To see many photos of our 1st trip through NYC
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-3-atlantic-city-nj.html
This was our trip through NYC and up the Hudson River on the loop
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2011/06/largest-sailboat-in-world-nyc-and.html

Some of the tall ships

NYC Empire State Building
as seen from the East River a little different view of the city from the eastside as all the loopers go up the Hudson River

I have this thing about bridges so here are a few, again from the east river.
The Brooklyn Bridge

The Manhattan Bridge

The Roosevelt Bridge

Sitting at the dock of the Bay

Yes we are still in Atlantic City waiting for the waves to settle down some.  We have decided that once we get moving again if weather permits, we may do an overnight er, we are sooo close, yet sooo far.  But as always the seas are in charge.  We were surprised as to how many boats left this morning heading north that we started second guessing ourselves but then when boats started rolling in the reports of the sea conditions were not pleasant.

Today is Friday and I was also hoping to finalize our slip for our summer back in New England and I am happy to report, we WILL be back at our homeport of Westport MA on the beautiful Westport River after being away for nearly 18 months.  Our second choice was not a bad spot but not where we really wanted to be.  We are now signed up as Harbor Hosts so everyone who has plans to cruise New England this summer e-mail us we would love to welcome you into our harbor.  I will post more about Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island in future entries. We have also become members of MTOA and would like to invite all MTOA members in our area to stop by and grab a mooring ball or $lip.  We may not be on the loop but we will try to stay IN the loop.

We have some cruise plans already in motion for the summer we are hoping to get to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape for fiesta week in August the Tall ships will be in Newport RI on the 7th of July and we are planning a trip to Bristol RI for the 4th of July for the oldest 4th of July parade in the country.  Then there's the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket which are just a hop, skip and a jump away from Westport.  So we will have plenty to entertain us and alot of stuff that needs to get done on our home which I don't even want to think about right now.  And a car that I am sure is dead in the driveway right now.  Wheelsssssssssss that will be something new for us!  And yes Capt Chappy, the lawn mower also has 4 wheels. Yuck enough of that.   

So today I am posting some pictures of our "homeport"....Westport Point Ma.














And the best part fun and Lazy Jamicans with family and friends, digging quahogs (hard shell clams) littlenecks, oysters, and New Englands lobster ......ok maybe I am ready to go home!
But first we need to get out of NJ!

We made it to Atlantic City NJ

The Golden Nugget Marina

We made it!  I got to say the Captain and I were not sure if traveling today was a good idea but we thought we would poke our nose out there and take a looksey.  It really was not bad, well that bad, the worst was probably turning into the inlet for AC, we had been taking it on the nose all day but entering AC it was extremely beamy.  Three boats left with us from Cape May and everyone is here safe and sound.  We heard some chatter going on from a group of boats traveling the NJ ICW among them was OooPik, we traveled the Mississippi River, Ohio River, Cumberland and Tennessee River with Bruce and Karen but when we got to Demopolis he suffered a heart attack and went back to Canada for 3 months, we were so happy to hear from him and to hear he is alive and kickin.  It sounds as though the group doing the inside route are comprised of mostly loopers (gold) from past years and as we listen to them along the way I know the captain is very happy he chose the Atlantic to travel.  We will see what stories they have to tell when they get in here.

The pictures of the day.......

Leaving Cape May

 Hello Atlantic City

This white building is the coast guard station a beautiful old building.
FYI for those coming this way in the next couple of weeks, although not advertised in Skipper Bob or any of the other books, the Golden Nugget is $2/ft until the end of May verses the $4/ft advertised.

Cape May day 4 leaving tomorrow?

Weather is looking better we hope to head out tomorrow morning to Atlantic City but if the seas are good we may go all the way to NYC.
Today is oil change day as it is a bit over due 250 hours.  So its a real good time to get off the boat and go shopping!
We are now just 400 miles (all big water) from home but still have not secured a slip, still waiting on 2 more quotes from marinas.  But we have a back up if need be.  I will let you know where we end up when we find out, as we are planning to sign up as harbor host once we have a harbor!  A decision will be made Friday. 
Jim took a walk over to Utsch's marina to get filters and the "Greatest Loop Boat" was there so he walked over to say hello and wish them well.  He said some women was on the boat who was most unfriendly, I guess she was not really a boater, I hope she isn't PR. for the company.

Read more about our past trips to beautiful Cape May NJ with more photos
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2011/05/cape-may-nj.html
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-5-atlantic-city-to-cape-may.html

5- 7 travel days until we are home? But then.......

Land Ho!

We made it to Cape May the Delaware Bay was very kind to us it was a very nice 58 mile trip across.  So now we sit and wait for good weather to travel up the NJ coast.

Entering the Cape May canal

Here is a look at the marine weather forecast for the next few days......

Well we are here and ready to go when it gets better.  It will not be tomorrow or the next few days unless something changes.  But we will be ready!
Forecast as of 3:40 PM EDT on May 13, 2012

Tonight

S winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A slight chance of showers after midnight with vsby 1 to 3 nm.

Mon

S winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers. Vsby 1 to 3 nm in the morning.

Mon Night

Se winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 4 to 6 ft. A chance of showers.

Tue

Se winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 5 to 7 ft. A chance of showers.

Tue Night

S winds 15 to 20 kt...diminishing to 10 to 15 kt after midnight. Seas 4 to 7 ft. Showers likely.

Wed

SW winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers and tstms.

Wed Night

SW winds around 10 kt...becoming W after midnight. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers and tstms in the evening.

Thu

NE winds 10 to 15 kt...diminishing to 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft.

Fri

E winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft. Winds and seas higher in and near tstms.

So all you loopers travelling up the Chesapeake Bay enjoy, no need to hurry!