S/V Sweet Liberty

Sunday, June 5, 2016

We have arrived to our home port - SYC in Groton, CT

We arrived yesterday, after a really nice motor! across Long Island Sound yesterday. The last about 8 hrs of travel took us from Port Jefferson, NY to Shennecossett Yacht Club in Groton, CT. There was no wind but it was a sunny day and we picked up a fair current that had us doing over 10 kts for quite a while. We did almost 51 nm in 7.5 hrs which means we were averaging about 6.75 kts. (To you non-mariner types - that is not a bad sail boat speed.!)

The day before yesterday, we went from Port Washington, NY to Port Jefferson, NY and stayed on the mooring at the Port Jefferson Yacht Club (formerly the Setauket Yacht Club). Last night we went ashore with Gracie for her constitutional walk and went to Vincenzo's Pizza for pizza. We ate about half of a buffalo chicken pizza outside on a park bench and watched the mad NY world go by!

We got in to Shennecossett at about low tide with almost no wind so we had an east time getting in to our dock and putting all the dock lines on the posts for our permanent dock spot. Plugged in to electricity and there we were - home - our winter trip south done. What fun we had!

Here is a special addition from Joan - her thoughts about the whole trip:

Joan's Final Thoughts about this Adventure......

For the past few days, when I knew this trip was coming to an end, I started thinking about what I would say when friends and family asked me “how was your trip?” I might have answered: “It was a lot of work” but have decided that I agree wholeheartedly with Nancy (on s/v Grace) that the the word “work” is not appropriate with this experience. Instead I should use the words... playing, enjoying, thinking, visiting, planning, being etc...Whit and I are very proud of this accomplishment of this journey. We lived “on an island” for 146 days and survived!! I appreciated his skill level and his penchant for safety. There were days when this “island” was too small, but the majority of days were ones that are filled with great memories. What will be nice is that years from now I will be able to look at Whit and say” Remember when we were in___ and ___ happened?” I am very grateful to family and friends, and to new friends that I met along the way, that gave me words of encouragement and support. This was a wonderful experience and I am truly blessed to have shared it with Whit and, of course, Gracie too.

I have learned a lot about myself, and have grown emotionally, physically and intellectually. I learned new skills daily on how to cope with stressful situations and also gained confidence in my abilities around a boat. I've decided that the best answer to the question about this trip would be....” it was such an learning opportunity and a unique adventure that it will be part of me for the rest of my life.”

Thursday, June 2, 2016

In Port Washington – catching up.

I tried to get a massive post done yesterday morning before leaving to go through NYC but wasn't quite able to get it done before we had to leave. Hey – the tide waits for no man! So I posted it this morning.

Our trip through New York harbor was to begin at about noon yesterday but we needed to take on fuel before leaving. We had anchored overnight in Atlantic Highlands which is the southern most part of “Sandy Hook”. It is a beautiful anchorage when the wind is not out of the NE as it was the last time we were there. We arrived Sept 22^nd and departed Sept 27^th waiting for more calm winds and seas to go down the NJ coast. But as you may recall, it never really calmed down so finally we decided that if we were going to get out of Sandy Hook we just had to go.

Yesterday was a beautiful day – sunny but a bit of a haze and a bit cooler. The wind was first out of the north which made it a bit lumpy going up into the harbor but then shifted to the east just as we were coming in to the East River. We had to be at the Battery (the start of the East River) at about 3pm to catch the current through to Long Island Sound. The current runs extremely strong on the East River (max of about 5kts) so you have to go with the current if you are a sailboat. Our over the bottom maximum speed yesterday was recorded at 11.2kts. For a boat doing about 6.3 kts on its own through the water that means we had current of about 4.9 kts literally “sucking” us into the Sound. The beginning of the East River is particularly rough because of all the traffic on the water – water taxis, police boats, other pleasure boats, and, of course, commercial traffic. We plowed through a number of waves from wakes, amplified by the current, that had us taking water over the bow. It was a wild ride! After about Roosevelt Island things calmed down and all we had to deal with was lots of current eddies in the “raging river”. We arrived in Port Washington, NY at about 5:30pm and have taken one of the free town moorings. And we quickly launched the dinghy to provide shore leave for Gracie and for Joan to hit the Stop and Shop for a few provisions.

We are staying here today because the wind is out of the east, right on the nose, but more importantly tomorrow we are expecting the possibility of thunderstorms that I would rather not be in in the middle of Long Island Sound. So tomorrow we will go on a much shorter day to Port Jefferson and then on to finish our adventure at our home base at Shennecossett Yacht Club in Groton, CT on Saturday June 4^th, 2016!

It was a bit cooler but there was a haze coming in to NYC harbor.

This is Joan's nav station. She has been working this all trip long. Note her helpers - Gracie and Roy! Necessary tools include Ipad linked in with GPS and navigational software, trusty binoculars, and pink sun shirt.

The cool Captain at his nav station in his cool navigational fashion wear! Kinda reminds me of brother Harry!

Looking back under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

NYC here we come.

And the lady!

Crazy NYC water taxis and Staten Island Ferry need be avoided!

Made it up the New Jersey coast!

Wednesday June 1^st – We made it to Atlantic Highlands! Around NYC later today.

(Note: Written Wednesday morning but not posted until today Thursday)

We arrived yesterday after a 13hr motor-sail (mostly motor!) up the New Jersey coast from Atlantic City yesterday. Here is a recap of our travels day by day since the last post.

We left Fishing Bay Yacht Club on Tuesday May 24^th (after having arrived on Friday May 20^th) and moved about ½ mile over to Deltaville Marina . We anchored and paid a small fee for the opportunity to use the marina's facilities as well as their courtesy car to go to the market. We went to the market and a vet's office (to get more Frontline for Gracie), three loads of laundry and showers. Deltaville Marina was a great place to do all this but unfortunately it was not as fun as the last time we were there (October 11^th - 15th) when we were with the Botulas, Thomas and Sabine and our other friends – and our evenings in the “mosquito house” (the name given by Sabine to a screened in porch we all hung out in near the docks).

We left on Wednesday May 25^th for Solomons Island where we reconnected with Tim and Missy Risley. After a long day (about 65nm) we anchored at the same spot as last time, in front of the Calvert Marine Museum, and quickly lowered the dinghy to get Gracie ashore. We were invited to dinner on the Risley's beautiful 48' Nova Scotia - “Near Miss”. We sat on their upper deck and had a great dinner Missy had made for us. The evening, of course, was not complete without wine – and a demonstration I provided on how to remove a cork from a wine bottle – without breaking the bottle! We had such fun.

The next day, Thursday May 26^th, we departed for Annapolis, VA. We had not stopped in Annapolis on our way south in the fall because at that time the Annapolis boat show was in progress. Annapolis becomes crazy full with boats for that show. However, our visit now was right at the time of the graduation for the US Naval Academy so it was still kind of a zoo! Fortunately, we were able to find a mooring in the harbor right next to town. We went ashore for Gracie and then to Pusser's Caribbean Grille, “a premier restaurant, bar and retail store on the waterfront. It's the only “true” waterfront restaurant in Annapolis” for their famous Painkiller drink which quickly turned into dinner. Pusser's has an outside deck and allowed us to bring Gracie along with us. Needless to say, we loved our meal there - and so did Gracie!

Leaving Annapolis we now begin a “moving” phase of the trip – LOTS of moving to be able to catch a weather window allowing us to do some tricky navigation. We need to have the right winds and timing to go down the Delaware Bay and up the NJ coast. On Friday May 27^th we went to Worton Creek where we had waited out, for four days last fall, some very nasty nor'easters associated with hurricane Joaquin. (Perhaps you recall that we were very thankful for those nasty nor'easters vs getting hit with a hurricane. Joaquin had originally been predicted to come right up the Chesapeake – right where we were!) Saturday May 28^th we went through the C&D canal to Delaware City Marina for the night – as well as fuel and water.

Sunday May 29^th was down the Delaware day. The Delaware can be tricky. We had to go about 67nm (77 miles) to Cape May so for us this was going to be about an 11hr day. It was that long because we had to go around the bottom of Cape May, entering Cape May from its southern entrance, as opposed to through the Cape May Canal. If we could have gone through the canal that would have saved us about 3 hours of time. The canal has two bridges that have 55' clearance. Our mast is 54' tall so the only time we can go through is at low tide – to have a margin of safety. Low tide was not until about 9pm and we were not doing that transit in the dark! We left Delaware City at 5:38am and got in to Cape May at 4:45!

Monday May 30 – Cape May, NJ to Atlantic City, NJ - We left Cape May at about 9am because, as travel days go, this was a relatively short travel day only 6 hrs. However, we spent most of the time in rain and fog! When we arrived in Atlantic City it was really miserable – windy and in the heaviest rain of the day. We were going to try to stay at Historic Gardner's Basin which had floating docks and was really reasonably priced but after repeated attempts to contact Gardner's with no luck we had to go to option #2 - Kammermans. Wet and rainy night all night!

Tuesday May 31 was the part of the trip up the coast that everyone hates. Atlantic City up to Sandy Hook – some 85 nm (about 95 miles). We left Atlantic City at 6am in thick, thick fog with a 3-5ft swell entering the harbor breakwater. This was NOT fun and we spent most of the day in varying amounts of fog until perhaps the last hour or two. We were navigating in the fog using our radar and gps chart plotters which without which would have been impossible to do what we did. I normally do not make a point to go out in the fog but we were trying to get this weather / wind window while we had it. We negotiated some patch fog coming down the Delaware (and had a couple of really, really BIG tankers come out of the fog - and that channel is not big!) and we also did rain/fog from Cape May to Atlantic City so we had our system down. So, we were in very heavy fog right from the get go that morning. It was 13 hrs start to finish !! Thank God it cleared up at the end so we could see what was going on in NY as we came in to Sandy Hook. But we are here and happy to have made it. No incidents. We also do a lot of communication on the VHF radio with the boats & commercial traffic as we spot them on the radar. All very tricky!! We anchored in Atlantic Highlands at about 7 pm and, of course, dropped the dinghy and took Gracie in for well deserved relief.

Through NYC - the East River to Long Island Sound – leaving at noon.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club

Where we were on the dock at Fishing Bay

And then the rains came!

And after the rain, we moved about 1 mile away over to Deltaville Marina for all the services we needed to do.
Laundry, fuel, market, showers, etc.

Next stop was Solomons Island where we reconnected with "Near Miss" - Tim and Missy Risley and dinner on their upper deck!

I had to show you the dinner!! Hey - Alfredo Paradiso, eat your heart out!

Our gracious hosts, Tim and Missy Risley.

Next stop was Annapolis, MD. We missed it going south so we had to hit it going north. It was Naval Academy graduation weekend!! Think it was wild?

On the way up the Chesapeake to Annapolis

Going in to Annapolis, of course there was a sailboat race. Quiz for all you sailors: who has the right of way here?

The Naval Academy was hopping.

And had the only grass in the immediate area for Gracie to "relax" and other things!

A view of one of the docking canals in Annapolis. We went to Pusser's down on the right side -(coming up)

The town of Annapolis

We had dinner on the deck at Pusser's because they would allow us to have Gracie with us. (Not pictured is Gracie sitting on a chair between us so she would not get involved with the other "wildlife" on the deck!

Joan got Pusser's famous "Painkiller" drink! She was feeling no pain afterwards!

Other deck "wildlife"!

We even had desert!!! - Please note - I still had beer left!!! And the spoon went where next?...

Yepper!

Sunset on the Annapolis mooring.

Next and last stop in the Chesapeake was Worton Creek

At Worton Creek, it was so calm we took the life jacket off Gracie and she learned new ways of riding the dinghy!

Side saddle...

One relaxed dog!

Entering the C&D canal that connects the Chesapeake and the Delaware rivers. One BIG tanker!

I mean this is one BIG tanker in the rigging!

No, this was not taken with any telephoto.

Whew.... glad he is past us.

A short bit after we came upon someone who didn't fare so well with the big guy! (Actually, this grounding happened the night before. We suspect it may have involved alcohol!)

After having finished the C&D canal, we came in to Delaware City Marina for fuel and to poise ourselves for the long journey down the Delaware River. Our spot on the dock

This was not sunset, it was sunrise as we left Delaware City to head down the Delaware River - a required early start.

More tankers in the rigging. This one, however, came out of the fog that had developed in the Delaware Bay. It was fog on and off.

We arrived in Cape May after 11 hrs. Note the weather beginning to deteriorate.

This is where we had to take Gracie for relief. This is just north of the US Coast Guard training center.

We went all day in the fog to Atlantic City and arrived in heavy rain. Please note this was at high tide. The boat is going to be about 4 feet lower than the dock in about 6hrs! We did not get off then!

Atlantic City to Sandy Hook is the longest and usually most difficult part of the trip north. This was the best visibility we had all day long until just at the end. Looks great eh? Well this is about .75 nm visibility. We had from 300 ft to about .75nm visibility all the day long until just the last hour or so - just as we came in to NYC. Thankfully!

And finally, our anchorage in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. What a trip!

Sunday, May 22, 2016

In the Chesapeake

It is Sunday May 22^nd and we are sitting in Deltaville, VA ,about a quarter of the way up the Chesapeake, waiting out some bad weather. Here is how we got here this past week.

Last Sunday, May 15^th we traveled in some beautifully clear and warm weather from Dowry Creek (Belhaven, NC) all the way to the north side of the Alligator River and stayed at the only place we can get off the boat safely (we felt) for Gracie, Alligator River Marina. While at this marina, we met a couple of new boats that pulled in there too for the same reason – they each had a dog that needed to be able to get off for relief - Hakuna Matata (sailboat -a Beneteau 33) and Near Miss (a 48 ft Nova Scotia – motor trawler)!

From here one has two routes to choose from when continuing north on the ICW. About midway across the Albamarle Sound one either goes NW up the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City, VA to on then transit the Dismal Swamp route on the ICW or one can go more NE up the North River and then transit what is known as the Virginia Cut route on the ICW. Both routes come back together just south of Norfolk, VA. We chose to again take the Dismal Swamp route, our next stop being Elizabeth City, NC. The very beautiful (and large) 48' trawler – Near Miss - was also going this way so we became buddy boats for a few days. Tim and Melissa (Missy) had passed us several days earlier on the ICW and I had asked him who had made his boat because it was really beautiful. And there they were at Alligator Marina and now on the way to cruise up the Dismal Swamp with us! They are from Peachtree, GA making their way around what is known as the Great Loop – a trip that goes up the east coast, through the Erie canal into the Great Lakes and then down a combination of rivers back down to the Gulf coast and Florida.

Side note from Wikipedia: “Most Great Loop cruisers travel the loop counterclockwise, taking advantage of the downstream currents on the Illinois, Mississippi, Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers to Mobile, Alabama. To avoid summer hurricanes and winter ice, most Loopers head north in the spring, spend the summer in the Great Lakes region, and head south on the rivers in the fall, arriving in Florida after the beginning of November.” - John and Marna – this could be you guys!!

We stopped at Elizabeth City Monday the 16^th and the following day Near Miss and us went up the Dismal Swamp stopping that evening at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center. By the time we had made the first lock (yes, there are two locks to do on this trip!) we had been joined by two additional boats (trawlers) that then became the group for the night on the docks. Shortly after we were all docked at the visitor center the rains came – and rain it did!!! I think it dropped about 1” of rain in about an hour and then continued to drizzle the rest of the night and next morning.

Wednesday the 18^th saw us finish up what is considered the ICW (mile zero of the ICW is at Hospital Point in Portsmouth, VA just south of Norfolk) making our way to the very start of the Chesapeake at Hampton, VA to the Sunset Creek Marina. We needed a place to get out of some strong NE winds for the next two days before starting up the Chesapeake. This marina was definitely an economy marina (the second most inexpensive marina we have stayed at) and was super protected. I was able to procure some fresh blue crabs just off the boat from a fisherman – when I offered to purchase them, he just gave them to me for free!! I had to do some Google look-up on how to cook and eat them since our resident expert on this topic is still in Bermuda – Alan Botula! I don't think I did the eating part quite right because out of six of the critters – I didn't get much meat!

Friday the 20^th had some great, sunny (albeit cooler) weather with light N winds supposedly changing to W in the afternoon). Friday was our only opportunity to make some headway north and we wanted to get to Deltaville, VA to be able to hide from some nasty serious rain and NE winds coming in. We made great time, mostly due to help from the current going north, and got in to Deltaville by 3pm. This time, however, rather than going in to the Deltaville Marina anchorage area – we elected to visit Fishing BayYacht Club. Dockage the first night is free if you are a member of a yacht club yourself – which we are (SYC) and the following night is at $1.50 / ft – reasonable. We have been able to arrange a deal and will be staying here until Tuesday which makes getting Gracie ashore really easy. FBYC is absolutely gorgeous and it is a serious sailing club. It is miserable weather today but the race is on!!

We will be moving over to anchor at Deltaville Marina on Tuesday so we can do some laundry, take on fuel and water, use the courtesy car to go to the market, and do a pump out (not necessarily in that order!) Then we plan to continue north on Wednesday the 25^th to Solomons Island, MD and then Annapolis, MD. We went to Solomons on the way south and it is really nice – we did not do Annapolis going south so we want to try to get in there. It is a busy week next week in Annapolis being Commissioning week for the US Naval Academy. But we are going to try to get in and get a mooring or be at anchor. We will see!

Near Miss - a 48' Nova Scotia trawler!

Tim and Missy - stole their picture from their Facebook page (because stupid us didn't take any pix!)

Below them is what the Great Loop is all about!

Tim and Missy's dog, Frankie - hanging out with us for dinner!!

Gracie doing her "dock" thing - she will get off at all chances. We think she might be part "Dock-sand"!! hahah At Alligator Marina! This is why we are here!

One of the first obstacles going into the Dismal Swamp. A very narrow old swing bridge (defunct).

The Dismal Swamp

A small place to dock the boat for the night! (not!)- this is private but for the life of me I don't know why anyone would have a boat docked on the Dismal Swamp!