Plymouth Light

Michael says y'all want to see the scenery, not us so I need to start putting pictures without us on. This is the light off Plymouth, MA. More non people photos in the future. 

After sliding under the bridges in the Cape May Canal, we moved rapidly up Delaware Bay. We arrived at the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal early enough and with the right current to make ourway through the canal. It was getting llate by the time we reached Chesapeake City (along the canal at the Chesapeake Bay end) so we decided to pull in there for the night. We anchored in the small harbor. The weather conditions were not ideal the next day, so we pulled up to the town dock after other boats left. The town dock was free with a maximum stay of 24 hours but was first come first served. Pictured is Rio Luna (the boat on the end) tied up to the town dock in Chesapeake City with the bridge over the canal in the background. 

Riding the Metro. 

We purchased some of these cool animals made of grass in Chinatown. 

The view of New York from outside the Statue of Liberty was great though a bit hazy.  

We reached the end of Long Island Sound early in the morning. We anchored for a couple of hours to await a favorable tide to go through Hellsgate. 

Arrival in New York

We arrived in New York in the middle of September (the 18th) and were very busy for our short stay. We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Another day we went to Chinatown and Litttle Italy. There was a festival going on in Little Italy celebrating one of the saints. We spent another day at the Botanical Gardens, and then met up with the family we met in Mystic Seaport for a day at the Natural Science Museum and Earth and Space Center. Before leaving on the afternoon of the 23rd, Justin, Josephine and Tracy walked through Central Park and spent a quick hour and a half in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each of us got to pick one area that we wanted to see. Maybe another time we will get to stay longer.
From New York we made an overnight trip to Cape May, NJ. arriving before dark on the 24th where we waited overnight for the early morning low tide. It was tight but our boat just made it under the two bridges without scraping the top of the mast! Michael was biting his nails while I refused to look up.

Justin and Josephine with one of their new friends, Kim, learn how to make rope in Mystic Seaport. The blacksmith, Craig, made iron nails for them. 

After leaving Bar Harbor

We made an overnight cruise from Bar Harbor to Cape Cod. The timing was not good to go through the Cape Cod Canal, so we overnighted in Provicetown and then went through the canal and onto New Bedford where we anchored just before dark outside the hurricane hole. We discovered as the tide went out that we were not in a deep enough spot and bumped along the bottom for two or three hours before the tide was up enough to pull some scope in. Unfortunately we pulled a little to much in and before we knew it the anchor was dragging and we found ourselves in the channel with a ferry bearing down on us! It was heave ho and up the anchor qickly. We decided to go on in and try to find a mooring. (We had not been able to raise the rental mooring company the previous evening by phone or radio--by now it was after midnight--which is why we decided to anchor in the first place.) We ended up on a private mooring waiting for dawn when we would have better visibility to find the rental moorings.

We met up with some nice people there who gave me a lift to the grocery and offered us the use of their mooring the next time we are in New Bedford.

From there our next stop was Mystic Seaport where we holed up for a few days waiting for the remnants of Rita to pass by.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Mystic Seaport do so. It was a neat place. The marina we stayed at was part of the museum and the entrance fee was included in the marina fee. (You also could walk around the grounds after the museum was closed although all the buildings and ships were also closed.) The place was fun and educational.

We met up with another cruising family there and Justin and Josephine were glad to have other kids to play with.

Justin and I attended a service on Flyaway Mt. 

South Bubble trail overlooking Jordan pond with the Cranberry Islands and the Atlantic ocean in the background. 

One of our hikes in Acadia National Park, this one on the Bubble Rock trail. 

Enjoyed Bar Harbor

We really enjoyed our stay in Bar Harbor. I worked with some fun people at the Hemporium, we made some new friends that we plan to keep in touch with, did some hiking, kayaking and motor sailing. Maine is a beautiful spot both for cruisers and land dwellers and we encourage all our friends to make the trip. Alas it was time for the weather to turn cooler and we had commitments, it was time to move south. We left Bar Harbor the friday after Labor Day.

Update from Bar Harbor, ME

It has been a while since we have updated, but we are having a great time. We left Plymouth for Boston where we took in many historical sites. We were also there on the 4th and took in the Boston Pops/fireworks celebration at the esplanade. We met some fellow SSCA cruisers on a catamaran at a nearby mooring and enjoyed sharing a couple of hours with them aboard their boat, Cambia.
Upon leaving Boston we made an overnight sail to Matinicus, Maine, a small island with a bakery, post office and a gift shop and not much else. It is mostly a fishing community 20 miles south of Rockland. There is no grocery store on the island; they either take their boats over to Rockland or place an order at Shaws and have it flown over! We were fogged in there for 4 nights before we escaped to points further east.
Our next stop was Bar Harbor on Mt. Desert island. Most of the island is part of Acadia National Park. We are having a grand time and have made friends, both cruisers and locals. In fact, the first night here, Andrew who captains the boats for the College of the Atlantic, came by and introduced himself and invited us to use the college dock for our dinghy when we came ashore. We have since met his parents who are for the summer from Charleston!
There is a free bus service on the island which we have found great. We have climbed to the top of Mt. Cadillac (the highest peak on the eastern seaboard--although that is really not saying much as compared to major mountains!)
We like the place so much that I put in a few applications and we decided to stay for the season. I got a job at a local retail store called the Hemporium and began working today.
We also had an opportunity for a great science lesson yesterday. We went along with one of the classes to collect zooplankton and phytoplankton and then had the opportunity to observe specimen under the microscope. Michael repaired a couple of lenses for Allied Whale (a division of the college) as a thank you for their generous hospitality.
I will try to bring our computer in sometime in the next week so that I can download some more pictures. I will also try to add a link to the Hemporium so you can see some of the great products they sell.
We're having a blast and loving the cruising life.

Plymouth

Here we sit at Plymouth Yacht Club enjoying the evening and having a few drinks while we await the completion of our laundry. What a cool place to hang out as the washer and dryer spin.
We have spent the last two days (when not hanging out at the yacht club) visiting Plimouth Plantation and the Mayflower II (a replica of the original Mayflower built in England and sailed over from Plymouth, England in the 50's)
Plimouth Plantation (the spelling comes from old records from the original settlement) includes a replica of the original settlement with people dressed and in character of the original settlers. If you talk about something that they didn't have or know about they will say they have never heard of it. This includes places. They speak in old English and actually discuss things as though they are from that time period. While the plantation is open they actually do chores and eat meals as they were done then. This includes gardening, and cooking in the fireplace. A little ways away is the Wampanoag village where descendants of actual Indians dress and cook and garden as they did in that time period.
There was also an exhibit on Thanksgiving, the myths and facts. Much of the way we see thanksgiving portrayed is actually different from the feast shared between the natives and pilgrims. Also many Indians consider the remembrance of this day a day of mourning as opposed to a day of thanksgiving because it marked the beginning of the decline of their cultures and many broken treaties.
Tomorrow we are off for the islands at the entrance to Boston Harbor.

Colonials in Falmouth 

Sailing the dinghy in Quisset Harbor 

Tied up at Falmouth Yacht Club 

We cruised out of Nantucket under lifting fog conditions on Friday, June 17. We cruised into Falmouth Harbor where we tied up to the floating dock at the Falmouth Yacht Club. The dock wasn't really made for boats like ours, but was rather used for smaller boats to tie up to as they were putting in and hauling out. We would have taken a mooring, but they didn't have any available for a boat our size. So...we tied up for the night but had to leave the next morning as they would need it the next morning for members deciding to sail for the weekend.
Unfortunately their club was under contsruction as it was being remodeled and would not reopen for another couple of weeks. We had a place to tie up while we got supplies, but no electricity or facilities!!! It was almost the same as being anchored.
The next morning, after refueling, we headed for Buzzard's Bay via Quicks Cut. (Several people advised us not to go through Woods Hole as the currents can be dangerous and we followed this advice.) Our next stop was Quisset Harbor where we once again dropped anchor. Quisset Harbor is a pretty and serene harbor. Several large mansions look out over the harbor. Not only are these houses huge, they also come with acreage! Quisset Harbor is on the Buzzard's Bay side of Falmouth somewhere between main street in Falmouth and Woods Hole. We have been sightseeing in both Falmouth and Woods Hole, walking interspersed with rides on the Whoosh Trolley. While in Falmouth we ate at Betsy's Diner, and actual real diner. We also put the sail on the dinghy for some sailing in the harbor, which is fun for two but not practical for four.
This weekend we plan to cruise through the Cape Cod Canal and stop in Plymouth.

Nantucket

We arrived in Nantucket on Wednesday, June 8 and anchored in the harbor. We have been visited with all kinds of weather while here. We have had both warm days and cool days (for us southerners anyway!) We've experienced strong winds with whitecaps in the harbor making for a very wet ride in with four piled into our little dinghy! Some days we elected to stay aboard and dry, reading ad playing games.
Friday, June 10 we visited the newly opened Whaling Museum. We found it informative and interesting with many exhibits including a fantastic scrimshaw exhibit, a movie on the spermwhale that wased ashore in '97 and the futile attempts to rescue it, but which ultimately resulted in a learning experience as they retrieved the oil from the headcse. The bones are now in the Whaling Museum. We stayed for the museums musical program which included recitations of abridged readings of Melille's "Moby Dick" (We actually braved the dinghy ride to come in that day and all got a little wet. Tracy encouraged the trip for that day so that we could attend the performance. We had an enjoyable time despite the drenching.)
After spending the following two days aboard waiting for the winds to die down, we were quite ready to go ashore on Monday. We visited several historic sites. One of the sites was an Old Mill that does actually operate and grind corn during the season. Unfortunately the mill will not be up and running until next week. We enjoyed the tour anyway.
Fortune smiled on us Tuesday and we visited the Maria Mitchell Museums and Aquarium on their opening day for the season at no cost. We finished off the day with a slide show on a trip to the Galapogas Islands.
Tomorrow we plan to depart for Falmouth and then work our way over to Buzzards Bay and then up through the canal, perhaps arriving in Sandwich early next week.
In the meantime, one of the best things about cruising life is sitting near the shore with the gentle beeze blowing in your hair, listening to the soft flapping of a flag and the playful splash of a duck nearby knowing you can just sit there in the heat of the sunshine with no particular place to go and nothing that needs doing asap., just enjoying God's world.

Underway in the Atlantic 

Arrived in Marthas Vineyard

We departed Charleston at 3:00 AM the morning of Sunday, May 29. The weather forecast predicted southerly winds for the next 3 days. Unfortunately the weather prediction was wrong. The first day we had little to no wind and motored. Michael did catch a couple of Mackerel that day though, one of which had a big bite tken out of it's tail! Monday the winds picked up. The only problem was that it came from the northeast, just the direction we were trying to go. For the next several days we had wind on the nose and a short period of gale force winds. We considered changing our plan and heading for the Chesapeake or Delaware Bay, but ultimately remained committed to our course.
Friday night found us east of Atlantic City in dense fog. Visibility was just about nil! The fog stayed with us until Sunday morning and finally dissipated as we neared Vineyard Sound. We elected to stop at Oaks Bluff on Marthas Vineyard and take a break before continuing on to Nantucket. It was a relief to get a good nights sound sleep, not having to get up after about 3 and a half hours sleep because it was your turn back on watch!
Oaks Bluff is a cool little place with all these neat little cottages. The history of the place is that it used to be a camp area where Methodists used to get together for vacation and fellowship and big tent meetings. Over the years people began to build platforms and then walls and eventually these adorable cottages were the result. They are painted very prettily and manyof them have intricate trim work.
Tomorrow we are off for Nantucket. I will try to get some pics posted in the next few days.

Planned departure

Justin and Josephine finish the school year on Wednesday. We plan to move aboard and leave for our cruise sometime between Thursday, May 26 and Sunday, May 29, depending on what the weather does. If everything goes according to plan our first stop will be Nantucket. We hope to update this site on a weekly basis.