Happy Holidays Everyone!

Al and I just wanted to wish everyone all the best for the holidays. We hope that 2009 keeps you and your families healthy and happy.

Warderick Wells to Georgetown, Great Exuma Island

Thursday December 17th, 2008

The last few weeks, we have simply been hopping from island to island enjoying the Bahamas. The pictures can speak for themselves. Overall the last few weeks can be summed up simply as a collection of unique paradises.

Our route has been from Warderick Wells (24 24.10N 76 38.30 W) to Cambridge Cay ( 24 28.00 N 76 32.50 W) to Staniel Cay (24 10.20 N 727.20 W) to Black Point (24 05.40 N 76 24.70 W), then the Darby’s (23 51.40 N 76 13 .50 W) and now George Town (23 30.41N 75 44.70W).

We have been seeing all kinds of marine life some with some unexpected creatures and some more expected. There have been lots of sharks on this leg of our trip. Thankfully they are nurse sharks which really don’t bother with people. People actually pay money to swim with these sharks. I will save my money and watch them from the safety of our boat.



The George Town area is between Great Exuma Island and Stocking Island. It is a relatively sheltered harbour about 9 miles long and 1 mile across. There is civilization here for a change. This is the first time we have been able to buy fresh produce since leaving Nassau. What a treat. We plan to be in this area until the end of January with periodic short trips to some more remote islands south of here. There are about 50 boats here and things are very organized. They expect more boats in January. Usually there are 300 to 500 at the peak season however given the economy it will probably be much quieter this year.

So far it has been very windy most days so we don’t venture very far in the dinghy. We have found some beautiful beaches and, even though there are lots of boats here, we are still able to find secluded spots and can walk for hours without seeing anyone else.

We now feel like we are at Camp for adults. The new routine, at least when the winds are high, which seems like forever, is to make our way to Volleyball Beach and you guessed it, there is organized volleyball every afternoon. The players range from their early-20’s to late-70’s. There are some serious players and serious games however Al and I stick to the not so serious fun games. Twice a week there is organized poker. There has been a ladies lunch and Christmas gift exchange. The campers are also selling t-shirts in town to raise money for the spring island regatta. The list goes on and on.

Life is Good.

Nassau to Normans Cay to Warderick Wells

Wednesday December 3rd, 2008

Well, we played tourists in Nassau for a day. We explored Paradise Island which is like Disney World with all kinds of beautiful hotels, beaches and pools. We walked through Atlantis and watched the divers feeding sharks and rays in the aquarium pool. Then we walked underground and there is a glass tunnel underneath the shark pool and the aqua life swam all around us. A huge shark swam right over my head. He had a chainsaw shaped nose and other than that he looked pretty friendly. Needless to say, I was very happy to have glass between him and me. Later in the day we went to downtown Nassau which has much more of a local flare to it. It was fun to see the shenanigans in the streets there.

On Thursday morning we made our way to the Exuma Islands. It was another beautiful day traveling across the Bahamas Bank. The bank is shallow and you can see bottom for most of the trip (35 nautical miles). The picture is taken from the bow of our boat about 10 feet from the surface of the water, looking down about 27 feet. It is unbelievably clear. Periodically, we could see starfish on the bottom of the ocean.



Well, we finally found paradise. Not the fake Paradise Island but truly paradise. It was breath taking coming into Norman’s Cay (24.34.75N 76.49.30W). An array of tiny islands mixed in with larger islands welcomed us to the Exumas. Some of the islands are inhabited and many are not. At low tide there are miles of sand banks to play around on. Norman’s is simply stunning. There are only a few homes on the island and a small restaurant with 4 cabins and an airstrip. Everyone here is self sufficient using solar power or generators. There are no phones here. It is truly remote. Al caught his first lobsters on a reef off Norman’s Cay. We had a scrumptious fresh lobster dinner. Hopefully the first of many.

We left Normans yesterday and are now in Warderick Wells (24.24.10N 76.38.30W)which houses the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park Headquarters. Another beautiful area. Lots of beaches and good snorkeling. We walked on the island and found “blow holes” on what they call Boo Boo Hill. Boo Boo for the sounds that the blow holes make. When the seas are high the water will come out of these holes which are quite a bit higher than the sea below. Al was looking in one and exclaimed how cool it was when all of sudden the wind blew through it and blew his hat up about 10 feet. Luckily the hat was rescued before going over the cliff.

There is lots of exploring of beautiful scenery here. The weather is a bit unsettled so we didn’t go snorkeling but apparently it is also great for snorkeling. Hopefully we will do that tomorrow. If all goes well we will be in Georgetown for Christmas celebrating Jankanoo. Hopefully we have internet again by then and will send our holiday wishes at that time. In case we don’t get wifi there, have a great Christmas everyone!

Bimini to Chub Cay, Berry Islands to Nassau, New Providence

Wednesday November 26th, 2008

We still haven’t made it to the Exuma Islands but are not complaining at all as we have started to experience what we came for; amazing secluded beaches, spectacular sunsets, snorkeling in crystal clear waters and eating fresh fish. Really fresh fish as we catch it, clean it and cook it right away.

We again had a short weather window and left Bimini on Thursday last week. The window was not long enough to make it all the way to the Exumas but did make it as far as Chub Cay (25 23.9 N 77 55.05 W) in the Berry Islands. We arrived around 7:30 pm in the dark which was a bit disorienting. We were told it was doable and safe and Angie and Harold were ahead of us and they had done it before. It was still an odd experience to anchor in the dark (pitch black except for a few small lights) and then wake up to take in the pretty island around you in the morning.

Al is in love with the Bahamas; snorkeling, conch hunting, lobster spearing. He has been unsuccessful as yet spearing, but I’m confident I’ll have fresh lobster soon. I’m getting used to snorkeling. I need to self-coach to get over my fears as it is a beautiful world down there and I want to experience it. We saw some huge rays come out of the sand where they were either hiding or sleeping (who knows). They came out of the sand and gracefully just flew through the water with us following. It was quite something to see although I had a death grip on Al’s arm the whole time.

Al has been doing his best to keep us supplied with fresh fish. And he’s been doing well. I too, have been successful fishing, however my methods are quite different. I simply approached the captain of one of the big sport fishing boats at the docks and innocently asked how they did and what they caught. The next thing I knew I had a large bag of freshly cleaned Wahoo (a type of mackerel). It was enough fish for 4 meals for two. Now that is fishing.

We left Chub Cay for Nassau yesterday. This was the last true ocean crossing we make on our way to the Exumas. We crossed what they call the Tongue of the Ocean. It only took about 5 hours. The swells were quite big but long and spread out. It was a beautiful day for crossing. We had hoped to stay only one night in Nassau picking up provisions as this is the last place to get good produce before heading to the Northern Exuma Islands. Unfortunately another front is coming and the winds are not favourable for us to cross the banks today so we will be here one more night. Again, not such a bad thing as we plan to walk across to Paradise Island and be tourists for the day.

Biscayne Bay, Florida to The Bimini Islands, Bahamas (25.42N 79.19W)

Wednesday November 19th, 2008

We made it to the Bahamas. Yeh Hah! We only had a short window to make our way across the Gulf Stream and we took it, leaving at 6:30 am last Saturday together with Angie and Harold on Halagain. The seas were choppy and very rolly for the first hour and a half but then we settled in quite nicely. It wasn’t exactly smooth but it was fine. Around 1:30 we could see land on the horizon. As we approached the Bimini Islands, the colours of the water were spectacular. From the deep indigo blue of the ocean to a rich turquoise blue towards the islands and a brilliant turquoise green very close to shore. Amazing.

We took a slip at the Bimini Blue Water Resort as the winds were forecasted to build again during the night and anchoring was not a good option. Ideally we would have passed by Bimini and over-nighted right to Nassau but because of the strong winds we are here. Customs and Immigration went smoothly and we met Jason while in the immigration office. Jason heard us say our boat name and said Joan and Larry told him and his wife Laura to watch for us. They are friends of Joan and Larry who we met in the Solomons. It is such a small world. More fun people to have skipper’s meetings with.





We are in the Bahamas and now experiencing all things Bahamian. We took our dinghy out and with Harold and Angie’s guidance and started searching for Conch which is an island favourite. We found a King Helmet (see picture) which we promptly returned to the ocean after pictures. Al and I also found two big conchs which we were very proud of until we showed them to Laura and she let out a slight shriek and almost threw them back at us. “Hermit Crabs”. Who knew? Apparently these crabs take over shells when the conch dies. Oops. Jason and Laura were successful in bringing in three live mature conchs. Last week we learned about husking coconuts, this week we are harvesting conch (see picture) and now Al has bought a spear with which Angie has promised to teach him how to catch lobster. Living off the land is not so bad here.

Bimini is interesting. The people are wonderful. No one passes you without saying hello. They are all very laid back and happy. The streets are very narrow and most of the vehicles are golf carts. We were here 4 days before Angie reminded me that they drive on the other side of the road here. I hadn’t noticed since there usually is only one car/golf cart passing by at a time.

Well we’ve been here 5 days now and it looks like it may be another 5 days as these winds just don’t want to let up. We are enjoying ourselves but are still anxious to get to the Exuma Islands which is our final destination. We are again waiting for the winds to change direction and die down as it is still an overnight trip from here to anywhere and we want it to be a comfortable one.

Hopefully the next update will be from the Exuma Islands.

Lake Worth, Florida to Biscayne Bay, Florida (25 35.50 N 80 02.50 W)

Thursday November 13th, 2008

Well, here we are still in Florida. We were all set to leave for the islands last week and had a great weather window however a little hurricane called Paloma started brewing south of Cuba and was headed towards the Bahamas. We decided that it would be better to be here on the mainland if the weather turned nasty then in the Bahamas so we gave up our crossing to wait again.

There are worse places to be to wait to cross over. We stayed a few days in Lake Worth / Palm Beach and were able to go swimming and walk on the beautiful beach (see picture of Al). Given the long wait for a weather window to the Abacos, which are the northern Bahamian Islands we decided to move south ourselves and go directly to the Exuma Islands which are central and generally have warmer weather this time of year. So we have moved from Lake Worth to Biscayne Key south of Miami.

On the way we stopped in Fort Lauderdale. From the ICW, we were humbled by all the magnificent mansions that line the coast on both sides. Surprising for a town I thought was just for students partying during spring break. While in Fort Lauderdale, we conquered our first coconut. They are abundant there, floating in the water past the boat all the time. It was quite a feat to open one up extract the juices and then carve out the fruit. It took several cuts through it with a hacksaw and then another carving saw and a sharp knife to complete the job. The prize was worth the effort. We are acclimatizing ourselves to living off the land.

We met another Canadian couple, Angie and Harold (Halagain) when we were in Lake Worth and ran into them again in Fort Lauderdale and now here in Biscayne Bay. They have been cruising the Bahamas for 25 years, and have been incredibly generous in sharing their knowledge and experiences with us. Someone new to have “skipper’s” meetings in the evening.

We enjoyed Biscayne Bay waiting for another weather window which will hopefully be Friday to cross to the Central Bahamas. While we were waiting here, we had great news that Al’s daughter, Corrie, delivered her second child, Chase James Prouse on Remembrance Day. Mom and son are both doing well.

We are both looking forward to seeing all the little munchkins when we get back in the spring.

Jacksonville, Florida to Lake Worth, Florida

Wednesday November 5th, 2008

We left Jacksonville around 9:00 am on Saturday October 25th and arrived in St Augustine late afternoon. St. Augustine is one of the oldest settlements in America. It has a Spanish ambience and apparently it is really nice but we didn’t even go ashore as we were on a mission to get to Vero Beach where we would start our provisioning. So a long day to St. Augustine, another to New Smyrna Beach and then our last evening before Vero was north of Cocoa Beach.

On the way, we saw our first Manatees, about a dozen in one day. These are huge sea creatures that resemble walruses. They are often referred to as sea cows but are up to 13 feet long and weigh as much as 3,000 pounds. They breathe air so come up every few minutes to the surface. Anyways, they can be a bit of a hazard as they move very slowly and are often struck by boats, a hazard to them and to us. We had to move relatively slowly and keep a good watch out for them. We also saw our first Alligator on this leg of the trip. He looked like a big thick stick in the middle of the channel and then when we approached, the “big stick” submerged to resurface a few meters away. He wasn’t very big but we wouldn’t recommend swimming there.

We cruised near Port Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre and could clearly see the shuttle launch from the water. What a fantastic place to witness a launch from. We hope to see one in the spring when we return.

We stayed about 5 days in Vero Beach where we started our provisioning. We are now at an anchorage in Lake Worth / Palm Beach waiting for the right weather window for us to cross to the Bahamas. In the meantime, we are continuing to provision. Food is very expensive, sometimes hard to find and often not very good in the Bahamas so we are stocking up on cases of everything.

As we slowly (very slowly) traveled well over 2000 statute miles from Lake Ontario to here, it has struck us how diverse the US coastal towns are. From the small fishing villages like Crisfield, the historic centres like Annapolis, the southern plantation communities like Charleston, the Spanish influence of St. Augustine to the large metropolitan cities like New York, they all have their own flavour and interesting features. But, we are now done with America and on to the Bahamas. Yeh Ha! White sandy beaches, palm trees, and clear turquoise waters, here we come.

Charleston, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida

Saturday October 25th, 2008

Here are a few more shots from Charleston. They don’t capture the true essence of it all but it should give a prospective. The house is a typical home in the Charleston area and the other night shot is the “mega dock” . This is where the people with mega boats spend their mega dollars. These people seem unaffected by the recession. It is officially a recession now isn’t it? These boats typically have a crew of 4 people, several dinghies (about the size of our boat) and pay thousands and thousands to fill up on fuel. We have seen ships like this all the way down the coast but have yet to be invited onboard for cocktails.

Al and I did our first overnight ocean crossing. We were awakened by one of the mega boats leaving around 4:45 am on Tuesday so we got up ourselves and by 6:15 we had our anchors up and were ready to go. This was also our first cruising in the dark. It was quite odd going out of the harbour, as the lights of the city conflict with the markers on the water. You think you are looking at a red marker but it is a red light on shore. Thank god for technology that helps point you in the right direction. We could have figure it out on the paper charts, with a compass etc. but that would be lots of work and lots of stress. We were out of the channel in the ocean by 7:15 and on our way to Jacksonville. Our estimated time at the St. John’s inlet 7:00 am Wednesday. During the day we had two sea turtle sightings; huge things just bobbing away in the ocean. There were lots of dolphins throughout the day. They played in our wake and by our bow a few times. The difference out in the ocean, is that the water is clear so you can actually see them under the water coming up to the boat.

Al took the first shift while I slept from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. I took over, and at 9:38 I had to wake up Al as this white light kept getting closer. By the time he was on the bridge, there was also a green and a red light. Al thinks I was coming up on a boat that then turned. Anyways, all was good and Al went back to sleep until about 10:30. I then slept from about 11 pm until 1 am. I had to sing to stay awake. “Sing like no one is listening” … that must have been very scary for all the dolphins in the area. Al took over from 4 am onward and I got up around 6 am.

Overall the overnight voyage was great except for a big concern about our transmission. We knew there was a problem with the cooler for the transmission but thought it was a slow leak when we left Charleston. Al checked it late Tuesday afternoon and it was full of sea water. Then, while underway, he did a blood transfusion (changed transmission fluid) and by pass surgery (took the cooler out of the system). It worked great however we were very worried about it overheating the whole trip. If it would have overheated we would have had to run on one engine and would have had to do a full knee replacement (transmission rebuild) which would not have been good and couldn’t have been performed while at sea.

We arrived at the St. John’s inlet right on schedule at 7:00 am. The sun was just rising as we pulled into the channel. There were several boats anchored outside as we started in. We were just at the break-wall when Al decided he needed to use the facilities. The timing was not good for me as there was a very big (ok monstrous) ship coming in behind us and gaining on us. Anyhow I did fine but this thing that passed us was like an apartment building. The great thing was that the dolphins obvious like big ships better than little ones like Painkiller. The dolphins were actually diving in the air in front of the bow of this ship. (See picture) The trip up to Jacksonville was painful given we had not slept much in 24 hours and the current was against us. At the throttle (rpms) we were running we should have been traveling close to 8 knots but instead we were at 4.3 knots. It took 4 hours from the inlet to get docked at Jacksonville. All told we had a very successful 180 mile 30 hour ocean crossing.


We were greeted by a nice gentleman who helped us tie up and then proceeded to tell us his life-long woes. Well he was the first of many homeless people we encountered on the waterfront in Jacksonville. It is very sad. These people are definitely feeling the effects of the recession. On a brighter note, we were here about 4 hours or so when Marion, Theo and Skye on Double Dutch showed up. It was nice to see familiar faces.

We spent 3 days in Jacksonville waiting out the winds (gale force) again. Our timing was excellent being here as Mom, Uncle Basil and Aunt Mary were driving to St. Petersburg this week and passed by. They joined us for dinner which was a real treat. They came baring gifts, GuyLian chocolates, roses and a bottle of whisky. Great goodies for us to enjoy over the next few weeks.

The winds have dissipated and Al has fixed the transmission and we are ready to continue down the Florida coast. Next port St. Augustine.

Carolina Beach, North Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina

Sunday October 20th, 2008

I have realized that I have been remiss about mentioning our dolphin sightings. This is quite odd since I get soooo excited about them. We have seen dolphins every time we have been in ocean waters and many times in the inlets and canals along the ICW. The sightings are actually getting more exciting and more frequent as we move south. When we were in Beaufort, North Carolina a few weeks ago the dolphins actually led our boat into the harbour. They literally swam with us, right under the bow of the boat for about 5 minutes. The picture is taken from the bow pulpit (the very front of the boat) looking straight down. There was one dolphin on each side of us and several swimming just shy of the boat.

On this leg of the trip, the dolphins have actually been jumping right out of the water and circling us while we are at anchorage. In fact, 3 nights ago we were in a little river (actually a marsh but that is another story) and Al heard them splash and when we went outside to see, you could just hear the sound of them blowing air out as they came to the surface. It was very rhythmic and soothing. Since it was dark, and we were in the middle of nowhere, you couldn’t see them except when they surfaced quite close to the boat. On this leg, we also saw our first sea turtle which was huge but he was gone before I could get a picture. We have also seen many white herons since upstate New York and I finally was able to take a picture of one.

Back to the details of the trip. We left Carolina Beach and staged ourselves in Southport for an ocean crossing. For Al and I, it was just a short trip to Myrtle Beach and for our sailing friends it was for an overnight voyage to Charleston. Al and I were actually tempted to do the over-night crossing with them, but we had to get fuel and we knew we could get it cheap in Myrtle Beach. It was a wise decision as the fuel was a dollar cheaper there than in Charleston or anywhere else we have seen. Given how much fuel Painkiller takes, saving a dollar a gallon is huge. Anyways, we found two great anchorages along the way. We were all by ourselves in the middle of no where. We didn’t expect to find wilderness this far down but the area was pretty swampy near the ICW here so it is not the best for development and is now designated as a wildlife preserve.

We made it to Charleston and to our great surprise our friends on Smoooth Move and Double Dutch were in the harbor and Kwanesum was at the marina. It was Al’s birthday the day we arrived and Ellen and Randy from Kwanesum made us Painkillers in honour of Al’s birthday. For those who don’t know the story behind the name of our boat, it came from a drink we enjoyed in the Virgin Islands (Two, three or four ounces of Pusser’s Rum, 4 ozs pineapple juice, 1 oz cream of coconut, 1 oz orange juice, served on the rocks, with grated fresh nutmeg on top). As with our boat, it can either take the pain away or occasionally it can cause some pain. In any respect Randy and Ellen hosted a great pain free birthday celebration for Al.

We have come to appreciate the beauty of Charleston over the past few days. Our first real tour was a 3.5 hours of walk through the streets and along the waterfront. The city is graced with big southern/plantation type mansions, lovely gardens and markets. We will be here for a few more days as we once again wait out the winds. This is a great place to be stuck for a few days.

Norfolk, Virginia to Carolina Beach, North Carolina

Saturday October 11th, 2008

Well the Dismal Swamp is beautiful. It was one of our favourite areas since we left Canada. They just need some marketing people to come up with a new name as it is not dismal at all. It is a narrow channel that is lined with thick brush and tall trees covered with vines. The vines hanging from the trees are reminisent of those seen in old Tarzan movies where he swung from tree to tree. Robert, the lockmaster at the lock leading into the channel was great. He invited us in for a coffee and on the way to his lock house he stopped and picked up a conch and played it. He didn’t just blow it and make noise he actually played a tune. He also had banana trees growing outside which I’m sure take a lot of care this far north. When we went in for coffee, he had fresh donuts for all of us. He was a wealth of knowledge re: the swamp. What a great “welcome to the swamp” greeting. We stayed one night in the swamp at the North Carolina Visitors Centre. The women running the visitors centre were also full of southern hospitality. From the centre, we were able to take a long hike/walk into the swamp up a well marked trail. We saw 5 deer as we ventured into the bush. Then we borrowed bicycles from the visitors centre and rode on a beautiful trail beside the canal. North Carolina certainly knows how to make tourists feel welcome. Our next stop was Elizabeth City, where the town hosts a wine and cheese for visiting boaters. The pictures are both sun rises. One is of our sailing friends leaving Elizabeth city and another the following morning. Sunsets have been equally beautiful. From there we traveled to Beaufort and now we are anchored in Carolina Beach. We arrived here on Thursday afternoon and will probably stay until Monday or Tuesday as another North Easterly wind has started and is forecast to blow until at least Sunday night. We have met some wonderful sailors (the picture) on this leg of the trip. The gang consists of Theo and Marion from Double Dutch, Ellen and Randy on Kwanesum and Lonnie single-handling Smoooth Move. We are an eclectic group with diverse backgrounds but a common goal “GET SOUTH”. Actually Ellen and Randy as well as Theo and Marion hope to eventually go through the Panama Canal and back up the western seaboard. Lonnie has already traveled to the far reaches including sailing in the Indian Ocean and near Africa. We really have been enjoying our evening Skipper’s meetings with the gang. Lots of commiserating on the day’s run and tales of past voyages. Unfortunately we will need to say goodbye soon as they all plan to go on the outside (Ocean water) from here to Charleston and Al and don’t have the inclination to do a 30-hour overnight run so we will stick to the ICW. We really hope to meet up with them again somewhere along the way. We will have to get used to meeting great people with diverse and interesting backgrounds and then saying good bye

Solomons Island to Norfolk Virginia – Chesapeake Bay Final

Tuesday September 30th, 2008

We waved goodbye to our friends in Solomons last Monday and headed for Crisfield. It felt like leaving home all over again. We don’t know if and when we will catch up with all of them again. Crisfield is the “Crabbing Capital of the World” is really a small fishing village on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. It would have been a pretty ho hum cruise for us except that Al noticed a coastguard ship and what he thought was a marker slowly approaching us from behind. When the “marker” kept moving with the coastguard ship, Al took out the binoculars and realized it wasn’t a marker but the top end of a submarine. He said to me, that we should probably let them go by as they were going faster than us and on a collision course. A few moments later a coastguard dinghy came racing up to the back of our boat. It was the first time we have ever seen a machine gun mounted on the front of a coastguard dinghy. Anyhow, they politely “asked” if we would mind holding back while they were passing us as there was a security perimeter around the sub. We didn’t argue and let them go by (see picture). Who argues with a couple of guys with a machine gun?

When we arrived in Crisfield, we realized that our timing was not very good on a few fronts. It was like a ghost town in Crisfield as most businesses have closed down for the season. We actually believe the place is pretty quiet most of the time. Although the people were great, it felt very economically depressed. Our plan had been to stay one or two nights however a northeaster came in and we were stuck there for 5 nights. It’s a good thing Al and I have learned to relax and entertain ourselves. It also helped that we met Annie a 68 year old woman from northern Ontario who was single handling and 17 foot sailboat in the Chesapeake. Incredible. Annie joined us for happy hour a few times and helped keep us entertained.

We left Crisfield on Saturday and made our way to Hampton which is across the way from Norfolk Virginia. We spent two days there. Nothing very exiting except the Langley Air and Space Museum. Al and I spent an afternoon there viewing old planes and historic documentation and playing with all kinds of simulation exhibits. I have now “attempted” to land a rover on mars and land a shuttle back on earth. Attempted is the key word as I crashed both. I did successfully take off in a small aircraft but crashed it shortly after take off. Al did better than me. I guess all his piloting experience helps.

We are now sitting in a small basin just north of the Dismal Swamp which will be the next leg of our adventure. This is the prettiest anchorage we have had since the Thimble Islands in Long Island. There are trees all around us and, at low tide, a beach. There are some small fish here that jump over three feet into the air. We are the only boat here to enjoy it. Tomorrow or the next day, we will start down the dismal swamp on our way south. The Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge is supposed to be beautiful with lots of hiking and biking trails. We hope it lives up to its reputation.

Solomons Island to Solomons Island – Chesapeake Bay Part II

Sunday September 21st, 2008

With Tropical Storm Hanna behind us, we were closely watching Ike’s path and staying low until we knew Ike was headed for the Golf. We are certainly glad we were not in Ike’s path. We managed a trip up to Annapolis for 6 days. At our cruising speed it was about a 5 hour run up the bay. I know I say this about all the towns but, Annapolis was truly special. A little bigger than most of the places we have been visiting but quaint none the less. Another city filled with lots of historic buildings, museums and landmarks. We visited the Naval Academy. Wow what a great campus. Beautiful historic buildings and state of the art facilities. The 4400 students all receive a Bachelor of Science degree which takes 4 years and then they need to spend 5 years serving in the military. At noon each day they all congregate in front of the residence where they all live and they do formations (picture). Directly afterwards they go for lunch which is served to all 4400 off them in 4 minutes. Their diet is 4000 calories per day yet none of them are overweight. They are in full uniform always. Very disciplined and from what we gathered their curriculum is quite in tense. Anyways it was an interesting tour. We also just hung around the town eating in historic restaurants and shopping on little narrow streets. Annapolis is said to be where Kunta Kinte (Roots) was sold when he was first brought to America. This weekend here in Solomons there are tall ships and a War of 1812 reenactment. The tall ships (see picture) are wonderful to see and watch. We had to pass on the war reenactment. Enough history for now. We came back to Solomons and have been here another week and a half. We have found some nice beaches that we can dingy too and take long walks. The people we continue to meet are great. We are getting to know more and more experienced cruisers who have graciously shared their experiences. We plan to leave here tomorrow and spend the next week in the lower part of the bay before starting to head south in early October. The gang here had a going away party for us last night. Margaritas set the theme for a Mexican Pot Luck Dinner. We hope to see everyone again along our travels but only time will tell. I hope everyone back home is having a great day. My mom is celebrating her 70th birthday and my brother his 50th today. I’m sure it is a great party. Save me some cake.

Cape May to Solomon’s Island – Chesapeake Bay Part I

Saturday September 6th, 2008

Wow time is just flying by now. We have been in Chesapeake Bay for almost three weeks already. We started in Chesapeake City which is a small gem of a town on the Chesapeake Delaware Canal (C&D Canal). The town is filled with small bed & breakfasts all circa 1850. There are many tiny unique shops. If only we could store more stuff on the boat, I would have lots of neat things to bring home. We had our first local crab dinner. What a fun experience. It’s not something I would want to do regularly but cracking open the crabs and digging for the meat was a fun experience and the morsels of delicious crab were well worth the work. The picture is from two weeks later when we had another crab dinner with friends from Solomon Island. Our teachers, the second time around, were Mike and Mary. We managed to extract a lot more out of the crab with their direction. As you can see eating hard shell crab can be quite barbaric.

From Chesapeake City, we made our way to Rock Hall where we met Captain Bob Ziegler, a wonderful man from St. Augustine Florida, sailing single handed while his wife visits with grandchildren. Bob has traveled the eastern seaboard many times and was very helpful going through our charts and pointing out anchorages for us. From there our journey took us to St. Michaels, again, a great little town. Here we met Judy and Bert who, along with the waitress Leslie, kept us entertained all afternoon. We went on to Oxford next and found more great people to hang around with. We met 4 couples from Herrington Harbor who were moored together in the Oxford creek. They made us feel like long time friends. An inside joke for them, "kerfuffle" a variant of "curfuffle." Other forms include "carfuffle," "cafuffle," "kafuffle," "kufuffle" and "gefuffle." However you may spell it, "curfuffle" means a "disorder, flurry, or agitation, a fuss, a ruckus, or a state of disorder."

We headed from Oxford to Solomon Island to rendezvous with our friends, Tim and Jan from Fenelon Falls. Here we are, almost two weeks later. We are staying at a marina working on some needed boat maintenance and now waiting for Hurricane Hanna to pass by. We will use Solomons as a base until the end of September when the peak of the hurricane season is over. The people here are great as well. The area is a fisherman’s dream. We had about 9 bluefish given to us by a local fisherman one afternoon. The picture is John, Vic, and Al cleaning them out. I’ve noticed that Tim enjoys the fruit of the labour but has a supervisory role only when it comes to cleaning. Soon after we had the bluefish, we met Ed, his wife Randi and their son Garrett. Ed graciously invited Al to go fishing for a day on their boat “Just Peachy”. They caught 17 Mackerel and 2 Rockfish. While Al got hooked on fishing I spent a relaxing day hanging out with Randi here at the Marina. It is so nice to get off the boat occasionally. One of our new friends here, Pat has a car and she has generously taken us shopping several times. What a pleasure it is not to have to haul our supplies in a backpack for a change. I’m finding it is the littlest things that give great pleasure when you are living on board for so long.

Tropical Storm Hanna was due to hit us today. We spent most of yesterday preparing but it really was anti-climatic. The winds only got up to about 25 knots. Even boats that were not well secured weathered the storm without incident. For us, we were happy to be safe rather than sorry.

Manasquan Inlet to Cape May - The Jersey Shore

Monday August 18th, 2008

The Jersey Shore is lined with beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, by boat, it is difficult to enjoy them. We traveled most of this shore on the Intracoastal Coastal Waterway (ICW). From the ICW side, it is almost impossible to find a place to tie up your dinghy and enjoy the ocean beach. The alternative is to travel on the outside which we did one day. However, from the outside, you simply see the beach from about 3 miles outside. The ocean is far too rough near the shoreline to travel. So we now understand why there is little in the guides about the Jersey Shore. We think it would be best explored by car or bike. We did enter the Inlet by Atlantic City. Atlantic City is visible from the ocean side for miles and miles. It is the only city with high rises along the shoreline. At the end of the Jersey Shore are two interesting towns; Wildwood which is very retro and Cape May with pretty Victorian architecture. We have found that our trip is as much about the people we have met as it is about the places we have seen. In Wildwood we were welcomed by the members of the Wildwood Garden Yacht Club. They made us feel like family and let us use their dinghy dock so we could get out to the ocean for a walk and to provision. Fred and Melissa also gave us invaluable information about traveling the Delaware Bay and exploring Cape May. In Cape May we met Pamela and Bill who are more adventurous than any one else we have met. They are starting their travels on their 44 foot sailboat and will be going out to Bermuda and then down to St. Thomas. This will be at least two weeks of ocean travels with only one stop. They will need to alternate night watches and there will be no hurricane holes to hold up in. I must not let Al get any ideas about this. As per Melissa’s suggestion, we took our bicycles into Cape May explored the lighthouse area (see picture) and admired the Victorian architecture. Cape May is a great tourist destination. It is best seen by bicycle. We have now made our second major ocean crossing from Cape May to Chesapeake Bay. Al planned another smooth crossing with light winds and timing our travels to maximize on the currents all the way.

For those who have been concerned about our dinghy, Al successfully repaired her. She will be referred to as Patches from now on.

New York City to the Jersey Shore – Long Island Sound and Long Island

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

We have now come full circle out east along Long Island Sound and back west towards New York City. The past week and half has truly felt like vacation. Within a day of leaving New York City, bound for Cape Cod, we decided that we were not smelling the roses enough. It had been too much trying to see everything in a big hurry. So we decided to abandon our plans for Cape Cod and Nantucket which would have added another 200 miles to our trip. It may not sound like a lot but when you travel less than 8 knots an hour, it’s a long way. Anyhow, we changed the pace and really enjoyed Long Island Sound and Long Island. The highlights included The Thimble Islands (see picture) which were very rocky and rugged. This area reminded us of Georgian Bay. Not near as beautiful but a great reminder. We then made our way to Shelter Island which is near the eastern tip of Long Island. We spent time at Greenport, Coecles Harbour, Three Mile Harbour and Sag Harbour. Each stop offered something unique. Greenport was our favourite town in the area with lots of great little shops, restaurants and cafes. Coecles Harbour was pretty secluded, peaceful and quiet. Three Mile Harbour had a wonderful pebble/shell beach and we had fresh lobster at Bostwicks Seafood Grill. The lobster was superb. Sag Harbour was about people and boat watching. Our little 38 foot boat was all but a dinghy there. There were dozens of private yachts that were well over 100 feet in length. See picture. We thought we were done with locks but had one more to do to get to the ocean side of Long Island. The Shinnecock Canal. At the time, we went through it wasn’t a lock at all just sort of rapids. Al thought it was exciting taking Painkiller through the rapids. I, on the other hand, had to remind him that even though we look like a dingy compared to the yachts in Sag Harbour, Painkiller is really not a dinghy and should not be used to “shoot the rapids”. Once through the canal, we started down the Intracoastal Waterway where our route was lined with big beautiful beach houses. We have now been in East Hampton, South Hampton and the beach houses were in West Hampton. Lots of money in “The Hamptons”. We stopped at Great Gun Beach on Fire Island on the Intracoastal side and walked over to the ocean side. Now this is what we came for. We were alone with the sound of the ocean waves crashing on a fine sand beach which stretched for miles and miles and miles. We continued on the ICW the following day and anchored in a small bay at Jones State Park Beach. We now understand why the residents in upstate New York resent New York City. “NYC sucks the state dry” is what they told us. Jones State Park Beach is a beautiful public beach very close to the city. It has three huge bathhouses, mini golf, tennis courts, volleyball courts, etc. A teak boardwalk for those who don’t want to get there toes sandy and a stadium for concerts. It is not an uppity beach. It is there for the residents of the area. If only Toronto had a beach like this. Then the northerners could say “Toronto sucks the province dry”. The day we were at Jones Beach, the parking lots were empty and very few people were enjoying it. That was until the evening came. Who would have thought you could sit on your boat with a glass of wine (or can of beer) in your PJs and enjoy a live concert. REO Speed Wagon was the warm up band followed by the headliner, Boston. A nice send off for us from Long Island. The following morning we left through Jones Inlet and did our first ocean crossing about 50 nautical miles to Manasquan Inlet on the Jersey coast. A fine day for crossing the ocean. No winds made for very calm water. The next leg of our trip will be the Jersey shore to Cape May and then up the Delaware Bay to Chesapeake Bay.

Troy to New York City - The Mighty Hudson River

Saturday August 2nd, 2008

We are now just short of The Big Apple. The Hudson River has proven to be very interesting and much more charming than expected. We went to several small towns on our way down including: Catskill, with decorative cats much like Mel’s moose in Toronto; Kingston, which was the original capital of New York State and full of historic buildings and the tugboat Mathilda; Nyack, a very charming town 22 miles north of Liberty Island. All the towns had lots of appeal. They were interesting and unique in their own ways. Numerous historic lighthouses along the way also captured our interest. The picture is the Athens Lighthouse. Lots of sights to see but the two we noticed most were the Vanderbilt Mansion which we toured and West Point which was really something to see from the water. The view in the picture of the Hudson River is from the Vanderbilt Mansion. We also saw our first beached boat due to tides. The tide is over 4 feet in the north Hudson and one morning we saw a sailboat sitting on its side and the captain sitting inside just waiting for the tide to rise.

So far we have traveled 538 nautical miles, through 63 locks; 33 on the Trent Severn Waterway and 30 on New York Canal System. We have descended from Fenelon Falls down to Lake Ontario dropping roughly 600 feet then back up 420 feet, over the Adirondack Mountains and down again to sea level. A net drop of 837 feet (255 metres).

We are now anchored behind the Statue of Liberty. We had been looking forward to a fun evening visiting with our cousins Dennis and Barb, but as luck would have it, we had our first set back. I’m sure one of many to come. We have a hole in our dinghy which prevents us from going ashore. We keep a small anchor in the dinghy and it opened up somewhere along the way. I said to Al, it must be a big hole as it deflated so quickly. His response was “More like 13 little holes”. Apparently as we were towing the dinghy, the anchor just kept banging away at the front air chamber, puncturing it for who knows how long. Hopefully our repair kit will do the job, otherwise we will be visiting a marina. We can’t live without the dinghy as there is no other way to get to shore in most places. As an aside, Al's nephew, Stewart, had extra repair glue that he offered to Al before we left. Al declined as he was confident the glue would just go bad. We’ll be shopping for glue soon.

Next to no wireless in days … withdrawal is setting in.

And no, we have not seen any pirates.

Sylvan Beach to Troy - The Erie Canal

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Erie Canal has its high points and its low points. We spent a day at Little Falls (see picture) which was a high point. Very pretty area with unique shops and antiques. Hiking and rock climbing are very popular in the area. We watched people rock climbing and the strength that is required especially in your fingers is phenomenal. It was not like climbing the wall at the MEC store. From Little Falls, we went to Amsterdam, New York. We arrived around noon and had expected to stay the night however the water in the Erie was dirty looking from all the rain so swimming was not on the list. The bicycle trail there was on the wrong side of the canal and the part of town were in did not offer much. So we moved on. All in all, we spent only three nights on the Erie Canal once we left Sylvan Beach. We are now on the Hudson River working our way down to New York City.

Oswego to Sylvan Beach

Friday July 25th, 2008

Customs went smoothly for us in Oswego. We then took the locks through to Sylvan Beach which is on the east end of Oneida Lake. On the way we stopped in Phoenix New York for an evening. Very small town but nice. Al feels like he’s in heaven. 30 cans of Molson Canadian for $22. From Phoenix we made our way across Oneida Lake to Sylvan Beach. Sylvan in a quaint community that make you feel like time has stood still. Everything feels like the 50’s in Sylvan: from the amusement park on the waterfront to the Pancake House downtown. There is a long sandy beach with small cottages and very little new construction. We enjoyed two nights in Sylvan Beach.

Trenton to Oswego

Wednesday July 23rd, 2008

We left Trenton on Monday and spent Monday evening in Picton. What a pretty town. It is filled with old architecture and lots of little shops and restaurants. We had planned to spend Tuesday evening at Duck Island which is out a little ways in Lake Ontario and then cross to Oswego on Wednesday but the waters were very calm going out to Duck Island so we decided to make the crossing to Oswego on Tuesday. We ran with our friends on the Steven B. Roman (see picture) all the way across Lake Ontario. Unfortunately they couldn’t get a canal pass for their ship so we had to part ways. Here we are Wednesday morning waiting for customs to inspect the boat. We will start our way down the New York Canal System as soon as we are cleared.

Fenelon Falls to Trenton

Sunday July 20th 2008

We are now 7 days into our trip. So far, so good. We left last Monday July 14th at 1:45 waving goodbye to our friends Tim and Jan and Ron and Jan and Jimmy. We managed to get away a half day early. The past week traveling down the Trent Severn has been great. We had superb weather, the scenery was beautiful and the people friendly and helpful. Although we have done this leg of the trip before, it is still great to be reminded of what a great province we live in and all the beauty that is at our doorstep everyday.

We were met in Peterborough by Al’s daughter, Corrie and little Megan. Megan had her first experience going through locks. It just happened to be the highest lift lock in the world. The pictures are the Voyageur at the top of the liftlock ready to descend and Megan, Corrie and Al on Painkiller also at the top before we descended. Al is trying to train Megan to take over as crew but I think my job is secure for a while. She totally exhausted him in less than an hour.

Our final good bye to family was in Campbellford where my sister-in-law, Cherlyn and her daughter, Jennafer met us for cocktails. An enjoyable evening had by all.

We arrived in Trenton and the Bay of Quinte on Saturday and had a relaxing day washing the boat and swimming.

Boating and bird-watching seem to be a good match. Special bird sightings thus far: a loon with two babies; two eagles; several hawks; two swans with two babies and lots of osprey and blue herons.

The Countdown Begins

We are now about 6 weeks away from leaving for our trip. Painkiller is in the water and pretty much ready to go. The lists of “to dos” are starting to shrink. It is a great feeling to check things off one of the many lists as we get ready. "Starting our Blog" another one off my list.

Our plan is to leave from Fenelon Falls in mid-July, travel down the Trent Severn Waterway to Belleville and cross Lake Ontario to Oswego. From there we will head to the Erie Canal which will lead us to the Hudson River and out to New York City. We plan a little side trip from there, east to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. We will then go back to New York and take the intra-coastal waterway down to Florida. We will take our time sightseeing along the Eastern Seaboard as we go. When the weather window is just right we will cross over to the Bahamas and spend the winter there, returning to the mainland sometime in March of 2009. We hope to leave the boat somewhere in Florida and fly home in late April.

As many of you know I am a fanatical planner but have been advised of the ways of the water and have learned that we will need to “wing it”. This gives me great angst but I understand that weather, and perhaps “fun” may impact the plan. So the plan is pretty loose and will remain that way.