Prior to departing
Barrington, RI |
The weeks prior to our
departure we had a number of guests visit, these are some of the photos
from their visit.
|
29 Sep 02
Barrington
, RI to
Atlantic City
, NJ |
Today is the first day of a new life, an adventure I have been
dreaming about since I was a child. We are headed south on Odelia, bound
for the warm, clear blue waters of the
Bahamas
. The pictures show some of our preparations for departure, including
the storing the balls and adding our name to stern rail for better
visibility. We left Cove Haven Marina at 1200, after a heart-warming
send off from some of our many friends. Many thanks to Steve and Sue, Al
and Jean, Mary, and all the rest, we really enjoyed our time in RI.
Bob Paynton
came along with us on the first leg of our trip, we really appreciated
his help, it made us more confident and our trip easier. We planned to
go out to Block Island
, and if the weather was good, continue overnight to
Atlantic City
. Luckily, the weather was perfect, clear skies, no wind, and only a
light swell. The night trip was great, the stars so clear that the Milky
Way looked almost like fog or mist. We arrived in
Atlantic City
and stayed at the
Trump
Harbor
and Etty, Jan, Yarden, and Nissam visited us.
|
1 Oct 02
Atlantic City to C&D Canal |
Departed around
0900 and made our way down the coast to Cape May inlet as a shortcut to
the Delaware Bay. We made a wrong turn while watching the salvage of a
burned fishing vessel and ended up in a very narrow channel, had to back
up and turn around with a significant current. Tsipy helped by putting
out a fender for us to use as a fulcrum around a piling. We arrived at
Shaeffer’s
Marina
on the
Chesapeake
and
Delaware Canal
around 1830. |
2 Oct 02
C&D Canal to Baltimore |
Departed at 1000 for
Baltimore
Inner
Harbor
, we plan to spend a few days there to see the sights and relax. I got
free meals and t-shirts for all three of us at the Capitol City Brewery
when my chair broke. Beautiful location in the renovated harbor area,
lots to see and do. The weather forced us to stay a few extra days. We
went to the Fell Point Festival with a couple we met at the docks, John
and Lynn Schmidt on Party for Two. The pictures show our boat from
across the harbor and us in front of the USS Constellation.
|
7 Oct 02
Baltimore
to
Sillery
Bay
|
Spent the night on the hook at
Sillery
Bay
on the west side of the bay, just below
Baltimore
. Met a nice family from
Australia
on Vamp that are sailing around the world. Lost the anchor light
sometime during the night. |
8 Oct 02
Sillery
Bay to Chestertown
, MD |
Made the trip to Chestertown, MD for a few days to visit Nick and
Virginia on Red Star. Met
Virginia for dinner on the first night. The weather turned rainy and
windy so we decided to stay for a few more days and she invited us out
to their farm for a nice dinner. Tide was very high and the docks
flooded almost every night. There was a replica sailing vessel and lots
of old restored houses.
|
11 Oct 02 Chestertown
to St Michaels, MD |
St Michaels is another
quant fishing village, we stayed at the Miles River Yacht Club. Rented a
car from
Enterprise
, visited the St Michaels,
Oxford
, and
Easton
. Repaired the anchor light, had to replace the fixture. |
15 Oct 02
St Michaels, MD to Solomons Island, VA |
Another cute little
fishing town with lots of history, we planned to stay only one night but
25 knot winds from the north convinced us to stay another day. Had a
great meal at the CD Café, the best red beans and rice since
New Orleans
and a great cinnamon crème brulee. The picture is the view from our
stern.
|
17 Oct 02 Solomons
Island
, to
Deltaville
, VA |
Stayed at the Regatta Point Yacht Club and had some visitors. Bob and
Gail from Passages are also going south. They left
Massachusetts
a week after us and we saw them at St Michaels and Solomons. They intend
to take the Dismal Swamp
route so we won’t catch up with them until
Florida
. |
18 Oct 02
Deltaville to Norfolk, VA |
Spent Shabbat at the
Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, just across the river from the Norfolk
Navy Yard, Waterside Marina, and Mall. Beautiful old city and the night
lights were great. |
20 Oct 02
Norfolk
, VA to
Coinjock
, NC |
Stayed at the famous Coinjock
Marina
, filled up with fuel and had a great prime rib dinner. Met a nice
couple from NJ on Dreamer headed to
Palm Beach
. Howard Stone from Marine Electronics came by to do the initial
assessment for the installation of the INMARSAT F77 terminal. The
pictures are of the only lock on this route.
|
21 Oct 02
Coinjock to
Manteo
, NC |
Manteo is on Roanoke Island
, just inside the outer banks. We were escorted by a pod of dolphins
into the Manteo channel. Stayed at the Manteo Waterfront Marina, just in
the heart of the old city. We plan to stay here for a week or so to get
the satellite terminal installed. Rented a car and are seeing the
sights. Only Tony and John from the NC gang could make it on the
weekend. Ate at a great German restaurant and Bauhaus, the Weizenbier
was delicious. Met a great family, Scott, Melissa, and their three kids
on board Rantum Scoot headed for the
Bahamas
. The pictures are of the outer banks and the Hatteras lighthouse.
|
8 Nov 02
Manteo to Oriental, NC |
We finally left Manteo. The satellite installation was a limited
success, it worked great for a day, then when I turned it off and then
back on, it wouldn’t come back up. Bill and Howard worked on it, but
it appears to be something in the antenna. We received a new below decks
unit from
Norway
but that didn’t fix the problem. We plan to have it worked on in
Charleston
, so off we go. We have a long day today (83 nm) across Pamlico and Core
Sounds to Oriental to rejoin the ICW. The weather cooperated, it was
clear and nice although a little cool. We stayed in Whittaker Creek
Yacht
Marina
, nice place but a little unprotected from the south. We spent Friday
and Saturday here. |
10 Nov 02
Oriental to New River
Marina
,
NC |
Back on the ICW through Beaufort/ Morehead City. Bogue Sound is
terrible, shallow and narrow channels, although we did see some dolphins
along the way. Stayed at the New River Marina right on the ICW, no power
and not much of a place. |
11 Nov 02
New River to Wrightsville, NC |
We had planned to go to
Southport but cut the day short due to severe weather forecasts for
storms and high winds, stayed at the Seapath Yacht Club/Marina. Great
facility. We made it just before the storm hit. We plan to stay two
nights because of the weather. |
13 Nov 02
Wrightsville, NC to Little River, SC |
We made it through Snows
Cut and Cape Fear River without any problems, we lucked out with
favorable tide conditions. We stayed a Cricket Cove Marina just north of
Myrtle Beach
. Nice facility but the current was wicked, I made two unsuccessful
docking attempts before getting it tied up. |
14 Nov 02
Little River to
Myrtle Beach
, SC |
We planned to make it to
Georgetown
today but didn’t have very good luck. We ran aground along the
infamous Rock Pile that resulted in a vibration so we pulled
into Hague Marina for repair work. They were just barely able to
haul the boat, it was so wide that they couldn’t get it all the way
out of the water, just enough to pull the starboard prop. They put us
back in the water and plan to have a diver reinstall the prop. The work
will take a few days so we will be here through the weekend. We called
Bill and he arranged to have the Mackay technician who was planning to
go to
Charleston
to come here with the antenna. They arrived on Friday and were able to
get the satellite operational, it turned out to be the antenna control
unit. They had dinner with us and Bill stayed with us overnight before
heading off to his family in
Florida
. We hope to see him in Jupiter. Prop was repaired and returned late on
Saturday and the diver installed in the dark, although the water was so
murky it wouldn’t have made much of a difference if it was high noon.
|
17 Nov 02
Hague Marina
to
Georgetown
, SC |
Made the trip to
Georgetown
but still have a vibration. I called the Palmer Johnson yard in
Thunderbolt for reservations after
Charleston
and plan to have the boat hauled and fixed. Stayed at Georgetown
Landing, nice marina and staff. |
18 Nov 02
Georgetown
to
Charleston
, SC |
Stayed at the Charleston
Harbor Marina, it is a beautiful place with a great view of the city.
Called Corky Smartt and had him over for a boat tour and drinks. He
looked great and we had a nice evening with him. |
19 Nov 02
Charleston to
Beaufort
, SC |
Weather was sunny and warm and we saw lots of dolphins along the way.
This part of the ICW is challenging, very narrow cuts and pretty
shallow. We still have the vibration, so are limping along at 1000 rpm
(8-9 knots). Stayed at the Downtown Marina, it is really nice and the
old town is within a short walk. |
20 Nov 02
Beaufort, SC to Thunderbolt, GA |
Another nice day with
lots of dolphins took us to the Palmer Johnson yard. We plan to stay
here until the boat is fixed. They hauled us on Thursday and checked the
shafts, both were out of spec, .009 on the starboard and .007 on the
port side. I had both removed for straightening and had the props
scanned. They also found a problem with the starboard rudder and I am
having that fixed too. We will spend Thanksgiving here on P-Dock (the
parking lot). Steve, the bottom looks great, no barnacles or fouling. We
rented a car, ended up with a Cadillac Deville at compact price, so now
I really feel like a retiree. We upgraded the satellite TV receiver to
high definition and added a DVD so now our TV system is up to date. We
took a tour of
Savannah
on Sunday, walked along the river walk, it is beautiful. We heard
Israeli folk music on a sailing boat that was being refurbished and went
aboard. It belongs to the Twelfth Tribe, a fundamentalist group. We
spent three wonderful hours aboard. Tsipy was able to get a folk dancing
fix, two months withdrawal was all she could take. The old boat in the
pictures was the Atlantide, built in the 1930s in England. She is
beautiful with cut crystal glass on the windows and a $500,000 dinghy.
The boat participated in the Dunkirk evacuation and still looks great.
She is now used as a home base for a sailboat racer. We started our
Chanukah celebration tonight. Hag Semeah to all our friends and family.
|
8 Dec 02 Thunderbolt
to
Brunswick
, GA
|
We departed Palmer
Johnson after the repairs to our shafts and props. After the first sea
trail we still had a vibration so they aligned the engines. The second
sea trial and today's run was smooth. Palmer Johnson is a great yard,
the work was efficient, high quality, and friendly. Thanks, Ed for a
great recommendation. We went outside for a ~74 nm jaunt to the St
Simons -
Brunswick area. Weather was good, only 2-3 ft seas and clear skies, it
was great to be on the ocean again. We will spend a few days here,
visiting our friends on Avany, the sailing vessel we discovered in
Savannah
and dodging another cold front. We plan to depart here on the 12th for
St Augustine, again outside, we have had enough of the "ditch" for a
while. |
12 Dec 02
Brunswick
to
St Augustine
, FL |
We departed
Brunswick
today for
St Augustine
, we had a wonderful time here, walking through the old city and
visiting our friends from the Twelfth Tribe. We had a wonderful dinner
at their home and Tsipy taught them some new dances and learned some,
too. The weather for the trip was sunny and warm and conditions were
perfect. We saw dolphins and were advised to watch out for Right Whales
but instead we saw a Trident submarine leaving its home port at
Mayport
,FL.
We also saw a huge turtle; its shell was almost scalloped. We rented a
car here to visit Green Cove Springs (our mail service point), we had
several packages there. We visited the old city of
St Augustine
and spent Shabbat here. We plan to leave on Monday. |
16 Dec 02
St Augustine
to Ponce de Leon Inlet, FL |
We made another outside
run today. We saw dolphins and another turtle today. We were advised
that this inlet was tricky so we called Sea Tow and they escorted us the
inlet and right to the Lighthouse Marina. The marina channel was very
shallow and tricky but the inlet was painless since we timed it to
arrive on the flood tide. |
17 Dec 02
Ponce de
Leon to
Cape Canaveral
, FL |
Another beautiful outside run, weather was sunny with 2-3 foot seas. We
could see the space port, vertical assembly building, and launch pads
but had to stay outside the three mile restricted area. We saw two huge
manta rays feeding along the surface. Two sets of dolphins played in our
bow waves, we have come to view seeing them as good luck for the trip.
The inlet here was huge to accommodate the cruise boats and freighters. |
18 Dec 02
Cape Canaveral
to Ft Pierce, FL |
Another sea voyage, the
waves were predicted as 2-3 feet but turned out to be 3-4 by the end of
the day. We saw dolphins again and Tsipy spotted another manta on the
surface. The inlet was very rough since we had an ebb tide but we were
able to make it in without any real problems, just a shake test for all
our tie downs. We are staying in the City Marina. WOW, what a docking
test, we are on a face dock perpendicular to the fairway with boats on
both sides, my bow sprint extends beyond the piling on the front and the
dinghy is about three feet from the boat behind. We were able to walk
our stern into the dock but was it ever tight. See the pictures for an
idea how close it was. Our neighbors, Valt and Sandy, in the boat behind
us (Amber Isle) lent us their Mercedes SLK for a shopping trip. They are
headed to the Exumas and we hope to see them there. The weather turned
bad again so we stayed until Sunday or Monday.
|
22 Dec 02
Ft Pierce to
West Palm Beach, FL |
We took a short trip outside today from Ft Pierce to
West Palm Beach
. The trip down was uneventful; the Ft Pierce inlet was calm on the way
out. Although the seas were predicted at 1-2 ft, they were more like 3
by the time we came in Lake Worth Inlet. We had to try three different
docks until we could find one just right, the first two were too tight!
We are staying at the Rybovich Spencer yard to get the compressor and an
engine synchronizer installed. We picked up the car from Ft Lauderdale
and are making the rounds of all the boat stores. We had dinner
Christmas evening with our friends Richard and Linda from RI, visited my
parents while the boat work is ongoing, and connected with Frank Lazarra
during his visit from
Belgium
. The pictures are of our reunion with Frank and his family.
|
30
Jan 03
West
Palm Beach to Ft Lauderdale,
FL |
A short trip outside to Ft
Lauderdale. We stayed at the Harbourtowne Marina in Dania
Beach
and had dinner with Jim and
Sue. We start our Bahamas
trip tomorrow or the next day.
|