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September 13^th, 2007  We arrived at our slip in Herrington Harbour North late yesterday afternoon as the sun was setting.  We had not planned on making the run from Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal to our slip but the current and wind was go great we came screaming down the Bay.

Our last night at anchor was at Chesapeake City inside their little harbor.  It can not hold many boats and there were about 7 of us enjoying the evening.   

Lets start back at Cape May.  We left it late in the morning because of severe thunderstorms that had crossed the area all night.  We expected very high seas and made our plans accordingly.  Because of the severe shoaling outside Cape May, we had planned on heading out to sea to avoid the breaking waves on the shoaling and when clear of the shoaling, turning back up the Delaware Bay and on to a mid point to stop at a less than desirable evening anchorage.  As we headed out of Cape May we saw that the seas where not that bad and replotted our course across the shoals and picked our way through the shallow areas and finally made it to deep water on the Delaware Bay.  This saved us from 1 to 2 hours on the trip time.  Then the winds came up a little and the current was going up the bay and we  where making such good time we changed our minds and decided to go all the way to the canal.  Foolish us.  The Bay did it again and as we got to the north end of the bay, storm winds hit us with vengeance.  Nancy had just gone below when the winds hit.  I turned into the wind and tried to furl the head sail.  I did not have enough strength to roll it up.  I called for Nancy to come and help and with the two of us we still could not roll it up.  The winds kept getting stronger as we put the furling line on one of winches and slowly brought the sail in and left out what was equal to a storm sail.  Even with that small amount of sail out we were still going across the ground at over 8 knots.  We finally broke out of the storm and the Coast Guard came along side and wanted to board us.  So with all sails down and motoring along at 3 knots, they boarded.  The sun was low on the horizon and we still had not reached the canal and they wanted to do a safety inspection.  Great folks and we passed will flying colors.  The "No Violation" square was checked on the form and they went back to their mother ship via the boarding dinghy.  We headed directly to the canal and had a current with us for about half of the remaining trip and then the current changed and we slowed down to 4 knots instead of the 7 knots we had been doing.  Tippy just loved going through the canal and sat and watched everything go by with her nose twitching the whole way.  We finally arrived at Chesapeake City and anchored just as the sun was setting.  It had been a long day.  I hate the Delaware Bay. 

David, Lisa and girls invited us over for dessert after dinner and we had another great visit.  That's their boat behind them.

September 08^th, 2007  Our generator is still not working and the marina said that it is not something that they would be able to fix in a couple of days so off we went.  What a nice marina, they put us in a slip for 3 days and trouble shot the generator for about 4 man hours and our bill for slip and labor was only $100.00 dollars.  Great people again.  So how are we doing without a generator you ask.  Well, I had put in a high output Balmar alternator on the main engine and a 3000 watt inverter to run the ac.  Before we had just used the inverter to make coffee in the morning in a quiet anchorage and now we are using it to run the freezer and watch TV at night.  About the only thing we can't do without the generator is the laundry, but I think I could do that also with very careful energy management.

On to Port Jefferson and then to the entrance to the East River.  At Port Jefferson we passed our 1000 mile mark for the trip.  So we celebrated and filled up with fuel (60 gallons) and then anchored for the night for a early morning start.  We arrived at Little Neck Bay early in the afternoon but the currents through the East River and Hell gate were against us.  So we anchored next to Fort Totten to wait until the next morning for favorable currents through New York.    The bridge is the official entrance to the East River.  The next morning we waited until about 7:00 am taking a .5 current against us in order to arrive at Hell Gate at slack about one hour and a half later.  We timed it perfectly.  This is the entrance to Hell Gate.  The reason for the slack timing at Hell Gate is for safety of course but also it gave us a 2 knot plus current through Manhattan, through the upper harbor and through the lower harbor.  This was the shortest timed trip we have made so far.  It was like skiing down hill.  While anchored at the entrance to the East River, I complained about a helicopter hovering above us and when I looked up, I saw the Goodyear blimp.   

We arrived at the Rockaway Point Yacht Club at 11:30 in the morning and with nothing to do, we went shopping.  We met one of the club members and he offered to drive us to a farmers market and then to the grocery store.  What great people here.

The trip through New York was great of course.  The difference is we noticed so much more this time than last.  Maybe it was because of watching our navigation more in a strange area the first time and now we were more comfortable and actually did some sightseeing as we went through.   What a scene  - the Island of Manhattan.  This time we ignored the travel guide warning of the security area around the Statue of Liberty since we had seen boats go closer, so we did.  They had placed white buoys in the water that showed the start of the restricted area and of course they were a lot closer than the distance mentioned in the cruising guide.   

Tomorrow we will try and get to Atlantic City.  It will be a long trip and there just is not enough day light so we will be leaving about 3:00 am in order to anchor before dark.  We have equipment for night navigation (GPS with our track out most of the channel,  3rd generation night vision goggles, radar and a good old flashlight) that will help us out of the harbor.  The limiting factor now is weather.  We have a cold front to the north producing thunderstorms and a tropical storm next to North Carolina all of which will affect the weather where we want to go.  We might end up staying here for a few days, we will check the weather very carefully tomorrow morning before we leave.

September 04, 2007   We are in Three Mile Harbor waiting for a part for the generator.  It seems that a circuit board in the controller has stopped working.  Three Mile Harbor is really a pleasant place to be.    This picture is of the inner harbor.  We have been here before and really liked it.  Ok, first the pluses.  It has an outer harbor with anchorage (the whole harbor depth is 8 to 12 feet, great for anchoring) that could hold a thousand boats and normally, during the week, there are only 10 boats at anchor.  On high holidays there might be 70 or so.  It is called Three Mile Harbor because it is only 3 miles from EAST HAMPTON.  P Diddy (Sean Combs) keeps his boat here and lives here with many other high price stars.  The city provides free pump out from a boat that comes to you at anchor (call "Three Mile Harbor pump out" on channel 73).  A dinghy dock is available at Three Mile Harbor Marina, the closest place to town.  There are a few other marinas plus a city dock.  The ships store at the Three Mile Harbor Marina is extensive.  A short stroll down the road takes you to a little grocery store/deli that provides great deli food at a CHEAP price.  We have had 2 lunches there for about $10.00 each lunch for the two of us.  They have set up picnic tables with umbrellas in a little garden.       Further down the road is a wonderful country store that offers fresh local caught fish, vegetables grown in their own garden, bakery goods and other local products.  We love the place and buy our vegetables and fish from them.  The little parking lot is filled with Mercedes, Austin Martins, BMW's, and whatever costs a lot. We got our bikes out today and went for a little pedal to the deli and back. 

MINUSES, its about 30 minutes off the beaten path. (Is that really a minus?)

Getting here.  We left Provincetown and went through the Cape Cod Canal and Nancy spotted the sign that I had arranged for her.    We waited outside the canal for about 90 minutes wanting the currents to be at our advantage.  The currents can get up to 5-6 knots and with the right currents the 10 mile trip through can be fast.  With the currents against you, the trip can take most of the day.  We continued to Fairhaven, Mass. and borrowed the guest ball again.  We had tried to get in touch with the owners but nobody answered the phone.  We used it anyway, because after presenting them with a bottle of wine and a thank you card last time, Barbara said that we could use the mooring ball anytime.  It turns out that they were on a boat trip of their own and called us when they got back and we had already left the area.  SMALL WORLD,  Barbara and Bob are bringing their boat to the Chesapeake and are considering putting it up for the winter at Herrington Harbour North where we are.

After leaving Fairhaven we went to Point Judith Harbor of Refuge, Rhode Island for the evening.  We were joined by about 8 other sail boats, 2 power boats and a Coast Guard Cutter.    We had the largest sea swells we have seen this trip entering the harbor.    So it was a little tricky getting into the small entrance. Nancy didn't like the rolling evening but I didn't find it all that bad and slept like a kitten.

We left Point Judith under full sail and with a flood current into Long Island Sound.  It couldn't get any better.  We kept the wind and current until about 1 hour from Three Mile Harbor.

The cats now have their own grab bag, including a GPERB (self activating device that will send their latitude and longitude to the Coast Guard for rescue) with food and water.    We have a picture of the person who called the SPCA.  We understand he is in Texas and has a boat.  If you see his boat (named Monkey), the cats ask that you TP or Silly String it.