After Christmas, The Bourque's dropped us off in Key Largo @ MM 100 with our bikes and backpacks so we could bike back to Key West and the GS. I'm not sure where along the way we lost our minds and decided to do this, but we did. It was a really weird feeling when they drove away and left us standing in the parking lot of our hotel that we couldn't check into for another 4 hours. So, as any resourceful person would do in Key Largo, we found the nearest sports bar with the Patriots game.
We had a great ride over 3 days, and were blessed with fantastic weather (albeit hot) and some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. We surprised ourselves with how well we ended up managing the ride - but there is no doubt about it -
IT WAS HARD!
WE ARE GLAD WE DID IT!
WON'T DO IT AGAIN - but might do something similar somewhere else.
The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful....
What fabulous weather we have had for Christmas! Big blue skies with temps in the upper 80's....
We had a great time with the Bourque's, who joined us for the long weekend, which we kicked off with the annual Santa run on Christmas Eve, a Christmas Day filled with "A Christmas Story" and much wandering through the streets of Key West. Although it was kind of weird being away from the kids for Christmas this year.
The weather on this leg of the trip was a little tricky. Picking up a mooring ball in Titusville in 30+ MPH winds was not for the timid, but once tied up it wasn't too bad. The field is pretty wide open so we were at the mercy of the winds all night and that leads to a noisy nights sleep. From Titusville, we stopped @ Vero Municipal and then West Palm, where we had an fantastic dinner with Marty and Andy. From West Palm we made way for Bahia Mar Marina in Ft. Lauderdale and another weather window that needed to be dealt with. Seems like the good travel days come in 2-day increments, so we decided to stay in Lauderdale an extra day.
Our plans to make it to Key Largo were again cut short by the almighty wind creating some rough water conditions and an unexpected stop in Miami at Miamarina. Which actually ended up being a pretty good stop. Located at the base of the American Airlines Arena (Miami Heat) and a very active promenade with shops, restaurants and night clubs.
Leaving Miami, the wind was still blowing pretty hard with 3-5 footers in Hawks Channel, we opted to stay inside Biscayne Bay and take our chances through Angelfish Creek to Hawks Channel tomorrow which is forecasted to be much nicer. We have heard lots of stories about making the transition from the Bay to the Channel @ Angelfish Creek, some ok and some pretty nerve racking. As it turned out, the anchorage just outside the cut was awesome; clear green protected water, another gorgeous sunset, and a billion stars.
A couple hours after low tide the next day, a very easy pass through the cut. We were worried for nothing, and we have said that if we get to do this again, we would use Angelfish Creek by choice and not because of conditions.
Ride down Hawks Channel, dodging the lobster pots, watching the water get greener and greener as the day went on, was real nice and we made Key West in 2 days with a stop-over in Marathon.
Hard to believe that it's been over a month since our last update and looking back on it, we have certainly covered some ground and had ourselves some fun!
As we left the Chesapeake headed back to the ICW, we needed to make Charleston as quickly as possible to celebrate Jess turning the BIG 30! and it had been over 3 months since we last spent any time with them. So, we hauled ass!
Going through the Great Lock is always interesting - this time it was a full house with about a dozen other boats and a huge barge with us. Headed to Coinjock for the night and to celebrate Dennis' birthday, where he spent time with Slash and the perfect woman.
Myrtle Beach we were guests of Bruno and Michelle for the evening (who are now part of the North Pacific family) and enjoyed a terrific evening catching up.
Bob and Diane our dock mates from Halifax, heard us on the radio and gave us a shout out which provided a surprise visit with them and celebrate Bob's birthday, and Georgetown is always a good stop
Finally Chucktown and a week with the kids! Yea!!!
Hooking back up with Meander's in Chucktown, we made our way to St. Augustine for our annual Thanksgiving celebration. This year it was bigger and better than ever, with our cast of characters growing to 11 strong for dinner and a visit from the Morgan's and Waguespack's on Saturday for the Gator game. All in all 17 people in and out over the holiday weekend. It was really a great time and Dennis & I are thankful for each and every one of you in our lives.
From St. Augustine a quick day trip back to Halifax and a week in Ocala. It was really nice to be home for a few days.
The visit culminated with a blow-out christmas party.
Today we pulled out of Halifax and are making our way to Key West and looking forward to exploring some virgin waters for the Gypsy Soul
Since we didn't spend much time in the Chesapeake on our way north, we wanted to be sure that we took the time on our way home to get to know this amazing place a bit better. Tomorrow we leave Washington DC taking a couple of days to reach the mouth of the Potomac and make way for Charleston. By the time we reach the ICW again, we will have spent 40+ days and traveled over 500 miles in the bay - home to some of the prettiest places we have stopped on this trip.
Upper Chesapeake stops included Havre de Grace, Georgetown, Rock Hall, St. Michaels and a few gorgeous anchorages.
Annapolis which is always a favorite stop - brought some excitement with the potential landfall of Juaquin, a Navy Football game, reconnecting with Meanders for the boat shows and perhaps, best of all, a visit from the Adams & Barcomb's as they gathered and prepared for Colette & Will's wedding.
Washington DC: Not our first visit to DC, but a very different one, in that we really got into the city streets and spent a lot of time visiting the monuments and museums. Seeing the cities by foot has been one of the greatest unexpected experiences of this trip for us. You really get a feel for where you are when you get rid of your car!
Leaving Oyster Bay, the weather report called for a great boating day on the Sound and a not so great boating day the following day. So we decided to head to NYC a day early. Checking the tide at Hell Gate sealed the deal when our ETA showed all was favorable- it was meant to be.
When we neared the East River, the current certainly was with us. Our knots quickly went from 8 to 10....it felt like Long Island Sound pulled the chain and maxing out at 14.2 knots "flushed" us into the East River. The GS was flying!!!
Staying in the city never gets old and we never tire of gazing on Manhattan especially at night-breathtaking.
Left Manhattan at 4:45 am thinking we would take advantage of the ambient light of the city and do the Jersey Shore in one day. Other than the Verrazano bridge lights, the city lights actually made it hard to tell what lights were other boats and which ones were land as we made way. However our struggles and initial slow going was rewarded handsomely with one I'd the prettiest sunrises I've ever seen.
The ride down the coast was picture perfect blue skies, lots of visibility and almost flat water with a slightly favorable tide. 14 1/2 hours later, just as the sun was getting ready to set, we pulled into our slip at Canyon Club.
So, this leg of the trip, really has been about breaking GS records; new speed record 14.2 kits; longest day underway 14.5 hrs. Maybe we should play the lotto. 14 seems to be a popular number.
Well we made a last minute decision to hit Nantucket before heading south. We are so glad we did. What a great place (I know I say that a lot). We met up with "Meanders" and had such a good time strolling through town, touring Cisco Brewery and ending the day with a home cooked meal courtesy of Marty and Andy -which was over the top delicious btw.
Martha's Vineyard
Early morning departure on Thursday (6 am lines dropped) heading to Martha's Vineyard for a couple of days. We were treated to a gorgeous sunrise and smooth seas. There is such great boating in New England! We will miss it for sure but are pretty excited to start our trip south, back to old friend
Pt. Judith, RI
Trip from M/V to PT Judith took about 7 hours PT Judith is a commercial fishing village that is still very active today. Riding in through the breakwater and up into the harbor was pretty cool. It was like being in the "way back" machine, fishing boats tied up on one side of the inlet and on the other side kids and people on the pier fishing, swimming and enjoying their Labor Day weekend. It was so special to see young kids enjoying the "simple pleasures of life near the water" as they swam in the harbor and jumped off the docks & pylons.
About a mile up the harbor we dropped anchor in a very quiet and picturesque Point Judith Pond, and rafted with Meanders for the night. Poured ourselves a nice cool beverage and began to plan our trek to Block Island. Sitting there, feet up we kept getting whiff of something that smelled really bad. Turns out we all mentioned it individually, but then let it pass. After a bit, Mr. B figured we better see what was what and as we opened up our lazerette, we immediately found where the stink was coming from. It was us. We'd had had a battery explode, which had been the source of a bang we heard the night before that we couldn't figure out and had chocked it off to a rogue "boat noise" and ignored it.
Essex:
This cut our stay in PT Judith short as we headed to Essex boat yard for battery replacement. The good news is that it's a picture perfect day on the water and not too crazy busy even for the holiday weekend. As it turns out this was a good decision, as the batteries were being replaced, we discovered that a battery #2 of 3 was getting ready to go; it would not have been good to have had an issue on an island and been down to 1 out of 3 house batteries. So, as we wait a few days for parts to come in, we now have a chance to visit "Mother Therese" and spend a few more nights in Hamburg Cove before leaving New England waters. If you look closely in some of the pictures, you can see the leaves starting to change.
