We spent the first four days of July on a mooring in Marblehead, arranged with some difficulty on the busiest weekend of the year by the Boston Yacht Club Dock-master, Ken Breen. Thanks, Ken and also to Mike M. for the transport service. The July 4th fireworks and the sunsets (see photo) were excellent.
We slowed down our travel pace, stopping at Kittery, Portland and South Freeport before coming to rest in Boothbay, Maine for another four day stop. Here we rented a car for three days ($70.12 special) and provisioned and explored for the weekend. Highlights were the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath and the excellent Boathouse Bistro in Boothbay.

From here it was back into the fog for a run to lobster trap infested Tenants Harbor, thence to beautiful Pulpit Harbor (see photo) on North Haven - a spectacular anchorage featuring perfect protection, sunsets over the Camden Hills and daily visits under sail by 2 or 3 of the Penobscot Bay windjammers like Victory Chimes (see photo). We left on July 16th, a day that really belonged in the fall, not the summer and ended up in Buck's Harbor, then spent a night at the Wooden Boat School in Eggemoggin Reach (see photo).

After four days hanging around various ports on Mount Desert Island, we left July 22nd on the overnight passage back to the Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club in Nova Scotia, from whence we started way back on September 18th, 2007.

This is the last post to our cruising blog.

Leona, Bill and Voyageur C have logged some 11,300 miles and visited 26 countries over the past three years. The header photo shows a few of the courtesy flags we flew during the trip. On average we moved the boat every third day and somehow (as reputed day trippers) spent 25 nights at sea. We collected 100 cruisers boat cards and (mis)managed to spend 11 different currencies along the way! We have had a truly awesome time.

A common question we get is "What is your favorite Island?" The folks in Grenada who would ask "How do you like my Island" kinda sum it up. The answer, it's not the islands so much as the people you share them with. They are all unique in some way. Most memorable of all are the many wonderful people we met along the way and the new friends with whom we cruised many miles and jointly "discovered" many places..

Voyageur C will be making shorter summer trips for the next little while. We have great expectations that some of the cruisers we met will actually travel to the far north and visit us at home next summer or whenever. Your hospitality was great - we want a chance to reciprocate and show you a truly great corner of the cruising world. No crowds, just company, magnificent scenery and great Nova Scotia hospitality.

Fair winds and following seas to all and (as they say in Newfoundland)

Long may your big jib draw!

Bill & Leona
Voyageur C
44-41.129 N, 63-53.403 W

Morning shock! Its 61F (17F) in the cabin and neither one of us wants to get up or go outside. The heater is on for the first time in 3 years. No morning dip off the swim platform today - or for the foreseeable future!

Your blood really does get thin hanging about in the tropics. How else to explain the chills running up our backbones yesterday when we see scantily clad folks lounging in the sun or swimming at a mere 23C? The canvas house over the cockpit seems a more or less permanent fixture - and it ain't just sun protection any longer! And we are back in the fog belt - not the rum induced kind either. The other trend we have noticed is that prices go up (food, booze, marinas, moorings, etc.) as the temperature goes down.

How did we get here?

On our way up the Chesapeake from Norfolk we reacquainted ourselves with familiar spots like the Calvert Museum in Solomons Island and one of our favorites, Annapolis.

We then visited Baltimore and rendezvoused with the crew from Wind of Peace (Dave, Ellie, Meghan and Laura). Wind of Peace accompanied us for parts of our trip south to Georgetown in 2007. We were pleasantly surprised with the neat waterfront area in Baltimore and tied up right downtown - easy access to everything, especially with the free bus service to various parts of town. The aquarium is superb!

On June 12th we went back across the Chesapeake to Swan Creek to meet up with Hayden and Radeen of Island Spirit. They are our comrades in arms from the Battle of Annapolis (IP Flags) and were great hosts providing an area tour and dinner aboard Island Spirit. Thanks Radeen for the great lasagna and Hayden for the dinghy escort to the secret anchorage plus all the useful information on your trip to Maine last year.

From Swan Creek it was off To Cape May, NJ with stops at the Sassafras River (lovely) and Chesapeake City (well worth a day stop). We had a decent passage down the Delaware, meeting one of Voyageur C's ancestors heading the other way (see photo)! We left Cape May on the 19th, stopping at Atlantic City and Atlantic Highlands before passing through the East River (See photo) and arriving in Port Washington, NY on the 21st.
We spent two days on the FREE town moorings (you start paying on day 3), before moving on to Block Island via Duck Island Roads and Stonington, CT. We had thought we were in a benign weather area, but found out quickly that the T storms and squalls come up quickly and move rapidly. The weather reports actually report on the T storm positions and expected arrival times in your area. Alerts are on Ch.16 and details on 22.

We arrived at Block Island mid day Friday the 25th in time to watch the weekend migration from the mainland fill up all the moorings and hotel rooms. The anchorage is fairly full but no one encroached on our swinging circle.
The first day we rented bikes and explored the island - it is pastoral and peaceful away from town despite the summer invasion that fills the beaches and town.

From Block it was the proverbial zero visibility fog run to Newport - we even needed help finding the moorings! All's well that ends well as we joined Gary & Victoria (Victoria) who hosted us for dinner and reminisced about our 2005 expedition, We left the following morning (29th) for Onset, MA to await favorable currents through the Cape Cod Canal.

From Onset it was off to Provincetown for a night. We visited the library which has a neat surprise on the second floor - the Rose Dorothea (See picture)! Heck of a place to park a boat. If you visit Provincetown, look for the Million Dollar garden and its profusion of statuary (See photo).

We arrived in Marblehead on July 1st, picked up a BYC mooring, and plan to stay for US Independence Day celebrations this weekend.

Nothing like a visit with the younger generations to make you feel older and younger all at once! We had a great time visiting with Doug's family in Orlando - nice digs (**) and it was Bill's first chance to meet Samantha. Cute? Well, we'll let her picture speak for her.

Speaking of pictures, wherever you see (**) there is a relevant picture in our album.

It is with very mixed feelings that we continue the trek north along the US coast. This is our fourth trip along the coast so it promises little excitement save for meeting up with several old friends along the way. On the one hand, we can't wait to get back to Halifax and see our friends up there, play on the property and enjoy our new role as grandparents. On the other hand, no more tropical heat, swimming off the back of the boat, seeing new places, meeting new people and fixing the boat in new and exotic places. Hmmm.

We started out by meeting Pat and Eunice, friends from Nortel days, for dinner in Hollywood April 30th. Pat had just received his offer from the company that bought his business unit from Nortel.

The next day we left Hollywood and went outside for a day from Port Everglades to Lake Worth to avoid the 20 opening bridges (only 3 on request) along this portion of the ICW. Leaving Lake Worth we stuck to the ICW (8 more opening bridges) for the trip to Vero Beach. In Vero we met another Canadian IP, this one an IP37 named Knot-Ha-Gan from Hackett's Cove, NS with Paul and Marianne aboard. Turns out they had looked at our boat when they were considering purchasing an IP and have followed this very blog. They are on their way to the Chesapeake after a season in the Bahamas. Practically neighbours and we first meet in Vero Beach!

After 5 days in Vero provisioning and visiting our long time friends Don (45 years?) and Pam we stuck with the ICW (8 more opening bridges) anchoring overnight at Cocoa Beach and Daytona Beach en route to St. Augustine, where we stayed at the Municipal Marina for a couple of days.

On May 11th we continued up the ICW (2 opening bridges) to Fernandina Beach - a new stop for us. We wandered around the quaint downtown with Knot-Ha-Gan and enjoyed a couple of great meals. The street statuary theme here is shrimp (**), versus turtles in Vero Beach, pigs in Venice, bears in New Bern, mermaids in Norfolk, etc.

On May 14th we left for a 175 mile overnight passage to Charleston, bypassing the Georgia and lower South Carolina stretches of the ICW. A couple of days re-acquainting ourselves with Charleston (one of our favorite cities) and we were off again.

We sailed overnight 125 miles with Knot-Ha-Gan to Bald Head Island (**), at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. This is the home of the lighthouse known as Old Baldy (**). We had never been here before and truly enjoyed the Island. It is a combination park, rich persons summer home area, condo cottage rental and beach get away. With hourly ferry service it is easy to visit from the mainland but is isolated enough to retain the "away" feel. We rented an electric golf cart one day (no personal cars on the Island) and toured around gawking at mansions and the golf course and wandering along the hiking and nature trails (**).

From Bald Head Island we took the ICW (4 more opening bridges) to Oriental, NC with overnight anchoring at Wrightsville Beach and Swansboro finally arriving on May 21st.

Oriental is a sailors' town with boats outnumbering the 800 residents 3 to 1! For us the main attraction was meeting up with D and Don of Southern Cross (**), whom we had last seen in Trinidad in October 2008. They kindly found us a free wharf at a house on Whittaker Creek (**), loaned us a couple of bikes and introduced us to half the town. Needless to say food and wine flowed freely at several venues. One was a movie night (BYOB) for $5 at "The Old Theater" featuring a double feature: Captain Marvel and Alfred Hitchcock's "The Thirty Nine Steps" complete with free popcorn!

Moreover, since the width of the side creek where we tied up was about the length of Voyageur C D, Don and Carol kindly warped us around so we could actually escape the warm clutches of Oriental - which should give Velcro Beach a run for its reputation. Especially since Oriental, at 3502N, is deemed above the hurricane box for some insurance companies - especially ours.

We stayed around Oriental long enough to visit with Tim and Linda (Matsu) who had just returned from the UK to resume cruising. D and Don kindly loaned us their van so we could provision in New Bern and meet Tim & Linda at the venerable Captain Ratty's - named after the water rat in The Wind in the Willows!

We bid farewell to our hosts D and Don and left Oriental on the 28th, arriving in Norfolk on May 31st after a couple of anchorages along the ICW and a stop in Elizabeth City before tackling the interminable run through the Dismal Swamp. Turned out we were too early for the first lock at South Mills and had to hang between two pilings that were just the wrong distance apart for 45 minutes (**)! Traffic was non-existent and the bugs had yet to attain their summer numbers, but there were several small deadheads lurking in the Dismal channel and making their presence known with a rap on the hull.

Voyageur C must have been feeling her oats, because on our way through a no wake zone on the outskirts of Norfolk we were accosted by the police to "Slow down - this is a no wake zone!" Wow...5 knots and a threatening wake.

Pretty well done with bridges, locks and ditches we are now looking forward to sailing the Chesapeake.