Bill Corbett aboard Spray

Merchants Row Archipelago

2010-09-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

One nearby cruising ground that we had never really visited is the group of islands between Deer Isle and Isle Au Haut. Known as the islands of Merchants Row these are as beautiful a cruising area as you can find anywhere.

So this past Saturday we headed south from Castine in perfect weather. In 3 1/2 hours we dropped anchor near the northern shore of McGlathery Island and rowed ashore to a sandy beach for some dog play, then a hike across the island.

After a calm night at anchor, we did a much longer hike about 3/4 around the perimeter of the island. Then at mid-day we made a short run over to St. Helena Island for more exploring. We anchored near the NE tip of the island (where the nifty cairn was - see below) and had to bushwhack some before we found trails that lead to an old abandoned granite quarry.

By 3 pm we were pulling anchor for the return to Castine. This is a great area to visit and we will definitely be returning.

A Cruise Downeast

2010-08-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

We are back from a week's cruise downeast into Washington County. We (Sheila & I & 2 pooches) departed Castine on Sunday 8/22, returning on Saturday 8/28. We had only loose plans as to itinerary, and this is how it worked out:

Sunday night: Little Cranberry Island (aka Islesford), just south of MDI. [on the hook]

Monday night: Winter Harbor, just west of Schoodic Point. [rented a mooring]

Tuesday night: off Great Beach of Roque Island, east of Jonesport. [on the hook]

Wednesday night: Shorey Cove on north shore of Roque Island. [on the hook]

Thursday noon: stop at Mud Hole, on Great Wass Island.

Thursday night: back to Winter Harbor. [rented same mooring]

Friday night: Northeast Harbor, on MDI. [rented mooring]

As to weather, since Maine has had the best summer weather in memory this year, we were worried about getting a boring week of sunny & warm, sunny & warm, etc. Not to fear! This was a week of more typical Maine variability, with a calm-but-cloudy day Sunday, strong NE winds on Monday & Tuesday, some serious rain late Wednesday afternoon, thick fog on Thursday morning, and finishing with glorious weather on Friday & Saturday. Nothing boring about all that!All in all, we had a great trip. There was a mix of stops in civilized areas and more wild areas, protected waters and open ocean, beach walking and woods hiking, good scenery and great scenery. Once we were east of Schoodic Point we lost most cell phone contact, and that was a good thing. It was fun having Riggs and Katie aboard, with their enthusiasm for exploring islands and beaches. Riggs continues as 'worlds best boat dog' and Katie wins the 'most improved' award as by the end of the week she was much more comfortable at sea. Best of all was having Sheila aboard who gave good marks to the recently completed shower setup.

Vinalhaven, Rockland, and back

2010-08-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 4 of us cruised down to Seal Bay on the east side of Vinalhaven. This was the 3rd time we've overnighted there but the first time in peak season and yes, there were many boats there. We were able to drop the hook in a tight area between 2 rocks which was fine on the calm night. The dogs explored the nearby shore and we had a nice supper.Late the next morning we cruised westwards through the Fox Island Thorofare and saw some beautiful boats on our way to Rockland.We stopped at Journey's End Marina to buy 120 gallons of diesel ($2.50/gal - 1st fillup since New Bedford MA and enough to last the rest of the season.), then moved to the town dock so we could walk around downtown Rockland for an hour or so.It was an easy 3 hours back to Castine and we rowed back to the dock at 9 pm through wicked mosquitos!

Something a bit different

2010-07-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

This past Friday was a beautiful day. Sheila was again up in Milo emptying her mother's apartment (almost done!) so the two pooches and I cruised down to Pond Island for an overnighter. The dogs love the beach there and played and swam for an hour or so after we dropped the hook. We were back aboard Spray, leaving an empty stretch of beach, when two light planes flew in from the west at very low altitude (maybe 100 feet up).

They circled a couple of times and then one came in and, to my surprise, landed on the sloped beach right where we had been playing.

Since the beach is soft there the plane rolled to a stop in a very short distance, and had to really goose its engine to turn around and taxi back up the beach.
The second plane came in and landed too, although on its first try it bounced up and circled around for a second attempt. Each plane had only a pilot aboard and they got out and chatted for a half hour or so.
Finally each plane took off and they headed back to the west. Runways? They don't need no steenking runways!

Overnight getaway

2010-07-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sheila has been dividing her time lately between her job and trips to Milo ME to empty out her mother's apartment (Mom's in a nursing home), so its hard to get time for cruising. Last weekend we squoze (squeezed?) in an overnight trip, leaving Saturday afternoon and returning Sunday.

We planned to overnight at Pond Island but on Saturday afternoon the sea breeze had kicked up and the typical 3-4 foot rollers were coming down the bay. The bouncing wasn't too bad but it was making Katie anxious, so I suggested we turn in behind Holbrook Island, and we dropped anchor within sight of Castine village. This turned out to be a great anchorage since a short dinghy ride brought us to the north end of the island, which we and the dogs enjoyed greatly.

We had a supper of spaghetti and green beans and a pleasant night. In the morning we had coffee and doughnuts and another visit to the island. By 9 am we were on our way down to our original goal of Pond Island and we got there early enough to have the island to ourselves for a walk around its perimeter.

We returned to Spray and camped on the flying bridge, reading books, noshing, and enjoying the warm day. I took a row around Pond Island. Since it was a beautiful Sunday in July, more and more boats arrived and by 1 pm we shared the island with maybe 15 other boats.

We stayed the whole day and had an easy run back to Castine. It was a real nice getaway.

July 4th in Camden

2010-07-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

Do those people above look hot? From left that's Allen, Barbara, Sheila, Janet and Jarlath (Katie & Riggs in front row). We had all just had some lunch in Camden's waterfront park and the temp must have been in the upper 80's.

We had left Castine aboard Spray at about 11 am and cruised for about 3 hours, down the east side of Islesboro Island, up through a portion of Gilkey Harbor, and down into Camden Harbor. Conditions were calm and out in the bay it was probably in the 70's - very comfortable. Amazingly, even on the 4th of July, we were able to get a slip at Camden's town dock right in the inner harbor (Camden really welcomes visiting boaters). Once off the boat, the heat really hit us as it was maybe 15 degrees warmer in town.

After lunch, we proved how batty we were by walking to the northwest and climbing Mount Battie, which rises 780 feet above the harbor. It was a short, strenuous, and HOT climb, but still enjoyable and with great views of the town below and much of Penobscot Bay. There is a stone tower up top which provided some shade, and there was a breeze too.

Climbing down was easier. We had ice cream at Camden Cone and boarded Spray for the return to Castine. It was nearly 6 pm and the bay was glass calm and the air out there felt great. This time we went up the west side of Islesboro, and about halfway up the island we tied to the dock at Warren Island State Park for a quick visit. We moved quickly too since it was dusk and the bugs - especially Satan's insect the Deer Flies - were nasty. We hiked to the beach at the south end of the island where Katie swam and we skipped some stones.

Back aboard Spray we continued up the west bay and rounded Turtle Head as it grew dark, keeping a keen eye out for lobster pot buoys. As we approached Castine Harbor, we could see various fireworks displays and added a display of our own by firing off a flare: ooooh! It was an amazingly calm and balmy night. We felt our way to the Castine Yacht Club dock to drop off passengers, then Sheila and I (and pooches) groped our way into Hatch Cove and clipped onto our mooring at about 10 pm. We were pretty tired so rather than hassle with gathering the gear and getting to shore, we instead shared some wine bread & cheese and then prepared to sleep aboard Spray.

Before we hit the hay we had a nice surprise when Alan Snapp, who rents cabins on the north side of the cove, set off his own fireworks show right off our starboard side. Not a bad show either.

This morning was beautiful and still glass calm. We had coffee on Spray and then rowed to shore for wonderful showers and breakfast. All-in-all it was a great trip.

Another Day Trip - Warren Island State Park

2010-06-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been 4 weeks since we've taken Spray out? It seems that something always comes up to mess with our plans for boating. This weekend we had planned to spend at least 2 days aboard but Katie Bopp took sick last week and wasn't well enough on Friday for a planned trip to Camden.

So we went for plan B: a day trip today since Katie B. is apparently recovered. I was thinking maybe Great Spruce Head Island but Sheila suggested Warren Island, on the west side of Islesboro. Warren Island is a Maine State Park, with some great campsites and hiking trails, and we had never been there, so why not?

We left Hatch Cove at about 10:45 this morning and had an easy run out of Castine Harbor, across a very smooth Penobscot Bay to round Turtle Head, on the north end of Islesboro Island. We enjoyed the warm weather on the flying bridge and had a nice lunch as we headed southwards down the west side of Islesboro until we saw the ferry that runs from the mainland (at Lincolnville Beach) to Islesboro. Warren Island is just opposite the Islesboro ferry landing, at the west entrance to Gilkey Harbor, and the State maintains a large dock there and several moorings.

We tied to a mooring at about 1 pm and rowed the dinghy (Sheila's Monhegan skiff 'Razzle Dazzle') to the dock. We hiked the trails to the south end of the island where there is a decent beach. Both dogs went swimming to retrieve thrown sticks. Sheila and I stayed dry. We then hiked the remaining perimeter of the island, noting that about half of the campsites (all very deluxe looking) were occupied. There was a crew dismantling a huge circus-tent that had been used for a wedding yesterday. We were told that there were over 150 guests, which must have taxed the rustic outhouses.

Back aboard Spray, we worked the Sunday NY Times crossword for a while, and set sail at about 3:30, heading south through Gilkey Harbor, which is line with an impressive set of estates of the Dark Harbor community. Once around Pendleton Point we turned north up the east side of the bay and back to Castine, where we picked up Spray's mooring at about 6 pm. It was a great day trip and I think we'll go back to Warren Island soon.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring a camera so I can only post a couple images from the SPOT tracker site, showing Warren Island (above), and the entire loop of our trip (below).

Day trip to Bucksport and back

2010-05-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

Today Sheila and I (and of course Katie & Riggs) took a picnic lunch out to Spray at about 10:30, untied from the mooring in Hatch Cove, and headed out of Castine Harbor. As we passed the town dock we saw the crowd remaining from the just-completed Memorial Day ceremonies. We headed out into Penobscot Bay and turned north into a cool breeze. We attacked our picnic lunch almost immediately once underway.

With a rising tide, it was an easy 2-hour run up the bay, which narrowed to become the Penobscot River. We passed under the new and old bridges that connect Verona Island to Prospect ME (photo above), and tied up to the spacious Bucksport town dock. Bucksport has done wonderful things in the past 10 years or so in opening up its waterfront, including a 1+ mile long brick shore path. We walked half the path, stopped to have ice cream, and then finished the shore path.

When we were back aboard Spray, the wind had totally died down, and we moved to Spray's flying bridge to bask in the sun. After about a half hour traveling south, the southerly sea breeze started up as if someone had thrown a switch. The breeze and resulting waves built quickly so we were soon back down in the warm salon. As we continued towards Castine, the waves on our bow increased to 1 foot, to 2 ft, and by the time we reached Castine harbor, we were bashing through 3-4 ft waves. This made Katie nervous while Riggs just slept through it all. We turned into the harbor and surfed back to Hatch Cove and tied back to the mooring at 5 pm, where we finished our picnic food.

So it was a good trip and a nice break from the work I've been doing on Spray, which has included exterior varnish and paint work plus a new floor for the forward stateroom. Lots of summer left for more cruising and more chores.

This is Bucksport from the water:

Seal Bay

2010-05-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

I've been home barely a week and we've already had a nice overnight cruise aboard Spray. This past Saturday we untied from the mooring and headed for the Castine town dock, where we took on a few groceries and filled our water tank. We then headed south down Penobscot Bay, towing Sheila's Monhegan skiff 'Razzle Dazzle' : past Cape Rosier, past Western & Pond Islands, past Butter, Great Spruce Head, & Eagle Islands, and on to Vinalhaven Island.

Seal Bay is an inlet on the east side of Vinalhaven and is probably the most beautiful spot in Penobscot Bay, with amazing granite formations and lots of good paddling options. We dropped anchor between Hay and Burnt islands at about 3 pm and within an hour we (Sheila, Riggs, Katie & I) set off in Razzle Dazzle for a rowboat circumnavigation of Penobscot Island. Its about a 2 hour row, with time for exploring nooks and crannies, and must be done near high tide.

We returned to Spray and made a nice supper of pasta and green beans and spent a comfortable night at anchor.

Sunday's breakfast was pancakes, then another long row around Seal Bay. We had lunch aboard Spray and then pulled anchor for a really pleasant cruise back to Castine. There was surreal fog rolling over some of the islands (top photo). We were back at the mooring in Hatch Cove by 4 pm.

One of the goals we have in cruising this summer is to try to get Katie more comfortable when cruising. She did pretty good on this trip, but still gets nervous in rougher conditions. Hopefully she will eventually adapt to boating as well as Riggs has.

Today I got going on some varnish work on Spray, plus I changed her engine oil. Lots more maintenance work to do this summer, and lots more cruising of the Maine coast, too.

Home again

2010-05-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

It took only 3 days for Dennis, Riggs, and I to cruise from Gloucester MA to Spray's home port of Castine ME:

On Thursday, Dennis and I started the day in Gloucester with breakfast ashore. The locals at the restaurant were entertaining, and the food was good. We left our rented mooring at about 0800 and entered the Annisquam River with a slight following current. We had to wait at a RR drawbridge for a train to pass, and after we passed through, the current had shifted against us. But we had an easy cruise inside Cape Anne, and probably shaved 5 miles off the trip by taking this route.

Once out in the Atlantic, we beelined towards Portsmouth NH, which we reached by noon, with a building following sea. We pressed on up the coast and pulled in to anchor near Biddeford Pool. It was an interesting anchorage, like a lagoon surrounded by beaches.

Friday presented calmer conditions, and we were able to make an early start and cook fried eggs while under way. We made it up to Tenants Harbor by 3 pm, and tied to a rental mooring. Sheila and Katie drove down to meet us and Katie and Riggs had an energetic reunion. Later we 3 had a nice supper at the East Wind Inn.

Sheila slept aboard Spray and accompanied us on Saturday's final leg to Castine. After an oatmeal breakfast we were cruising by 0800, and rounded Owls Head by 0900, to enter Penobscot Bay - familiar waters! There were building NW winds so when we reach Isleboro Island we hugged its lee shore until we angled off towards the Castine bell buoy. It got a bit bouncy there which was no surprise as that area is often the roughest in the bay. By 1230 we were tied to a friend's mooring in Hatch Cove, and a few minutes later Dave Wyman and Don Small arrived aboard Dove to welcome us back.

Still aboard Spray, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, with a couple beers to celebrate. The we loaded some gear, two dogs, and 3 crew on Spray's dinghy and made for the Hatch Cove dock. Home.

Sheila had earlier tried without success to get the lawnmower going so the lawn was a tall field of dandelions. Dennis and I got the mower to start and I did a quick pass at its highest setting. My sister Marsha arrived from Ellington CT and Sheila made us a nice supper.

On Sunday Dennis and Marsha headed back to CT, with Sheila & I and 2 dogs riding along. They routed to Tenants Harbor so we could get Sheila's car and return it to Castine.

Yesterday morning Dave Wyman and I resurrected Spray's mooring, which she is now safely tied to (below). I've been slowly moving some gear to shore, and getting going on a long list of chores.

I have several projects planned for Spray, and we hope to do some coast-of-Maine cruising this summer. I'll post some blog entries on these activities as they occur, so I hope you will check back now and then.

Its good to be home!

Here comes Maine!

2010-05-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Its been 6 days since the last blog entry, and 2 of those days involved no travel, yet we still have covered all of Long Island Sound, Rhode Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, the Cape Cod Canal, Cape Cod Bay, and Massachusetts Bay, to land us here in Gloucester MA.

Two of the travel days were looong ones:

- Last Friday Riggs and I did all of L.I. Sound, from Manhasset NY to Essex CT, something like 90 miles. The weather and currents were mostly favorable, and we wanted to get into Essex before the start of what was a very windy weekend.

- Yesterday we had B.I.L. Dennis aboard and went from just east of Essex, all the way to Onset MA, at the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal, with a fuel-up stop in New Bedford MA, again maybe 90 miles. This time we were driven by the desire for an early-morning entrance into the Cape Cod Canal to catch the flood current.

In between we hunkered down for the weekend gales, with Spray safely at a mooring at the Essex Yacht Club, but Riggs and I living in luxury at Marsha & Dennis' house an hours drive north in Ellington CT. A real bed, great meals, hot showers. Wow! Riggs even learned a new game.

By late Monday afternoon we (now including Dennis) were back aboard Spray, and headed out the CT River, then east 10 miles or so to anchor in Jordan Cove. Tuesday was our marathon run to the Cape Cod Canal. Today was a pretty good run too:

- Anchor up by 0600. Through the canal with 4-5 knots of assisting current,

- then into Cape Cod Bay, heading NW past Plymouth MA,

- then turning straight north for a 28 mile run across MA Bay, directly to Gloucester. We had fun playing chicken with the 'Nosmo King' tanker shown below.

Tomorrow we are gonna try the Annisquam River shortcut thru Cape Anne, then up past MA & NH to pull into Portsmouth for the night. We'll probably set foot in Maine!! Stay tuned.

NJ: Done NYC: Done

2010-05-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Recent weather has been saying 'GO', and so we have. In the 3 days since last report we have completed the NJ section, all done on the 'outside', and today we went through NYC and are now ready for Long Island Sound.

Tuesday morning was calm in Atlantic City NJ, so after the ordeal of the NJ ICW the previous day, we instead went out Absecom Inlet, and turned north. It was pretty easy cruising, but since we're about a mile off shore, there is nothing close by to watch, and it almost seems we are standing still. Sure enough, we eventually reached the Barnegat Inlet, as the afternoon wind started up. We were in and safely anchored by the time the wind built to a screaming pitch (I think 35+ knots), until the sun went down, when the wind wound down.

Wednesday we went back outside again, and it was a duplicate of Tuesday, and when the wind kicked up, we were rounding Sandy Hook, and anchored behind the jetty at Atlantic Highlands before the wind again really got going.

This morning we were in no hurry, since the flood current up the East River wouldn't start until after 11 am, so we cruised slowly towards the Verrazano Narrows, fought a 3 knot current to get into NY Harbor, then cruised up the west side to snap a few pix of Lady Liberty, and headed to the south end of Manhatten.

The East River was a piece of cake, easy following current, and nearly no traffic. We were under the Throgs Neck Bridge, and into L.I. Sound, by 1:00, and tied to a free visitors mooring here in Manhasset by 2:00. Plenty of time to walk Riggs and then buy some badly needed groceries.

Tomorrow, eastward down L.I. Sound, at least as far as Port Jefferson. Stay Tuned.

Wide water and Narrow water

2010-05-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

So over the last few days, we've covered some wide waters (Chesapeake and Delaware Bays), and some narrow waters (C&D canal and NJ ICW).

Last Friday we left Solomons MD at 0815, after taking on 100 gallons of diesel (@ $2.65/gal) and topping off the water tank. It was a nice calm day on the Chesapeake and we made our goal of Queenstown MD, some 55 miles farther up the Bay, in time for a walk around the lovely town.

Saturday was the perfect cruising day: calm waters, warm & sunny, and favorable currents, and we had made the top of the Chesapeake (Chesapeake City, at the entrance to the C&D Canal) by 1400 hr, and instead of dropping anchor as planned, we kept going, across the C&D, and nearly half way down Delaware Bay before finally pulling into the Cohansey River in NJ to anchor for the night. It was tough to find a spot to land Riggs for 'necessities', but we managed. Totals for Saturday: about 90 miles traveled over 11 1/2 hours. A record for the entire cruise.

On Sunday we got an early start out into the lower Delaware Bay, but soon the current and wind turned against us, and it was a rough ride down to Cape May, where we entered the protected waters of the NJ ICW, and traveled a mere 6 miles before dropping anchor in Sunset Lake. At least we were able to dinghy ashore to a park to play ball.

Today was a grueling day. The NJ ICW has not been maintained well, and has some shoaling issues. Fortunately we've hit a time where high tide is mid-day, so morning travel is on a rising tide, and there is extra depth for mid-day travel. But when we pulled anchor at 0800 hr, the tide was still low, and we had barely traveled a mile north before we ran aground. We we right in the channel too. With the rising tide we waited maybe 20 minutes and were able to back off and resume travel, and made maybe 300 yards before running aground again! Fortunately, the bottom here is typically soft mud, plus Spray has a deep skeg that protects the propeller, so a little patience is all it takes. As the tide rose, we had one more bump on the bottom, and some scary depthfinder readings, but we did OK.

Until the bridges. Just before reaching Atlantic City, there are 4 drawbridges to deal with. The first one, Dorset Avenue, was being worked on when we arrived, and we had to 'hover' for 20 minutes before the crew could be moved aside, and one span lifted for us to get through. The next bridge went OK, then we again waited 20 minutes for a RR bridge to open (they had a train coming through - the nerve!). The last bridge went OK and we were free to pull into the'Brigantine' anchorage overlooking th Atlantic City hotels.

You just might remember that we were stuck in this anchorage for 5 nights back in October while two nor'easters passed through. Well, when we dropped anchor today we had strong, warm SW winds (30+ knots) to deal with. It made for a hairy dinghy ride to a beach for Riggs, but has since calmed down.

We are moving north faster than does the boating season. In the lower Chesapeake we were about a week ahead of the beginning of the boating season. Here we are about a month ahead. So today we saw maybe 4 other boats, and are the only boat anchored here.

Tomorrow we fight our way another 40 miles up the NJ ICW. Stay tuned!

Working our way up the Chesapeake

2010-04-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

And work it can be. Chesapeake Bay is a bit over 200 miles long. We entered it at the south end on Monday morning, after leaving Hampton Creek near Norfolk. 4 days later we're only a bit more than half way up the Bay, due to strong NW winds that are conspiring against us.

Actually, on Monday the winds were gentle, and we made good time, traveling about 50 miles to anchor in protected Jackson Creek, at the mouth of the Piankatank River (west side of Ches.), and near the town of Deltaville VA. Monday was sunny so we (Riggs and I) spent the day on Spray's flying bridge. A couple hours after we dropped anchor, Margaret & Bob aboard GB32 'Thumper' dropped the hook right next to us. We had shared a dock with them back in Oriental NC (see earlier blog).

For Tuesday the NWS was predicting strong NW winds, and we woke to those and so decided to hang in Jackson Creek for another night. We took a long walk to Schroeders Boatyard in Deltaville, to see if sailboat 'Heron' with skipper Don had pulled in yet. We had shared anchorage with Heron 3 times in NC and knew that Don's goal was Schroeders for storing Heron for the summer. After a 3 mile walk we arrive to find that Don had just pulled in 30 minutes earlier. I helped him pull his foresail off Heron and he gave Riggs and I a ride back to Spray. We had supper that evening at a restaurant and found that 'Thumper's crew was there too.

So Tuesday was a fun day, but the strong NW winds that started the day fizzled before noon. It would have been an easy day to make some progress up the Bay.

For Wednesday the NWS was again predicting strong NW winds, but I wasn't to be fooled twice. We left safe, protected Jackson Creek at 7 am and headed up the Bay. Ooops! This time the NWS was right. In fact they understated the wind strength. We had 3 hours of 25-35 knot winds and nasty 3-4' waves, thankfully mostly off Spray's bow, before we headed up Cockrell Creek to the town of Reedville VA. We had only made 15 miles of progress but were glad when the hook was set. Reedville has some beautiful old homes, probably funded by the menhaden fishery - a good size fishing fleet and a (at times) real stinky menhaden processing plant (think fertilizer, fish oil, etc) are just south of town.

For today the NWS was again predicting NW winds, and today's travel started with crossing the 8-mile-wide mouth of the Potomac River, which has a looong NW fetch as it empties into the Chesapeake. Our strategy was to get moving early, before the winds built up, so we were moving before 7 am. This might have helped a bit, but only a bit. The rollers coming down the Potomac and crashing into Spray's port bow were impressive.

Spray is a great boat. She lived up to her name, with every external inch of her covered in salt spray both yesterday and again today, and she rocked and rolled, but she never hiccupped and got us safely through. Riggs too handled the nasty conditions like the World's Best Boat Dog that he is, mostly sleeping through it all on the helm seat (I stand in these conditions).

After crossing the Potomac, we passed Point Lookout and hugged the west shore as best we could, and the rest of the day's trip was easy enough. We're now anchored in the boater's mecca of Solomons MD and have done some exploring and grocery shopping.

Tomorrow, if you can believe NWS, should have great cruising weather: moderate SW winds and 80 degrees. We'll get some fuel and water, and then try to get 50-60 miles farther north. Stay tuned.

Ready for the Chesapeake

2010-04-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

What a change in surroundings over the last two days, and what a variety of experiences.

Saturday morning we were at one of the free slips in Elizabeth City NC (ICW mile 51). Riggs did some ball chasing, then I did some grocery shopping (at a CVS store of all places). We shoved off at about noon and headed up the Pasquotank River, through Turners Cut, and were at the South Mills Lock in time for the 3:30 lock-thru, which lifted Spray by 8 feet and put us in the Dismal Swamp Canal. Only 4 miles later we (and a sailboat we locked-thru with) tied up at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center (ICW mile 28) for the night.

A few minutes later a fella walks up and invites us all to an outdoor dinner being held there to celebrate the 80th birthday of a man named George Ramsey, who has much history with the canal. What a great time! Some 75 of his friends & relatives were there, several of whom work either at the Visitors Center or for the Corps of Engineers. Several people spoke in admiration of George, and there were some great jokes. It was a canal-fest and it was catered southern style with fried chicken, BBQ pork, hushpuppies, many salads, and of course, sweet tea.

This morning we set off about 8 am and had a liesurely 17 mile ride to the Deep Creek Lock, at the northern end of the canal (ICW mile 11). We locked through at 11 am and dropped 8 feet, back to sea level. In a few miles we were in super-busy Norfolk VA (ICW mile 0!!). We worked our way out to the Hampton Roads shipway, dodging th big traffic (below) and finally tucking up the Hampton River, where we are anchored right off downtown Hampton VA. Sowe're poised to enter the Chesapeake tomorrow and work our way north. Stay tuned!

Cruising the Outer Banks

2010-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are tied to one of the free slips in Elizabeth City NC, ready to head up the Dismal Swamp Canal, either tomorrow or Sunday, and then into Chesapeake Bay.

We were here back in November, with Dave Wyman aboard, and stayed 2 nights. We then spent several days exploring the western reaches of Abermarle and Pamlico Sounds. So when Riggs and I left Oriental NC (ICW mile 182) this past Wednesday we aimed Spray off the ICW, towards the eastern waters behind the narrow barrier islands that are the Outer Banks of NC.

Our first stop was Ocracoke NC, about a 40 mile cruise from Oriental, over wide-but-shallow waters that are typical here. We anchored in the Silver Lake anchorage and went ashore to walk around the island, which is accessible only by boat (including car ferries) or air. It was a bit touristy but still pre-season.

On Thursday we made a long run (60 miles or so) up Pamlico Sound to Roanoke Island and the town of Manteo. We liked this town better, with its nice waterfront park. Its probably very busy in summer but this time of year it was quite nice.

Today the NWS web site predicted 5-10 knot west winds on Abermarle Sound with 1 ft waves so we headed out to find 20 knot winds and 4 foot waves, fortunately on our nose so still tolerable. But it was a long bouncy run of 45 miles into the Pasquotank River and up to Elizabeth City (back on the ICW at mile 51). Now we have light SE winds that are making for a somewhat bouncy night in the slip. We originally planned 2 nights here but the winds are supposed to increase tomorrow so maybe we'll cruise upriver a bit and drop anchor. Stay tuned.

And now we slow down a bit

2010-04-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hello from Oriental NC, a very boater friendly, dog friendly, and just plain friendly small town on the Neuse River. We arrived here yesterday and we're still here for a 2nd night. Why? Can you say 'Free Dock'?

Yes, we're in the very hospitable 'Sounds' are of eastern NC, where Dave Wyman and I explored some of back in November. This area has welcoming towns that often provide free dockage to cruisers, and Oriental has a single finger pier for this, providing coveted free docking space to two boats. When we came here in November, the dock was full so we anchored up in nearby Greens Creek. This time we were luckier, as I'll explain below.

We started yesterday in Swansboro (ICW mile 229), lifting anchor at 7:30 or so, heading up Bogue Sound to Beaufort NC (mile 204), then turning inland up Adams Creek to the Neuse River and Oriental (mile 181). There happens to be a webcam that points at Oriental's free dock, and I could access that as we approached and see that one side of the dock was open (and at the other side was a boat that looked like Spray's twin). It was great to know ahead of time that I'd be doing a port-side-tieup so I could get the fenders and lines ready, and by 2 pm we were tied up in the heart of Oriental. Our neighbors, Bob and Margaret from CT had arrived just a bit before on their 1988 GB32 'Thumper', which they keep in beautiful condition. In the pic above, that's Spray on the left and Thumper on the right. Across the street is coffee shop 'The Bean' (below), the nerve center of town and a great place to hang out.

There is a 48 hour limit on the dock here, so tomorrow we'll shove off. Since Dave and I explored the western reaches of these sounds, I think now we'll look at the eastern areas, beginning with the town of Ocracoke NC, which is out on the outer banks barrier islands, and reportedly has a good anchorage. This area apparently has poor ATT coverage, so I'll have to report on it when I'm back in civilization. Stay tuned.

The 50+ mile/day club

2010-04-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

We're in lovely Swansboro NC (ICW mile 229), where we visited early last December. I've got to like a town that has apparently named a street after me (above). I wonder who the William Main person is.

Its a bit odd. Back in December it was freezing cold yet we averaged maybe 30 miles/day as we cruised south in this region. Now its a beautiful spring, the weather is great, and we race through the region, often covering in a day what you could drive in an whole hour, 50 or 60 miles or more. You would think we would have raced south to the warmer temps, and dally on the way north to savor the spring.

It must be that on our way south it was all brand new, and we had to explore each town more. Plus the days were pretty short then. Now its all familiar (well, vaguely), and the days are long, and we've been away from home for almost 7 months, so lets keep moving.

And moving is what we've been doing. Here are our travels since Tuesday:

- Wednesday we left Beaufort SC (ICW mile 536) and traveled 65 miles to the Wappoo Creek anchorage (mile 471), just west of Charleston SC. That was a long day. Riggs played ball chase at a nearby boat ramp.

-Thursday we crossed Charleston Harbor, and up the ICW to Georgetown SC (mile 403), for an even longer 68 mile day. As we walked around charming Georgetown (ignoring the huge paper mill) we were surprised to stumble onto a Tea-Party rally. Riggs barked whenever a speaker told a lie.

- Friday night we anchored in Calabash Creek, just below the SC/NC border at ICW mile 342. We had an interesting time running aground in the creek before finally finding enough water to anchor in.

- Saturday we made it to busy Wrightsville Beach NC (mile 283). The boating season here is well under way and on a nice Saturday the boat traffic was crazy. On shore there were hundreds of college kids. Is it still spring break?

- Today we moved another 54 miles to here in Swansboro. Upon pulling in we stopped at Casper's Marina and bought 120 gallons of diesel ($2.50/gal plus 7% tax) and filled the water tank.

As I write this I'm dealing with a dragging anchor. The bottom here is apparently not very anchor-friendly and the tidal currents are significant. Its all part of the fun of cruising!

Tomorrow: Through Beaufort NC and hopefully inland to Oriental NC. Stay tuned:

Out of FL, through GA, and into SC

2010-04-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

Maine is beckoning, so we are making continuous progress to the northeast. The weather has been perfect, the ICW is curvy and shallow in spots, and the tidal currents are a pain. Dealing with the currents reminds me of bicycle riding: you notice the uphill runs more than the downhills.

Since last report in Fernadina Beach FL, we've made these daily journeys:

- Last Friday we bought 100 gallons of diesel at the Florida Petroleum dock ($2.89/gal, ICW mile 716), crossed into GA, and made an easy run up the inside of Cumberland Island to anchor off of the Plum Orchard estate (mile ~ 700). We had a nice time walking the estate grounds then crossing the island to the Atlantic beach.

- On Saturday we made a long run up to the Duplin River anchorage (mile 649), where we could walk around the southern end of Sapelo Island.

- On Sunday we meandered the GA ICW to end up at remote Queen Bess Creek, off of Bear Island (mile 606). It was tricky to land Riggs for his business there but we made do (actually he did).

- Yesterday we complete the GA section, crossed the Savannah River into SC, and anchored in the New River (mile 570), off of Dafuskie Landing. We had a nice supper at Marshside Mama's cafe, which is as casual a restaurant as you'll ever find.

- Today we ended up anchored off of beautiful Beaufort SC (mile 536). The great weather is still here and we enjoyed walking the town, and picked up some groceries.

Tomorrow should get us close to Charleston SC. Stay tuned.

Blasting off to the Northeast

2010-04-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we left our anchorage in Melbourne FL (ICW mile 918), cruised a few miles up the ICW, and turned east to round Dragon Point (mile 914), and continued northwards up the Banana River, which parallels the ICW and brings us to our anchorage near Port Canaveral, about 5 miles south of the Space Shuttle launch pad, and as close as we're allowed to get to it. There's a small 'spoil island' nearby where I can land Riggs for his business.

Monday morning we're up early to catch the 6:21 am flawless launch of the Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-131 (above). It lit the predawn sky and the noise was really something. After breakfast we traveled west through the Canaveral Barge Canal to rejoin the ICW at mile 894. Now it was our turn to blast off to the north (at 7 knots) as we put in a few long (for us) travel days:

- Monday noon we stopped in Titusville (ICW mile 879) to pick up a few items, then continued on to New Smyrna Beach (mile 847) to anchor overnight.

- Tuesday we pushed north all the way to St. Augustine(mile 778) to anchor in the Salt Run cove. This was a long day's travel.

- Wednesday we continued to just north of the St. John River to anchor in Sisters Creek (mile 739).

These last 3 anchorages we had stayed at back in December/January on our run south. It was MUCH warmer now than back then. In fact we've had a great stretch of weather with sunny days in the low 80's.

Thursday's travel was especially interesting. We started with 30 minutes work changing Spray's primary fuel filter, which was getting clogged after only 45 hours use (did I get some dirty fuel back in Naples?). Then a few miles north to anchor in the Ft. George River (mile 735), right in front of Kingsley Plantation, which is a national park. Our good friends in Castine, David & Carolyn Punzelt, have a daughter, Beth, who lives with her chief engineer husband Jim (and 2 great dogs) on their own spread just adjacent to Kingsley Plantation. After Riggs and I walked around the park, Beth showed up with her dogs, and we walked back to her place for coffee and talk and to let the dogs play. We had the best time, especially Riggs.

By noon we were back aboard Spray and headed up to Fernandina Beach FL (ICW mile 716), just below the GA border, and we have rented a mooring off the town marina for the night. The Siegels had given me a contact here: 'Stowaway Joe', a very nice guy who, among other things, helps cruisers-in-need. He gave Riggs and I a ride to buy some more fuel filters plus some groceries, and gave us lots of good info about the town (we now know which restaurants you can sneak a dog into). Thanks for the help Joe!

On Friday we plan to use the marina facilities for a shower, a waste pump-out, and a water fill-up. Then we'll move a few hundred feet to the Florida Petroleum dock to buy diesel fuel (and hopefully dilute the dirty stuff). The we plan a short cruise across the GA border to anchor off of Cumberland Island, which looks to be worth exploring. Stay tuned!

Crawling up the E. Florida coast

2010-04-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Riggs and I are headed back to Maine, and have a long way to go. But that's OK as we'd like to arrive in Maine with spring weather like we've been having here, and a late May arrival should do the trick, I hope.

It was great to have B.I.L. Dennis aboard, but in Stuart his visit started to suffer. If you check the previous blog entry you'll see that we planned last Sunday's supper as take-home (take-boat?) pizza, which we did. I knew something was up when, after eating 2 slices, Dennis says "that's enough for me, you have the rest". Sure enough, some sort of gastric invader was attacking Dennis, and it was a battle of epic proportions over the next couple of days. I'll hand it to Dennis. He waged a fierce battle yet always maintained a clean and professional appearance.

Anyhow, over Sunday night a front came through, with lightning storms and torrential rains. This kept up through Monday morning, so we hung on our mooring ball in Stuart and stayed dry during the deluge. By noon it had stopped so we unclipped from the mooring, got a pumpout at the marina, and made a very short (7 miles) run to Manatee Pocket, a nice harbor near where the St. Lucie River joins the ICW (at OCW mile 0 and ICW mile 988), where Spray had visited back in January.

I made pasta-with-gorgonzola for Monday dinner, and Dennis had a small bowl, but it was not to be. He had a rough night and on Tuesday, as we cruised up the ICW to Vero Beach (mile 952), Dennis got some rack time. It was a smooth cruise, and we pulled in and clipped onto mooring no. 10 at ~3 pm. We took Riggs to the dog park (he loved it, see below) and then Dennis (ever the trooper) suggested we dighny over to the nearby Riverside Cafe for supper. He was hoping for a light soup such as chicken noodle but the soup that night was cream of broccoli, which Dennis rented a cup of for 1/2 hour or so. Lets just say that during our dinghy ride back to Spray, the people aboard nearby boats got a sunset show they won't soon forget.

On Wednesday, the 3 of us we picked up a rental car and headed to Orlando Intl. Airport, and left Dennis for his flight back to CT. He was a little green around the edges but reportedly handled his flights in good form. I should also point out that, after 2 days giving Spray's head a good workout, Dennis gave the head a thorough cleaning. What a class act!

Riggs and I drove back to Vero, bought some groceries, turned in the car, and were back in time for the dog park then supper aboard Spray. On Thursday we hit the dog park 3 separate times, plus I had Castine/Vero friends Gene and Kathy Spinazola aboard for supper. We had great fun swapping cruising stories. Earlier in the day I had seen new Vero friends the Thomas's move their trawler into a slip at the marina. It turns out they just sold their waterfront home and are now free for some long-term cruising.

I had originally planned to head north on Friday but instead stayed another day in Vero, for an oil-change for Spray's diesel, for more dog park action, and to welcome the Siegels as they sailed into the mooring field. We had supper together at the Lobster Shanty across the river, and we saw them at the dog park this morning, but might not see them again until Castine.

Today we left Vero at 9 am, traveled north some 33 miles, and dropped anchor on the NE lee side of the causeway here in Melbourne (ICW mile 918). Tomorrow we head for as close as we can get to Cape Canaveral. At 6:21 am Monday the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch, and we don't want to miss that.

Across the Big "O" - with Dennis!

2010-03-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

The weather report was correct in that the Gulf of Mexico was much calmer on Wednesday than it was the previous day, so Riggs and I got an early start from Naples FL, heading out of Gordon Pass into the Gulf and turning north into 2-3 ft seas. Spray handled these nicely and by 1 pm we were under the bridge into San Carlos Bay and starting up the Caloosahatchee River, part of the Okeechobee waterway system. As a reminder that we had returned to civilization, the pleasure boat traffic was quite heavy, especially for a weekday.

We continued up river to Ft Myers, and turned left from the channel into a place called MarinaTown, in N. Ft Myers (O.W. mile 136). Brother-in-law Dennis was waiting there for us and had conveniently selected a slip so we could dock in our preferred nose-in-starboard-tieup method. This was a nice marina, with a sizable live-aboard population and good facilities, even a pool we could use. After Dennis loaded his gear aboard Spray, and a walk for Riggs, and cracking a few Yuenglings, we walked 100 yards down the marina to this waterfront joint and had a nice supper of coconut shrimp and some more of this.

Thursday was a nice easy cruising day up the Caloosahatchee, through the Franklin Lock (O.W. mile 121), which we shared with a large paddlewheeler (see photo below). The lock lifted Spray by about 2 feet, leaving her in fresh water. Then onwards to the town of La Belle FL (O.W. mile 103), where we tied to a free dock at a city park. It was a pleasant walk into town for the 3 of us to have an early dinner at Jonsez BBQ (Dennis raves over their fried shrimp), then buying some groceries, and back to Spray for a restful night.

On Friday we continued east to Moore Haven (O.W. mile 78), where we locked through to rise 3 feet to lake level, then turned right to follow the lake's SW rim. I had earlier expressed to Dennis my amazement at how trouble-free Spray had been over the whole trip (and I knocked on wood, which is abundant), but on this leg we started to notice something amiss: Spray's diesel would drop 100 or so RPM for several seconds and then resume normal speed. This happened more if we went faster and not at all at slower speed, and looked like classic symptoms of a clogging fuel filter. Since we were still in protected water, and since changing the filter next to a hot engine sounded no fun, we continued along to our day's goal of Clewiston FL (O.W. mile 65), and tied along the dock here. Right alongside Spray swam a 7 ft alligator (or was it 17 ft ?) so we were carefull to keep Riggs well leashed.

Our first action to repair Spray's dithering engine was to hit the marina's Tiki Bar, order a pitcher of Yuengling and plan to change the filter early the next morning, when the engine would be nice and cool. Friday's supper was Frittata aboard Spray, and it was very pleasant to sit on Spray's rear porch and listen to the oldies band playing at the Tiki Bar (which was just far enough away).

Saturday was a long and productive day. Up early for breakfast, then changing the fuel filter, which took maybe 45 minutes, and we were off, starting across the 25 mile open crossing of Lake Okeechobee (Big "O"). After the engine was warmed up we ran it hard for a while to assure us that the fuel filter change had done the trick. It did. Big "O" is broad and shallow (about 10 ft deep at center), and can kick up a nasty chop in strong winds, but we had picked a good day and saw nothing bigger than 2-3 ft waves, mostly on Spray's bow.

At about noon we reached the far eastern shore of Big "O" and locked through at Port Mayaca FL (O.W. mile 39) dropping only an inch or two. This was our most crowded lock experience, with 5 other boats, including a trawler towing a runabout that got the tow line wrapped around its propellers and thus couldn't leave the lock. I wonder two things:

- How many times did they ride up and down those couple of inches before they got the problem resolved?

- Who got to dive in and untangle the rope in those gator infested waters?

We still had a lot of waterway (this section being the St. Lucie Canal) to cover before we reached the St. Lucie Lock (O.W. mile 15) which dropped us by an impressive 13 ft to sea level once again. Another 7 miles of travel brought us to the municipal mooring field in Stuart FL (O.W. mile 8) where we have stayed before. After this 50+ mile day we clipped onto mooring ball no. 7, went to buy a few groceries (almost ran out of ... you guess) and had a pasta dinner (with salad!) aboard Spray.

Today is a day of rest. Morning ball play for Riggs, showers and a big breakfast for us, then a walk into old Stuart to tour the Sunday farmers market. This afternoon its computer time and naps. Pizza tonight.

Unfortunately, Dennis is going to have to cut his cruising time short as he has a job interview opportunity he can't miss. So in the next few days we'll make our way up the ICW to Vero Beach and then rent a car to get him to Orlando on Wednesday for his flight back to CT.

Into the Everglades, and out again

2010-03-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

As promised, on Saturday morning Riggs and I cast Spray's lines from mooring R9 in Boot Key Harbor (city of Marathon FL), headed 2 miles west, then turned north, passing under here (the humped part), and continuing another 25 miles north across Florida Bay (in water typically 7-8 ft deep) to the bottom left corner of the Florida mainland, aka Cape Sable. I had hoped to anchor overnight off the beach but the south winds had kicked up 2 ft surf. Not conducive to a good sleep.

To console Riggs we did drop anchor for an hour and dinghied ashore for some ball play (see above) and to purge Riggs' tanks. Then we continued another 10 miles up Florida's west coast to the entrance of the Little Shark River. We turned east and traveled in about 2 miles. Really beautiful! A maze of clear waters and mangrove islands, full of fish, dolphins, manatees, and birds birds birds. Someday I'll spend a week or so exploring it but the downside is that you really can't get off the boat as there's no place to land. For Riggs this meant we broke out the square yard of Astroturf (tm) on the cockpit deck (aka the poopdeck). Bless his heart he went over 24 hours before giving in and using the facilities.

So Saturday night we had a beautiful, isolated anchorage. On Sunday morning we headed back out into the Gulf (of Mexico) and headed Northwest, with following winds and 3-4 ft waves that made steering a challenge (Spray yaws some in these conditions). In he afternoon the wind and waves got stronger and shifted more abeam (roll, roll, roll) so we ducked into Indian Key Pass, which leads towards Everglades City. We turned left into Russel Pass and hid behind a mangrove island for the night, with 3 other cruising boats. A front came through overnight, with thunderstorms, so it was good to be in protected waters.

By the way, since losing cell phone coverage north of Marathon, we did get a couple of bars at this anchorage (from Everglades City no doubt), so we were sort of reconnected with the world. Another thing we dealt with was mosquitos at night. Spray has some screens but somehow a couple of the little devils seem to get in, and that's all it takes.

Monday we headed back out to the Gulf and continued NW, along the 10,000 islands area, under threatening skies. After a few miles we turned into West Pass and dropped anchor off of Camp Lulu Key, where we went ashore in the rain and played some ball on the beach (see photos below). As previously mentioned, I had camped on Camp Lulu on new years 2000, along with Sheila and my sister and her hubby.

After lunch we pulled anchor and continued NW into Gullivan Bay and through the old local ICW around the back side of Marco Island. We continued another few miles, dropping anchor between Little Marco Island and Keywaydin Island. There was some boat traffic there but at least there was a small beach for Riggs.

The plan for today was to continue up this ICW towards Naples, and to head out into the open Gulf via Gordon Pass, making for Ft Myers. The weather report said we'd see 5-7 ft seas out in the Gulf so we poked Spray's nose out of Gordon Pass for a look and didn't like what we saw, so we turned around and continued up into Naples Bay. We pulled into the City Dock, got a pumpout, bought some fuel, filled the water tank, and paid $10 to hang on a mooring ball for tonight. And here we are. We had a great walk exploring ritzy downtown Naples, and I got a shower, and all is good. Tomorrow we are promised calmer conditions 'outside' (2-3 ft seas) so we'll head for Ft Myers to pick up brother-in-law Dennis. Then comes Okeechobee, so stay tuned!

Hasta Luego a Marathon

2010-03-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Marathon I thought we might stay for 2 weeks, but its been over 6 weeks. Its so comfortable here that our overstay is quite typical. But its almost Spring and time to start the slow trip back to Maine.

Riggs and I will leave here tomorrow morning, sailing directly north across Florida Bay to Cape Sable, on mainland Florida's SW tip. There is a reportedly nice fair-weather anchorage off of the long empty Cape Sable beach, and fair weather is predicted (warm with light SE winds) so we'll give it a try. On the Marathon Cruiser's Net (VHF 68) this morning something like 8 boats announced departure tomorrow. Some of these will pass me and pull into the Little Shark River, which I'd like to explore someday but it will have to be on a future trip.

Our plan is to spend a couple of nights in the 10,000 islands area, including a visit to Camp Lulu, where Sheila and I (and sister Marsha and her hubby Dennis) spent New Years 2000, then on an old local ICW section through Naples and into Fort Myers, hopefully arriving there sometime Wednesday. If things work out I may welcome brother-in-law Dennis aboard in Ft Myers for some Florida cruising. I'm also hoping that Castine friend Gene will do some cruising with us.

I've included here a couple of photos showing the quirky nature of the Keys. Above is our favorite breakfast joint while below is a combination Bait/Sushi joint and also a truck advertising a great deal (if you are in Maine - look closely).

We'll be way off the grid for at least a couple of days, but the SPOT tracker should be active, showing where we'll be.

Day of the Iguana

2010-03-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Riggs and I have now been in Marathon for 5 weeks, as time whizzes by. We'll be starting northwards probably sometime next week, if the weather cooperates.

Visitors aboard Spray while in Marathon have included Bev, Steve&Connie, Ken, and now Sheila, who has been here for almost two weeks and sadly returns to Maine on Saturday. For Sheila one big draw to cruising is to observe the different life forms, so we've been searching out encounters with various seabirds and sea creatures, with mixed luck.

On Monday we left Marathon for an overnight visit to Islamorada, where we made the required visit here (their coconut shrimp are the absolute best), and had an all-around nice time, but on the way up saw no sea critters except maybe a glance at a diving sea turtle of some kind. So on the return trip we decided to route ourselves out to Sombrero Key, where we could tie to a mooring over a coral reef and hopefully see some critters. It was pretty choppy out there so we didn't stay long nor see any sea life there but on the way out we did encounter 2 groups of bottle-nosed dolphins (like Flipper) which Sheila hadn't seen before. One dolphin came to check us out and was diving directly beneath Spray. We were on the flying bridge and had a great view.

On another critter front we had earlier found a colony of Iguanas living in a canal cul-de-sac off of Sister's Creek here. Yesterday we went back with the camera (which has a nice zoom feature) to snap a few photos. Sheila tried to pull the dinghy in as close as possible before the iguanas would jump into the water to escape, while Riggs was making a big fuss (he REALLY wanted to chase those iguanas). These iguanas are not native here but are descendants of escaped pets. They are definitely interesting.

One thing Sheila hasn't seen yet and would really like to is a manatee. They have been into the marina here but not recently. Here's hoping for an appearance soon, since we'll be driving up to Orlando tomorrow afternoon as Sheila flies north first thing Saturday.

It seems we are finally getting seasonable weather here: Lows in the mid 60's and highs near 80. Now I'm complaining about the heat!

The Admiral is aboard!

2010-03-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

As the Captain of Spray, I am in charge, and first mate Riggs obeys all of my orders (yeah, right). But now the power structure has changed as Sheila is aboard for two weeks.

Sheila is taking two weeks vacation from her job here, and has left beloved Katie-Bopp with wonderful friends Rosemary and David Wyman. On Saturday she flew direct from Bangor to Orlando on Allegiant Air, which usually hauls families to and from Disney World. I had arranged for a 3-day car rental from Enterprise at the Marathon airport (only $30/day) so Riggs and I hit the road early Saturday morning and drove up Rte 1 to Homestead, then the Florida Turnpike to Orlando. On this drive I learned 2 things:

- Apparently Florida finances the state government from highway tolls. It cost something like $30 each way in tolls to drive to/from Orlando.

- Orlando has TWO airports, the huge Orlando International, where I first drove to, and the smaller Sanford Airport, where Sheila's flight landed. The two airports are about 30 miles apart. So, instead of being comfortably 1/2 hour early, I was 5 minutes late after some frantic driving between airports.

Anyhow, we finally picked up Sheila and headed back to the Keys, stopping in Key Largo for supper at the Fish House restaurant (very good), and finally dinghying out to Spray at about midnight. Too much driving in one day, but for a good cause.

Sunday we still had the car so the 3 of us drove to Key West, and walked all over, enjoying the whole scene but especially the cemetery. We also had a super dinner at Antonia's Italian restaurant on Duval Street. You would think that, since it serves so many tourists, it would be mediocre, but it was fantastic.

Monday we turned in the rent-a-car (after vacuuming out 1 million little white dog hairs, and running a couple of errands). Then we retired to Spray to relax until we went to Jeff & Karen Siegel's boat A Cappella for 'Dark & Stormys'. It was great to visit with them. Back aboard Spray we made a pasta dish and cracked open one of the fine reds that Ken had added to Spray's wine cellar.

Tuesday we started with a 7 am dinghy ride to Sombrero Beach for dog play with Riggs and the Siegel's dogs Dynah and Dylan. Riggs chased the tennis ball like crazy and ate a pound of beach sand. Then Sheila and I dropped Riggs off on Spray and walked to here for breakfast where we became what its named. Sheila ordered 'Grits and Grunts' and amazingly ate the whole thing. We then walked up Rte 1 so Sheila could hunt for the perfect pair of flip-flops, which she finally found in a K-Mart of all places. In celebration of our 31st wedding anniversary we walked to supper at the best restaurant in Marathon. It was very nice. She had the grouper and I the scallop risotto.

Wednesday started with chuck-it play at the nearby park, then a dinghy tour down Sister's Creek, to Sombrero Beach for sunbathing and a picnic lunch. Lots of sun but a cool north wind made it comfortable only if you kept low, which we did. On the ride back we toured the canal-neighborhoods, admiring the nice homes and spotting a few lounging Iguanas. Wednesday is pot-luck dinner at the marina which was fun (we brought salad from a local Deli), after which we watched a movie (Amelia) with the Siegels in A Capella's media room.

Thursday started out with relatively light winds so we decided to take a day-cruise on Spray, travelling 10 miles west to Bahia-Honda State Park, where we had a picnic lunch capped off by ice cream from the park's snack bar. It was fun to walk around the park plus the cruise there and back helped to recharge Spray's depleted house battery.

Today is errand day, with Sheila doing laundry, me on the computer, and then grocery shopping after lunch. We'll probably be here in Marathon for all of Sheila's visit (except for another short cruise or two), so stay tuned for more on the pleasures of the Florida Keys.

Life in Marathon, with Guests

2010-02-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

Life on a mooring here in Boot Key Harbor is pretty good, and made even better when guests visit. Brother Steve and his best-half Connie were here from Feb 6 - 11, and we did a road trip to Key West, then an overnight boat trip up to Islamorada and back. We had a great time.

Riggs and I then enjoyed the local area, with some good long walks and many trips to the nearby park, until good friend Ken Goldsholl arrived on Feb 21 for a 2 night visit.

Ken lives near Santa Barbara, Cal. and so is used to nice winter weather, which is good because he didn't get much nice weather here. He flew into Miami and drove down on a warm afternoon, but a light rain started before he arrived. We had a great dinner together at the local Tranquility Bay resort, and headed out to Spray before the really hard rains began. I'm pretty sure this was Ken's first time sleeping on a boat, and it poured overnight, but Spray kept us dry. We had coffee and bagels aboard and then the 3 of us (including Riggs of course) took Ken's rental car down to Key West, even though it was windy and rainy.

Let me take a short break here to describe what I saw to the left as we headed down Route 1, leaving Vaca Key and starting across the famous 7-mile bridge. Good-friends-from-Castine Karen & Jeff Siegel (see earlier posts) had arrived the previous day aboard their trawler A-Capella. As there was no mooring available they anchored out in the Gulf to the west of Vaca Key, to wait for a vacancy. The strong winds had shifted to southerly and so when I looked to the left and saw A-Capella anchored out there, bouncing in the heavy surf, I said to Ken: "That cannot be fun, I hope they get a mooring soon". Karen later confirmed that it indeed was no fun.

Back to main narrative: We arrived in Key West and it was still raining so we left Riggs in the (brand new) rent-a-car and walked to Duval Street, on a search for the most rude tee-shirt for sale (they have some dillies), visiting the 'Southernmost Point", and scarfing down some pizza. We then picked up Riggs and continued our walking tour in the rain. By mid-afternoon we were pretty soaked and decided to drive back to Marathon and run a few errands. Ken enjoys fine wine and shopped for a belated Christmas present for Sheila and I of a few bottles of good grape. Yeah!

We dropped Riggs back on Spray and then drove to a local restaurant 'Lazy Days' for supper. Ken was due to fly out the next day and I was worried that he would miss seeing the Keys in their sunny glory, but we awoke Wednesday to calm winds and blue sky, so a short cruise aboard Spray around Boot Key, basking on the flying bridge, was called for, and much enjoyed. One interesting thing was that we saw hundreds of these critters, which I had only seen a few of previously.

Ken departed mid-day (after grabbing a shower) for his return to California, and the Siegels moved onto a mooring, and life in Marathon went on. Its fun watching Jeff & Karen & their 2 pooches get into Marathon Mode, with visits to Sombrero Beach, walks along Rte 1, and feasting at yesterday's pot-luck at the Marathon City Marina. When you see Karen or Jeff, ask about their big win at the pot-luck raffle.

The next guest to be hosted aboard Spray will be best of all. Sheila will be flying down from Maine on Saturday. She will fly on Allegiant Air direct from Bangor to Orlando. Riggs and I will rent a car and drive up to Orlando (a mere 370 miles) to meet Sheila, and then we'll drive back here (again, a mere 370 miles).

Sheila had looked into bringing Katie-Bopp down for this visit, but it would be an ordeal for her. Fortunately, Rosemary & David Wyman have volunteered to take in Katie while Sheila is down here. Many thanks to the Wymans, although Riggs may be disappointed.

Sheila will be aboard for 2 weeks, which will include at least one trip to Key West, to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary (we were married in Key West), plus some fun here in Marathon, and probably some cruising, as Spray begins its long & slow trip back to Maine. Riggs and I are super-excited about her visit, which will be reported here. Stay tuned.

Doing the Micro-Loop

2010-02-15T15:47:00.000-08:00

Riggs and I are hanging on mooring R-9 here in Boot Key Harbor, town of Marathon, Key of Vaca, State of FLA. With 226 boats on moorings, and maybe another 100 anchored, its an interesting cruiser's community here. At 9 am every morning, we flip on the VHF to channel 68 and join the 'cruisers net', a moderated radio conversation. It begins with announcements of recent arrivals and departures, then general announcements, then buy-sell- swap, and finally trivia. If you have something to say you announce your vessel name, the moderator recognizes you, and you have the floor.

In the announcements section I have been encouraging boaters with dogs to show up at the local park at 8 am for doggie play time, hosted by Riggs, and we're just starting to get a response, with 5 or 6 dogs and owners showing up today. The park requires leashes, but at 8 am nobody is there, and the dogs get along much better off the leash, so we flaunt the rules. At least so far.

Since Spray has no generator we live off battery power, an ever dwindling resource. Today was warm and calm so at 11 am we cast off the mooring and did a 2 hour cruise around Boot Key, in an effort to recharge the house battery, which started at 75% discharged and ended at about 50% discharged. We either need a higher-output alternator or a longer cruise.

One hour of our cruise was actually at anchor, with the engine running, so I could use some power tools (sander and vacuum) to do some work on Spray. Those tools would deplete the battery quickly if the engine was not running.

Below is a picture of Riggs and Mama Manatee that my brother took last week. A true meeting of the minds.

Sometimes the stars align

2010-02-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we (brother Steve, his wife Connie (birthday gal), Riggs & I) left Islamorada after our overnight visit, to return to Boot Key Harbor. Since the winds had shifted to the south, we traveled on the 'inside', or north side of the Keys, and it was a good ride. Remember that I had written that when we arrived back here ' In a perfect world my mooring will be available' . Well, we were about an hour out of BKH when I got 'THE CALL' from Marathon City Marina saying we had worked our way down the wait list and that my mooring was ready. So within 2 hours we had pulled in and tied up to the ball (Romeo 9), and I had paid for a month's rental.

If that call had come 2 hours earlier, we would have been too late and they would have skipped down the list. If the call had come 2 hours later we would have already dropped two anchors here and would have had to undo all that. Pretty good timing. Steve credited it to clean living.

Tuesday night was sweet: balmy and calm. We had supper at the Tranquility Bay resort, where Steve & Connie were staying. Very, very, nice.

Overnight the wind shifted to the north and increased to a steady howl, which made the mooring well appreciated. We all had a big breakfast at 'The Stuffed Pig' which is a popular diner right across Rt 1 from the marina here, then took off in their rented convertible for Key West, an hour away. We parked in the Old Town area and walked, walked, walked around, checking out the shops and the whole busy scene. Steve and Connie went into theButterfly Conservatory while Riggs and I hung out. They both liked it alot.

We had a nice lunch at a nice place along the Harbor Walk (Riggs was allowed to join us), and then walked, walked, walked through the neat neighborhoods, the cemetery, and the Truman Annex area, ending at Mallory Square before sunset to watch the jugglers, escape artists, and sword swallowers (ugh) perform. With Riggs stashed in the car we walked the length of Duval Street to have a light supper here, then back to the car for the drive back to Marathon. It was a long but great day.

A word about Riggs in Key West. I had looked into finding doggie day care here in Marathon so we wouldn't have to drag him along, but fortunately could find no good options. Riggs was great in Key West. We walked maybe 5 miles while he must have walked 20, getting excited about every other dog he saw, every chicken he saw, every store he walked into, all the people, all the sniffs, etc. He had a great time and was quite well behaved. We were glad he was there.

Today Steve and Connie drove up to Miami, where they will stay at a South Beach hotel for 2 nights before flying home to CT, possibly attending the Miami Boat Show. Before they left they hit a few stores and then came by the marina, bearing food, boat goodies (dinghy light, galley knife, kellet weight (look it up)) and dog treats. How nice. We took a fun dinghy ride down the mangrove creeks, and through some of the local canal neighborhoods, then back to the marina dinghy dock where a nice surprise awaited. It turns out that 2 manatees (1,000 lb mother and 400 lb calf) were at the inner dinghy dock, posing for photos and even allowing petting. Really cool.

Oh yeah, when we were anchored off Islamorada, Steve caught a couple bait fish for some later night fishing. As you can see below, Riggs found the bait fish quite interesting.

Steve & Connie are now in Miami and I'm gonna have a relaxed week-plus here to do some work on Spray until buddy Ken arrives on the 21st for a couple of days. I'll keep you posted.

Waiting for a 'Ball Movement'

2010-02-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Riggs and I completed our return to Boot Key Harbor, leaving the anchorage in Newfound Channel Harbor and cruising 20 miles east for a mid-day arrival. The mooring field (226 mooring balls) was still filled, and the remaining spots to anchor were crowded, so we dropped anchor jammed in between a couple of the 'permanently anchored' boats fairly near the Marathon City Marina. Most of those boats have at least 3 anchors out in different directions, and so they don't swing much with changing winds. Spray, on the other hand, with a single anchor out and 60 feet of rode, will swing, and thus may collide with neighboring boats when wind direction changes.

We paid about $50 for a week of anchoring privileges (showers, dinghy dock access, etc.) and got put at the bottom of the waiting list for a mooring ball, with 16 boats ahead of us. A 1 mile walk up route 1 to a Publix supermarket helped to refill Spray's larder.

Winds were pretty consistent out of the east for the next day so we didn't interfere with nearby boats, but a neighbor, who was concerned for his boat, suggested that we might move 100 yards towards shore and still find sufficient water. I took the dinghy and my 6' boathook and prodded the area and confirmed sufficient depth and so moved Spray to the new location. Over the next day the wind shifted from east to south, so I put out a second anchor to the south to keep Spray from swinging into shore. The next day the wind shifted to the west then north so I put a 3rd anchor to NW (towards shore), to againg limit Spray's movement.

So with 3 anchors out in a star pattern Spray stays put but eventually the lines get twisted up. Fortunately my brother Steve, and his wife Connie, arrived late Saturday (they just barely escaped the big mid-atlantic blizzard), and so on Sunday morning I had extra hands to deal with the anchors. We pulled them up one by one and then went for a short cruise circumnavigating Boot Key. Then a nice lunch, a little driving around the local Keys, a stop for groceries, a little down time and then back to Spray for chowing down before the Superbowl started. We went to the Marina lounge area where a projection TV was set up and a full house (at least 100 boaters) watched the Saints win.

As of today only a handful of boats had left moorings (producing a 'ball movement' as they say here) and so we still had a dozen or so ahead of Spray on the wait list. Since the next 2 days weather looked good, we decided to do an overnight cruise 35 miles up the Keys to Islamorada. Today's conditions were perfect for cruising on the 'outside', and the anchorage here is flat calm. We had supper at Lorelei's Restaurant, which was quite busy, with both a band and a pretty good magic act to watch. The coconut shrimp appetizer was fantastic.

Tomorrow is Connnie's 34th (hexadecimal) birthday and we'll cruise back to Marathon via the 'inside'. In a perfect world my mooring will be available but most likely we'll need to anchor again. Wednesday is supposed to be windy so we'll probably take their rent-a-car to Key West for the day.

Boot Key Harbor (Marathon) is a great place to stay, well protected and with a great transient boater's community, which is why nobody wants to leave. Eventually we'll get a mooring and will probably stay here until the end of Feb., when Sheila comes aboard for 2 weeks!

Key West

2010-02-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Good friend Bev Bishop flew back to her winter home of St. Louis today, after 8 days aboard Spray, with Riggs and myself. At last report we were anchored in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon (ICW mile 1195). We stayed there only one night (last Thursday), enjoying a fun Friday morning with hot showers, a neat dinghy tour of the local canal-based neighborhood, and a great lunch at Burdine's Chiki-Tiki Bar & Grille.

We left after lunch and cruised only 10 miles to an anchorage off of Bahia Honda State Park (mile 1205), between a Rte 1 bridge to the north and a defunct railway bridge to the south. Exploring the park was fun: Bev and I had great ice cream and Riggs rolled on stinky dead fish on the beach. The anchorage was challenging due to the tidal currents and the small wind-driven rollers coming through. We deployed a stern anchor to point Spray into the rollers, thus changing obnoxious rolling into tolerable pitching.

On Saturday we had a short but quite rolly cruise westwards to Newfound Channel Harbor (mile 1215), a well-protected anchorage between Big Pine and Little Torch Keys. Not much shore exploring options, but enough to drain the dog. It was nice & warm & calm so hanging out on Spray there was real nice.

Sunday we started early and headed west for the 30 mile run to Key West (ICW mile 1243). Winds were from the north so the islands blocked the waves and it was a nice run. After passing south of Key West we turned north and passed the cruise ship docks and Mallory Square, and continued up and around Fleming Key and at 1 pm, tied to a ball in the Key West City Marina's large mooring field in Garrison Bight. This might be the farthest extent of Spray's 09/10 cruise!

It was a mile or so dinghy ride (kinda bouncy) to the actual marina where we could register and take showers. We then left Riggs aboard Spray and dinghied to the Key West Bight dinghy dock, and walked a bit of the old town area, watched the jugglers, etc. at Mallory Square, and had dinner at the Turtle Kraals waterfront restaurant.

Monday started rainy, so we hung out on Spray, reading and doing crosswords, until after lunch. Then we took Riggs for a 3 hour walk around Old Town, which was great fun for all 3 of us. Jeff Siegel had emailed an unqualified recommendation for a restaurant named Seven Fish, and we had 6 pm reservations, so we dressed up (ie: wore shoes) and went ashore for a fabulous dinner (see below).

Bev's taxi picked her up today at 11 am, and Riggs and I were then preparing to depart when the phone rang. It was the Marathon City Marina, saying that we were next on the waiting list for a mooring there. Unfortunately we were 60 miles away and had to give up our place in line. After cruising east for 30 miles, we are once again anchored at Newfound Channel Harbor. Tomorrow we'll reach Marathon, where we'll have to squeeze in for anchoring, and get to the end of the line waiting for a mooring ball. On Saturday brother Steve and his bride Connie arrive in Marathon for 5 days of sun & fun, so stay tuned.

The Good Life

2010-01-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

Bev, Riggs, and I are down in the Keys now, anchored in Boot Key Harbor in the town of Marathon, on Vaca Key, and life is good. We've had great weather, following winds, and friendly harbors.

Yesterday we left John Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo (ICW mile 1140) and cruised down the outside of the Keys, past Plantation Key to Snake Creek, where we could cut across to the inside. It was a tight fit, and we saw truly scary numbers on the depth sounder as we crossed through, and still as we traveled on the inside in like 5 feet of water (Spray draws 4 ft). Eventually we reached Islamorada (mile 1160) and found the renowned restaurant Loreleis. We anchored offshore in somewhat exposed conditions and the 3 of us dinghied in for a late lunch. Our cruising guide had said the Loreleis allowed dogs but when we arrived there were signs saying no dogs. It turns out that one of their managers doesn't like dogs (can you imagine?). With some pleading and a few tears we were allowed to stay with Riggs and had a great (and huge) lunch. The restaurant's resident cat came by to torture Riggs, and everybody was happy.

Back on Spray we dozed for awhile (see above where Bev assumes her yoga pose 'Snorked Off Swan') and had a light supper. We cruised on this morning, first on the inside, then crossing through 'Channel Five' to the outside, where we found some small swells to keep things rocking.

There are 2 entrances to Boot Key Harbor (ICW mile 1195), the main one is from the west, but there is a shallow-draft option in from the south through Sister Creek, and we squeezed into the latter, winding through the mangroves. Boot Key Harbor is a very protected lagoon where many cruisers spend most of the winter. The city of Marathon maintains 226 moorings here, and they were all filled when we pulled in. What an impressive grouping of vessels! There is anchorage space too which was pretty full but we squeezed ourselves in and dropped the hook. After lunch (grilled cheese) we dropped a 2nd anchor to hold a tighter position, then dinghied ashore to the largest dinghy dock setup I've ever seen, and registered at the city marina. This is quite an operation, with a huge cruiser's lounge, bathroom/shower facility, pumpouts, etc.

We walked Riggs through a city park, then up busy Route 1 to a supermarket where we bought a few items for tonight's supper.

One of the aspects of Bev's visit I've most looked forward to has been her cooking skills. It turns out that I cooked the first few meals while she was aboard, both to show off my meager skills and to let her get acquainted with Spray's galley. Bev cooked us a great breakfast yesterday but tonight she showed her stuff: First frying some thin-sliced potatoes, then some broccoli and onions, capping things with sauteed tilapia filets with mustard sauce. What a fantastic meal!

So we arise at daylight, I make a quick run to shore with Riggs, then we share a nice breakfast and get underway. We spend the day on the flying bridge, watching the Keys slide by, in awe of the turquoise waters. Finally we snake our way into an anchorage, explore the shoreside ammenities, and return to Spray for a great meal and beautiful sunset. What more could one ask for?

The picture below shows just some of the anchor lights here in Boot Key harbor.

Running on the OUTSIDE

2010-01-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

So good friend Bev arrived in Coconut Grove, right on time Sunday afternoon, and her welcome aboard Spray was a trial-by-fire, as I had moved Spray to one of Dinner Key Marina's moorings, which are somewhat exposed to waves, and the winds were strong out of the south. So we had a bouncy dinghy ride to Spray, and then Bev's first night aboard was a little bouncy and full of odd splashy and creaky sounds. We had a nice supper Sunday at 'Scotties' on the waterfront (they allow well behaved dogs with responsible owner - Riggs and I faked it).

More trials on Monday. Its still windy and squalls are threatened. First, Bev and I go to a high-end grocery and load up on fancy foods. Next we drop off the mooring and tie up to a slip to fill the water tank and pump out the holding tank, experiences Bev didn't want to miss. Next we motor over to a fuel dock and fill Spray's tanks (80 gallons diesel @ $2.75). Our computer is on-line showing a radar image of the approaching squall line, and the fuel attendant had heard that tornados were possible, and since they're not busy we're welcome to stay tied to the fuel dock for a while. The fuel dock happens to be 5 steps from - wait for it - 'SCOTTIES', and its lunch time so what better way for the 3 of us to ride out the storm. It does rain and blow some as we dine but its not so bad.

After lunch we head across Biscayne Bay on a short but bouncy run to No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne (ICW mile 1096). Its a very well protected harbor and we drop anchor, have a nice long walk around Bill Baggs State Park, then supper aboard Spray. A very calm night.

Today we wake to wall-wall sun and moderate winds from the North. We indulge in a frittata for breakfast, then head down Biscayne Bay, with 2' following seas, which Spray handles comfortably. Its really glorious travel. Our goal today was John Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo (ICW mile 1140), a 44 mile run. We were 1/3 way through it, at the south end of Biscayne Bay, and I'm looking at charts trying to figure how to enter the park, and it dawns on me that while we are heading down the ICW on the INSIDE of the Keys, the park is on the OUTSIDE!! So I call the park and get advice: we must go through Caesar Creek, at the bottom of Elliot Key, to cross to the outside, then cruise SW for 20 miles to the park. So that's what we did.

Bev's an able helmsperson and did 80% of the driving today, and so it was she that got to plow Spray over a 3' deep sandbar to enter Caesar Creek, which was kind of exciting. The run down the outside, between 1 & 2 miles from shore, in 10-12 ft of turquoise water, was like a dream - just spectacular. After a couple hours we were off of central Key Largo, turning into South Sound Creek and winding a mile through the mangroves to this great park (see below). We're at a slip at the park marina, with shore power, hot showers, and everything. Its really nice here.

Tomorrow: probably an easy 20 mile run to Islamorada, on Upper Matacumbe Key. There's a waterfront restaurant there, Lorelei's, that allows well behaved dogs. We'll fake it again.

Miami and Biscayne Bay

2010-01-24T04:19:00.001-08:00

After the big Florida cold spell the pendulum has swung, and its been generally hot and humid for the past several days, with daytime highs about 80 and nighttime lows about 70. I don't even like to look at my beloved sleeping bag now.

Last Tuesday we left our anchorage up the Middle River in Fort Lauderdale (ICW mile 1063) and continued south. One weird thing about the Middle River: the cold period had caused a major die-off of iguanas, and there were several dead ones bobbing around in the water, and several more on the ground at a park we went to. Iguanas are not native here and these are the descendants of released pets, and are (were?) an unchecked invasive species, so everyone considers the die-off a good thing, but it was kind of creepy. Some of them were 4 feet long!

Anyhow, on Tuesday we cruised through very built-up Hollywood and Hallandale, dealing with several drawbridges, and reached North Miami, turning off the ICW at mile 1080 to enter the large anchorage at University Cove, which has a big Florida International University (FIU) campus on one side, and a day-use park on the other. This was a great anchorage, well protected and an oasis in the concrete jungle.

On Wednesday we cruised down the ICW with downtown Miami on our starboard (see photo above), and Miami Beach to port, passing Miami Government Cut, where the cruise ships dock, then entering wide Biscayne Bay. Our goal for the night was 'No Name Harbor' (mile 1096), which is part of Bill Baggs State Park on the south end of Key Biscayne. On the way in we passed Bebe Rebozo's old house (there's some trivia for ya). Anyhow, No Name Harbor was just great, small and protected, with a white sand bottom yielding turquoise water (see photo below), and a huge park for Riggs and I to explore. We anchored with maybe a dozen other boats and stayed 2 nights.

Friday we had a date to keep, so we cruised straight across to the west side of Biscayne Bay, to Dinner Key, which is in the Coconut Grove section of Miami. This is a busy place with several Marinas, all expensive, so we snuck in and anchored in a little pocket among some of the local boat bums. Like the boat bums we tied our dinghy to a railing in front of the fancy Chart House restaurant and climbed up and over the rail. It must be interesting for the diners there enjoying the expensive view, when a small dog is tossed over the rail to be followed by a grizzled vagabond.

Our date was to meet friends Karen and Jay, who I first met at new-years 2000 on a little island named Lulu off SW FLA near Port Everglades. They both teach at a fancy private high school in Coconut Grove. Riggs and I walked towards their school and met Jay half-way there. After a campus tour (we had to sneak Riggs in as a potential student), we went to a waterfront bar/restaurant named Scotties (who amazingly allowed Riggs in) and had a few beers with Spray bobbing 100 yards away. Then we went to K&J's lovely house for a great feast of a dinner, including probably the best and biggest BBQ shrimp I've ever had, and I met their 12 year old son (and trumpet player) Daniel. I also did a couple of loads of laundry there. Riggs loved their lush yard and pool and 3 cats, and we were so stuffed and mellow that when they offered us a bed for the night, we had no argument. A real bed for the first time in 3 1/2 months! Thank you Karen and Jay for the great hospitality!

Late yesterday morning Riggs and I were back aboard Spray and hung out. We did go ashore to walk down to the local dog park, which Riggs enjoyed. Its still warm, but some fronts are passing through, so its somewhat cloudy and windy.

Today we have another big date, as Castine friend Bev Bishop flies in to join us for a week+ cruising down the Keys. She'll arrive about 4 pm so I've got some boat cleaning to do today (we've been living like bachelors), plus I'll move Spray to one of Dinner Key Marina's rental moorings, which will allow us to use their showers, and fill the water tank and pump-out the holding tank. Tomorrow, if its not too windy, the 3 of us will head down the Keys. I'm thinking of following Jay's advice and heading for Boca Chita Key for the first night.

Too early for Spring Break

2010-01-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

Hello from Fort Lauderdale. This is definitely not Kansas, nor Maine. This is the most densely populated area of Florida, and there are A LOT of boaters here. Jeff Siegel tells me to expect less-than-friendly encounters around here, and I imagine that constant exposure to this many people, and this many boaters, could sour anyone on both.

Sunday morning we left our protected anchorage in North Palm Beach, pulling up anchor in a warm rain shower. We traveled a few miles, pulling off the ICW into the North Lake Worth anchorage (ICW mile 1014) where we dropped the hook for only an hour while I dinghied ashore to pick up some groceries. Then we continued south, through on-and-off rain, for 17 miles, to the Lantana anchorage near South Palm Beach (mile 1031). It was a so-so anchorage, near a park and a noisy restaurant, but we could land Riggs ashore. That's getting to be a challenge around here.

Today was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and in the 70's, so we spent the day on the Flying Bridge. Riggs spent much time watching homes glide by (some with dogs!), but occasionally ducks under the dash to catch some z's (see below). We were in the 'concrete canyon' area, where the ICW is bordered on both sides by vertical concrete seawalls, and every power-boat wake bounces from side to side and seems to never dissipate. Its good that this was not a weekend day. There were enough boats as it was.

We had several drawbridges to deal with. They open on various schedules: some on the hour and half hour, some at quarter past and quarter till, some every 20 minutes, and some every 15 minutes. If you maintain about 6 knots it all works like a well-timed series of stop-lights, and you don't have too wait too long for any one bridge.

We turned off the ICW in Fort Lauderdale at mile 1063, and headed up the Middle River for a half-mile, and again dropped anchor with a dozen or more beautiful homes looking at us. If we dinghy farther up river, under a low bridge, there is a park for Riggs.

A comment about speed limits: Around here you see many signs spelling out many rules, most apparently based on the prevalence of Manatees. Some areas are minimum speed - no wake, others are 25-35 mph max, and here in this anchorage, its minimum speed, unless you are pulling waterskiers. Go figure.

Tomorrow we will hit Miami!

Creeping to Miami

2010-01-16T05:40:00.000-08:00

We've been slowly moving south, and are now anchored in North Palm Beach, a mere 75 miles from Miami Beach. We have a rendevous there scheduled for Sunday Jan 24, when we pick up good friend Bev Bishop for a week+ cruise down to Key West.

Good news! The great Florida Freeze has ended! For the past 2 nights, with temps in the 60's, we haven't broken out the sleeping bag. Today we may see 80 degrees. One sad effect of the cold spell has been the killing of many fish in the shallower sections of the local waterways, where water temps have dropped below 50 degrees. The huge local population of vultures (see above) have benefited from this.

We left the mooring field in Stuart this past Tuesday, after 5 nights there. The batteries needed charging, so we made a slow run (1100 rpm which yields maybe 5 knots) about 5 miles up the north fork of the St Lucie River. It turns out that Spray's alternator charges the battery at the same rate whether we go slow or 'less slow'. We anchored in Kitching Cove, pretty close to a Club Med resort. It was still cold then (50s day, 30s night), so the Club Med wasn't doing any apparent business. Kitching Cove has expensive homes to the east and mangroves to the west and I was wondering if I would be able to find a place to land Riggs to 'empty the dog'. We dinghied a half mile or so north up a creek, which was loaded with wading birds, and found a small beach with a couple of benches, so we landed there. It turns out it was on the 'nature path' of a new subdivision. Roads were in, lots were prepped, but no houses. Maybe a victim of the Florida real estate bust. Anyhow, it made a great place to walk Riggs.

Wednesday we slowly motored back down the St Lucie, continuing down the ICW to a wide spot called Peck Lake (ICW mile 992) where we anchored for 2 nights. The barrier island there is part of Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge and its a very short walk from the ICW side to the Atlantic beach (see below). The beach is quite empty and remote, yet monitored by the authorities by helicopter flyovers and by a remote TV camera that you can see on the post to the left (Big Brother). Technically, Riggs is not allowed on the beach, so we tried to hide him from the camera.

Peck Lake was a nice place to kill time. The only down side was wakes from passing boats moving up/down the ICW, but these didn't occur at night. It was while we stayed here that the freeze broke, and we enjoyed real Florida weather.

Yesterday we pulled anchor and cruised 20 miles south through Hobe Sound to North Palm Beach (mile 1013). Quite a difference from Peck Lake as this is a very densely populated area, with mansions crammed together along the ICW. It was getting windy and the weather report for the weekend calls for somewhat strong southerlies, so rather than head for the standard anchorage (North Lake Worth), we turned off the ICW into one of these neighborhoods of nice homes all connected to a series of canals, and each with a dock and boat or two. The canals are too narrow to anchor in but this one has a couple of cul-de-sacs, and we are anchored in one of those, in about 5 feet of water (Spray draws almost 4 feet). Its very protected, but we've got about a dozen homes looking right at us. There's a boat ramp about 1/2 mile further down the canal, with a park, so Riggs is happy.

We're gonna hang here until tomorrow, and let the winds quiet down, before continuing towards Miami. Jeff Siegel says there aren't many scenic, dog friendly anchorages between here and there and recommends going past Miami to explore Biscayne Bay, then returning to Miami. Sounds like a good idea!

Hanging out in the mooring field

2010-01-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

Riggs and I are killing time, and trying not to freeze.

After 4 enjoyable nights in Vero Beach (ICW mile 952), on Wednesday we cruised 25 miles south to the St. Lucie Inlet, where the St Lucie River meets the Atlantic, thus recharging our batteries and getting us ever closer to our next rendevous, which is to meet friend Bev Bishop in Miami on Jan 24 or so. But that's two weeks away, and Miami is only 3 days cruise distance, so we've still got time to kill.

We spent Wednesday night anchored in Manatee Pocket (mile 988), right off the inlet, which has many boating facilities which serve the sports fishing community (the Atlantic here is sailfish territory) and other boaters. Manatee pocket lived up to its name, as we dinghied up to the end of the pocket and found 3 manatees hanging out. The water was murky, so all you could really see was huge nostrils poking up now and then and taking a breath.

Thursday we came up the St Lucie River, stopping at the town dock here in Stuart FLA, where we walked the small historic district and grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch. We then continued upriver to the first lock on the Okeechobee Canal. The idea was to go through the lock and anchor across from the park up there for a few nights in fresh water so as to kill off any nasty hull growth such as shipworm larvae. When I contacted the lock tender with my plan I was told I couldn't anchor there but would would have to take a slip at the park, which requires a reservation. So we turned Spray around and came back to Stuart, renting a mooring at the city marina, and here we still are, three nights later.

The issue of transient boaters anchoring in FLA has been contentious over the past few years. Some towns have tried to ban anchoring in 'their' waters, and have set up mooring fields where, for a relatively small fee, transients can stay, but they cannot anchor for free. The state of FLA fought this, arguing that these are state waters, and that towns have no authority over them. Within the last year the state won a court case on this so, just outside Stuart's mooring field, some boats are anchored, and legally so.

Here's how I compare the municipal mooring fields in Vero Beach and here in Stuart:

- Cost: V.B. = $14/night, Stuart = $10/night - Stuart wins

- Protection: V.B. much better protected, both from winds and boat wakes.

- Shore Facilities: Both are very good, with dinghy docks, laundry, hot showers, cruiser's lounge.

- Local Shopping: Advantage Stuart. Here its 3 blocks to a supermarket, and 3 blocks to the historic district, with shops and restaurants. But, V.B. has a free bus system that will take you to those things.

- Dog friendly: Stuart has a park very close, but V.B. has an official dog-park very close. Advantage V.B.

- Privacy: Stuart puts 1 boat on each mooring while V.B. will raft 2 or 3 boats/mooring if needed. That sounds rough but apparently it works OK. I can't really say as we didn't get rafted there (did my deodorant fail?).

Overall: Its a tie. Both are very good.

Let's talk about the weather. As you've no doubt seen in the news, its been COLD! We're coming on two straight weeks of nights in the 30's, and days in the 50's (there have been a couple of 70-degree days in there just to torture). Yesterday was especially nasty, with strong north winds, rain, and high temps in the low 40's. Today was cold and windy too, but at least sunny, which helps alot. Spray has a propane heater, which I've mostly been using to take the chill off in the morning, until the sun can do its thing. Yesterday the heater was used more. The predictions are for gradual improvement over the coming week. Let's hope so.

One thing Spray lacks is a generator, so at anchorage or a mooring we live off of ever-dwindling battery power, and 4 or 5 days is a practical limit. Then we need to cruise somewhere so the main diesel engine's alternator can recharge the batteries. If its nice tomorrow, we'll go somewhere, not sure where yet, otherwise for sure on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Are we stuck in 'Velcro' Beach?

2010-01-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

That's the dinghy dock at the Vero Beach City Marina (ICW mile 952), where we've been renting a mooring for the last few nights. Can you find Spray's dinghy? (hint: its the grey inflatable with the outboard motor)

After a very bouncy Friday night anchored off Serenity (yeah right!) Island, south of Melbourne, we cruised 26 miles downwind to arrive here mid-day Saturday. We stopped at the fuel dock to pump-out the waste holding tank (yum!) and were assigned mooring no. 57 of 57, way to the north end of the mooring field. Aside from the long dinghy ride to the dinghy dock, its a great location as we are in the lee of a big clump of mangrove (or whatever) and so its quite protected from the cold north winds we've been having.

Did I say cold? You've probably heard the news talking about this huge mass of arctic air causing record low temps across 2/3 of the country, with freezing temps extending way into FLA. It was 36 degrees this morning and will be even colder tomorrow morning. But its not so bad: This morning we ran the propane heater for 45 minutes which took the chill off until the sun could do its thing. It was wall-to-wall sun today and warmed to 58 or so, and Spray has large windows so gets a nice greenhouse thing going. I will say that I wouldn't trade my sleeping bag (nor the little 4-legged heater that goes in it) for a thousand bucks.

Vero Beach is warm in another way: the people. After we were settled in on Saturday I gave a call to Gene & Kathy Spinazola, longtime Castiners, fellow cruisers, and now snowbirds who own a nice winter home a few miles west of here. After Riggs and I did an exploratory walk to the beach and back, they drove over and picked us up, took us to Walmart/Sams Club to buy motor oil for Spray, then to their house for drinks, then back here for dinner at the Riverside Cafe, which is very nice and right next to the marina. It was great to see them and swap cruising stories. Many thanks Gene and Kathy.

But Vero's hospitality continued. Sunday was kind of overcast and we walked to a nearby dog park where Riggs had a great time socializing as only dogs can. We were back aboard Spray contemplating supper when the phone rings. Its a new voice to me. Some guy saying 'I can see your boat from my house'. It turns out to be Wayne Thomas. He and his wife Carol have a house right here on the ICW, facing the mooring field. They have a dock and a 48 foot yacht (m/v Fluke) and are friends of the Siegels, who had let them know Riggs & I are here. So anyway, Wayne invites us over to their boat for supper, and we dinghy on over. Riggs meets their cute dog Ursa (she's a schipperke - very sweet) and I meet Wayne and Carol and their cruising buddy Eddie Grandal and we have a great evening on their beautiful HEATED yacht.

I'm learning why Vero Beach is known among cruisers as Velcro Beach, you tend to want to stick around. What with the cold nights, and high winds predicted for tomorrow, we're going to extend our stay until at least Wednesday. So stay tuned.

Oh, that's Riggs on the Atlantic shown below. He loves the beach!

Florida's Space Coast

2010-01-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Titusville (ICW mile 878) on Wednesday, Cocoa (mile 898) on Thursday, and today just south of Melbourne FLA (near mile 925). These towns are all in the Cape Canaveral area, and the Nasa facilities are hard to miss. That's the VAB above, which I think is the worlds largest volume building.

These towns are all on the Indian River, which here is wide and shallow and has nearly no tides nor tidal currents. We visited the nice downtown areas of Titusville and Cocoa, and enjoyed the waterfront New Years Eve celebration in Cocoa (which included an ice skating rink!). Plus on Wed. and Thurs. we had great weather, with temps in the 70's.

That changed today as a cold front came through, bringing rain and wind and cooler temps. Tonight we are at an anchorage off of Rock Point called Serenity Island, and the cruising guides say its a great fair-weather anchorage. But with the high winds were having its pretty exposed, and we're in for a rockin' night.

Tomorrow we will reach Vero Beach (mile 952), which some cruisers call 'Velcro Beach' since its so welcoming that boaters tend to stick around for awhile. We'll stay at least 2 nights, and visit with Castine friends Gene & Kathy Spinazola.

Daytona and beyond

2009-12-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

Its been clear and cold here in north FLA (30s at night, 50s day) so we've been moving ever southwards. We did make St. Augustine on Sunday, staying in the Salt Run anchorage (ICW mile 777), which was crowded with moored boats but had a great view of the Anastasia Lighthouse (above), a handy park with dock, and no tidal current, which was a nice change. We did have a 1-2 knot head current slowing us most of the day on Sunday.

To avoid more head-current, we got going early Monday and made a short run to Matanzas Inlet (mile 792), anchoring right off Fort Matanzas (below), which is a national monument. The fort was built by Spain in the 1700's to protect against a back-door attack on St Augustine, but the name Matanzas has a gruesome history dating back to 1565. It was a bit tricky getting into the inlet due to shoaling in the ICW there but we got some good advice from another boater and snaked our way in, dropping the big CQR anchor (which we've been using 90% of the time lately due to tidal currents) into a swift current.

We dinghied over to the national monument HQ, where we walked the nature trail boardwalk, and played on a sandy beach. After lunch aboard Spray we snoozed and read in the sun, then some more beach play.

Today we got an early start towards Daytona Beach. This time we had a knot or so of current helping us, and although it was cool, the strong sun coaxed us upstairs to drive from the flying bridge - very pleasant. We made great time and reached Daytona by 1 pm. Riggs was enjoying snoozing in sun so I decided to continue on another 10 miles to our current anchorage in New Smyrna Beach (mile 847). My brother Steve should be impressed that we traveled 55 miles today. Once again we're in strong tidal current, just off the ICW channel. We've already been to shore to empty Riggs and explore downtown. Time to make supper. Tomorrow: an easy 30-mile run down to Titusville FLA.

Christmas in Florida!

2009-12-26T15:21:00.000-08:00

Just Barely in Florida... Fernandina Beach is the very first town you hit after crossing the GA-FLA border.

We spent Tuesday night in St. Marys GA (off of ICW mile 712) which is on the St Marys River (duh) which forms the GA-FLA border. Since we anchored in the river, we might have slept exactly on that border. St. Marys is another very nice town, with a waterfront park and nice downtown. Riggs and I had a late lunch on the front deck of a restaurant that made good fish tacos and spectacular hush puppies. We also saw an interesting art gallery full of paintings of Barak Obama, made from various press photos.

Wednesday we had a very short (6 miles) cruise to Fernandina Beach (mile 716), first stopping at Florida Petroleum, which is THE place to load up on marine diesel. Its all they sell and I paid $2.52/gal for 120 gallons, which is 20-30 cents less than any marina around here. By the way, our last fill-up was back in Beaufort NC, more than 500 miles ago, so Spray is maintaining better than 4 mpg, which is great.

After filling the tanks we picked up a rental mooring in front of Fernandina Harbor Marina, and paid for 3 nights stay ($15/night which includes dinghy access, showers, trash and pumpout services). So we stayed in Fernandina Beach through Christmas, which was a good choice. For one thing, we finally saw some warm weather, especially Christmas Eve (Thurs.) which was in the 70's.

Thursday was a day for walking. Riggs and I walked through downtown where we found much of interest (see photo), then across the barrier island (2 miles) to the beach on the Atlantic where we walked and played chuck-it, then 2 miles back to Spray where I parked a (hopefully) tired Riggs.

Then I took off and walked 2 miles to the local multiplex and saw a matinee showing of Avatar3D, which was very cool (plus I got a free pair of sunglasses!), and then back to Spray, with a detour to a pet 'bakery' for a little last-minute shopping.

Christmas was nice and quiet. We walked through the town which was deserted and peaceful, and had a feast aboard Spray (used 2 pots!). This morning the weather had shifted back to cold (50's) so we filled the water tank, emptied the holding tank, and cruised 25 miles south to anchor just north of the St. Johns River. We are technically in Jacksonville at a place called Sisters Creek (mile 739).

Tomorrow we'll get an early start and should reach St. Augustine.

The souther we get, the colder it feels!

2009-12-21T13:47:00.001-08:00

Its not the people who are cold, its the weather. I know it is getting to be late December, but we're within spitting distance of Florida (assuming you can spit 25 miles), and its been in the 30's at night and tops out in the mid 50's in the afternoon. Its been plenty of incentive to keep moving south.

Riggs and I left Charleston (ICW mile 470) last Wednesday (as caught on video by Jeff Siegel here: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/2009/12/bills-departure.html ) and spent the night in Mosquito Creek (mile 513), at the microscopic town of Bennetts Point SC. One thing we look for at an anchorage is some shore access for Riggs, and this is often in the form of a boat ramp with a dock we can tie the dinghy to. Riggs can then chase the tennis ball in the boat trailer parking area, if there is no better option. We did that, and Riggs met some local pooches, and we walked around a bit.

Thursday we continued on to beautiful Beaufort SC (important to pronounce it 'bew-fert') at ICW mile 536, and found several boats anchored there. A tour of the town explained why: very boater friendly with a nice waterfront park and free dinghy dock. The downtown boasts many restaurants and those along the waterfront have outdoor dining where dogs are allowed, so Riggs and I shared our 3rd restaurant meal of the trip. We had a 2-hour walk around town, and even found a marine store that stocked fuel filters for Spray's diesel. I thought of staying 2 nights in Beaufort, but a big rainstorm was predicted for the next day. Spray is actually pretty comfortable to drive in the rain, so we motored out on rainy Friday.

And rain it did! This storm ended up becoming the blizzard that hit the mid-atlantic coast over the weekend, but here it was warm (upper 60's) and rained 2-3" on coastal SC. We cruised up to mile 570 and dropped anchor in the New River, near Daufuskie Island, which has a rich history, and a new development where brother Steve has purchased a lot for his future retirement home. We went to shore at Daufuskie Landing (boat ramp!) and wanted to explore the island but the weather was too nasty (plus its a pretty big island).

The rain ended Friday night but there were gale-force winds which, combined with the strong tidal currents, made for a rockin time. When the wind aligns with the current its OK as Spray points her bow into the waves, but 6 hours later the current reverses, and Spray doesn't know where to point, and maybe the waves hit from the stern or worse, from abeam. On a night like this you put a lot of faith in the ground tackle. I've been working on improving my anchoring techniques and its paying off.

Saturday we quickly crossed into Georgia, crossing the Savannah River (we had to thread our way through busy ship traffic) and battling strong westerly winds (these raised a stiff chop in the sounds we crossed), we ended up near mile 614 in Kilkenny Creek (reference to South Park?), which had nice trees to block the west winds. We had a much more comfortable night here.

A word about dolphins (like Flipper). We see loads of those every day, and they always impress. They are quite large and very active. I had one great experience where a dolphin was riding our bow wave and I put Spray's helm straight and went to the bow to look down for a couple minutes as the the dolphin jumped forwards again & again. On the other hand its a bit disconcerting when we are in the dinghy and a pair of dolphins dives right underneath us and you can feel the wake from them.

And a word about channel depths. In parts of SC and especially in GA, maintenance of the ICW has been put off, so there are several channels that are shoaling, creating scary numbers on the depthfinder. On the other hand, the tides here are significant (8'), and we've been fortunate with our timing, with rising tides in the morning, high tides mid-day, and ebbing tides in the afternoon, usually after we have anchored.

OK, where were we? Oh yes, leaving Kilkenny Creek on Sunday morning. Still strong westerlies, but not as bad as the previous day. In fact, while its quite cold, we have wall-to-wall sun. Spray has large windows and gets a nice greenhouse effect thing going on a day like this. We cruise another 35 miles (have you noticed how much we like ~ 35 mile days? Leave at 9am and drop anchor at 2 pm) and anchor in the Duplin River, near ICW mile 650. Plenty of time to dinghy to the ferry landing at Sapelo Island, where the U of GA has a Marine Center, which we visit on a georgeous 4 mile walk.

A calm night Sunday brings us to this morning, when we continue south (for ~35 miles of course) to our present anchorage off of Jekyll Island (mile 685). Our anchorages since leaving Charleston (except for Beaufort) have a common factor of remoteness and poor (very poor) ATT web access. Here we are much more civilized since Jekyll is a resort island with hotels, a shopping center, and so on. We took a long walk to explore (a bike would be nice here) and made it to the broad beach on the Atlantic which Riggs loved. Tomorrow morning I will walk 1.5 miles to the grocery store to buy supplies. Then onwards: probably to St. Marys GA, a pretty town near the FLA border.

Note that we've developed a routine: leaving at a leisurely 9 am or so after shore time (empty the dog) and breakfast (Grits!), cruising for 5 hours or so, then time to explore the new location. I could get used to this.

Charleston is great!

2009-12-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

We've really enjoyed our week in Charleston SC but, as you can see, they do communicate a bit differently here. Note the palms.

Its obvious that we did pop for the extra marina fees to stay here for a week. In part this was to have more time to do Christmas shopping, boat maintenance (oil change!), and see more of this lovely city, but its also a factor of the Charleston Maritime Center's pricing scheme. For example our last 4 days here cost only 2/3 of our first 3 days. If we extend the stay to a month, the remaining 3+ weeks costs the same as our first week. Its tempting but we've gotta move southwards.

The weather has been mixed: 70's and mostly sunny today, but plenty of rain and cold in the past days. Since we have shore power, I bought a small electric heater that was perfect to keep Spray warm on the cold nights we've had.

The best part of hanging here has been to visit with cruising friends (and fellow Castiners) Karen & Jeff Siegel. We've shared some great meals (especially last night's 'dinner party for five' aboard their boat), evening movies (we've been turned on to 'Red Box'), much boat talk, walks around town, and doggie play times with Riggs and their two labs Dyna & Dylan. They will be leaving Charleston in early Jan. to head south. My guess is that we will rendevous again in the FLA Keys.

This big-city living and marina comfort can be addicting, but its time to head down the ICW and live on the anchor. We'll fill the water tank tomorrow, do some final grocery shopping, and get going. In two days we should be in Beaufort SC.

Into the low country of SC

2009-12-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

Riggs and I have been moving southwards in search of warmer weather. On Saturday we left Wrightsville Beach (ICW mile 283) and kept to the ICW, stopping for the night at a free dock in Southport NC (mile 309). We had time to explore Southport's nice downtown area, and did some Christmas shopping there.

Sunday we crossed into SC and stayed overnight at Barefoot Landing (mile 354), a large open-air shopping complex built around an artificial lake and having a long marina-dock along the ICW. Yes, we actually paid to stay there! The dock filled up but the shops were mostly empty. I was overdue for a shower and was disappointed to find that they had no such facilities, plus we were tied up just below the picture windows of a Greg Norman's Australian Grille restaurant. If I did my normal bath on Spray's rear deck I could cause some diners to lose their surf&turf.

So it was a ripe captain who on Monday piloted Spray down the Waccamaw river, one of the prettiest sections of the ICW so far. We past remote Bucksport SC which I'm told has some connection to Bucksport Maine, and eventually pulled of the ICW into Thoroughfare Creek at mile 389 and dropped anchor opposite a huge sand dune that Riggs really enjoyed playing on. Plenty of privacy there for my much-needed bath.

We are now into the SC low country (even though I haven't seen a 100' hill since NY), which is marshland covered with grasses. We are also back into a region of significant tides, and the anchorages have changing currents as a result. Tuesday we continued south (actually more westerly), pausing to tour the harbor of Georgetown SC, which looks to be worth a stop on the return trip. For our overnight we chose 5 Fathom Creek, which is near McClellanville SC. The creek is surrounded by grass-covered marsh (see photo above) but a dinghy ride to explore town was worth it. A fishing community with huge old live oaks dripping with spanish moss.

Since the wind was expected to kick up on Wednesday, and the 5 Fathom Creek has significant reversing currents, we tried using 2 anchors off Spray's bow, one upstream in the creek and one downstream. This seemed to hold during the night but when I woke up at 6:30 am I noticed two things: 1) the wind had certainly kicked up and 2) we were moving!. One of the anchors had broken free and had wrapped its line around the other's. I immediately fired up Spray's diesel and spent an hour getting things untangled and got us underway.

I had originally planned for a liesurely 25 mile cruise today to leave us just 15 miles short of Charleston, but since we were underway so early, and since the wind was screaming, I instead called the marina in Charleston and asked if they could take us a day early. They said yes so we plowed forward into a strong headwind and opposing current. While the wind was strong, the ICW was mostly protected so waves were minimal, until we finally burst into wide Charleston Harbor, where a nasty 4 foot confused sea welcomed us.

We were taking the waves on our port bow, with huge spray dowsing the windshield, when my cell phone rang. It was Jeff Siegel who was expecting our arrival in Charleston tomorrow but was monitoring our progress via our Spot tracker. He says 'Are you in Charleston Harbor?' and I get directions from him on how to find the Charleston Maritime Center while struggling to keep Spray upright. A very bouncy 10 minutes later Spray is pulling into the marina while Jeff and Karen come to the slip to meet us (with Jeff filming on his iPhone - see at their blog: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/ )

So after a rather hairy morning (what with dragging anchors, high winds and waves, etc) we got Spray tied up and Riggs emptied (thanks Karen!) and the Siegels invited us aboard their trawler 'Acapella' for a lunch of wonderful soup. Riggs and the Siegel's dogs Dyna & Dylan formed an uneasy relationship due to turf issues and size differences. I hope some outdoor play tomorrow will make them (Riggs that is) more comfortable with each other.

This marina (Charleston Maritime Center) is small and ideally located next to Charleston's French Quarter. Riggs and I have taken two long walks, checking out the shops and scads of restaurants. Right now I've paid for three nights here, but I'm tempted to extend that to a week. Stay tuned.

Travel adventures

2009-12-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

There have been only two days of travel since my last entry, but several interesting events occurred which I want to record.

Thursday morning we woke in Beaufort NC (mile 202 on the ICW) to sun and moderate winds after the big wind/rain/thunderstorms of Wednesday night. Fortunately we were in a snug anchorage (Town Creek). After raising anchor we hit a nearby marina to fill Spray's fuel and water tanks and headed west past Morehead City and into Bogue Sound, which is quite shallow (3-5 ft typ.) except for where the ICW channel is cut (more like 12 ft deep). There was a decent headwind in Bogue Sound, so allthough Spray was all washed off from the heavy rain, she was soon again covered in salt spray.

Eventually Bogue Sound narrowed down to a bunch of flat islands and meandering channels, as we approached our evening destination of Swansboro NC (mile 229 on the ICW). We were about 2 miles from Swansboro, just passing Bogue inlet when I noticed a US Coast Guard patrol boat (A big inflatable with 2 huge outboards) dawdling up ahead. Sure enough, when we got close, they turned on their blue flashing lights and called Spray on VHF channel 16, asking when we had last been boarded for inspection. I answered 'never' and they asked me to maintain course and speed while they came up alongside. After confirming that Riggs was not aggressive (obnoxious maybe but not aggressive) two soldiers jumped aboard, while two more remained on the CG boat.

So I'm trying to drive Spray into a strong head-current, hang onto Riggs, and introduce myself and Spray to the soldiers. I quickly realized that letting Riggs go to check them out would settle him down, and after a few sniffs and pats Riggs mellowed right out. The CG guys looked over Spray, including below in the engine room and in the lazarette, and wanted to see my documentation. I suggested we wait until I could pull into Swansboro and drop anchor, and they agreed. I still had my hands full as the Swansboro anchorage was quite choppy, with opposing wind and current, and I couldn't get Spray's anchor to set properly. It would hold our position until I backed down on it when it would drag. Finally I decided to shut down Spray's engine so we could finish the inspection and I'd deal with the anchor later.

The CG guys went over Spray's documentation, inspected the head connections, checked PFD's, flares, fire extinguishers, etc. and awarded Spray a perfect score, for which I have to thank Dave Wyman and Jeff&Karen Siegel for their contributions. Even better, after the CG left, I restarted the engine and found that the current had pulled on the anchor and it was now well set.

Once we are at anchor I usually feel like cracking open a Yuengling (official beer of the cruise) and kicking back for a bit but Riggs will not hear of it. He makes a fuss until we get the dinghy unloaded and are headed to shore. So we tied up at Swansboro's dinghy dock and did the explore town/empty-the-dog routine. Swansboro is a pretty town but like many I've seen, all of the shops near the water sell gifts or antiques or such. Useful stores like grocery or hardware are usually a mile walk or more.

By the time we returned to Spray, the anchorage had calmed down considerably, so we had an easy night. Today we wanted to cover some distance so we hit shore at first light to empty the dog, and were underway by 7:30. At last the ICW conforms to my mental images of it, travelling down narrow waterways that separate barrier islands from the mainland. Today we were always within a mile or two of the big, bad ocean, but we never saw it as we traveled. An interesting thing today was passing through Camp LeJeune, where they occasionally have weapons firing across the ICW (see photo above). Their warning sign was flashing, but we saw no patrol boats which would be there to stop us if there was live-fire (so I'm told), so we scooted through with our heads kept low. Caught some glimpses of big hovercraft things, helicopters, and a landing craft being loaded, but nothing went boom while we were there.

Our goal today was Wrightville Beach NC (mile 283 on the ICW) and it became a 'race for the bridges'. Almost all of the drawbridges we have seen up to today were on an 'open-on-request' schedule. Today we had 3 bridges that opened either on the half-hour or on the hour only. We did well with the first one (Onslow Beach), arriving just a few minutes before it opened. The 2nd bridge (Figure Eight Island) was about 2-1/2 hours later and we should have sped up to make the 2 pm opening but instead arrived at 2:15. There was almost no road traffic on the bridge so I asked the bridge operator for an unscheduled opening so we could have a shot at the 3:00 opening at the 3rd bridge (Wrightville). No dice. So when we got through we had about 28 minutes to cover the 5 miles to the 3rd bridge, or we would have to wait another hour to get through (which involves somewhat uncomfortable 'hovering' near the bridge with a current trying to push you into it). It was pedal-to-the-metal for Spray, roaring along at 2000 rpm, and making over 9 knots (with some help from the current). We could see the bridge from 3 miles away and it slowly grew closer as the clock ticked towards 3:00. Thanks to that current we made it just in time, then quickly turned left to get to tonights anchorage at Wrightville Beach.

Wrightville Beach is a surfer's town, plus it has scads of condos and beach houses common on the outer banks. The dinghy dock here is just 2 blocks from the beach, and Riggs had a great time playing ball near the pounding surf. We rewarded our big travel day with a take-out pizza brought back to Spray. And I finally got my Yuengling.

Recipes from Spray

2009-12-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

There's a gale blowin' outside so Riggs and I are still in the well-protected Town Creek anchorage at Beaufort NC. Good ATT access here so why not another blog entry. While buddy Dave was aboard I did most of the cooking and he did most of the dishwashing. Dave seemed to enjoy what I cooked so I thought I'd share some dishes. I claim that Spray has 'some of the comforts of home' which includes a 3-burner propane stove but we also live just a few notches above camping standards, so you should compare these recipes to a standard such as Dinty Moore canned stew.

Root veg. medley : This falls into the category of 'one-pot-wonders' which is an asset when the cook is also the dishwasher.

-Put frying pan on heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.

-Cut up a potato and put chunks in hot oil. Cover.

-Cut up a couple carrots and add to pan. Cover.

-Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

-Cut up some garlic and add to pan. Cover.

-Think of something else to add such as broccoli pieces or canned beet chunks. Add those and cover.

- Stir things now and then and serve when everything is cooked.

Bill's beautiful beans: Also a one pot wonder.

- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.

- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

- While onions cook open 2 cans of beans. Beans must be of different colors such as:

- Kidneys and cannelinis

- Baked and black

- you get the idea

- Pour beans into pan. Cover.

- If either can of beans has flavoring (chile, tomato, etc.) you are done when things are hot. Otherwise add some spices - whatever you have,

- After serving and consuming, ventilate boat.

Pasta with enhanced red sauce :

- Select ~ 8 oz of pasta (Spag. or Penne or whatever) and cook in boiling water.

- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.

- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

- When onion is mostly cooked add some red sauce from a jar.

- Open a tin of tuna (I use solid albacore in water), pour liquid onto Rigg's supper, and add tuna to sauce. Use fork to bust up tuna chunks.

- Serve sauce over cooked pasta.

(This meal can be cooked with one pot. Email me for details.)

Fritata ala Spray : (Dave didn't get to sample this as we had no eggs)

- Put frying pan on low heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.

- Slowly saute some cut-up onions, garlic, red peppers, mushrooms, etc. (go for some color). Cover pan.

- Crack 6 eggs into a bowl and whip them up with a fork.

- When vegs are soft pour in eggs and cook slowly with cover on pan.

- If you have broiler, put uncovered pan under broiler when almost all cooked, otherwise just finish cooking in covered pan.

If any reader comes to cruise on Spray, this is the type of gourmet cuisine that can be expected.

Time to move southwards

2009-12-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

Riggs and I are on our own again and are in Beaufort NC (pronounced bow-fort and not to be confused with Beaufort SC which is pronounced bew-fert even though both cities are named after the same guy). Good friend Dave Wyman was aboard for over 2 weeks but drove north from New Bern NC this morning. We had a great time exploring the large estuaries of eastern NC.

Let's see... the last blog entry had us celebrating Thanksgiving in lovely Washington NC up the Pamlico River. Windy weather (and the beauty of Washington) prompted us to stay there 2 nights, so we got to sample some of their many restaurants plus we walked to a West Marine store where Dave bought himself a Christmas present of a Garmin 400c hand-held chartplotter which was on black-Friday sale for half price. It has all US marine charts loaded in it and is an impressive gadget. We had fun playing with it over the last few days.

Riggs really liked Washington since we could play chuck-it only steps from the boat. You've never seen obsession like he has for that tennis ball. Also, by staying an extra day, Dave and I were able to tour Washington's Estuarium which is a great museum based on NC's huge estuaries. Really well done.

About mid-day Saturday we motored down the Pamlico river to Bath NC which bills itself as the oldest town in NC (est 1705). They have a free state-owned dock and some beautiful old homes.

When cruising I like to alternate between longer travel days (say 7 hours cruising) and shorter days (maybe 3 hours), with occasional no-travel days tossed in (usually by the weatherman). Washington to Bath was a short day which we followed by a longer cruise on Sunday to Oriental NC, a sailor's town on Pamlico Sound. They have a small free dock that was occupado so we instead anchored in nearby Green's Creek and took the inflatable (Dave calls them deflatables) to the dinghy dock. The cruise to Oriental included a nice mix of wide sounds and narrow canal travel. When we land at a new town an exploratory walk is usually the first task, and Oriental is a nice town to explore. But I think what we will most remember about Oriental is the great supper we had at the M&M Cafe. Dave says it was the best meal we shared during his time aboard Spray.

If you look at a map of eastern NC you will see the huge areas of Abermarle and Pamlico Sounds, and the 3 arms that stretch westwards: Western Abermarle, Pamlico River, and Neuse River. We had explored the first 2 arms based on sheer curiosity and Dave gave us a good reason to travel up the Neuse since only up there in New Bern could he find a car rental for his return trip. So on Monday it was up the Neuse we went. New Bern is a large town (Craven County seat) with a new convention center, a great waterfront park (chuck-it!), and yes, free town docks. After docking, we did our exploratory walk, then had supper aboard Spray. This morning (Tuesday) I had planned for breakfast aboard Spray but it was sorta cold, so we opted for a restaurant breakfast at the nearby Hilton hotel. It was ritzy but I preferred the diner-type breakfasts we had earlier.

After Dave's taxi picked him up today, Riggs and I fired up Spray's 135 HP Ford-Lehman diesel, and we raced back down the Neuse River (at 7 mph), through the Adams Creek Canal, and arrived here in Beaufort NC by 4 pm, anchoring in well-protected Town Creek, on the back-side of town. We were welcomed into the Beaufort area by several dolphins, which was very cool. At Rigg's insistance, we dinghied ashore and explored the town a bit before retiring back to Spray.

There is a gale warning up for tomorrow into Thursday, so we may be pinned down here. If its not bad in the morning, we may fill the fuel & water tanks, and then cruise 25 miles down to Swansboro, thus moving ever southwards. We'll see.

Off, on, and off the ICW

2009-11-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Dave Wyman is still along with Riggs and I as we wander the waters of eastern North Carolina. At last report we were in pretty Edenton, about 40 miles west of the ICW. We used their pump-out station Monday morning (Dave is studying different pump-out ideas as he will be helping Castine decide how to best provide this service) and left for a 3 hour cruise to Columbia, a very small town located on the south shore of Abermarle Sound. We tied to their free dock which has a nearbybath-house with hot shower. At the adjacent municipal building I signed the visitor book and noted that the previous entry was almost a month old. We are off the beaten path.

Amazingly, Columbia has a winery, which sells a red it calls the 'healthiest wine in the world' because its made from a special grape that has 40 times the antioxidants of regular grapes. I tasted some and decided I'd rather oxidize.

On Tuesday morning we walked an incredible boardwalk that takes you into the cypress swampland that dominates this area. We were sure glad it wasn't mosquito season. Then Spray took us back into Abermarle Sound where we wanted to head east to reconnect with the ICW at the Alligator River. We traveled an extra hour to get there as we had to swing way offshore to skirt a posted military bombing range (don't want to short-cut through there). It was a gray day and as we started south on the Alligator we began losing daylight so we pulled into an inlet at a place called Catfish Point. Very tricky to enter between submerged trees and very isolated in the cypress swamp (no lights, no cell-phone signal, and probably no other people for 20 miles), we used our anchor for the first time in NC. Since the swamp had no solid ground to dinghy to, Riggs had to have an Astroturf night, his first since NJ. He knew just what to do and did it. What a good boat-dog!

Did I say earlier that we were post-mosquitoes? Not here we weren't. We had to batten down the hatches to keep them out. Wednesday morning we got going early. In these protected waters we can cook oatmeal while underway. We continued south on the Alligator River, encountering a tugboat pushing a barge (see above). This rig is called a towboat - go figure. Note that the barge is loaded and so is low in the water, drawing maybe 10 feet while the channel depth is only dredged to 12 feet (sometimes its less) so we understood why the towboat traveled slowly. Dave guesses its hauling coal from near Charleston SC up to some power plant in NC or VA.

From the Alligator River we entered the Alligator-Pungo Canal, which is about 20 miles long and connects the Alligator and Pungo Rivers (duh). It travels through mostly swampland and looks somewhat like the Dismal Swamp Canal, except it is maybe 3 times wider so it can handle towboats, and it has no locks. At our stately 7 knot speed Spray makes a very small wake, as compared to a large planing motoryacht that came up from behind at 20 knots, slowed while it passed, then roared ahead, sending 3 foot waves rolling out into the swamp. Even Riggs was not impressed.

Five miles after exiting the A-P Canal, we reached Bel Haven NC, anchored off a boat ramp, and dinghied ashore (first use of dinghy in NC) to explore. Bel Haven is having tough times, with half the downtown storefronts empty. We later hear that its been this way for years. We did have a nice dinner there. Crabcakes...mmmmm.

Today (Thanksgiving Day) we went south down the Pungo River to where it meets huge Pamlico Sound. Here the ICW continues south but here we again diverted west, 33 miles up the Pamlico River to the large town of Washington NC. This is a beautiful, prosperous looking town that is the seat of Beaufort County and has a huge riverfront bulkhead and park where we tied up for free docking (of course). As its Thanksgiving everything was closed, except for a nearby Mexican bakery (yum), and the fact that the dockmaster was on duty. The downtown is very nice, with some buildings painted in pastel colors. Should make some cool photos.

Today was warm, sunny, and calm. Really beautiful. After exploring downtown we snacked on Mexican pastries, then Dave went to use the hot showers while I played chuckit with Riggs. Many families were walking down the riverfront promenade, holding their bellies and groaning from being so stuffed, and most laughed at Riggs as he zipped after his tennis ball. As the sun went down I started cooking our Thanksgiving feast. One of my 'one-pot-wonders' where potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and broccoli are all sauteed in olive oil in one pan. Its mostly root vegetables, as are traditional Thanksgiving sides, so except for lacking a big dead bird it was close to the real thing. We liked it, and clean-up was easy!

For tomorrow, plan A is to head back east to the town of Bath NC, but there is a gale warning posted, so we may hang here in Washington for another day. Not a bad place to hang.

No anchor needed in NC?

2009-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

We've been in NC since Thursday afternoon and have yet to use our anchor, nor have we had to pay for marina space. This state (at least this part of it) really welcomes cruisers.

Thursday we had a great cruise down the Dismal Swamp Canal, which is narrow (trees hang over on both sides), and perfectly straight for maybe 12 miles, bends left by 30 degrees and is then straight for another 8 miles. Just after the bend we crossed from VA into NC and shortly tied to a bulkhead at the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitors Center, just in time for lunch. They allow free overnight tie-up for as many boats as will fit. That night there were 4 sailboats and us. We had the afternoon to kill, so we crossed the canal on a unique floating drawbridge and walked some in the Dismal Swamp. Very beautiful but apparently loaded with ticks in summer. Dave and Riggs then rested on Spray while I checked out a bicycle from the visitors center (free of course so I didn't complain that it was a womans bike). They have a paved bike path that follows the canal for 3 miles so I rode down and back.

Friday we filled Spray's water tank, had a nice breakfast, played chuck-it with Riggs, and left at 9:45 in hopes to reach the southern lock to exit the canal at the 11:00 lock-through . We had a 1+ knot following current so we occasionally just drifted so as to not arrive too early. After the lock-through (Riggs had a lock-side romance with a little poodle - ooh la la!) we continued through another straight section (Turner's Cut) and then joined the Pasquotank River. This section meandered through cypress swamp and was just gorgeous. Eventually we reached Elizabeth City, which many cruisers call the friendliest town on the ICW (we can't argue it) and pulled into one of their 14 free slips at about 2 pm.

To learn how Elizabeth City (pop ~ 20,000) became the 'Harbor of Hospitality' (see photo above) read this:

http://www.discoverec.org/pdf/PressRelease/ElizabethCitytoDedicateRoseBuddiesMarker18Sept2008.pdf

Sure enough, after some exploration around downtown we attended the wine & cheese cruisers reception complete with a booster spiel by the Mayor. I was a little surprised when the Mayor began by giving a special welcome to Spray and its first mate Riggs. It turns out that when we were holed up in Atlantic City NJ for 4 days the Mayor was on another boat at the same anchorage and had dinghied by for some chat and as usual Riggs made an impression.

E.C. could have been the model for Mayberry. I kept looking for Sheriff Andy Taylor. We stayed for two nights and did our part to reward their welcome by eating in 4 restaurants, buying groceries, and touring their superb 'Museum of the Abemarle'. They provide free WiFi to the boat slips and have a webcam

http://www.ecncweather.com/harborcam.php

aimed at the boats so Dave and I had silly fun waving at our spouses while they got on- line and watched us.

We pulled out of our slip at dawn today and continued down the Pasquotank, which is quite wide below E.C., to reach huge Abemarle Sound, a notoriously rough body of water. The ICW cuts south across the sound, but we didn't. Back when we were at the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitors Center, they gave us a great map of the eastern half of NC, which has an incredible number of waterways. We both thought it would be a neat area to explore so as we entered Abemarle Sound we hung a hard right turn and proceeded west for 40 miles to arrive in Edentown NC after 7 hrs total travel time today (we call this a long day). Some call Edentown the prettiest town in the South. They too have free docking for cruisers, and since they are off the ICW and its post-season we are the only visiting boat here. They also have HOT SHOWERS for our use. The town itself reminds me somewhat of Castine, very historic with beautiful old homes and a great waterfront although they do have more downtown business and restaurants.

Its Sunday so the town is quiet. Tomorrow they are predicting rain and wind so we might stay put here. If we do move it will probably be to nearby Columbia NC where they have .... free docking (of course). We'll keep ya posted.

Change of crew, Change of State

2009-11-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

We resume the narrative last Friday where Spray and crew are hunkered down in St Michaels MD while ex-hurricane Ida blows through. Sheila gets a ride to Chestertown to retrieve her car and now we can run errands such as laundramat, groceries, etc. For lunch brave Sheila tackles the steamed crab experience (above) and in the end its Sheila 6, crabs 0. She says crabs are way more work then lobsters. Lazy Bill has a crab cake (which was great!).

Saturday morning is sad as Sheila and Katie depart for parts north and Spray heads out into a choppy Chesapeake, headed south towards Solomons MD and getting half way there to anchor in Dun Cove, just north of Tilghman Island. Sunday we make for Solomons and arrive at that busy boating hub (Spray's first stop on the west side of the Ches.) at 2 pm to anchor off a large marina. We are here to pick up good friend Dave Wyman, a neighbor from Castine and lifelong boating professional (Dave performed the survey of Spray before purchase). He meets me at the marina at 5 pm with his daughter and son-inlaw (who live nearby) and we all head to a Wal Mart to pick up some oil for Spray, then off to a great restaurant for dinner. Dave moves his gear onto Spray and sleeps aboard so we can get an early start Monday morning.

Our goal is to speed south (at 7 knots) to Norfolk VA where we will enter the ICW. Monday is a beautiful, warm, calm day and we bask on the Flying Bridge as we make about 45 miles, crossing into VA, to an inlet named Dividing Creek, which has a large beach for a walk and Riggs-play. Its a nice calm night but the next morning there was a gentle train of waves in the creek. Once we head back out into the bay we find their source: 3' waves on our beam that yield a very rocky ride south. We pull into the Back River about 10 miles above Norfolk, anchoring right off Langley AFB. It was a fairly windy night and Spray pitched some, but we were beat and slept well.

Today was a day of amazing variety and surprise. We got started early and headed out into a still choppy bay. Had a rocky ride for an hour or so before pulling into Hampton Roads where you enter Norfolk Harbor and where several rivers meet. I'm glad Dave was aboard and that he used to live nearby and so knows the area well. It was crazy with large shipping traffic to avoid, and the huge Navy facilities with all their activities including helicopters zipping overhead and patrol boats zooming by. Dave worked with the Navy for several years and was a good tour guide, identifying each ship type and how they work. We turned south into the Elizabeth River, next to downtown Norfolk and past ICW mile mark 0 at hospital point. We are in the ICW!

We passed through through two open bridges, wait at a RR drawbridge that ignores our radio request but does open after a horn toot, and then arrive at the Gilmerton drawbridges, a road bridge and parallel RR bridge. Two sailboats are waiting there and apparently the RR bridge is stuck down. We end up waiting 2 hours (with eventually 7 other boats and a tug&barge) for the #$%& RR bridge to open, which it finally does. Its only another mile or so before we (and the 2 sailboats just mentioned) turn right into Deep Creek, which shortly leads us to the lock that is the northern end of the Dismal Swamp Canal (first dug in the 1760's by slaves owned by G. Washington). We had hoped to be in time to drive most of the way down the canal but instead we make the last lock-through of the day (lifting Spray and contents by about 8 feet) and are now tied to a dock just past the lock. The fellow operating the lock was a hoot - very helpful and informative and nice enough to play us a tune on his conch shell while Riggs and another boater's dog played with his dog 'U-turn'.

This Dismal Swamp is interesting. The lock operator says the apparent isolation is a facade, that we are actually in the middle of the 2nd biggest population center in VA. Sure enough we can walk 1/4 mile to a very busy road, struggle across a couple intersections, and have dinner at a mexican restaurant (with the occupants of the 2 sailboats).

Tomorrow we'll have a leisurely morning as we can't proceed until a nearby drawbridge opens at 9 am. The we'll cruise at 5 knots max (which is fine with Spray) for 17 miles down the canal (mostly straight as an arrow) and at mid day we'll stop at the canal visitor center, just into NC. We may stay the night there, or continue south out of the canal (a lock will lower us by 8 feet) and head to Elizabeth City, which is reported to be the most welcoming stop on the ICW. Stay tuned to see how that goes.

So happy together

2009-11-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sheila and Katie arrived in Chestertown right on time at 2 pm last Wednesday. It was a great reunion and they moved right aboard Spray. We spent a nice night at anchor in the Chester River. Thursday morning we had coffee & pastries in town, did a load of laundry, filled Spray's fuel and water tanks, and headed downriver, leaving Sheila's car at the Chestertown Marina. It was a nice cruise to Queenstown, where I had visited before. We walked the town and played ball on the nearby sand spit.

Friday we woke to a strong NW wind and it looked nasty enough on the bay to convince us to stay another night in Queenstown. We did an extended town walk, including through some farm country, and played more beach-ball. The wind that kept us pinned down brought out 3 young guys with huge kites and boogie-boards. They use the kites to pull themselves across the water, and sometimes way up into the air!

Saturday morning we woke to 30 degrees and Bill actually ran the propane heater for a while. We left Queenstown and turned south through the Kent Island Narrows. After a couple of bouncy hours we dropped anchor at St Michaels MD, a pretty town that is home of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum, which was hosting an Oyster Festival. The town was full of touristos, sucking down raw oysters left and right (often followed by a shot of vodka). We found a great field to play chuck-it, exhausted the dogs (yeah, right), and hit the town for a nice dinner.

Sunday morning was beautiful and warm, and we sunned ourselves aboard Spray (see above) while we listened to the church bells of St Michaels. After some dog play Sheila and Bill enjoyed a nice harborside lunch, and then went beer and wine tasting. Since the oyster festival was over, the town was much quieter. We had reserved a slip at Higgins Boatyard for Sunday night (they were full Sat.) so we moved Spray over to the slip, then we stocked up on groceries and fixed a nice supper aboard Spray, and finished with a DVD movie.

Monday we had breakfast in town, walked a mile or so to a hardware store, then back to Spray where Bill did some scrub-down work while Sheila hit some stores. At noon we left St. Michaels for a short and sunny cruise north into the Wye River, anchoring in Shaw Bay which has a decent beach. Tuesday we woke to a calm, warm, but cloudy day and toured the Wye East River at a mellow 5 knots before entering Dividing Creek for an anchorage. Dividing Creek almost cuts Wye Island in half (hence the name) but is surrounded by large trees and offers great protection. We dinghied to shore to find two state-maintained group campsites, which were perfect for chuck-it time. We then hiked a nature trail through a segment of old-growth forest (some awesome trees). Supper on Spray (did I mention that the caliber of food aboard Spray was several notches improved with Sheila aboard?), then a John Wayne movie.

Wednesday was still cloudy, and now somewhat windy, as apparently the remains of former hurricane Ida was moving in. We cruised the Wye West River a bit, and anchored for lunch near the bridge that connects Wye Island to the mainland. The radio was giving scary forecasts for overnight (NE winds gusting to 50 mph) so we decided to move to as protected an anchorage as possible, thus it was back to Dividing Creek for us. It started raining and the wind did blow, but we were snug and safe at our anchorage. Our rain gear was put to good use for dog-on-shore trips.

The original plan for today was to head back to Chestertown, both to run a few errands and to get Sheila (and Katie) to her car for their Saturday departure. But the 30-50 knot NE winds prompted a plan B, which was to return to the slip in St Michaels, have a nice lunch in a heated restaurant, and beg a ride for Sheila to get to Chestertown to pick up her car. The weather is now truly nasty (we're in the best protected corner of the harbor and are still bouncing some) and is expected to remain so at least into Saturday. So we'll hunker down, try a few more restaurants, revisit the brewery and winery, and finally put Sheila and Katie on the road to Maine on Saturday morning. I will then head south to Solomons MD to meet up with good friend David Wyman on Monday. He will be aboard for ICW cruising for nearly 2 weeks!

Killing Time on the Chester

2009-11-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

DeRigging Days here in Chestertown MD was much fun. We had (unknowingly) arrived at the very start of the 4 day festival last Thursday, and got to see maybe eight tall ships arrive. The ships were from Maryland and nearby states such as VA and NJ. On Friday more spectator craft arrived, and our empty anchorage started to fill up. Friday evening there were fireworks (see above) which Riggs and I watched from Spray (amazingly, Riggs enjoyed them). By Saturday things were hopping here even though the weather was so-so.

We had seen enough, and Spray's battery was in need of charging, so on Saturday afternoon we headed back downriver. But not for good, because Sheila was able to break free from work ,and mother-support, schedules to drive down (with Katie-Bopp of course) for some cruising. They'll be arriving tomorrow and we will meet here in Chestertown (I want her to see this sweet town), where Spray is once again anchored.

Between Saturday and today, Riggs and I had 3 days to kill so we gunkholed around the lower Chester River, staying at anchorages in the offshoot Corsica River (Sat. night), nearby Reeds Creek (Sun. Night), and Grays Inn Creek (Mon. night). Each had their own beauty. This morning we woke to calm misty beauty in Grays Inn Creek (below) and began our leisurely return upriver to Chestertown.

Of course I'm excited to be seeing Sheila tomorrow, and Riggs will be VERY excited to see Katie-Bopp. The four of us will be cruising the mid-Cesapeake area for maybe nine days, returning here to Chestertown on about Nov 14.

I can't carp about Chestertown

2009-10-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

We've cruised up the Chester River, which extends eastwards from Chesapeake Bay, to end up here in Chestertown MD. I remember writing that Essex CT was maybe the prettiest town I've seen but we have another candidate here. Very historic with some beautiful houses and brick buildings.

I had been thinking about how slow things were around here as we are several weeks post-season, so imagine my surprise when we arrive in Chestertown for day 1 of their annual Downrigging Weekend, a gathering of several tall ships and celebration of the end of the boating season. Read more about it here:

http://www.sultanaprojects.org/downrigging.htm

But let's back up to see how we arrived here. On Monday we took a break from gunkholing to visit Rock Hall MD. We anchored in nearby Swan Creek, and dinghied in to Haven Harbor Marina where they were nice to let us use their dinghy dock and walk into town. Riggs and I had an excellent lunch at the Harbor Shack, right on the harbor, then walked all over Rock Hall. Later I went solo to a grocery store there and bought some supplies.

Tuesday we cruised south to Queenstown MD, at the mouth of the Chester River. The entrance to the cove there was challenging but worth the effort, since the cove had a nice sandy spit for Riggs to run on, and the small town was very charming. Around here you see lots of history of both Revolutionary times and also Civil War times.

Wednesday we cruised farther up the Chester into Langford Creek, to anchor behind Cacaway Island. Really beautiful with scads of canadian geese (in transit) and eagles, plus the local foliage is near peak in color. Today we went further up the Chester, which is very rural with spectacular waterfront farms.

I had been told not to miss Chestertown, and I now know why. Its a lovely town, with well-preserved old sea-captains homes, and an old-time brick downtown. That we arrived in time for this tall ships gathering is a bonus. After touring the waterfront and downtown areas (If pee-marking is valid then Riggs now owns this town), we were heading back to the park where we had tied our dinghy and noticed two fellas fishing from the bulkhead, So we met these nice retired guys, Franklin and Craig (I think), who have perfected the art of shoreside fishing for carp. They each have a lean-to to sit under, and a bracket that holds two fishing rods, each with electronic sensors to announce when they have a bite. They use some sort of corn as bait. They apparently regularly reel in 10-20 lb. carp, which they take a picture of and then release.

Riggs entertained the three of us with his amazing ball chase-and-retrieve skills and occasionally a fish-alarm would go off. At one point I was offered the chance to reel in one of the behemoths and you see the results above (I'm the one smiling). It was all great fun.

We'll hang here to enjoy the festivities tomorrow, including fireworks (probably directly above Spray). Then we'll gunkhole our way back down the Chester River.

Gunkholing

2009-10-25T05:25:00.001-07:00

No its not a nasty medical procedure, it is instead the art of cruising in shoal waters, anchoring in small coves that are difficult to enter. This is what Riggs and I have been doing in the upper Chesapeake over the last few days.

Our story picks up last Tuesday, near Cape May NJ. We got an early start down to Cape May and through the Cape May Canal, which cuts into Delaware Bay. Everything I've read and heard says 'watch out for Delaware Bay' as it can be quite rough. So as we emerged into a 3-4' chop, and couldn't see the other side of the bay (its quite wide there), it was a little intimidating. But it was a warm sunny day, the wind soon abated, and we had luckily timed our run with a favorable current. It got quite calm so we moved upstairs to the flying bridge and worked on our suntans as we motored up the bay (Rigg's nose is quite black now). We made such good time that by 3:30 we were entering the C&D Canal, which is sized for large ships, passed through part of the state of Delaware, and anchored in Chesapeake City MD in time for pizza and beer at the Chesapeake Inn (we dined al-fresco so Riggs could partake too).

Thus a major milestone was achieved. Instead of 'racing' southward, to get through the 'big water' sections while dodging the gales of fall, we entered Gunkhole Mode. Wednesday morning we leisurely explored the interesting town of Chesapeake City, and then unloaded my little yellow canoe to explore up a beautiful meandering creek. We pulled anchor at about noon, and cruised for a couple hours down the remainder of the C&D, then the very upper Chesapeake, then turning east and cruising an hour up the Sassafras River, dropping anchor in the mouth of Woodland Creek (in about 5 feet of water).

Another new aspect to this Gunkhole Mode is that the great ATT internet service we enjoyed since leaving Maine is now much reduced. This is a rural area and I typically get '1 bar' of service, which usually kicks me offline after a minute or so. So blogging, etc. is a pain.

Woodland Creek was a great anchorage. Ther were only a couple of houses in sight, and there were several small beaches to visit, plus uninhabited Daffodil Island to explore. We dinghied a mile farther up the Sassafras to see the towns of Georgetown/Fredericktown only to discover that there were no actual towns there, just six humongous marinas stuffed with thousands of boats. It boggles the mind to think what July 4th weekend must be like around here when all of those boats head down the river. Now its post season, so they are all buttoned up. One of the marinas let us tie up to their dock and walk around for awhile, which Riggs appreciated. Upon returning to Woodland Creek, Riggs had fun swimming after his beloved tennis ball.

Thursday morning we again got the canoe down and paddled up to the head of the creek. Really beautiful and apparently popular with duck hunters (many blinds). We explored Daffodil Island and Riggs swam again. Then back to Spray for lunch, a little boat maintenance, and some reading. All in all, a nice day.

Friday morning we motored back down the Sassafras and down the Chesapeake to Still Pond Creek, a cove on the east side of the Chesapeake. It was a narrow and shallow inlet, but we fit and again anchored with about 2 feet of water beneath our keel. In the dinghy we visited the sandy spit at the entrance to the creek, and explored nearby Churn Creek.

Saturday a strong south wind came up, and we left Still Pond Creek for the next cove going southward, Worton Creek, only an hour cruise or so. The bay had a nasty 4' chop that we nosed into, resulting in much spray on Spray. Worton Creek has a couple of marinas, but the one store here was out of milk and beer, and supplies aboard Spray are getting low.

Saturday evening a front came through, complete with thunderstorms and heavy downpours. It was no nasty I had to lay out the astroturf (tm) for Riggs. Today its crisp and clear, the wind has shifted to NW, and we'll do a short cruise to yet another gunkhole, Fairlee Creek. Tomorrow we'll head for a real town, Rock Hall MD, where we can load up on groceries. Until then, we're enjoying being in Gunkhole Mode!

Free at Last!

2009-10-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Riggs and I were trapped near Atlantic City for 5 nights and 4 days. Two sequential Nor'easters swept by with much rain and gale-force winds. And cold too. We tried escaping on Saturday, by creeping down the 'inside' (NJ ICW) path, but we only got a few miles before encountering a railroad bridge with 5' clearance that wasn't opening due to high winds and tides, so we had to turn around and return to the 'Brigantine' anchorage near AC.

It did get worse on Saturday, to the point where it was too treacherous to take the dinghy to the beach, so Riggs had to learn to do his business onboard Spray. I laid out a square yard of astroturf (tm) on the rear deck (the poopdeck?) and, after holding off an amazingly long time, Riggs finally performed every 'number' in his repertoire.

Sunday was still nasty, but was made much nicer by a visit from my niece, Dr Michelle Homsher. She works at CHOP (Childrens' Hospital of Philadelphia) as a researcher. She drove down to deliver a backup computer shipped by my friend, Ken, and also some great apples and some NJ cranberry wine (I'll have to work up some courage - or desperation - to crack that open). I braved the waves to dinghy to shore to meet her and we had a nice Italian lunch together.

Finally, today we had wall-to-wall sun! After a quick beach run, we confirmed that the railroad bridge was operating, pulled anchor, and hit the NJ ICW. It was an enjoyable, meandering trip, with challenging currents, many drawbridges, and shallow depths. We did get stuck for 1/2 hour or so near Hereford Inlet. Had to wait for the tide to lift us off the mud. No big deal.

We're anchored in Sunset Lake, a couple of miles north of Cape May. Tomorrow we'll get an early start through the Cape May Canal, then up the dreaded Delaware Bay. This will set us up to enter the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday. Yay!

How to repair a computer

2009-10-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

So my Acer netbook had died and I had to move my internet access to an antique Dell laptop that had insufficient memory to use the important ActiveCaptain site and could not accept my digital photos. Here's how I solved the problem:

- Arrange for good friend Ken Goldsholl in California to Fedex an older computer of his to my niece's address and arrange for said niece (Dr. Michelle Homsher) to meet with me this weekend.

- Only after this process is well underway, get online and Google 'Acer Aspire One is dead'. Find instructions on how to reload the BIOS code to the Acer.

- Spend 4 hours attempting to reload BIOS code to the Acer. It finally works!

So I'm back in business with two computers, and a third one on the way. At least I'll get to see Michelle, hopefully on Sunday.

We're still hunkered down in Atlantic City. The wind has moderated to around 20 knots and the rain is light. I probably should have resumed southward travel today. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be somewhat worse! Yikes!

So now that I can deal with photos again, here's the first Pelican we saw, proof that we are not in Kansas anymore!

From one skyline to another

2009-10-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Since my last post Riggs and I have traveled from the Big Apple to the Big Casino, and are now anchored off of Atlantic City NJ, hunkering down for some upcoming nasty weather.

Monday's sprint through NYC was a trip indeed. We caught the tidal current in the East River just right, and were flushed from Throgs Neck to the south end of Manhatten in an hour or so, with a max 5 knots of current pushing us in the Hell's Gate area. Not much traffic (one tug pulling a barge against the current - I guess this gives them better control) until encountering a swarm of ferries near Wall Street. They zipped by on all sides as we puttered through. We swung close by Liberty Island to snap some pix of the copper lady, then down through Verrazano Narrows to end the day's cruise in Atlantic Highlands NJ.

I met with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim for supper. It was great to see them and catch up on family news. Thanks Ann & Jim!

Tuesday we made an outside run of about 45 miles in the North Atlantic. The wind was from the west, off the land, so we traveled as close to the beach as possible (about 1/2 mile), and the travel was OK. We pulled into Barnegat Inlet under optimum conditions (it can be bad there on an ebbing tide) and anchored nearby. I used the bigger CQR anchor since there was a strong NW wind that night. The anchor performed great.

Wednesday morning we looked out to the ocean and didn't like what we saw. The surf out there looked like a mountain range in the distance, so we traveled the 'inside route' on the NJ ICW to bring us here to Atlantic City. Its a much longer, slower route to travel, but quite interesting. Shallow water (typically 6 ft deep or so, Spray needs 4 ft) and narrow channels kept me on my toes, and the route meanders all over the place. We coule see the AC skyline the whole way (looked like the Emerald City) but we often weren't pointed towards it. Spray bumped the bottom once, and we paused to pull free a stuck sailboat (nice guy from Bucksport Maine of all places), and we dropped anchor in this great cove at about 3 pm. There's a good beach nearby which Riggs appreciates, and a great view of the casino buildings and their night light shows.

There's a gale warning up for tonight, and much wind predicted over the next 3 days, so we may be here awhile. I'm sorry about not posting any pictures with this entry, but apparently my small netbook computer, into which I could easily load pictures, has died. I'm now using my navigation computer, an old Dell laptop, for email and blogging. I've got to find that USB cable to connect the camera to this computer.

Except for the nasty weather, all is well here.

Big day tomorrow!

2009-10-11T15:56:00.001-07:00

Start spreadin' the word... Tomorrow its New York, New York.

We're bobbing at a mooring in Manhasset Bay, ready to dive into the East River. The timing of our passage vis a vis the current is critical. The fastest part of the East River is Hell's Gate, where the Haarlem River comes in, and has a 3-4 knot current, eastwards on the flood tide, westwards on the ebb. We'll be going west.

The current will be in my favor (ebbing) between about 5 am and 11 am tomorrow. So we need to get an early start, which is why we are here in Manhasset, within sight of the Throgs Neck Bridge, the eastern end of the East River.

We had an enjoyable 2 days in Northport Harbor, anchored 1/4 mile from the house I grew up in. Walking the old neighborhood was a time trip. The hills seemed smaller, plus the whole neighborhood has gone quite upscale. It was sort of a bummer that I couldn't legally land the dinghy anywhere near the old neighborhood as its all private property with private docks. The neighborhood assn. has its own dock and there I met resident Ed Thompson, who gave us permission to tie to that dock for our exploration. Thanks, Ed.

This morning we left the old neighborhood at sunrise, since we needed the high tide to get out of the head of Northport Harbor. After 1/2 hour we dropped anchor at Asharoken Beach for two beach runs and breakfast, then headed west in LI Sound. It was a 4-hour cruise, into stiff wind, to Manhasset. En route we had our first views of the Manhatten skyline.

At first light tomorrow (after a quick beach visit for Riggs), we head out, to pass under the Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Triborough, Manhatten, Brooklyn, and Verrazano bridges, and end up at Sandy Hook, NJ. I'll take a bunch of pictures.

Roll n Rock

2009-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

This entry concerns last night's anchorage in Joshua Cove, which you may recall was exposed to some 1 ft. or so rollers from the SW. At first it wasn't so bad since the wind kept Spray sort of aligned with the waves, but then the wind disappeared, and Spray aligned herself beam-to the waves, which were of a period close to Spray's natural roll period.

So as I was trying to fall asleep, it went like this:

roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll ROLL ROLL roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll

and repeat. The big ROLLs were sliding things around in cabinets and making a racket, so it was impossible to sleep.

In the absence of wind, why did Spray align herself beam-to the waves? Here's my theory: If Spray is aligned bow-to or stern-to the waves, she rocks (fore and aft) rather than rolls, and her propeller moves up and down through the water. I think that produces a twist on her to turn her beam-to the waves. When she rolls (side to side) with the waves, there is no such propeller motion and no twist. So the stable postion for her is beam-to the waves.

So I got up and put my stern anchor in the dinghy, rowed it down-wave a hundred feet or so and dropped it in. Back on spray I tightened up on that stern line so Spray was forced to point directly into the oncoming waves. Now she rocked a bit but did not roll, and the rocking was quite tolerable.

The moral of the story? A little light rock makes for a better night than a hard roll.

On the move again

2009-10-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

We spent 3 nights in lovely Essex CT, moored in front of Essex Yacht Club. After Monday's iPhone debacle, Tuesday was spent with my sister-in-law Connie. After lunch aboard Spray we went to the ATT store in nearby Old Saybrook and did a deal where I now have a 3G Aircard for my laptop computer,and a basic flip-phone for calls. Connie had to run to L.I. to visit her mother but my sister Marsha and her husband Dennis drove down for supper at the Black Seal in Essex (thanks guys!).

Wednesday started rainy and ended very windy, so cruising was postponed. Instead some boat chores, a few long walks around Essex (how can a 1 qt dog like Riggs pee out 2 qts of markers?), and finished with Connie picking us up for a hot shower and laundry, then a great Italian meal at Cafe Allegre in Madison (Grazie Connie).

Wednesday's big wind lasted all night and into this morning, so Riggs and I decided to delay departure until mid-day to allow things to calm down in L.I. Sound. The morning was productive in that I finally installed a depthfinder in the lower (salon) helm station. I tried something tricky which was to splice both upper and lower depthfinder cables to the same sonar transducer, with an on-off-on power switch that ensures that only one depthfinder is powered at a given time. Amazingly, it works pretty slick.

The bad side of waiting until mid-day to leave Essex is that we had to fight 1-2 knots of incoming current as we went down the CT river, and then had to fight a knot of east-flowing tidal current as we headed west in L.I. Sound. Spray is slow enough already. The good side of waiting is that the waves from the big winds of Wednesday had a chance to subside somewhat. It was a bit rough but the waves were on our nose and we only went about 15 miles to our present anchorage in Joshua Cove, just west of Guilford, CT. We're protected from the (dimishing) NW wind but there is still some 1 ft. rollers from the SW that are gonna make this a rolly night. Spray is the only boat in this large anchorage and we're surrounded by beautiful homes.

Tomorrow we'll get an early start, crossing the Sound with a destination of Northport Harbor, the body of water I grew-up on (well not actually grew-up but you get the idea).

Up the River

2009-10-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

...the CT River that is.

Its been a while since I had proper internet access to post to the blog and much has transpired. I'll summarize quickly: From York Beach ME we had a long Thursday to end up in beautiful Cohasset MA (south of Boston). Mass Bay was kinda rough. Friday brought us to the Cape Cod Canal which, with a 3 knot tail-current, we whipped through in less than an hour (Spray making 10-11 knots over ground!), then on to anchor at Westport MA. Saturday was a downer for 3 reasons:

- Brother Steve disembarked so that he could travel to Germany on business

- The weather sucked (mucho wind, mucho rain)

- No travel accomplished (see above for reason)

Sunday was nice and Riggs and I motored in the sun for only a half-day to end up in Pt Judith Pond, RI. A nice anchorage, two nearby islands for Riggs to check out, and time to lower Spray's mast so the anchor light bulb could be replaced (took 3 hrs - that mast is heavy!).

Today was nice but there was a west wind that caused 3-4 ft chop against Spray's nose. Wasn't too bad so we pushed for Essex CT which is 3 miles up the CT river. My brother had arranged for a mooring at the Essex Yacht Club. We reached EYC against a strong river current and also wind and I was a little concerned about being able to grab the mooring without drifting back. That's probably why I sort of lunged at the pick-up buoy which caused my iPhone to leap from my shirt pocket into the aforementioned CT River. Its in 10 ft of water somewhere below Spray's bow (which is secured to aforementioned mooring).

If you have any idea what its gonna cost me to get a replacement iPhone or terminate my contract, then you understand what motivated me to don swim fins and mask and go diving in the murky brown current - alas to no avail. You can't see anything down there plus the current could have carried off the phone. Since I do have WiFi here I even emailed my buddy Ken and had him repeatedly call the iPhone, thinking I might hear it ring. Nope.

You readers may want to buy some ATT stock. They are gonna make some money off me.

I just took Riggs for a well deserved walk. Essex CT has to be one of the prettiest towns in the USA. The local church had just completed a 'blessing of the pets' service so Riggs got to meet many dogs (and goats too). I hope to meet my brother's better-half, Connie, tomorrow (if she'll check her email) and maybe visit an ATT store. It could get ugly.

Tentatively we continue westward in LI Sound on Wed. LI Sound is .... LONG!

At last! Some real distance!

2009-09-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Covered 62 nm today in just over 10 hours. Now anchored off York Beach which tucks behind Cape Neddick. Played chuck-it on the beach with Riggs which was his reward for being trapped on a bouncy boat all day. Early start tomorrow in hopes of reaching Scituate MA or nearby. Then through Cape Cod Canal on Friday.

Boothbay Harbor

2009-09-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Steve, Riggs and I left Castine yesterday at about 9 am and had an easy, sunny ride down Penobscot Bay to Rockland where we took on 140 gallons of diesel (Journey's End Marina - best price around), and ate take-out lobster rolls aboard Spray. We then left at about 2 pm and rounded Owls Head enroute to Tennant's Harbor. That run exposed us to the open ocean and, especially the last 6 miles or so, was a bit rough. Riggs was especially relieved to pull into TH at about 5 pm

We rented a mooring for the night and dinghied to shore for some exploration. Riggs sniffed 5,000 items, peed on 200, and filled one poop-bag. What a good boy! Steve and I decided to have dinner at the East Wind Inn so we took Riggs back to Spray for guard duty and then had a pretty good meal (Steve raved over the potato-encrusted haddock).

It was a rolly night at the mooring as ocean swells were creeping around the corner into TH. Riggs and I were up and on shore in the rain at 6 am today where he did has business with admirable efficiency, then back to Spray. By 6:50 we were headed out of the harbor drinking coffee and planning on breakfast.

Breakfast never happened. The run from Tennant's Harbor down the Maine Coast is quite exposed and our morning consisted of 4-6' swells (occasionally an 8 footer) from the south with 2-3' of chop on top of that. At first we took most of this on he nose so it wasn't too bad but later we headed more west and took the swells from the beam which makes things pretty rolly. Spray held up wonderfully but Steve, Riggs, and I were getting kind of green. So instead of making for our intended destination of Jewel Island in Casco Bay, we headed for our main bailout option, which is why we find ourselves in post-tourist-season Boothbay Harbor. We tied up at the town dock and had lunch 'on the wharf' (yep, lobster rolls again) and then moved to a rental mooring at Browns Wharf (which has WiFi allowing me to easily do this blog). We'll relax this afternoon (its 2 pm now- nap anyone?), then dinghy back over to the town dock for exploration of the downtown. Dinner tonight will be pasta aboard Spray.

As the week progresses the conditions are expected to get calmer, so tomorrow we hope to leave early. If we get ambitious we'll shoot for Kittery Maine but could bail out at Jewel Island, or possible Portland. Stay Tuned!

I was worried about this....

2009-09-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

Its been so beautiful in Maine in September that I jokingly worried that we'd use up all the good weather by the time departure date arrived. Sure enough, while today is beautiful, the weather report for tomorrow shows rain plus a gale watch offshore. Rain alone wouldn't delay departure, but wind (and resulting waves) certainly could. As it stands now, we'll probably delay departure until Monday morning. It'll still be somewhat windy and bumpy (possibly all week) but not as bad as they say Sunday will be.

Another benefit of delaying departure is that the extra day will allow more time for the 100 small tasks I still have to do before departure.

I hear that my brother Steve, who is along for the first week of cruising, has found free dock space for Spray in Essex CT for a few days. If anyone out there wants to join Riggs and I for the next leg of the cruise (including NYC harbor!), Essex would be a handy location to come aboard. So please email or call me (cell=207-902-2000) if you are up for an adventure!

Here's something new. I've added a SPOT satellite tracker device to Spray. If you click on Spray's picture (above left) you'll see a Google map showing Spray's current and recent positions. Pretty cool technology!

Stay tuned for departure report. Expected first night's anchorage is Tennants Harbor, ME.

Leaving in one week!

2009-09-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

If the weatherman agrees, I'll be departing Castine Sunday the 27th for points south, along with my brother Steve and dog Riggs.

The windlass is installed (came out pretty good, I think) and the new 35 gal. holding tank is also installed in place of the old 9 gal. tank. Of course I had measured to confirm that the new tank would fit in its alloted space but I hadn't thought about measuring the path to get the new tank into that space. Not a problem! All I had to do was unbolt an item or two from the engine, remove the hot-water tank, knock out a vertical wooden support, and PUSH. The new tank is now plumbed in place and I won't have to hit a pump-out station every 2nd day.

I still have many small items to attend to before leaving, including getting everything I expect to need on board Spray, and finding places to stow everything. But I'll be ready.

Here's hoping that the weather for travel south is at least half as nice as we've had here in Maine for the past several weeks. Its really been spectacular. I just hope all the good weather doesn't get used up.

Progress report

2009-09-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

There are 2 1/2 weeks before I set sail (set diesel?) for points south. Its looking good for my brother Steve to be joining Riggs and I for the first week or so for travel from Maine to Steve's home waters of Long Island Sound (Connecticut shore). We can only hope for weather as nice as we've been having here lately.

I've been busy working on Spray. The windlass installation was a big job but it came out quite well. I removed the existing bow platform that supported the anchor roller, modified it and reinstalled it 15 inches lower, so that the anchor roller is now at deck height. I cut large holes in the bulwarks for the anchor rodes to pass through, directly to the windlass gypsy, which is mounted at deck level as it should be. Large holes were drilled in the foredeck for the windlass and a foot-operated switch, then power cabling was routed forward and, viola, the windlass now works!

Well....... sort of. My main anchor rode is currently 200' of 5/8" nylon line plus 26' of 3/8" chain. The windlass handles the chain well but is sized for 1/2" line, not 5/8", so I need to make some changes there.

I've also installed a large (size 8D, 160 lbs.!!) 12 volt battery as an addition to the existing 'house' battery. I built a shelf on the port side of the engine room to hold the new battery, and wired in a large switch to enable/disable the battery connection. The whole idea is to be able to run lights, refrig., etc. for longer time while at anchor.

Still to do: I've purchased a 35 gallon waste holding tank to replace the existing 9 gallon tank. Much of the ICW is designated as 'no discharge area' and I'll have to stop at marinas to pump out the waste. This larger tank will allow me to do this less often. I may have a problem with installing this larger tank because its quite a bit....LARGER than the tank it's replacing. I had of course measured the available space in the starboard engine room and verified that the new tank will fit there, but I hadn't really measured the size of the opening above the engine to see if I can route the tank down to its destination. It looks like its not gonna be easy.

Also still to do: Change engine oil & filter, fuel filters, check raw water system. I've bought the 3 gallons of engine oil I need, plus a hand-pump to remove the old oil (through the dipstick tube), so I'm ready to change the engine oil, maybe tomorrow.

Oh, and I've finally joined the dark side by buying a cell phone for the trip. Its an iPhone that will also give me internet access (for weather reports and other info), plus its built-in gps will be useful. My cell no. is 207-902-2000. Soon I'll use the iPhone to take a few pix of the recent work on Spray and upload those to this blog.

More later....

A busy month ahead

2009-08-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Spray will be departing for points south in just over a month and I've got a lot to do! I've been keeping a list of tasks rolling around in my head and its boggling my mind, so I thought I'd post a list here, both for my own use and for others to read and maybe hold my feet to the fire.

For the boat:

- Install drinking water filter (this task is underway and almost complete).

- Install anchor windlass. Spray's previous owner purchased a nice vertical-mount windlass but never installed it. Proper installation will require some significant work on Spray's bow and foredeck. Today I removed the existing bowsprit and anchor roller. These need to be reinstalled about 15" lower so they are at foredeck height as I want to mount the windlass directly on the foredeck.

- Install 2nd 'house' 4D battery and switch.

- Engine maintainence:

- Change engine oil (12 qts!), oil filters, fuel filters.

- Inspect raw-water cooling system (strainer, pump impeller, heat exchanger zinc).

- Install larger waste holding tank (replace current 10 gal tank with 25 gal or larger tank).

- Modify galley sink drain (grey water) to allow for overboard discharge or discharge to holding tank.

- Scrub the slime from the bottom (fortunately the water temp is pretty nice right now).

I'll post some needed 'for the house' projects in my next post.

First Entry - Aug 21 2009

2009-08-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hello out there!

I'm Bill Corbett and I'm creating this blog to document my upcoming voyage from Maine south to Florida (and further?) and back this coming fall/winter/spring aboard my classic Grand Banks 32 wooden 'trawler' named 'Spray'.

I'll be leaving my home port of Castine, Maine near the end of September, along with my rat-terrier, Riggs, and whatever foolish relative(s) and/or friend(s) I can convince to accompany us. While Riggs and I hope to have other travelling companions aboard for many legs of the trip, it will be he and I who complete the entire trip.

Between now and departure, I have several projects to accomplish, both aboard Spray and ashore. One such project is to begin this blog, so I'll end this entry now and see how it appears on-line.

Please stay tuned.....