We took a day off to wander around Hampton, Virginia. Much of it is still a working waterfront.
We went to both the history museum and the Air and Space and Science museum.
From there, we wandered up Chesapeake Bay with a number of other "snowbirders" on their way home.
The first stop was Jackson Creek in Deltaville, VA where the weather turned a bit chilly overnight.
A number of boats "slept in" and waited for it to warm up and the fog to clear before we went on our way.
We anchored overnight in St. Jerome Creek for a visit with good friends and a chance to see their loving restoration of a neat little motorsailor.
After a side trip to Kent Island to spend a couple of nights in a motel (and a couple of blue crab feasts by the Captain) while the boat was hauled for its annual bottom painting, we headed back across the bay to Annapolis and treated newlyweds Pattie and Jerry (see October 13, 2007) to a seafood buffet ashore.
By chance, we had arrived the week of graduation at the Naval Academy and were treated to a fireworks show,
And a spectacular show by the Blue Angels directly over our heads.
We then headed a bit south again and took a slip for a week at the Solomons Yachting Center.
While there, we had wonderful visits from the Captain's kids and their delightful families:Ginger,
David,
Nina,
Zeke,
Julia,
Sam,
Bill,
Liz,
Emily,
and Alison.
We then had a 3-day East Coast Camano Organization Rendezvous with parties,
Seminars and discussions,
A pig roast,
Words of wisdom from the Great Camano Guru, Ray Smith,
A visit to the Calvert Marine Museum, and all kinds of other good stuff.
It's hard work being a guru!
After the Rendezvous, the Admiral put us on a record-setting trip toward home.
We stopped to anchor overnight at Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal before braving frequently-nasty Delaware Bay. There was a new sign next to the slip where we'd gone hard aground a year ago (see June 6, 2007). NOW they tell us!
At The Tap Room the Captain had what may be his last blue crab dinner for a long time.
And we were off early in the morning to transit the canal and had good trip down a relatively benign Bay.
We anchored off the Coast Guard station in Cape May, hoping for good enough weather in the morning to do the next day offshore rather than the twisty New Jersey ICW which also has a few "skinny spots".
The next morning, however, the Skipper decided that the weather forecast suggested that the inside route would be wise and produce less agida from the Admiral. We cruised past part of the large commercial fishing fleet on our way to the ICW.
Many of the houses along the ICW are built OVER the water rather than next to it.
We anchored in Barnegat Bay and left early the next morning on the outside route to New York City.
It was a good trip and, after fueling up, we anchored behind the Statue of Liberty for the night.
The next morning was cold and foggy, so we waited for a little more visibility before heading across New York Harbor and out the busy East River.
We waved goodbye to the Admiral's sister who was standing on a balcony of their rental apartment in the skyscraper next to the Empire State Buildiing while she talked to us on the cell phone. 
And headed back into our "home waters" of Long Island Sound. Once again, NOAA was (thankfully) very wrong and the 20-25 knot gusts were never more than a nice 8 knot breeze.
After a night at a free town mooring in Manhasset Bay, we anchored at Duck Island, near the mouth of the Connecticut River, to avoid running hard aground trying to find our mooring at dead low tide. This morning, we did a little packing and organizing, found our way home to North Cove, unloaded lots of stuff at the Yacht Club dock, and left the boat on the mooring.Our plans are to stick around home for a few weeks with, maybe, a few overnights and a week's cruise with the grandsons. Sometime in August, we hope to jump back aboard and take the boat toward Maine for a few weeks before we haul her for the winter in Old Saybrook. [Editors Note: I'm taking bets on when the Admiral first complains about the cold winter weather in Connecticut!]
***********************************
Once we finish transferring some of the information from the ship's log to the computer, we'll publish one more installment of this blog with various statistics for those who are interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment