Pictures: Before we left home we bought a new mattress, then took the cover apart to custom fit one side for the bow of the boat, then we sewed it back up on our diningroom table; Mom (Gladys) in our main cabin for a visit; the UN building, with the spire of the Empire State Building to its right in NYC; our new inflatable kayak before launching, Atlantic City in the background; Heidi's reflection looking into the pilot house; VICTORIOUS is at the dock in the background of the restaurant deck in Chesapeake City; at the private dock in Church Creek, off of St. Mary's Creek, off of the Potomac; Bob Allnutt with Ken on Bob's dock.
Due to Hurricane Matthew we did not leave at the beginning of the week (Oct. 3-9) but when it was clear that we would not be in it's path, Ken moved VICTORIOUS from Cohasset to Duxbury. The next day, Oct. 7, we left from Duxbury on our Grand Cruise!
Saturday, Oct. 8 was fun. We had spent the night in Marion, in Buzzards Bay, and were able to come in to the town dock in the morning. It was a perfect place to invite my sister and mom to come see the boat, and us. The access to the dock is very convenient for people who are mobility challenged. My mom is 94 and gets around quite slowly, but it was fairly easy for her to get into the main cabin on the boat. Sister Sharon brought us muffins and coffee. We also got to see friends who were using the town dock to prepare for a race weekend in Menemsha. Peter and Kate Cassidy use their boat a lot and homeport in Marion. We hadn't seen their two boys in a while (they are now 11 and 7 years old) and the tug provided an interesting counterpoint to their sailboat, to explore.
On day three, starting from Block Island, we were fighting a vicious north wind. In retrospect, we should have not been out there, knowing the forecast. Eventually we got to Stonington CT, spending two days there. To compensate for the windy weather, we next had several days of very nice, sunny, mild weather. We transited the East River in New York City with 3 extra knots of current (that added almost 50% more speed), and made sure we saw the United Nations Building which we had previously missed.
The next time we needed to stop for a couple of days we were in the bay across from Atlantic City. We were anchored, and it proved to be a quiet spot out of the heavy winds that had sprung up. Each time we have had a day that we don't travel, we have plenty of chores and tasks. Loading the boat with lots of food and clothing for almost every eventuality means that we have to find places to stow it and we are still emptying bags at this point and stuffing gear into the backs of lockers.
We have a new Advanced Elements inflatable kayak and in this bay we got it inflated and tried it out. It will be a nice addition to our bag of "toys" to use on this trip.
One of our favorite stops in the northeast is Chesapeake City, and we got there in the middle of the day, and got a spot at the free dock (the free city dock is one of the reasons we like it there so much!). We had lunch on the deck at the Chesapeake Inn, looking out at the harbor, surrounded by avid sports fans settling in for the game -- in this case the Eagles -- and it was very festive. However, since it was not our team, we decided to leave and continued on south to an anchorage, again with extra current pushing us.
Great weather has continued from that day, for almost a week. We have stopped in Annapolis and docked next to friends from home, the Colemans (they've been in touch with us all week). There we got groceries and went out to dinner, each time using an Uber cab with our friends. We made a stop just off of Little Choptank River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to tie up to the dock of Victory Tug friends Bicki and Dave. Besides using their dock they cooked dinner for us. (They had stayed with us in July when there was a gathering of Victory Tugs in Plymouth and they arrived by car.) Two days later we were at another Victory Tug owner's dock just off of the Potomac River. Bob Allnutt invited us to stay even though, or perhaps because of, a weather change that will bring a lot of wind for several days. Bob was also a guest at our house in July.
We are just at the point where it is sunny and beautiful, but tonight and the next two and a half days may be terrible for traveling. We are tucked up near to shore on the dock and will be in the lee of any strong wind. This creek, off of St. Marys, off the Potomac, has other small creeks off of it which are perfect for the kayak. These seem to be "bonus days", much warmer than we thought we would have, and in well-protected places.
We had a full moon earlier this week, a night full of geese flying and honking (who knew they flew at night?), an afternoon of very fast jets taking off from Patuxent Naval Air Station, and we are starting to see some of the other boats that are heading south, including one from the Netherlands and three from Maine. We should connect up with the Colemans on their boat next week, and we just heard from another Massachusetts boat, captained by our friend Peter Mahoney, that will be leaving soon for Florida, and who will catch up to us as he can go much faster.
Stay tuned!
