Northbound

After being anchored in the same spot for two months, we finally weighed anchor for our northbound journey, on July 20.  The first leg of this journey was a short hop to the Sassafras River, where we anchored at the mouth to stage for an early departure through the C&D Canal.

While transiting the canal on June 21, we were lucky to come upon four US Naval Academy sailboats pulling into the dock at Chesapeake City.  Before we could physically see the boats I could see four targets (closely following each other) on AIS. I placed the curser over each target to see the name, length, and speed of the vessel.  By the third target I knew these boats had to be from the Naval Academy, from the theme of the names.  Hello to the crews of Warrior, Honor, Brave, and Daring!

And very quickly we are in Delaware Bay.  Our entire trip across Delaware Bay was shrouded by what appeared to be a very dense haze.  Upon further investigation we learned that the wildfires burning in Oregon were the cause of the smoke pockets along the northeast.  

You might also notice how calm the water is on this particular day.  We didn’t expect to see extreme wave action on a day like this...BUT we got caught with our guard down.  Before leaving the anchorage we stowed large items in the event a boat wake might rock us, BUT we didn’t prepare the cabin for extreme conditions. Suddenly we saw huge waves heading straight for us, and clearly it was too late for any additional prep.  We had no choice but to plow through the waves and hope for the best down below.  

From our vantage point on the fly bridge we could hear numerous thumps and crashes, mixed with the horrible sound of shattering glass.  The waves were high and steep, which caused the boat to climb the face of each wave at a very steep angle (forcing things to fall off shelves, counters, and tables).  The other part of the equation was then riding down the wave and crashing into the next wave.  This motion is what caused unsecured wine glasses to slide out of the rack and crash into the sink.  Luckily, all broken glass was contained in the sink.

Note to self (and all other mariners transiting Delaware Bay):  the cargo ships and freighters traveling that waterway go very fast and create HUGE waves...beware!!  Unfortunately for me, Keith was at the helm during this event so the default fell to me for clean up duty.  Within a few hours we were anchored in Cape May, and getting our butts kicked by an extremely strong thunder storm.  Wow...this northbound trip was off to a rough start!

Everything looks better from Barnegat!  Happy to spend two days here!

Hello Coney Island!  Conditions were starting to get a little rough so we decided to anchor on the back side of Coney Island. It turned out to be a nice quiet place to spend the night, and prepare for our trip through New York the next day.

Manhattan seems to be covered in a smog, fog, smoke cloud, as well.

It’s always nice to cruise past the Statue of Liberty!

All mariners must be intentional regarding the timing of passage along the East River.  The tidal current is VERY strong, and some boats would have trouble making way against this current.  We would be included in that group, but we planned our passage to go with the current.

WooHoo...we have never travelled this fast!! Our boat can’t physically go anywhere near this speed under her own power.  This picture is really for the non-believers...we were going 16.1 mph!! And very quickly the ride was over and we entered Long Island Sound.  

Long Island Sound has many interesting lighthouses...

Stepping Stones Light - Built in 1877.  This lighthouse was named from a Native American legend, which describes how the Devil threw boulders into the water to be able to escape across the Sound when the Native American tribe chased him from the land.  The natives named the rocks, “The Devil’s Stepping Stones” 

Execution Rocks Light - Built in 1850. As the name insinuates, this location has a dark history.  My attempts to research the history resulted in five different stories claiming to be the origin of the name.  The common link seemed to be that throughout history people have used the extreme tidal range in this area to shackle ‘unwanted’ people to the rocks at low tide...and you can imagine the rest.  I will leave you to investigate the origin of the name yourselves, if you are so inclined.

Race Rock Light - Completed in 1879. The massive masonry foundation took 7 years to build, while the structure was added in 9 months.

One of our daily goals is to find a calm, well protected place to anchor.  The coastlines of Long Island, Connecticut, and Rhode Island offer numerous safe anchoring options.  This is why we decided to travel behind the safety of Long Island as opposed to taking the ocean route around.  The past two weeks have seen a lot of weather fronts bringing strong winds and high seas to this area, and our mission is to avoid such conditions.  We move when we can and hide when we must.

It is exciting to find a new hiding place!  This is a man-made hiding place off the coast of Rhode Island.

This location was aptly named...Port Judith Harbor of Refuge.

After a good night’s sleep in the Harbor of Refuge, it was an easy passage to Buzzards Bay.

We anchored in Onset to stage for our passage through the Cape Cod Canal.  Weather forecasts were iffy, so we planned on the possibility of staying an extra day if needed.  There is enough action in this harbor to be entertained for several days.  We enjoyed watching children learn to sail on these cute little boats with green sails.  Oops...sometimes they overturned!  However, I am wondering why the instructor is ‘high and dry’ and three children are in the water?

The next morning, with forecasts slightly downgrading the wind conditions, we decided to head out and make way for Hingham (just south of Boston) in the hopes of catching up with our friends Ken & Barbara before they left for vacation.  The trip through the canal was uneventful, but we were prepared for rough seas when we reached the eastern end of the canal.  All items were stowed and the wine glasses were tied into the rack.  Well, it’s a good thing they were or we would have to drink our wine with straws tonight!  Conditions were HORRIBLE!  

Waves were steep and stacked running 3-6 feet!  There was no place to hide, but we knew we didn’t want to endure 7 hours in these conditions either, so we diverted to Plymouth, MA. Our new motto regarding this lifestyle (which we read on someone else’s cruising blog) is ‘misery is optional’, and we were opting out!  However, it’s not always easy to opt out once the misery has begun, but after three hours of a white knuckle (not out of fear, but from the desire to remain upright and keep the boat on course) rodeo ride we safely anchored behind the lighthouse at Plymouth.  It was only 1:30 in the afternoon, but we were both exhausted! 

That evening we were treated to this amazing sunset, which provided the perfect backdrop for this statue on the hill.  I challenge my internet savvy followers to tell me what this statue commemorates.  

Also, an update regarding my technical problems with the email subscription service.  They have announced that the service will be halted sometime in August.  Being the procrastinator that I am...I’m going to seriously start looking for a new service soon.  Pretty sure I’m getting this post in under the wire, but I’ll let you know if you need to do anything in order to continue receiving this blog to your inbox.

Bidding War

I know it has been a very long time since my last post, and trust me when I say we were not having fun during that time!  Well, we actually did have some fun in the form of spending time with friends and family, but we also worked ourselves to the point of serious exhaustion!  In my last post I mentioned sticking around Maryland to “facilitate the transition” of putting our house on the market.  That was a drastic understatement!

We worked for weeks to organize contractors, deep clean, repair (every thing we could find in need of repair), landscape, pressure wash, paint all surfaces inside and out (inside = contractor, outside = me).  Within the first two days it was clear to me that three years on the boat has made me soft!  I can’t even begin to describe all of the aches and pains we suffered during this time, but I am happy to announce that the hard work paid off.  There was great interest the first day the house was listed,  and offers came in ‘fast and furious’...we definitely witnessed a bidding war that resulted in an amazing cash contract significantly higher than the asking price👍  Special thanks to Betsy & Pete (Realtor & Photographer) for doing a great job, and getting us top dollar on our house!

To give you an idea of extent of work we accomplished,  I will share two of the projects...

One of my most time consuming and strenuous jobs was to pressure wash the house, decks, driveway, and shuffleboard court.  After everything dried I painted or oiled all surfaces that were originally painted or oiled.  The painting project on the shuffleboard court was the worst, after two coats of green it was time for the lines. The templates were made of thin plastic, and the wind blew continuously off the water, making it difficult to position the templates and get clean lines.

Similarly Keith spent MANY hours repairing the pier.  He replaced some supports and surface boards, and made sure every board, on the 265 ft pier, was screwed down on all four corners...that’s a LOT of stainless steel screws!
That’s enough about our work on the house...it’s time to put that behind us...

We enjoyed catching crabs off the pier.

Saw some very interesting sights...have you ever seen a fish that appears to have choked to death on a fish?

AND...we got a new camera!  We will be upping our picture game from now on😁

We anchored in Eagle Cove behind Gibson Island on the Magothy River.  This location is very close to the house, and we were able to commute daily using the Whaler.  The picture shows a beautiful horse farm on the north shore of the cove...it is a great anchorage!

Still had an opportunity to see new water toys.  This guy started out trying to stand, but after 20+ face plants he decided to practice on his knees first.  He is controlling this board with a remote, in his left hand.

Several severe summer storms blew in.

Amazing sunsets were the norm!

We are finally underway again, and are heading for Maine. A travel update will be coming soon.

I am experiencing some technical difficulties with the email subscriber service.  The service previously used will no longer support email subscriptions so I need to find a new service and migrate all of the subscribers.  More on this in the next blog.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we are back in Maryland...our home State!  Our trip up the Bay was uneventful, and our first MD anchorage filled us with nostalgia.

Southern Maryland is a special place, where people are happy, welcoming, and southern😁

A beautiful Chesapeake Bay Oyster Buyboat cruised past our anchorage.  My childhood memories are abound with images of Skipjacks and Buyboats on the Chesapeake Bay.  Skipjacks are sailing vessels that harvest oysters, and Buyboats were the boats that transported the oysters from the harvest boats to the shucking houses. Both boat designs incorporated large catch storage areas on shallow draft vessels to support the booming oyster industry in the shallow waters of the Chesapeake.  While the Buyboat has become obsolete with less expensive trucking options, there are still several Skipjacks operating on the Bay today. 

Working Buyboat (with a pile of oysters on deck) dated 1968.

As we leave Solomons, Maryland we say goodbye to our dolphin friends.  It is rare to see them in the northern part of the Bay.

You will notice that several pictures in this post have a dirty lens issue.  In an attempt to clean the lens, we clearly made the problem much worse...so for this post you are stuck with bad pictures...sorry!

Lighthouses are the nostalgic structures I love seeing on the Chesapeake.  Can you guess the purpose of the tiny structure hanging off the edge of the base?  If you said ‘outhouse’you are correct!

Point No Point Light, located at the mouth of the Potomac River. First lit in 1905, automated in 1938, and manned until 1962. Could you imagine living here year-round?

Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1883.  I am happy to see some repairs are underway!

Thomas Point Light, built and first lit in 1875.  This screw pile design was relatively inexpensive, easy to construct in muddy environments, and quick to assemble.  This was the last manned lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay, and was not automated until 1986.  It’s also clear to see that this lighthouse gets a LOT more love than the others!

This diagram (from Wikipedia) makes it easy to see how screw-pile lighthouses get their strength and stability by screwing the long piling into the muddy bottom.


We are now anchored in our ‘home port’ anchorage in Eagle Cove on the Magothy River.

We have hosted several peaceful sunset dinners!  It was a beautiful night when Kyanna and Malik visited!

As well as several ‘fun in the sun’ afternoons.  I apologize to friends and family who aren’t pictured in this post, but I often get caught up in the moment, and don’t get any/decent pictures.

Our most exciting excursion has been to see the Blue Angels practice.

I’m super happy my dad could join us!  We had a total of 5 guests for this event, and a great time was had by all.

Again, our pictures aren’t great, but the show was fantastic!  The planes passed directly overhead, and flew for hours on the practice day!

An amazing sight to see, and hear, and feel!

We have decided to hang around the Chesapeake for a few more weeks, before heading to Maine for the summer.  Our house will be going on the market in a few weeks, and we want to be here to facilitate the transition.  This also gives us more time to hang out with friends and family👍


These pictures were posted on ‘Nextdoor’ and were clearly taken by someone who had a much better camera😁

It’s All About The Toys

We have been working our way north for the past two weeks, and are currently in the Chesapeake Bay.  The first day out of Charleston we took the ‘outside’ route, which means we went into the ocean instead of the ICW.  If weather conditions permit, the ‘outside’ route can be much more relaxing than the ICW.  In the ocean we set the auto helm and sit back and enjoy the ride.  The biggest concern is watching for crab pot floats that could foul our props/shafts.  We saw more sea turtles than boats that day, and we covered an easy 75 miles.

Since that day we have stayed on the inside route, which means traveling along the Intracoastal Waterway (also known as ‘the ditch’). This route requires much more attention and steering.  The ICW meanders through marshes and behind barrier islands, but provides excellent protection from wind and waves.  We have happened upon some interesting toys in the past week.

The jet pack hoverboard wins the award!  I think I would like to try this one day...we’ll be sure to get pictures if I do!

This new type of wind surfer also looks fun, but seems like a lot of work!  I can’t imagine myself getting up on that tiny board. I watched this guy for a long time (he was practicing where we were anchored), and each time he fell it took a significant effort to get up again.  I just think it would be easier with a bigger board.

Wrightsville Beach is a wonderful place to anchor, with plenty of room and beautiful beaches nearby.  There is also a lot of free entertainment in the ‘people watching’ category. Wrightsville beach had the youngest boating population I have ever seen, which isn’t necessarily a good thing...

There were a lot of kids behaving very dangerously, and this wasn’t even Spring break!

The ICW does offer a lot of interesting sights.

Clearly, Miss Melissa will never float again.

This deer changed her mind half way across the channel and turned around to return to the western shore.  We ended up putting the boat in neutral while she swam back and forth in front of us.  

Always blessed when an eagle visits.

Love those swing bridges! This pic lets you appreciate why the ICW is called the ditch.

I know it seems as though I have a thing for osprey nests...that’s because I do!  I have often wondered how the species survived before ATONS (aids to navigation) existed.  Anyone who spends any time on the water is familiar with osprey nests built on channel markers, boats, bridges, or people will even erect nest stands for these birds. WHY?  Why do the majority of ospreys refuse to nest in trees?  Well, I found an old fashioned osprey nest, with and old fashioned osprey in it...probably sitting on eggs.

Not sure how this happened, but I hope they can recover during the next high tide.

I have never seen a town that built a huge breakwater system to protect the harbor from strong winds and large waves, until we visited Belhaven, NC.  We planned a visit to Belhaven, because they had a Walgreens a few blocks from the water and I needed my second Covid vaccine.  In the end that plan didn’t work, as the pharmacist said, “sorry for the confusion, but only big towns carry Pfizer...that’s the one that needs special freezers.”

Belhaven is definitely a small town, but they really take care of boaters.  In addition to a protected harbor...they have a free dock...

We were the only boat tied up to the free dock, where you are allowed to stay for 72 hours...NICE!

Time to find a big town...oh, we are almost to Norfolk, VA

I love passing through Norfolk!  The ships are amazing! As we were cruising along in the Whaler I asked Keith, “do you think it is alright to take pictures”...his response, “it’s fine, you could get a room in the Hilton and get pictures of every rivet on those ships if you wanted.”

Do you see the man standing to the left of the flag?  He was holding a very large gun, and he made it very clear that he did not want me taking any more pictures of his ship. He gave me the ‘sweeping finger to the side of the neck’ gesture. YIKES...I hope I’m not on the ‘no fly list’ now.