MILFORD, CT

After a peaceful night anchored in Manhasset Bay we and our boating buddies lifted our hooks and were under way at 0700 hrs.  The weather was cool but otherwise the conditions were near perfect on the waters of Long Island Sound.  Great conditions for the last day of our adventure originating in Padre Island, TX. It was also the last day of our boating buddies journey from Key West. Their destination was Clinton, CT.

We arrived in Milford shortly after noon and were greeted at the dock by several of our friends. A grand welcome home!

We covered nearly 2900 miles @ an average of 8 Miles per hour.  After departing Texas On December 4th, we had 62 days of actually moving the boat.  We spent a month in Ft Myers, three weeks in Ft Lauderdale and numerous weather days along the way but it all added up to a fantastic adventure and a great way to spend the winter months.  Joining the American Great Loop Association and flying the associations pennant opened the doors to meeting other 'loopers' along the way and a fantastic group of people they were from all over the U.S and Canada.  I'd say that the comraderie greatly contributed to the success of our boating adventure. While at this point Sue and I have no intentions of doing the entire loop it was nice participating in the portion from Mobile, AL to New York City.

It seemed to take forever, and very agrivating at times, to get the kinks ironed out in the boat when we first started the journey but overall our North Pacific 43 performed very well in all sea conditions.  The systems on this boat are quite different from our sailboat and sometimes the learning curve seemed steep for both Sue and I.  But here we are safe and sound at home and none the worst for wear.  We are actually looking forward to boating around New England this summer and may ever consider a trip as far as Montreal.

The big reason for pushing so hard toward the end of the trip was to attend Colby's graduation next weekend.  Originally we considered leaving the boat in a marina along the way and renting a car to be in Harrisonburg for the event.  However once we realized we could spend a few days at home before driving to Virginia we began to make our daily jaunts a little longer and skip some of the sightseeing.  We did get a little nervous when we had to spend five days in Portsmouth, VA due to weather but were able to make good time once we were underway again, except for the weather day in Cape May.  Our biggest issue the last two weeks of the trip was the constant winds.  Mother Nature couldn't seem to make up her mind what to due with warm and cold fronts and kept moving them back an forth along the east coast which created the instability.  Actually, condsidering the hellatious weather the rest of the country experienced recently we are thankful that wind was all we had to put up with.

Thanks for following along with this blog.

Our voyage was truly a great adventure.

Regards to all,

Capt John and First Mate Sue

MANHASSET HARBOR, NY

What a difference a day makes!  We agreed with our travel buddies on the Nordic Tug that today would be another early start. The forecast was favorable and we both decided that anything we could do to get out of the New Jersey ICW ASAP would be a plus.  We lifted our anchors at 0600 hrs and made our way down the Forked River to the ICW.  We snaked our way the last twenty five miles in this miserable portion of the waterway touching bottom twice in the poorly maintained channel before arriving at the Manasquan Inlet, our outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. From here it is twenty miles to the southern end of New York City.  Most of the course is in the Atlantic Ocean.

The forecast was for better conditions than we had yesterday and this time the forecast held true.  We had a NW wind and a following rolling sea that provided us with a tolerable ride and we made good time 'till we were abeam Sandy Hook where we picked our way through a fleet of fishing boats before entering New York Harbor.  Conditions changed slightly for the worse for a short time then it turned out to be a beautiful day.  The tide was very much against which gave us more time to enjoy the experience of traversing the harbor.  The commercial traffic made staying clear of the shipping channels essential but the passage was a memorable experience.  We passed through the Buttermilk Channel which is between Brooklyn and Governor's Island.  This gave us a different view of lower Manhatten which is always a beautiful sight.  We picked up a tide change as we made our way through Hell's Gate which helped a great deal time wise.  No matter how many times we have made the passage around Manhatten it is always an interesting experience.

Both boats are now anchored in Manhasset Harbor where the weather is picture perfect.  Yet another beautiful sunset! Tomorrow morning we will part company with our traveling buddies. The Nordic Tug crew is headed for Clinton, CT and, if all goes well, we will be in Milford in the afternoon.  It seem hard to believe that our journey from Padre Island, Texas is coming to an end.  It certainly has been an adventure!

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and Admiral Sue (Yes, she earned the promotion!)

FORKED RIVER (TWO SYLLABLES), NJ

Yesterday was a good day to send in port at Cape May.  The weather was miserable. Sue and I were able to walk downtown before the heavy rains arrived.  The town is a neat little place definitely geared to summer tourists.  It is the consummate Jersey shore town.  Trinkets and trash shops, salt water taffy shops and bed and breakfast houses.  But this time of year it there was very little activity in town but the walk did us good.  We got together with the looper crew from Clinton and had happy hour on our boat just as the heavy rains came.  As has been the case for the last two weeks, the winds were blowing strong.  When we walked  downtown the winds were blowing 28 MPH gusting to 35.  I sure hope the weather fronts make up their mind where they want to be and move on.  As we know adverse weather has a major issue all over the country the last few weeks.

The ICW in New Jersey is notorious for shoaling and we elected to stick ours bow into the ocean to check out conditions for running offshore as far as Atlantic City to avoid the southern part of the ICW.  The forecast was for offshore winds with 2 to 3 foot seas early in the day. We  departed the dock at 0630 hrs with the other boat. It wasn't long before we were in 3 to 5 ft rollers from the ocean and strong winds from offshore.  The boat handed well in the rough seas.  Getting back through the Absecon Inlet was a thrill and a half!  Once back into the ICW we found out why offshore running is recommended.  Without a doubt this section of the ICW is by far worse than any problems we experienced up to this point in our journey.  Shoaling, shallow water and numerous turns made for a tedious day.  We were leading the way when we got a call form our traveling buddy telling us that he had run aground and had called for assistance.  We slowed down to wait for the other boat when we were blown out of the 80 ft wide channel and also went solidly aground.  We waited an hour for a tow boat and it took an hour and a half for them to get us free.  I consider it pretty fortunate that we made it all the way from Texas in the narrow ICW which is surrounded by 'skinny' water and this is the first time we needed help.  The other crew and we agreed that the Jersey ICW is to be avoided if possible.  The alternative is to run off shore along the entire coast which is nearly impossible at the speed trawlers travel.

We didn't plan to be here but ran out of alternatives and made our way into the Forked River from Barnegat Bay.  We anchored in shallow water but we are behind homes and trees that protect us from the wind.  It should be a quiet night.
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Tomorrow we will make our way up the remainder of the Jersey ICW to the Manasquan Inlet where the
ICW ends and we have to get out into the ocean for the remainder of the voyage up the New Jersey coast.

Huh!  I thought the Jersey Turnpike was bad.....
 
Stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue

CAPE MAY, NJ

This mornings weather forecast for the Delaware River and Delaware Bay was quite different from last nights.  The revised forecast now called for southerly winds at ten to twenty knots with one to two foot seas until later in the day when the winds would gust to twenty five and the seas increase to two to three feet.  That  sounded good enough to make the fifty one mile trip down the Delaware River to the Cape May Canal before the changes took place.  We were away from the dock and underway at 0635 hrs.  The wind was directly off the bow and the waves were as forecast until we were two hours from the entrance to the canal. That's when things became interesting.  The wind really picked up and we encountered two to four foot seas with reduced visibility.  There was constant spray over the bow and the windshield wipers got a workout.  On the way down the river we saw three huge ships headed in the opposite direction probably headed for Wilmington or Philadelphia so were were well aware of the commercial traffic and stayed well clear of the shipping channel. Chart plotters are a marvelous invention!  We were three miles offshore before we had visual contact with the canal entrance.  Fortunately we did not encounter any of the Cape May ferries that travel across the bay to Lewes, DE.
but we did come close enough to a nuclear power plant to be intercepted by a New Jersey State Police patrol boat that chased us farther away from the shoreline for security reasons.

We planned to stop in Cape May for fuel and then continue north on the ICW which paralles the Jersey shore.  Getting to the fuel dock became a task due to the winds and we decided get a slip and quit for the day.  The local weather turned miserable.  The wind is rocking the boat and is blowing a heavy mist off the ocean.  I'm confident that we will be staying here in Cape May tomorrow due to weather.

About an hour and a half after we were settled into a slip, a 32 foot Nordic Tug came into the marina and settled into a slip.  They had just made the trek down the Delaware River and really took a beating. I spoke with the captain who told me his wife was in tears during the encounter and was sure she was going to die. They had also read the same revised forecast!

I must say our boat handled very well in the raunchy sea conditions.

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue

DELAWARE CITY, DE

Fortunately we had another early start this morning.  The winds were forecast to gust to 25 from the south later in the day and by the time we got up to the top of the Chesapeake they were blowing that strong and we were surfing just before we made our way into the Elk River, the beginning of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D).  The Chesapeake narrows down considerably and makes a bend to the east several miles before we arrived at the Elk which provided us some relief from the winds.  The twelve mile long man made C&D Canal is fairly wide and is bordered by tall trees on both sides which blocked the wind.  Once through the canal we had to turn north on the Delaware River for a short distance before turning into a cut to get to the Delaware City Marina. Anchoring was out of the question.  This area had experienced record high tides about a week ago which caused all kinds of debris to float into the canal. The tides move the logs, branches, etc back and forth in the canal but it slow to move it out either end.

On the plus side, where the Chesapeake narrows to where it was possible see some of the homes along the shore line, it was obvious spring has arrived.  Blossoms and trees were blooming.  The Pink and white Dogwoods trees really stood out.

We may be forced to take another weather day tomorrow ;-(

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue

DELTAVILLE - ANNAPOLIS

DELTAVILLE - All of the five boat crews staying in the Portsmouth ferry pocket were up and ready to go long before the sun came up.  We departed at 0640 hrs and we were the next to last to leave.  Finally there was a break in the weather that kept us out of the Chesapeake Bay for days.  Once in the harbor you could see boats leaving other marinas and heading north.

It took about an hour and a half before we crossed over the Hampton Bridge Tunnel and turned into the bay.  Sea conditions we tolerable and we had a rather uneventful trip and turned into the Rappahannock River and made our way to the Regatta Point Marina in Deltaville, VA.  This was another mail stop and the main reason for stopping here.  The bonus was that we met the publisher of the WATERWAY GUIDE which is the bible of the cruising world.  Sue and went to dinner with Jack Dozier, his wife Craig and their son Ned.  On the way to dinner Jack took us for a brief tour through the area of town that was destroyed by last weeks tornados.  We had seen pictures on the TV news but it sure hits home when you see it for real.  The twister went right through the center of a church and totally destroyed it.  This is the same wicked storm we weather when we were in Belhaven, NC.


ANNAPOLIS, MD - We had another early start from Deltaville. The sea conditions were far better than expected.  Originally we planned to overnight in Solomons Island but decided to take advantage of the good weather and continued on to Annapolis.  We had one of the longest days on the water since leaving Texas - not counting the overnight crossing of the Gulf of Mexico.  We turned into the Severn River for the short run into Annapolis.  We picked up a mooring ball right in front of the Naval Academy and are ready for a good nights sleep and another early start.  The forecast is for decent weather early in the day.

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue

BACK IN PORTSMOUTH

The boat headed for final destination Old Saybrook, CT departed the dock at 0445 hrs this morning.  The forecast was marginal but we departed at 0645 hrs.  The seas here in the harbor were calm as we headed for the Chesapeake.  It wasn't long before we saw the other boat headed back towards us.  I contacted them on the radio to find that once they got into the bay they encountered five foot seas with very short intervals.  They were taking waves over the bow and getting beat up.  Now what would you do in this situation?  Good for you!  That's exactly what we did.... we turned around and headed back to the security of lines tied to a dock.  We made a temporary stop along the way to take on water - through a hose to fill our water tank, not over the bow!  It's all part of the adventure.  The day was not nice here in Portsmouth but it was better than getting beat up by Mother Nature at sea.  I did some boat chores such as changing the engine oil and filter and a few other things while Sue did some housekeeping chores. This evening we found a very good German restaurant in town.  Meanwhile, the winds moved into the harbor and convinced us that coming back was a good move.  It has also gotten cold.  As of now we will probably be here until Sunday due to the forecast and even then it still looks dicey.  All things considered being here in Porstmouth is not a bad place to get stuck.  There are things to do and there is always the ferry to Norfolk.  It sure is better than someplace like Elizabeth City, NC!

It happened again today.  Someone asked if I was a lawyer because of the name of the boat.  This has happened far too many times and we may change the name of the boat rather than be accused of being a lawyer.  Any suggestions? Anyone in the airline business immediately knows what a debrief is ;-)

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue