Capt Steve
09/26/2009, Marina

That's our boat second from the left.

We spent most of our time since arriving cleaning and sorting out from our trip half way south.

James has left to get his newest BMW motorcycle from a guy in Connecticut.

JoLinn and I have been working on the boat and sorting out what needs to stay here or go home to Rochester.

We have also been visting the local eating establishes! Skippers Pier across the creek here in front of the boat is a great place.

But THE place to go is Happy Harbour.....we went there on Thursday night and found the Bluegrass evening going on in full swing. The locals come and play and it was great. A 'older' lady waltzed in after we were there for a while and we wondered......"what's up with her!".....well she was around 70++ and sang all the Patsy Cline hits and knew what she doing. She came around after singing and JoLinn had to strike up a conversation with her. They went on and on about the local news and where were from and so on and on.

Tonight we are going down the way to the other Herrington Harbour (south) and check out how the other folks there are living.

Later on we'll have more about our adventures in Maryland and further down the waterway.

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Capt Steve
09/23/2009, Slip G38

We made it ALL THE WAY!

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Capt Steve
09/22/2009, Sasafras River Anchorage

We made it a lot farther than planned today. The Delaware Bay and River as very calm and the tide stayed with us all the way into the C&D Canal. In the Canal the tide actually turns to empty into Chesapeake Bay so then we rode the tide the rest of the way to an anchorage on the east side of the bay in Sasafras River. And we stayed out of the way of 4 different BIG ships in the main channel.

A great day on the water with no mishaps or problems.

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Capt Steve
09/21/2009, Delaware Bay

It is Monday morning and we are underway and now out in Delaware Bay.

I change the engine and transmission oil yesterday afternoon and we prepare everything on the boat for an early departure (6:00 AM from the slip) to catch the incoming tide going up the Delaware River and Bay. The wind is out of the southwest so that will give us a little push too.

We stayed at Utsch's Marina (excellent place to stay and great people) in Cape May last night and ate at the Oyster House, food was great. The Oyster House has a seafood market and a place out on the water to order up anything seafood you would like. James and JoLinn bought some German chocolate cake and cheesecake to bring back to the boat. I bought some cold smoked salmon and stone crab claws for later.

This will be one of our longest legs hopefully putting us at Chesapeake City, MD very late this afternoon.

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Capt Steve
09/21/2009, Utsch's Marina

We had and excellent trip from Atlantic City to Cape May....these uneventful legs are great! The weather was perfect, wind was calm and wave action from astearn.

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Capt Steve
09/20/2009, Farley State Marina/Trump Marina

No, that's not the 'unibomber' at the helm...it's our First Mate James Kelley steering us to Atlantic City inlet.

We had a great (non eventful) trip from Manasquan to Atlantic City (Farley State Marina/Trump Marina). The Marina is not far from the mouth of the inlet and we found it with ease. The only problem (again) is the docks are full of bird droppings and their left over bones & shells. Of course when you are the 'transient' you have to stay in the unused slips!!!!

Yes, we motor sailed (sails up/motor on) the trip from Statue of Liberty to Manasquan, but took the sail down toward the end of the trip due to wind changes. We started out motor sailing a while out of Manasquan but then the wind was changing so much and also dropping down to 4, 5 & 6 knots that we just took the jib (front sail) in and motored the remainder of the trip.

The weather God was watching over us all the way...it was geat, full sun, light winds from behind and cool temperatures. Better safe and making miles than having higher winds and having to work harder!

Got into Atlantic City at about 3:00, went on an exciting shopping trip to CVS for James' cardio/blood pressure perscriptions he needed (about the same as mine) and gambled a little, lost $25 like it was water going down the sink!!! We ate at 'The Deck' at the hotel and listened to a live band for a short time. Then we listened to the band for a couple more hours while on the boat!

This morning we are getting ready for our last segment on the 'big water' (Atlantic Ocean) before going into Cape May and then the Delaware Bay/River tomorrow.

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Capt Steve
09/18/2009, Hoffman's Marina

The day started early as usual with James and I (6:00 AM, some of you will think I am slacking!!!), we changed the #1 fuel filter under the galley sink because there was a noticeable amount of debris in the water/trash receptacle. Didn't take but a few minutes and the engine ran perfectly after and all the way to Manasquan....maybe our fuel luck has changed!

The weather started out very overcast and gloomy, but got better along the way (again good weather observation'ing before departing). The wind was supposed to be out of the west and around 15 knots. This was pretty true but the wind came mostly ..."south by southwest"....you know Master and Commander wind!!!!! Toward the end of this leg the wind was piping up to 21 plus. We motor sailed all the way with the jib out all the way. We started out breaking 8+ knots but then the wind shifted more from the south and it was hard to keep up the speed and stay closer in to shore and not get way out and have to come all the way in to make the inlet.
A very good trip by all was had!

Got to the Manasquan Inlet about 2 or so and the tide was coming out, but we made it through with no problems, which I had wondered about since deciding to make this trip. The last time I came in here was in a 38 trawler with a crew I was unfamiliar with and wondered when I saw the jetties.
We made our way to an anchorage off the main Manasquan River into a creek to the right that Skipper Bob had recommended...BUT found ourselves (uh, me, the Captain)......AGROUND, (this is the second time, but remember....if you don't go aground, then you probably haven't gone anywhere!!!). Luckily the tide was exiting and I was able to back off with the motion of the tide and quickly get back into the main channel. We made our way to the marina/fuel dock right up the river and asked to stay the night. Lucky again we were the first to ask and all after us got turned away.

We got everything situated and walked into town and got beverage replenishment and walked back to the boat for exercise.
We are now chilling out listening to the Tiki Weekly Radio Show CD (Jeff Bileschi).

We leave early in the morning for Atlantic City and maybe some gambling!

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Capt Steve
09/18/2009, Liberty State Park cove

Cloudy/rainy start to the day but we had read the weather report and expected it to clear and gratefully Neptune finally gave us clear skies and a wonderful trip down the Hudson and past all the great Hudson River and then NYC places.

We passed all the famous places, even where James and Sheila used to live on 72nd Street. Then we pasted Ground Zero and all the new buildings on the south end of the island. The ferries clearly own the waterway down around the lower Manhattan though these days. We made 10.2 knots with the tide going out and down the river.

James took some great shots of the city and the Statue of Liberty.

We took the advice of Skipper Bob and anchored in a cove not exactly behind the statue but sort of the next cove below the Liberty State Park, through a small short channel and there we were with 2 other sailboats for the night looking at her majesty from behind.

JoLinn fixed us a great supper of bratwurst and dirty rice and we ended the day with some good wine and conversation about the old days in New York.

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Capt Steve
09/16/2009, Haverstraw Marina

We have made it to West Haverstraw, NY and are in a slip at the Haverstraw Marina.

Our day's trip down the Hudson was great, no problems. It warmed up and then cooled down, at the end of our trip it was pretty kool.

James and I went to West Marine to pick up our Raymarine software upgrade and pick up a 'few other items'! Tom Lawton the Manager had our Raymarine package and was very helpfull with the other items we needed.

BUT.....the software upgrade didn't help and we are most probably going to send the frecking dome back and get a new one. It spins up as if it was going to run but then stops, but the breaker doesn't flip off, so we know it isn't the electric connection. Oh well!

We are preparing, well JoLinn, ship's chef, is preparing supper and it is raining. We are sitting next to a 60 foot Hatteras and crew, who were also in the marina across the way in Catskill. The owner a widowed 70'ish women, who came over and was hitting on James for a while, she told us her life story in a few minutes!!!! (it was really something Sheila!!!!!!).

Well, the marina is great and we are watching a DVD and going to eat. Maybe we'll write more after dinner.

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Capt Steve
09/15/2009, Mariner's on the Hudson

We had a great motor down from Catskill passing a couple of large barges without incident.

We stopped a the restaurant Mariner's on the Hudson, which has a dock out front on the river with 50+ feet deph. Eat dinner and you can stay for the night. The only problem is the ducks and sea gulls OWN the dock and there is waste all over from one end to the other! We made our way to dinner after a couple of cocktails and talking about our day.

Dinner was exceptional, James figures that there must have been chef's from Culinary Institue of America (which is in the area) working their or interning...the red group and rice was excellent.

We retired to our bunks after another great day on the water.

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