Great Bridge, VA to Belhaven, NC (Days 31, 32 & 33)

Sunday, October 27th (Day 31)

Laura and I slept in a little today as this was a "rest" day for our trip south.  Rain was predicted for the afternoon so we walked through the woods in the morning on a very nice trail from the Visitor's Center.  The walk was along groomed trails east following the waterway.  Laura took this picture of me walking along the trails.

We worked on a few boat projects but mostly relaxed.  The next step on our cockpit combing was to epoxy a few holes so they wouldn't rot and would fill correctly with the gloss finish.  This only took about 15 minutes then we were on to other projects.

Dinner was scheduled with Dean and Sue at the local Mexican restaurant - El Toro Loco.  Those of you who have been following our blog for many years may recognize this place as the "big margarita" restaurant.

Dean and Sue knocked on the boat around 4:30pm and asked if we wanted to walk with them to a local Antique Store.  I declined (to work on the blog I think) but Laura accepted.  About 1/2 hour later, Laura texted me from a local pub just down the road and asked if I wanted to join them.  I laughed and said, "How long could you have spent at the antique place?"  I was practicing my guitar and had just fixed myself a tequila so declined this time.

A short while later we walked to the Mexican restaurant for dinner.  Food and drinks were excellent as usual. This is an updated picture of the restaurant with Dean, Sue, Laura and I at dinner -

As we were checking out and paying our tab, I mentioned that we came here twice a year as we traveling north or south by sailboat.  The manager (owner?) gave me his business card after he wrote his cell phone number on it.  He said they were moving this summer to another place about a mile away.  He would gladly come and pick us up at the free dock for dinner at the new restaurant.  I love that!

After dinner, we walked back to our boats and prepared for leaving tomorrow morning.

Monday, October 28th (Day 32)

Our plans were to be off the dock by 8am so we could make the next two bridges when they opened every hour and 1/2 hour.  I didn't sleep well and was up for several hours in the night.  I finally fell back to sleep around 6am.  I woke up and looked at the clock.  It was 7:45!  Holy cow!  I quickly performed my morning engine checks, we brought in the boat bumpers (fenders), started the engine, turned on all the electronics and were off the dock 10 minutes later.  I didn't really feel like I was awake yet as we motored south from Great Bridge on the ICW.

No worries with the two bridges and the 10 miles or so of twisty waterway before it opened up at Currituck Sound.  Winds were much higher than predicted yesterday (prediction 5-10, actual10-15, gusts near 20) and proved helpful for the rest of the day with a reefed jib pushing us along.  We anchored on the eastern shore of the North River around 4:30pm and configured the boat for our overnight stay.

During the day, we completed the next step on our cockpit combing refinishing with sanding the whole piece we were refinishing including the epoxy we applied yesterday.  After we anchored, Laura used a paint brush to apply the AwlWood primer while I followed with a lint-free rag and smoothed everything out.  Here are the before and after pictures of the primer -

 It's not shiny yet.  Just sealed and primed for the AwlWood gloss we will apply over the next couple days if it doesn't rain.

Tuesday, October 29th (Day 33)

Yesterday I made an appointment for Wednesday evening at Sailcraft Boatyard in Oriental for some work on our standing rigging (the wires holding up our two masts).  I don't know why I didn't give us an extra day but I always seem to make us hurry.  Getting there by Wednesday would mean about 140 ICW miles in two days.  We better get moving!

Dean and I had agreed we'd have an early start so I had the alarm set for 6:30am and we had our anchor up just before 7am.  NE winds were very helpful all day and it was one of the quickest and nicest Albemarle Sound crossings we ever had.  Sometimes we don't make it through the Alligator River Canal on the second day from Norfolk and today we made it through the can plus another 10 miles.

We averaged 7 knots for the first 4 hours and zoomed down the ICW with full main and jib plus engine at cruise RPM.  Autumn Borne was 1-3 miles behind us most of the day.  We entered the Alligator - Pungo Canal around 1:30pm with plenty of time to make the 22 miles through the canal to a nice anchorage before dark.

I guess I'm getting a little complacent with my driving the ICW.  Through the 22 miles canal, I had the boat on autopilot and only had to look up every 20 seconds or so to make adjustments so the boat wouldn't drifting too close to one side or the other.  After over 2 hours through this boring section I picked up the iPad, turned on Kindle and started reading - looking up very often to prevent problems.  Well....  I guess the book got very interesting and I didn't look up for awhile.  Laura was down below whipping up something in the oven when the boat hit a submerged tree stump on the side of the canal and took a pretty good jump.  We stopped almost immediately.  I was able to turn the boat a little back toward the middle of the canal with full throttle and full starboard helm but we were not moving.   I dropped the dinghy to lighten the load on the boat and help push us off.  I was able to turn the boat more toward the center by pushing on the bow with the dinghy while Laura applied full throttle in forward.  But, we were stuck.

Autumn Borne came by a few minutes later and offered help.  Dean motored the bow of his boat slowly up to our bow while Sue handed off a line.  The line was attached to both bows and Dean slowly backed up to tighten it.  I then applied full throttle while Autumn Borne pulled in reverse.  It took about 20 seconds, but eventually we were pulled off the stump and back in the deeper water.  Thanks Dean and Sue!  You saved me 1-2 hours calling for a tow-boat!

We stopped the boat and I hauled up the dinghy on the davits.  5 minutes later we were underway again.  This is my 29th trip on the ICW and I've only been able to make it all the way without going aground twice.  Not this trip...  There is a song by Eric Stone that says, "If you ain't been aground, you ain't been around..."  I've been around a lot.

Laura had purchased a nice pumpkin at the grocery in Great Bridge and decided to carve it today.  Here she is hard at work digging out the guts.

We exited the canal at 4:30pm and decided to keep going for a bit to take some miles off of tomorrow and hopefully arrive at the marina before everyone left for the day.  The slip where we needed to tie up for rigging work is very tricky and we need help from shore to get in there.

After anchoring near Belhaven, NC about an hour later near the north shore.  After dinner, Laura lit up the pumpkin and displayed it on the back deck.  He's a happy pumpkin.

Tomorrow we have about 40 nautical miles to Sailcraft in Oriental where we will be spend at least one night for some boatwork.

Fishing Bay to Mathews Yacht Club (Day 28) then Norfolk (Day 29 and 30)

Thursday, October 24th (Day 28)

Dean mentioned he was having some problems with his mainsail mast track so I volunteered to dinghy over and help him this morning.  He had to go up the mast and repair the track that had broken which allowed the sail cars to come disconnected from the mast - not a good thing.

After breakfast I dropped the dinghy and motored over.  Dean had everything ready and we went over the procedure before he went up the mast.  As typical for mast work, we had a bosuns chair (seat) attached to a halyard which went through a pulley at the top of the mast then back down to the deck. The deck end was wound around one of the mast winches.  On most boats, you would use the winch to pull the person up the mast and hold him in place while working.  Autumn Borne and Second Wind have steps attached to the mast so it is a little easier.  The person climbs up the steps while a helper keeps the halyard tight around the winch.  If the person slips or wants to stop, the helper just secures the line around the winch and cleat.  Very safe operation if everyone pays attention.

All went well and he completed the repair in about 1/2 an hour.  I motored back to Second Wind and secured the dinghy for our short run to Mathews Yacht Club.

Laura and I prepared to get underway then raised the anchor and motored south out of Fishing Bay.  We continued south to the end of Gwynn Island then through the Gwynn Island Bridge.  It was a twisty-turney course around the islands which we took slow because we were at low tide.  Approaching the yacht club about an hour later we had less than a foot between our keel and the bottom.  No problems as D and Don were there to help us tie up at the yacht club.

We were here for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) dinner that evening.  Many of the OCC members had come to the club for lunch and we joined them a short time later.  Laura and I split a crab-cake sandwich which was yummy (you have to eat crab when in Chesapeake Bay).

After lunch we unpacked some of the packages we had shipped to our friends Chris and Bill who live in the area and were OCC members running the dinner.  Our packages included the new Honda 2200 generator which I hauled down to the boat, filled with oil and gasoline, and had running a short time later.  The packages also include both of our new NY driver's licenses which we had renewed just before leaving Catskill.  Yea!  We were legal again!

Just after 6pm we dressed up a little (I put on long pants and collared shirt) and headed to the dinner.  Turns out a past Commodore of the club decided to buy drinks for everyone so it was open bar all night.  We met many new friends and had a very tasty dinner of fried oysters and BBQ brisket plus all the fixin's served home-style. After dinner was a slide presentation from two couples who had sailed around the world (circumnavagitor's) - one in 1992 and the other in 2016.  It was very interesting to compare the two voyages and the changes in world travel during those periods.

After dinner we said good-bye to new and old friends before retiring to the boat and crashing.  I don't think either of us slept well from the drinks and rich foods.

Friday, October 25th (Day 29 - start of week 5)

We had not slept well and, since we were both awake, we decided to get going early.  It was still dark and only 6am.  I used a hose on the dock to wash some of the salt off the boat and fill our water tank to about 3/4 (we'd have a chance to fill the tank again in the next day or two when we filled up our diesel tank so why carry the extra weight?).  After engine checks and pulling in the power cord, we were underway just as it was light enough to see the water.  Here's a cool picture Laura took before we left the dock.  Notice the little sliver of moon.

No wind and glassy water made for a beautiful, sunrise ride back to Fishing Bay where we could reconnect with Chesapeake Bay and turn south to Norfolk.

Here was just before sunrise a short time later.

As we motored back through the Gwynn Island Bridge, Slow Cruisin' was coming out of Fishing Bay and Autumn Borne was just picking up their anchor.  Once again, three boats from Catskill Creek within a few miles of each other after traveling over 400 miles.

The day became overcast with no wind.  I don't think I've ever seen Chesapeake Bay this calm.  I took this picture as we were motoring south past the York River.  Where does the water end and sky begin?

We had the tidal current with us most of the day and motored past the huge Navy ships in Norfolk around 2:30pm.  Now we had to decide where to head for the night.  The past few days have seen LOTS of boats around us heading south.  I think the bad weather last week had backed up all the southbound boats so, on the few nice days for traveling, everybody was on the move.  This meant that many of the anchorages would be overflowing (and they were) plus some of the places we normally stayed would be packed too.

Gilmerton Bridge in Norfolk is the only one that has to open for us but there are 3 other railroad bridges that are normally open but close periodically for trains.  The Gilmerton Bridge stays closed for rush-hour between 3:30pm and 5:30pm.  We could not get there by 3:30pm so I idled through Norfolk at slow speed.  We motored past the beginning of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) at Hospital Point - Mile 0 at 4pm.  Wouldn't you know, the very first ICW bridge (out of maybe 200 between here and Miami) was closed for a train and we had to wait. 

There was a huge Gypsum loading pier next to the bridge which I checked out as we waited for the train.  I had thought that Gypsum was brought into Norfolk by train then loaded onto ships for export.  But, after a little on-line research, it turns out that Gypsum is brought into Norfolk by ship from Nova Scotia.  In Norfolk, there is a huge factory for building wallboard with the Gypsum.

After about another 1/2 hour, the bulk carrier train finally left the station and traveled west out of Norfolk.  The bridge opened and we proceeded down the Elizabeth River where we waited about 15 minutes for the Gilmerton Bridge.  After the bridge it was only 2.5 miles to Top Rack Marina where we tied up to their fuel dock for an overnight stay.  We've stayed here many times.  The fuel is just about the cheapest on the ICW (was $2.58 / gallon of diesel) and the dockage is only $40 per night.  Up to two years ago, the dockage was free if you ate at their smancy restaurant.  The food was always excellent but expensive.  We never got out of there for less than $100.

They had excellent WiFi here so we watched a few new Netflix shows and hit the sack early after a long 12 hour day on the water.  62 nautical miles traveled today.  That's a lot for us!

Saturday, October 26th (Day 30)

I was up at 7:30am to prepare the boat for leaving as soon as the 8am crew arrived to fill up our diesel.  I disconnected our power cord and coiled it on the deck to dry.  As I was filling our water tank, one of the marina staff came by and we talked about fueling up.  My goal was to fuel up and leave here as soon as possible so we could make the 8:30am opening of the Great Bridge lock and maybe beat some of the boats coming from Norfolk to the free dock in Great Bridge.

We started filling our diesel tank around 7:45am and finished with 62.5 gallons shortly after 8pm.  That was our usage for the past 15 days since Atlantic Highlands.

Everything was quick and we were off the dock by 8:10am - right in front of a line of powerboats from Norfolk.  Of course, they all had to pass us over the next 10 minutes even though it was only 2 miles to the lock.  No problems making the 8:30am lock schedule and we tied up with 1 other sailboat and 9 powerboats.

When the lock door opens to let everyone out, the powerboats think it's a race to the bridge only 1/2 mile away.  They were even passing me in the lock and got yelled at by the lockmaster.  The Great Bridge Bridge opened on schedule at 9am and we were able to tie up at the free dock on the south side a short time later.  The dock was empty except for a large Army Corp of Engineers boat on the north end.  We tied up way down the south end with our dinghy off the dock so we could leave as much room as possible for other boats.

Dean and Sue on Autumn Borne arrive at the next bridge opening and I helped them tie up in front of us.  They had decided to anchor at Hospital Point last night and not wait for the train and Gilmerton Bridge.  Yea!  We made the free dock and could relax for a couple days.

Not so fast....  After tying up Autumn Borne, we noticed there were signs on all the dock posts that the entire dock was reserved for the "Corp of Engineer Boat - Ewell" from 8am to 6pm TODAY.  Oh no.  But wait...  the big boat tied up at the north end was the Ewell.  I walked up and talked to the Captain who told us they were here for the Veteran's Day Festival and they did not need the whole dock.  But, we should check with the lady managing the festival.  After asking around, I found the lady in charge and she said we were fine where we were.  There was only one other "big" boat coming to the festival - the Miss America - and they should be able to fit in front of us.  Cool!  We could stay.

Laura took this picture of gents working wood-lathes at the festival.  The festival seemed to be mostly this type of work including fly fishing and metal working booths.

We did enjoy the festival - especially the hotdog cart where we had lunch.  A short time later an older 30 foot powerboat came in and tied up in the middle of the 100 feet open dock reserved for the Miss America.  Turns out they were the Miss America.  Don't know what connection they had to the festival but, guess they were invited for the day.

Since they were tied up in the middle of the 100 feet of open dock, they had left about 30 feet on each end - not enough room to tie up another boat who might be looking for dockage.  I walked over and suggested to the Captain that he move the boat either forward to back to make room for another boat since the waterway was very busy.  He told me, "This is where I'm supposed to be and I'm not moving."  Several boats stopped and tried to get him to move during the day but he would not do it.  Always one in every crowd.....

After lunch we walked down Battlefield Blvd to a small strip-mall that had a salon where we've stopped in the past for haircuts.  They were able to work Laura and I into their schedule over the next hour or so.  Now we were good lookin' again!

A few bag of groceries at Krogers (we only needed eggs...) and we walked back to the boat for a nap.  Dean and Sue came over for munchies, cocktails and MUSIC around 5:30 and we had a fun time.  Dean and I alternate playing songs on our guitars and now Laura is adding to the mix with a few songs on her Mountain Dolcimer.  After they left Laura made chili from the fresh hamburg we purchased today and we relaxed to a few shows on the TV.

Rain tomorrow so we will probably sit her for the day and maybe talk a walk between the raindrops.

Solomon's to Reedville (Day 24, 25, 26) then to Deltaville (Day 27)

Sunday, October 20th (Day 24)

My knee was much better today.  Actually, it wasn't even sore.  But, the storm predicted for today built in the afternoon with LOTS of rain and winds were really honkin' by evening.  We found some new and old leaks in the boat and have identified two new portlights we need to change (like the two we did this summer).

Around noon the rain was coming down in buckets and I had the generator going for heat and charging the batteries.  A little later, the generator sounded like it was out of gas (chugging and surging) then quit altogether.  I knew it wasn't out of gas because I had just filled it about an hour ago.  Oh oh.  Time to fix the genny.

I pulled the generator into the cockpit so I could work on it out of the rain.  First I took off the carburetor and sprayed choke cleaner through it to clean out any dirt that may be blocking fuel passages.  It looked pretty good so I put it back together and it still wouldn't start. Next I changed the oil and spark plug - no joy.  I finally let it sit for awhile so I could think of something else to try.

During the afternoon I started the main engine to charge batteries and give us hot water.  I was thinking about the 1,000s of hours we had run the Honda generator in the 13 years we've had it on the boat. With a few exceptions (mostly from bad gas), it has been super reliable and quiet.  Maybe it was time for a new one?  After some research and looking at cheaper generators than the Honda, I ended up ordering a new Honda 2200 from Amazon to be delivered to friends in Mathews, VA we would be visiting this Thursday.  I had a hard time getting Amazon to take their address and eventually had to start a chat session to get it added.  I hope the generator makes it there!

Laura made chicken-chow-mien for dinner which helped to warm up the boat.  We also dug out our portable propane heater and used it a few times during the evening to keep the boat warm.

Monday, October 21st (Day 25)

It was pretty calm at the anchorage and the winds on the bay were supposed to calm down today so we decided to keep moving south.  No problems as we motored out of Solomon Island and turned east toward Chesapeake Bay.  As we motored farther onto the bay, we felt more of the north winds and pulled out the mainsail to help calm the boat down and pick up speed.

We turned south at Cedar Point, rolled out the jib and configured the sheets for a broad reach.  The wind was directly from behind us so we "jibe-tacked" for most of the morning.  This is turning port or starboard so mainsail doesn't blanket the jib.  The wind needs to be at 135-140 degrees off our bow for both big sails to work well so we were now running about 40 degrees from our actual course.  It was a nice ride but not quite enough wind to turn off the engine and just sail.

During the morning, D (on Southern Cross) arranged for us to stay at a free private dock in Reedville, VA owned by a couple that were Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) members.  That was around where we were planning to stay so we accepted.  The winds gradually died during the day and we rolled in all the sails for motoring on a flat Chesapeake Bay.

The ride was so calm I decided to work on the generator.  I didn't see any water in the gas I had drained from the carb yesterday but it was possible bad gas was the culprit. I drained all the gas from the tank and carburetor then refilled it from a different gas jug.  Now, in this situation where I've drained all the fuel from the carburetor, it would typically take 10-20 pulls so new gas could get sucked from the tank.  The generator started and ran on the first pull - probably from the choke cleaner I had sprayed into it yesterday.  My current thinking is something got wet inside the generator because it was raining buckets when it quit.  Letting it sit a day dried it all out.  I'm still going to buy and use the new generator and sell this one.  It has more than paid for itself.  There is a good market in the sailing community for used Honda generators so I don't think it will take long to sell it.

Around 4pm we turned off the the Chesapeake into the Great Wicomico River than continued into Cockrell Creek.  This was the first time we'd sailed into Reedville although we been by here many times.  A short time later we were tied up at Mary and Walter's dock next to their beautiful home.  It was a little weird to be visiting folks we had never met before and spending time with them but we quickly became friends at happy-hour after I showered and put on some clean clothes.  One thing about cruising on a boat, you don't mind wearing the same clothes for several days as long as you don't sweat in them.  Here is Second Wind tied up at Mary and Walter's dock.

Mary invited us to stay for dinner and we accepted.  Mary and Walter were so gracious and friendly it was hard to believe we had just met but our sailing experiences tied it all together.  Picture of all of us after dinner.  Sorry about being washed out by the bright lights.

They asked what we were doing tomorrow and I said we'd just move a bit and anchor in the creek since there were storms coming with south winds preventing us from moving farther south.  They invited us to stay another night at the dock which was awesome.  They also let us use their washer and dryer for laundry and offered us their car for grocery shopping.  Wow!

I texted D and found they were planning on being here tomorrow.  We made plans for them to dock right next to us and we would make dinner for everyone tomorrow night.  Sounds like a party!

Tuesday, October 22nd (Day 26)

I didn't sleep well last night (too much red wine?) but caught up a little in the morning by not getting up until 9:30am.  Laura made a quick breakfast then brought a load of laundry up to the house.  I worked on moving Second Wind a little to make room for Southern Cross and put on a few extra "storm lines" since rain and winds were coming again this afternoon.

Laura finished the laundry and we headed out to grocery shopping.  I also had a few other items on my list including maybe stopping at a Medical office to check out a growth on my back that wasn't going away.  I put off the doctor visit as long as I could so, after finishing up at the grocery store, I stopped at a family practice just down the road.

The Heathsville Family Practice was able to get me in after I explained we were traveling by sailboat and wouldn't be able to make an appointment for another day.  Without details, 2 1/2 hours later the abscess on my back was cleaned out, I had picked up antibiotics at the local pharmacy and we were heading back to the boat.  I'm so glad I stopped and got it taken care of.  The doctor who saw me said it would have just gotten worse if I hadn't come in.

Back at the boat we had another reunion with D and Don who had come to the dock while we were out.  Another OCC boat had anchored in the creek and we were all getting together for dinner at Mary and Walter's.  Now we were cooking dinner for 9.  Seems like one of our dinner charters!

Second Wind and Southern Cross were docked together again!

Dinner was a little crazy with 9 of us.  D made an excellent Rum Cake and Second Sally brought a nice salad.  I wasn't feeling too well after my minor back surgery so left shortly after dinner and hit the sack early.

Wednesday, October 23rd (Day 27)

Another beautiful day on Chesapeake Bay so we decided to get underway and head south once more.  After sad good-byes and a big THANK YOU to Mary and Walter, we followed Southern Cross off the dock and out the river onto the bay.  There was a little swell from the north winds last night which gradually calmed during the day.  There was never enough wind for sailing but we did get a little help from the jib and main.

A few hours later, I mentioned to Laura about maybe stripping and re-staining the teak on our cockpit combing.  This has been on our list for quite a while and she decided to jump right in with stripping the old varnish.  Some of it came off in sheets with a scraper and some she had to use varnish remover (nasty stuff).  As she progressed with the varnish removal, I turned on the inverter and broke out the sanders.  A short time later we were making a huge mess of the back of the boat as she was driving herself down the bay.  I did keep track of boats around us but our course was pretty clear.

Top picture is Laura stripping off the old varnish.  Look how bad the teak looks under her leg.  Once stripped, I started sanding the 80 grit and worked my way up to 220.

We tried to not make a huge mess (notice the vacuum in the picture) but we eventually had the whole back of the boat covered in sawdust.

I decided to anchor in Fishing Bay (near Deltaville) so we took a break from sanding to find room away from the 12 other boats already anchored.  We did anchor 1/4 mile away from all the other boats so our sander noise wouldn't bother people.  But, all the bay eventually filled in and there were 26 boats anchored around us.  This was a big bay and the weather was settled so it wasn't even very full.  We finally quit around 5pm and we were both pretty tired.  It took us about 1/2 hour to clean up the boat and I even used our fresh water to wash down the back of the boat.  After a cocktail and some munchies, we had leftovers (and Ibuprofen) for dinner, watched a couple shows on the computer and I went to bed at 9:30pm.

Dean and Sue on Autumn Borne came in just before sunset and I got this beautiful picture of them.

Annapolis to St. Michaels (Day 22) then to Solomon's (Day 23)

Friday, October 18th (start of 4th week)

The winds had finally blown themselves out and the Annapolis downtown mooring field was quickly emptying with boats leaving every few minutes.  Laura and I decided to head for the San Domingo Creek anchorage just south of St. Michael's for a day or two.  We had spent a week in St. Michael's a few years ago and enjoyed their Winefest from the docks at Higgins Yacht Yard plus stayed a few extra days for me to have emergency dental work (removal of a cracked tooth) and recover from a cold.  We were looking forward to going back and visiting the town again.

Winds were calm as we motored out of Annapolis Harbor and onto Chesapeake Bay.  As we turned south at Tolly Point, the winds picked up a bit from the starboard quarter so we rolled out the jib, main and mizzen rigged for a broad-reach sail.  First time we've had the mizzen up since sailing north last Spring.

Engine was off the the next 5 hours as we enjoyed our downwind sail on the bay.  Predicted winds were 15-25 for the morning and they gradually increased to that while we were sailing.  If we had 20 knot winds on the beam with our big sails up, we'd be shortening sail to keep the boat a little more comfortable.  But, with the winds behind us, the extra winds just pushed us faster.  Several times the boat speed increased to over 8 knots and stayed there until the gusts subsided.  We sometimes joke that when we hit 8 knots, "We're gonna break something!" but not today.  It was lots of fun and we made great time.

We turned east just before Sharps Island Lighthouse through a shallow channel into the Choptank River.  After pulling in the main and dropping the mizzen, we had a nice jib-sail up the river until we turned north into Broad Creek.  Now the wind angle wasn't enough for sailing so we started the engine and slowly motored through the creeks to our San Domingo Creek anchorage.  It was a lovely spot and the anchor set quickly in only 8 feet of water.

I dropped the dinghy and we motored into St. Michael's for a little walk and sightseeing.  The dinghy-dock was just a concrete wall.  The top was about 4 feet off the water which made difficult access to shore.  Laura had no problem but I seemed to do something to my knee which bothered me the rest of our walk.

We walked about 4 blocks to South Talbot Street which runs down the center of town.  After covering the whole town, we decided to check out the Blackthorn Irish Pub.  At 5pm it was pretty quiet but we enjoyed a tasty Reuben Egg Roll appetizer and a cocktail.  $40 later we decided to look at someplace else for dinner.  Another block down the street was the Ava's Pizzeria & Wine Bar.  Perfect!

Downtown St. Michaels.

The pizzas were a little different (millennial?) and it took us awhile to decide on the Meatball Breeze.  A short time later a different waitress came by with a meatball pizza and dropped it at our table.  Laura and I each had a slice and it was very good with a few different meats we hadn't remembered ordering.  About 5 minutes later, another waitress comes by asking who ordered the "Meatball Breeze".  Oops!  She dropped the second pizza at our table and left.  When our normal waitress came by we explained the problem and she said it wasn't a big deal.  She just ordered another Meat-meat-meat pizza for the table next to us.  Now we had two pizzas and they were both excellent. 

The Sun was on the horizon as we left Ava's and walked back to the dinghy.  The tide had come up a little so getting back into the dinghy wasn't so much of a problem.  It's hard to understand why towns on the water don't have a little better dinghy access.  We came into town for a few hours and spent $80.  There were 5 other dinghys tied to the wall.  Doesn't that show it would be worth a few dollars for better boater access?

Arriving back at Second Wind, we were treated to a nice sunset so I stopped the dinghy and took this beautiful picture of the boat anchored in San Domingo Creek.  We spent the rest of the evening on the boat and watched a few shows from the AT&T Watch TV app on my phone tethered to the TV.

Saturday, October 19th (Day 23)

My knee was really bothering me today as I popped ibuprofen and used an ice pack to lower the swelling.  Not sure what I did but I could barely bend it.  Since I wasn't able to go for a walk in town, we decided to head to Solomon's Island, on the western shore, to sit out the storm tomorrow.  We've been to this area several times and know there are many very protected anchorages.

Today was all motoring as the winds were calm for the first few hours then gradually picked up from the south at about 5 knots.  It was a very relaxing day as the autopilot drove the boat on a calm Chesapeake Bay and we read or worked a few minor boat projects.  After entering Back Creek, we saw 4 boats anchored where we would normally go near Anglers Bar and Grill.  So, we continued down the creek to where the deeper watered ended in a little pocket just big enough for the boat.  The water was only 8-9 feet deep so we only needed about 60 feet of anchor chain to hold the boat through the storms tomorrow.  This means our swinging room was minimal and I wasn't worried about being blown too close to shore.

We've been having a few issues with our rudder.  With the winds on the beam and the autopilot engaged, we get a loud creaking at one spot on the steering wheel.  It was loud enough to keep us awake for awhile sailing down the coast of NJ.  I guess I haven't treated it as critical because we only hear it when the engine isn't running.  Now I was getting a little worried so thought I might need to have the boat hauled and the rudder looked at.

First, I wanted to make sure the parts I could get to were good.  I spent the afternoon adjusting and greasing the autopilot chain and gears.  Then I tightened the steering cable which had been a little loose for a few years.  I've learned in the past that many of the major problems we've had on the boat were caused by my over-tightening something.  Now I don't usually have a problem with keeping things a little loose and getting to the steering cable adjustment was a real bear.  Anyway, after about an hour of tiny adjustments, the cable seemed much tighter but not over tight.  I also removed the compass from the steering pedestal and greased the gears and chain for the steering cable up top.  Now, if the rudder still has a problem, I'll know that the parts inside the boat are good and we'll haul for repairs somewhere.

We relaxed the rest of the day in the cockpit (seems we do a lot of relaxing!).  I broke out the guitar and Laura joined me to sing along.  She brought up a couple glasses of white wine and a snack which we worked on over the next hour or so.  After my fingers were too sore to keep playing, she brought up her dolcimer and practiced a bit.  Laura built this dolcimer from a kit when she was 30.  She recently decided to get a little more serious about practicing and has been getting much better.

Dinner was a grilled pork loin and I was glad to be able to grill again on the back deck after so many days of high winds.  We watch a few shows on TV then hit the sack early.  It was a calm night here but storms are predicted for tomorrow.  My knee was feeling much better after taking it easy today and several bouts of icing to reduce swelling.  Hopefully, tomorrow all better!

Chesapeake City to Annapolis (Days 19, 20 and 21)

Tuesday, October 15th (Day 19)

We were up early and decided to leave for Annapolis.  There were storms coming in on Wednesday and Thursday so I wanted to be somewhere safe - probably not at anchor.  Autumn Borne was heading to Annapolis today so we decided to join them.  It would be a longer trip than normal - about 50 miles - which was even longer since we'd have the tide against us for several hours.

No problems as we untied the boat and departed the free dock in Chesapeake City.  It bothered me a little that we never saw anyone on the two 30' power boats behind us.  I guess they had just left their boats on the free dock "for a while"?  Towns put in free dock so visitors can come and see their city plus spend money.  These two powerboats were preventing other cruisers from using the docks and the town was getting nothing out of their boats being there.  OK.  Enough rant for today.

Once back in the C&D Canal, I set the throttle for what would normally be 5 1/2 knots.  Our GPS showed the boat was only making 3.8-4.0 knots because of the tidal current against us.  Oh well...  we were moving in the right directions, only slowly.

A few hours later the tide changed and helped us along.  As we approached the Sassafras River, both Autumn Borne and Amazing Grace were coming out and heading south.  All 3 of us were within about 5 miles.

The 5-6 mph helping winds eventually died completely and we were motoring south on a calm Chesapeake Bay.  It was an uneventful day and we approached the Bay Bridge (not the Bay Bridge - Tunnel near Norfolk) around 3:30pm.  Look how calm the water was.

Autumn Borne was about 1 hour ahead of us entering Annapolis Harbor.  They were going to anchor in Weems Creek and we decided to join them although I was concerned about being anchored with the high winds on Thursday.  The Navy keeps hurricane moorings in Weems Creek which they use for the Naval Academy boats in really bad storms.  In the past, they let others use the moorings with the understanding they would have to leave if directed.  We planned on picking up one of these moorings which Dean said were available.  Well...  I guess the Navy had changed their mind about boats using their moorings - maybe others took advantage and left boats on them unattended - and they were all marked "No Trespassing".   We instead anchored near the creek entrance.  I called the Annapolis Harbor Master and there were mooring available which is where we typically stay.  The main reason I decided stay in Weems Creek was to see Dean and Sue (on Autumn Borne) and our friends D and Don (on Southern Cross) who were working the boat show.  Their boat was on a dock just down the creek from our anchorage.  Turns out Dean and Sue had cocktails and dinner early plus D and Don were working late tearing down the boat show which ended just yesterday.  We never got to hang out with any of them and spent a quiet night on the boat.

Wednesday, October 16th (Day 20)

After a good "catch up" sleep of almost 12 hours, I got up around 9am.  I checked the weather and the big storm and winds were now higher (gusts to high 30s) and longer (now stretching into Friday).  Also the rain was coming today and would start in about 1 hour.  I decided to error on the side of caution (always a good sailing motto) and move to the downtown mooring field.  The boat show workers were removing the docks and pilings from the harbor which was freeing moorings all morning.

We raised the anchor and motored out of Weems Creek around 9:30am.  1/2 hour later the rain started to drizzle and Laura went below for our rain gear.  As we approached the mooring field, it looked pretty full.  But, driving around we saw that the Boat Show workers had just removed the docks from around several moorings and we could tie up without being in their way.  Laura did her normal excellent job of tying us to the mooring line even though these moorings had fairly short lines.  By 10:30am we were safe and sound on a good mooring only a short distance from the dinghy dock.

We spent a quiet day on the boat.  I worked a few minor jobs and watched several of The Deuce episodes on HBO from our phone tethered to the TV.  Laura decided to make meatballs and sauce so we invited D and Don over for a home cooked meal after their boat show jobs.  I dropped the dinghy and motored the short distance to the dinghy dock around 6pm.  D and Don were there waiting and we had a nice reunion back on the boat.  Laura made her typical excellent spaghetti and meatballs which we all enjoyed with some 19 Crimes Banished wine.  After bringing them back to shore around 9pm, I hauled up the dinghy and battened down the boat for high winds predicted that night.

Thursday, October 17th (Day 21)

It was a bit of a wild night on the mooring with the winds gusting into the mid 30s.  I was very glad we had left Atlantic Highlands when we did because this storm was bringing 50 mph winds to them. 

Immediately after getting up today, I started our Honda generator and turned on the heat.  It was 64 in the boat - chilly for us.  Laura started coffee and we relaxed a bit.  After we warmed up, I switched the heat off and turned on the hot water heater.  We both wanted to take hot showers before going into town today for a walk and laundry.

Laura is making us french toast for breakfast with the french baguettes she made yesterday to go along with the spaghetti and meatballs.  Yumm!

 While we were holed up at Atlantic Highlands, we decided to join the Ocean Cruising Club which D and Don have belonged to forever.  I submitted the application on-line and D sponsored us with a nice letter.  To qualify for their full membership, you have to make an open ocean passage of over 1,000 nautical miles.  On my trip "Up The Pacific", both the segment from New Zealand to Tonga (1,050) and Christmas Island to Oahu (1,150) qualified.  A few days ago I received an email saying we were members!  One of the reasons we decided to join now was we had retired from Catskill Marina and my Captain job at Hudson Cruises, we would be sailing to some different places and could better take advantage of the free docks and get to-gethers offered by OCC.  Yesterday, D told us there was a OCC dinner at Mathews Yacht Club on October 24th which is only about 150 miles south of here near Deltaville.  It included free dockages for a night plus a nice dinner for only $20 each.  We signed up and will be sailing around the upper Chesapeake for the next week or so before the party.

Here are a couple pictures I took from the boat this afternoon.  The first is Annapolis Harbor.  Two days ago this whole area was covered with temporary docks for the boat show including where our mooring is.  

This picture is of the US Naval Academy from the harbor. 

We went into Annapolis just before noon with 3 loads of laundry.  There were a few people in front of us at the Harbormaster laundry so we walked around town for 45 minutes with our laundry basket holding our place in line.  There is a washer and dryer in both the men's and lady's rooms so we were able to do two loads at the same time.  About an hour later, we had everything done with the last load in the dryer so we walked to Chick and Ruth's Deli for lunch.  They have the best burgers (char-broiled) and milkshakes (real ice cream) I've ever eaten.  We ordered their Jumbo Chocolate Shake (32 oz) which Laura and I tried to suck through the small straws for the next 1/2 hour.  I ordered their 2/3 pound cheesburger with all the fixings and Laura had the steak quesadilla.  I was hungry and ATE THE WHOLE THING!

They have burgers up to 3 pounds and shakes up to 96 ounces.  Even I couldn't eat those...

After rolling ourselves back to the Harbormaster building and collecting our laundry, we motored back to the boat as the wind was wiping us around.  The wind stayed a consistent 25 knots with gusts into the mid-30s all afternoon.  Luckily, the wind direction was right from shore so there were no waves in the harbor.  Just lots of wind.

Here is a picture D took of Second Wind in the Annapolis mooring field.  We're the red-stripe boat near the center of the picture.

Tomorrow we plan on sailing down to the Choptank River and visiting St. Michael's and Cambridge for the next several days.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Coastal NJ to Reedy Island then Chesapeake City (Day 17 and 18)

Saturday, October 12th (Day 16 continued)

We hauled up our anchor and were out of the harbor at 5:15pm.  That was a little earlier than planned but I was itching to go.  While motoring up behind Sandy Hook, we made final preparations for off-shore sailing including configuring the cockpit cushions and stowing the last of our "anchoring" gear.

Several boats had come and anchored around us while we were waiting and we navigated through them on the way out.  As we were passing a small sloop, I yelled over, "Come out and play!".  They answered, "Tomorrow!".  I didn't want to wait for tomorrow as the predicted winds were supposed to go south in the afternoon and we'd have to find a place to get off the ocean.  Leaving now should give us good winds down the coast, around Cape May and up Delaware Bay.

Here are all the boats anchored near Atlantic Highlands as we were leaving.

We rounded the tip of Sandy Hook and the seas gradually built as we became open to the ocean.  We had the mainsail up - sheeted in tight - to keep the roll down.  It was pretty close to the predictions with 4-5 foot, long-period seas and light SW winds.  As the evening progressed and we turned more southwest, the swells became behind us and sort of pushed us along.  Here was our first ocean sunset of the trip just south of Atlantic Highlands.

Laura tried to sack out for a bit in the late evening but didn't fare well because the boat was moving around on the swells.  By 10pm, the winds had picked up from the west enough for me to roll out the jib.  1/2 hour later, I turned off the engine for the next 10 hours of nice sailing.  Both of our big sails pulling with the wind really calmed down the boat and Laura was able to get a couple hours sleep.

Around midnight, I woke her up and gave instructions for navigating the next few hours.  I slept a couple hours (out of 4) but woke up as Laura started the engine.  I figured she was in a little trouble or confused so I went up to the cockpit to see what was going on.  We were closer to shore than I suggested and she had mistaken one of the Barnegat Inlet buoys for the off-shore buoy which our course would have left to seaward.  I figured out where we were and she corrected our course more out to sea.  I was glad she woke me up when she wasn't sure.  Much better safe than sorry when sailing off-shore.

I relieved her watch about 2 hours later and we reefed (roll in some) the main and jib.  The winds had picked up to high-teens and the combination of swell plus wind was making the boat a little crazy.  She was able to sleep a few hours after that.  We were just coming up on Atlantic City which is visible for 20-30 miles at night.

I enjoyed the night sailing for the rest of the night and just had to let out the sheets every once in awhile as the winds clocked to the NW then N.

Sunday, October 13th (Day 17)

The sunrise was beautiful and I had a little visitor just after the Sun poked over the eastern horizon.  This little chickadee (?) flew into the cockpit and he seemed to be having problems finding his way out thinking our clear canvas was open windows.  I eventually was able to move him out the back opening and he immediately sat on the main-sheet and stared at me the next 1/2 hour or so from only 3 feet away.

He was probably just keeping his head pointed into the wind but it seemed to me that he wanted something.  A little while later he flew up to the bow and I lost sight of him.

Most of the morning and afternoon I was trying to slow down because we were sailing faster than my plan for arriving at Cape May for the flood tide.  I plan for 5 knots which is typical if we motor. Now we were steady in the mid-6s. I eventually rolled in almost all of the main and about 1/2 of the jib.  Even with this reduced sail plan we were between 5 and 6 knots.

Arrival at the start of my "around Cape May" course was about 2 1/2 hours earlier than needed for helping tidal current up Delaware Bay.  Oh well...  So we'd be going slow for awhile.  I just wanted to get away from that swell!

Laura got this great picture of the Cape May lighthouse on our way by.

Notice how close we are to the beach.  I have a course set inside of the Prissywick Shoal so we don't need to sail all the way out to the ship channel which saves us about 8 miles.  Only problem is it takes us close to the shore which is a little nerve-racking in unsettled weather.  Today everything was pretty calm except for the 2 knot current trying to push us back to the Atlantic.

Just 5 miles later we were motoring up a calm Delaware Bay.  After navigating the shallow areas near The Cape, I directed Laura which course to follow and retired to the salon sofa for a much needed nap.  I don't think I even rolled over the next 2 hours.  Notice how nice the water was -

We motored up Delaware Bay with a little help from our sails as the winds clocked east.  Good thing as we had the current against us for the next 4 hours but the sails helped keep our speed in the 5-6 knot range.

Sailing Delaware Bay at night is a little unnerving.  This is one of the most busy ship channels in the world and there is a constant stream of Tugs with barges, Freighters and huge Car Carriers heading in both directions.  The best course is to STAY OUT OF THEIR WAY!  I try to stay completely out of the ship channel unless there are shoals that force me inside briefly.

At 8pm, Dean called me on the VHF radio and asked if I had heard about the work going on about 5 miles in front of me.  I wasn't sure what was happening, so I called the work barge on the radio a few minutes later.  Turns out the whole ship channel was temporarily closed because they were working on running (or repairing?) a cable from the 3 Mile Point Nuclear Plant to the western shore.  The channel would be closed for the next 45 minutes.  We were about 1/2 hour away so we pulled in all our sails and just idled up the bay until we had the all-clear.  It was a little ironic that we fought the current all the way up and, just as it was starting to help us, I had to stop and wait.

They called on the radio 9pm telling everyone that the channel was open.  I let a tug and barge go ahead of us then followed them through.  Laura and I were both exhausted from only a couple hours sleep so decided to anchor behind Reedy Island for the night.  This was only about 2 miles from where we were stopped for the cable work.

We had been in this anchorage before and I remembered the entrance through the breakwater was a little narrow.  The red marker on the north side was flashing but the green marker on the south side of the opening was not.  Laura and I put on our wireless headsets and she went to the bow with our high-powered light.  She was able to light up the green marker so I could see that side of the breakwater but the strong currents were pushing us toward the red side.  FULL THROTTLE to keep us off the rocks and we were into the open bay on the other side of the breakwater.  In hindsight, after seeing how bad the currents were moving our boat around through the narrow opening, I should have not come in here at night but kept going for a few more hours to a more open anchorage.

But, all was well except that Dean decided not to try the Reedy breakwater run (which I agreed with) and kept going through the Canal.  1/2 hour later we were anchored, had pulled our gear down from the cockpit and were both fast asleep.

Monday, October 14th (Day 18)

I woke up at 6:30am and felt great after just 7 hours sleep.  Thinking that if we left now, we could catch the current through the C&D, I preformed my engine checks, Laura arose and and we were underway by 7am.

Now, here's why you have to be careful and double-check everything when you are sleep-deprived.   I had looked up the C&D currents last night and saw that it would be against us if we decided to keep going.  That was one of the reasons we anchored here.  In most previous trips, we keep going (with the current) through the C&D Canal and down Chesapeake Bay to the Sassafrass River which has great anchorages.  Because we had came up Delaware Bay earlier then usual, the currents would not be helping.

Oops.  I had mis-read the GPS and the currents would have been helping us last night and were now against us this morning.  The delay from the cable work across the channel had given the tidal currents time to catch up from our early crossing around Cape May.  Now, we SLOWLY motored through the C&D Canal at 4 knots for most of the morning.  Laura was able to get this great picture of a Bald Eagle by the Canal.  You can tell she is an Eagle nut -

I guess the 7 hours sleep was good for me because, while motoring down the C&D, I cranked up Billy Joel on the stereo and was motivated to do some aerobics on the back deck.  Many of his songs were excellent "work out" beats and I was out of breath about 20 minutes later.  Gotta stay in shape when running a sailboat!  I texted Dean and mentioned the aerobics.  He said, "Who was driving the boat?"  I answered, "Otto.  Otto-pilot..."

4 hours later we were motoring pass Chesapeake City and notice there might be room at the free dock for us but it looked a little tight.  We pulled in and tied up with about 1/2 our boat hanging off the end of the dock.  The two powerboats that had docked there before us had left about 15 feet on each side of themselves.  After we tied up, I "adjusted" the other boats so we fit a lot better.  Hey.  I would have asked them first if they were on the boats....

A short while later, our friends Annette and Noel motored by on Amazing Grace and took this picture of us at the Chesapeake City dock.  I'll post more pics after we take a walk around town.

We spent a quiet afternoon catching up on a few boat projects and, of course, this blog.  Laura and I then went for a walk through the little town of Chesapeake City and eventually found a Tiki Hut for refreshments.  After we sat down, I realized it was only 2pm.  I decided to head back back to the boat for a nap and Laura wanted to checkout a few shops we had seen.

Here are a couple pictures of the town -

After my nap and Laura's shopping / browsing, we did go back to the Tiki Bar for cocktails and dinner.  It was quite good and they even had a quality tequila - Don Julio - which they served in generous portions.  The Tiki Hut / Restaurant at the Chesapeake City Marina was very nice and is The Place To Be on weekends with live bands and lots of fun.  Here is Laura enjoying the crab dip appetizer.

Tomorrow we will probably head to Annapolis if there is room for us somewhere.  Today was the last day of the boat show and we're not sure when everybody clears out.  Our friends Dean and Sue (Autumn Borne) and D and Don (Southern Cross) will be in Weems Creak so we might check our anchoring there or picking up a mooring. 

Atlantic Highlands (Day 15 and 16)

Thursday, October 10th (cont)

Just before dark yesterday, I looked out over the NY lower harbor and could barely see the breakwater.  There is usually 5-6 feet of breakwater sticking out - maybe a foot or two less at high tide.  Today, the north winds were pushing the water down the bay and the breakwater was almost gone.  Lucky for us, the wind had switched to the NE which meant the waves were coming from a shore about 1 mile away instead of 10 miles down the bay.  Check out this picture with the NYC skyline in the background.

Also had a pretty sunset last night with the clouds turning several shades of red, orange and yellow.

By 8pm the winds really picked up and were holding over 30 knots.  Laura and I watched the whole series "All the Rivers Run" playing off the computer mirrored to the TV.  By 10pm, the boat was starting to shake from the winds running through the rigging.  This usually happens around 35 knots and I can't remember the last time that happened to us.

Friday, October 11th (Day 15)

I woke up a lot during the night listening to the wind and waves while feeling the boat moving around on the mooring.  The winds were supposed to be 30-35, gusts over 40 and they didn't disappoint.

In the morning, temp inside the boat was down to 64 degrees so I ran the heat from the inverter to warm things up.  I don't usually do this because our batteries would be down from running everything overnight but our little wind generator had kept everything charged just fine with the big winds.

Our friends Dean and Sue on Autumn Borne left Catskill this morning to come and play off the coast of NJ with us this weekend.  They had actually left their dock yesterday and used a friend's mooring in the Catskill Creek so they wouldn't "leave port on Friday" which is a big no-no for the superstitious.  We left on Friday two weeks ago just to make him nervous.  Geez.  Is that why we've been sitting here 10 days waiting for a coastal weather window?  NOT!

Winds around noontime are down into the 20s and should be gradually falling all day.  Laura is making Manhattan Clam Chowder (from scratch of-course) with some fresh clams I bought yesterday in town.   Laura usually cooks up a few meals that she can just heat up for us while sailing off-shore to make our meals a little easier while the boat is moving around.  The chowder is supposed to be one of them but I don't think it's going to last that long.

Current forecasts show dying winds overnight tonight then low winds on Saturday - mostly from NW to N.  The problem for us is the big winds over the past 4 days have really built up the seas to 8-10 feet near the coast and 20-30 foot swells off-shore.  The seas will be calming all day tomorrow so our current plan is the leave Atlantic Highlands around 6pm and stick our nose around Sandy Hook to see with the seas are like.  If they aren't bad, we'll start our trip down the coast which should put us around Cape May near low-tide at 2pm Sunday.  Then up Delaware Bay and into the protection of Chesapeake Bay late Sunday night.

First, we'll leave our mooring Saturday morning and motor 1/4 mile over to the fuel dock for diesel, gasoline and water.  When everything on the boat is full, we'll motor out and anchor in the harbor.  Hopefully, I'll be able to take a nap before leaving down the coast.

Saturday, October 12th (Day 16)

I didn't sleep well last night - typical of my night before a departure.  The morning brought calmer winds and seas.  After getting up late, we had a small breakfast then got the boat ready to leave the mooring and motor over to the fuel dock.  No problems as we slipped the mooring lines and I could see the fuel dock was empty so we should have no problem tying up.  Just as we approached, a 30 foot powerboat zoomed in from the other direction and tied up.  I was pleasantly surprised when he tied up at the end of the dock leaving plenty of room for our 50 foot (overall) sailboat.

The attendant helped us tie up and gave me the diesel hose then Laura the water hose.  I pumped in 65 gallons of diesel which was our usage since leaving here for Catskill in May.  I then filled up two 5-gallon gasoline that we had used for the generator in the past 13 days.  Laura filled the water tank with about 160 gallons through my homemade water filter and we were off the dock about 20 minutes later.  The attendant told me he was glad to have some business.  The past 2 days nobody moved because of the high winds and he didn't have one customer.  As we were leaving, I saw two other sailboats lined up for fuel.  He was going to be busy today.  Total bill for diesel and gasoline was $240.  I thought that was pretty good.

We anchored near the highlands shore with many boats around us who had come in this morning.  I think everybody is anxious to leave today after almost 2 weeks of crappy weather preventing off-shore sailing. 

After anchoring and opening up the boat to air out, we dropped the dinghy and motored into the marina for a walk and a few groceries to prepare for the next week on the water.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the downtown streets closed for a car show - both old and new.  I especially admired a 1967 Pontiac GTO which was a sister to one I owned back in the early 70s.  This one was fully restored and looked much better than mine.  The '67 GTO is the middle darker one in the picture.

On the way back to the boat, we stopped at Annette and Neal's boat Amazing Grace.  They are leaving today also and invited us aboard for lunch.  Laura had made Annette a table runner with Fall colors to thank them for brunch and help with getting a few packages to us.  Annette was very impressed with Laura's sewing skills and put the table runner out immediately.  After lunch we came back to the boat, lifted the motor off the dinghy and secured the dinghy and our back deck for sea.

Since we would be running overnight, I tried to nap for a couple hours but think I only slept about 15 minutes.  I watched Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days on the computer and figured it would help me sleep since I'd seen it several times.  We have all of the Michael Palin travel shows and enjoy seeing all the different places he visits along with his great British humor.

We are making final preparations for the off-shore NJ run tonight and tomorrow and should be off the anchor within an hour.  I'm looking forward to a change of scenery!

Atlantic Highlands (Day 12, 13 and 14)

Tuesday, October 8th

Our 14th wedding anniversary! (and they said it wouldn't last  😀).

We slept in a little this morning before a light breakfast and working a few boat projects.  Wind has increased to steady 15-20 knots but we are in a good spot and no worries right now about being on the anchor.

Current forecast for Wed, Thur and Fri are scattered rain and storms with winds 25-35, gusts over 40.  If the off-shore storm moved toward land just a little, the winds will be over 50.  I'm glad I decided to spend the money on a good mooring even though we have an excellent anchor and chain.

We can see an open mooring near where we should be going today so I dropped the dinghy and rode over to see if it was W5 - our assigned mooring.  As I got closer, I saw it was Y5 and there was still a 40 foot sailboat on W5.  At least now we know which one to watch.  As soon as he leaves, we'll motor over and hook-up.

While looking around the anchorage, Laura spotted this Bald Eagle just sitting on a post by the breakwater entrance.  She zoomed in and was able to get this great picture with her Nikon camera.

In terms of when we can leave here for the sail down the coast of NJ, it's still up in the air.  These big winds are supposed to die on Saturday but the seas will still be 8-10 feet.  Sunday looks better but some of the forecasts show winds Sunday night down the coast changing to South which would be right on our bow.  Not good as we cannot motor into winds and seas with our 58 horsepower engine pushing 42,000 pounds of boat.  That's still a ways away so I'll just keep watching the updated forecasts.

Around 2pm we see some action on the boat tied to W5 and a short time later they leave.  We start our engine, pull up the anchor (which always takes considerable cleaning in this harbor), reconfigure lines on the bow for attaching to a mooring and motor over.

Laura is really good at hooking up to moorings as she's had lots of practice to hone her skills.  Unfortunately, this mooring hookup is a little different from all the other moorings we used.  Most moorings have a large mooring line attached to the ball with a thimble braided into the end loop.  As I try to hold the bow of the boat near the mooring ball with the engine and rudder, Laura picks up the mooring line with an extended boat-hook, runs one of our lines through the thimble and attaches it back to one side of our bow cleats.  Then she repeats this on the other side for redundancy and stability in high winds.

Instead, this mooring has two very long (15 feet?) 3/4 inch, double-braided mooring lines attached to the mooring ball with large loops braided into the "boat" end.  We can see the other boats have attached these mega-lines to their bow cleats.  One of the lines also has a very tall pennant attached which makes it easier to grab the line with the boat-hook.  We decide to use our normal procedure to run our boat lines through the mooring line loops then eventually pull the large mooring lines through our bow hawse holes for attachment onto our cleats.  There were two problems today.  First, the winds were now over 20 knots which was blowing the boat around quite a bit making it difficult for me to keep the bow near the mooring ball.  Second, the pennant was pretty big and Laura had to try maneuvering it while holding the boat-hook and running our lines through the large mooring line loops.  We eventually "got 'er done" but it took us quite a bit longer than normal.

 By 1/2 hour later, we were all secure to the mooring and I was happy with the setup.

The waves here were quite a bit less than where we were anchored because we are farther behind the breakwater.  Laura and I discussed going into town for an anniversary dinner but the weather forecast for later in the evening was for more wind and rain showers.  We decided to hang in the cockpit with white-wine, music on the stereo and read a bit while talking about where we wanted to go this winter.  Lots of options but we're still not sure.

There was a boat near shore that had been aground for several days and we thought it was a derelict. At low tide, it was almost all the way out of the water.  This afternoon I could see someone on the boat and they had raised the jib and main sails - I'm assuming to try and get off the mud.  High tide was at 4:30 so I thought he'd make it.  Around 3:30 I saw him sail off the sandbar but then the craziness began.  He still had his anchor out and the boat sailed several 360s around the anchor while he was trying to pull in the sails.  I only saw one person on the boat so I guess he was single-handing.  He eventually got the sails in but had run aground again trying to pick up his anchor.  I dropped the dinghy, got in and motored about 1/4 mile over to where he was.  I asked if I could help and he said he didn't think so.  I did see that he was trying to motor off the sandbar so I put my dinghy against his bow and ran full throttle to push him off the bar.  It actually worked pretty good and he was zooming around the anchorage again trying to pull in his anchor.  I sat around for awhile but it seemed he was OK so I motored back to Second Wind after receiving a big "THANK YOU!".

A short time later I see him trying to anchor near where he was aground.  He did anchor pretty close and the next morning I see his mast leaning over again at low tide.  Guess some people refuse to learn from their mistakes.

Pretty sunset tonight over the mooring field.  Look at all the boats!

Laura made us a very nice dinner of crab-stuffed Flounder, homemade rice-pilaf and apple sauce, and steamed broccoli.  Our dessert was an apple kuchan she had made earlier in the day.  (We have lots of apples on the boat ...).  It was all excellent but we ate in the salon instead of the cockpit because the winds and temps had taken a change for the worse.

After dinner we watched another Daniel Craig James Bond - Skyfall, then hit the sack early.

Wednesday, October 9th

Neither of us slept well last night which I blame on the honkin' winds and lots of white-wine for our anniversary party the evening before.  Usually we use about 100 amp-hours overnight from our batteries to run the refrigeration and other few things on the boat.  This morning I checked and we had only used 10 amp-hours because our the wind generator had just about kept up.  Nice!

Not sure of the plans for today.  The winds and waves will make it difficult to go into town but maybe we'll chance it anyway just to get a little exercise.

The wind was really blowing so we stayed on the boat.  We ran the heat all day off the Honda generator and the boat stayed a toasty 76 degrees even though it was mid-50s outside and blowing 25-30 knots.  My work before leaving Catskill enabled us to run the heater this year and it could really spoil us.  Heat and comfort all day for about 1 1/2 gallons of gasoline.  Very worth it to us.

We watched the last Daniel Craig James Bond movie (Spectre) off the computer then a few TV shows off my phone connected to the TV using the AT&T WatchTV app.  Our AT&T Unlimited plan gives us about 30 channels including the Food Network.  It worked pretty good except for having to watch commercials again.  We watched some Chopped and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Thursday, October 10th

The winds don't seem so bad this morning or maybe we're just getting used to them.  Laura and I slept in a bit then decided to dinghy into town after breakfast for a little exercise.  Tonight are the BIG WINDS from this storm with the forecast gusts into the mid-40s

Around 10am we dropped the dinghy and motored into the Atlantic Highlands Marina dinghy dock.  The winds were on our beam for this course so I motored into the wind first, toward the breakwater, to cut down the waves.  It worked pretty good except I didn't go far enough before turning west.  There was still enough chop for the wind to blow the spray on me, even at full throttle.  Oh well...

We decided to walk to the grocery store again because it was only about a mile each way and Laura "only needed milk and cream".  We ended up with 3 bags again (of course) but it was only $46 this time.  I thought about maybe seeing a movie at the theater but the winds were supposed to increase thoughout the afternoon and I didn't want a wetter ride back.

Our ride back was uneventful and I enjoyed being out in the fresh salt air.  Here is a picture of Second Wind on her Atlantic Highlands mooring I took from the dinghy.

Back to the boat and we're ready for another 36 hours of big winds.  Laura is already talking about baking something...