September 7, 2012 - Annapolis, Maryland

Spa Creek where we anchored

While pulling into the Annapolis Harbour, we noticed a few navel ships and while in town, we saw quite a few navy personnel all dressed in their summer white uniforms. In the harbour we also noticed many large yachts. This is a popular boating area. We anchored in an area called Spa Creek. Very picturesque with all the beautiful homes and other anchored boats.


The next day we went into town to have a look around. We found a huge liquor store for Roly, and many boutiques for Carole. As we were wandering around, we noticed storm clouds coming our way. Our intentions were to have dinner in town, so Carole kept shopping and Roly jumped into the dinghy to hurry back to the boat to close the windows. As Roly got to the boat, the skies opened up and all hell broke loose. He began closing some windows, then noticed the boat dragging both its anchors in the gale force winds that suddenly appeared. Before he knew it, the boat was sitting on a sandbar with both engines running. He was running like a mad man while trying to untangle both anchors and bringing them up, as well as zipping up canvas windows while the wind and rain were working hard against him. He was able to back off the sandbar with all the available power from the engines. Finally after being free with the anchors up, he was repositioning the boat, then noticed the dinghy floating away, (Carole's laughing while she's typing this:) Retrieving the dinghy was the easiest part of the adventure. Carole was happy to shop but got quite worried when an hour and a half had passed and he was nowhere in sight. Finally after he was gone for 2 hours, she noticed him pulling into the restaurant dock with the Rol & C's. We finally had dinner and a few stiff drinks to calm our nerves. Carole would like to say that this is not her fault, lol. Roly was happy to leave alone to close the windows so he could get away from shopping, haha. She did feel really bad though. Needless to say, we decided not to split up if anything like this should happen again.

Our new anchor

After dragging twice, we decided to order a new Rocna anchor from West Marine to the tune of $800. At that price, it better work! We had to wait a few days for the anchor to come in, so decided to try our luck at crabbing after watching a couple guys on shore catch a bunch. Not bad for our first try, we caught a dozen blue crab that made for a great meal.

Caught our first blue crab
 

What a feast!

September 6, 2012 – Baltimore, Maryland

On our departure from Chesapeake city, it was overcast with light rain, then the sun came out. The winds were about 12 mph at our backs. We entered Baltimore harbour and right after passing under their bridge, we spotted on our starboard side the famous star spangled channel buoy that marks the spot where the poet Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the American national anthem.  A bit of history - during the War of 1812, Key was a prisoner aboard a British barge and was looking for the flag above nearby Fort McHenry during the siege.
 

As a navigational point, when coming into Baltimore, we needed to stay in the marked channels because there were crab pots and fish nets everywhere. Crab pots are a float tied to a trap on the bottom. Once we noticed how close the crab pots were to the channel but they turned out to be seagulls, lol.

 

Baltimore harbour is a mix of industrial, military, commercial and tourism. After we got through the industrial part of it, Baltimore harbour is quite scenic. The waterfront has an amazing old sailing ship, the U.S.S. Constellation which is the last civil war vessel afloat. After years of restoration it was returned to Baltimore in 1999. "U.S.S. Constellation" was commissioned in 1855; it was the last all-sail ship built by the United States Navy. There is also a submarine, a 9/11 memorial, and many shops and restaurants to attract tourists.

U.S.S. Constellation

 

While in Baltimore we walked over to the customs office one block away to obtain our cruising permit. We would have thought that the customs agent back in NY state that cleared us into the U.S. would have made us aware of this. Now, we must call into every port that we plan to go ashore. ???? Just to mention, we couldn’t believe the security just to get into the building. It was like going through an airport, complete with a walk through medal detector (things have really changed since 9/ll).

 

On our way out of Baltimore harbour, as if to say goodbye, Fort McHenry fired off a canon that scared the crap out of us. We thought our boat blew up!

September 4, 2012 – Chesapeake City, Maryland

Happy 26^th birthday to our twins, Leanne and Chris.



Toasting Leanne & Chris' birthday

 

Spent a long day on Delaware Bay. Followed a flood tide all the way in. We averaged almost 11 mph, woohoo!  We usually average 9 ½ mph.  We stayed 2 nights at the Chesapeake City free dock and paid $15.00 per night for electric power hook-up.  We met a young Montreal couple, Sebastien and Marie Claude on their Lagoon catamaran and had them over for a drink. They’re taking their boat to the Islands to start a charter business. We got some great tips on fishing and crabbing from them but most of all, we got clued in to the fact that as Canadians, we needed a “cruising permit” while in the U.S. This is the first we had heard of this and will follow up at customs in Baltimore.

Chesapeake City is a quaint little town with century old homes converted to shops and restaurants. Carole’s favourite was an old bank converted into a jewelry store….a must see.

Century Old Home

 

September 1, 2012 – Cape May, New Jersey

Stayed 3 days in the anchorage near the coast guard station.  Very rough because of the wakes left by cruise boats and sports fishermen boats. Would never stay there again for more than one night. Got a chance to have a couple of drinks, (well maybe more than a couple), on our boat with Dan and Sherri from the sailboat “Curieuse”, anchored nearby. They were a wealth of cruising information for us southbound newbies.

The next day we took a cab to Washington Square, the city’s shopping district...yeah!  Roly calls them junk stores.

August 30, 2012 - Atlantic City, NJ

US Coast Guard



Had a beautiful ocean passage today. We noticed numerous jellyfish in the calm waters. After our arrival in Atlantic City, we anchored in a small little lake off the main channel called "Briganteen Pond". We set the anchor, then dinghied into town for supper. While we were away, the winds picked up and the tide came in. We worried about this, so we headed back to the boat. On our way, we spotted a large coast guard boat towing another boat...OUR BOAT!!!  Our anchor had dragged in the soft mud and luckily the sailboat next to us had reported it to the coast guard. Thanks to Dan and Sherri on the sailboat "Curieuse" and the coasties, no damage was incurred to the boat or the wallet.

Dan & Sherri

The coast guard brought our boat to the Golden Nugget Casino and Marina. We stayed there for the night and enjoyed the beautiful night view of the casinos, as well as being entertained by the Bruce Springsteen band playing at the marina, lol.

View from the Golden Nugget Marina

The next day we went across the bay to Gardiner's Basin Marina and stayed the night. Friendly staff and a good place to stay. We hopped on a Jitney local bus to take us to the boardwalk. Took a long walk and stopped at the Taj Mahal where we left some money. We dined outside at Harry's Restaurant, nice spot while entertained by 2 musicians. Stopped in at some of the shops along the way (Carole's favourite pastime).

August 29, 2012 - Barnegat Bay, NJ

Jersey Shores

Rol & C's has finally reached the Atlantic Ocean. We were excited even though our first ocean passage was a little rough, but our boat handled the following seas quite well and so did the crew. We anchored for the night in Barnegat Bay, NJ. Nice little anchorage fairly protected but not much to do.

August 28, 2012 - Atlantic Highland, New Jersey

Anchored at Atlantic Highlands Marina, NJ

Farewell New York City!  After crossing a busy NY harbour in less than perfect conditions, we made our way around Sandy Hook Point to Atlantic Highland, New Jersey. We anchored near the city marina for 2 nights. Not a great anchorage because of the wakes from the non-stop ferry boats but we stayed due to the high winds. This gave us a chance to take our dinghy in and visit their little town. It was a welcome sight to see the ice cream parlour because it was so hot and humid. We also took the time to enjoy a stroll on the beach. We met an elderly women fishing and she gave us a few pointers on ocean fishing.

August 27, 2012 - Cruising through NYC

We left Croton on Hudson today and headed down the Hudson River through New York City. The weather cleared just as we passed by the Statue of Liberty.

The 2 tallest buildings to the left are the new World Trade Centre under construction.

August 26, 2012, Croton on Hudson, NY

Dad next to the only surviving tree left from the original World Trade Centre site.
 

Said goodbye to dad (Doug Grant) this morning. We took him to the nearby train station and saw him off. Dad was a big help with many things. It was fun to share some of our adventures with him, we will certainly miss him.

August 25, 2012 - New York City

Fountain where one of the fallen Trade Centre was situated.

Took the train into NYC to take a prearranged sight seeing tour. Saw the World Trade Centre site and memorial. Around the fountains are the names of the people who perished in those buildings. Security to enter this site was surprisingly tight, just like going through an airport with all the x-rays, etc. We couldn't believe how many police officers they had on duty.

We started the tour at Time Square, then onto Wall St., Battery Park, the Dakota where John Lennon lived, Central Park, and took a tour boat to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was all beautiful, but Carole would have liked to do more shopping, of course!

John Lennon's memorial in Central Park



August 24, 2012 - Croton on Hudson, NY

We had no idea how beautiful the Hudson river is. We went by Westpoint Military Academy as well as numerous multi-million dollar mansions.

Dad on the Hudson

 

West Point Military Academy
 

Stayed at the Half Moon Bay marina for 3 nights. We planned to dock at this marina because of its proximity to the train station that would take us into a 45 minute ride to New York city. One day while on our sundeck at the marina, Carole heard a boat coming into the marina from a nearby beach that was making quite a bit of noise. I turned and saw the captain with a look of frustration yell, " I can't get this boat moving, I think something is wrapped around my prop"!  I laughed and told him that it could be because he forgot to bring up his anchor. He looked embarrassed and laughed it off by saying, "I guess I failed boating 101". I think he had a few to many "pops" at the beach!

August 23, 2012 Kingston, NY

Docked and dined at the Steele House Restaurant. Huge restaurant/bar which originally was a small steele work boat factory. Nice place, good food and party place in the evenings. Docking was free for the night as we had supper there. Took a walk into town and noticed for such a small town, it had an unusually numerous amount of restaurants.

August 21, 2012 Waterford, NY



High water levels from hurricane Irene
 

Present day water level



Water level during Irene was at the top of the white line on the bridge abutment to the right



Dad was a great help! All these locks were very tiresome

Long day, after going through 15 locks, we were beat. Stopped for the night at the Waterford town dock. Again a free dock and $10 for 50 amp power. This town's waterfront was severely damaged last year by hurricane Irene (see picture of high water levels). The same Irene that postponed our trip until this year. Our 2 night stay was very pleasant.

August 17, 2012 Phoenix, NY

                                                  Bridge House Brats, Taylor and Tyler

Phoenix famous Breadbowl Salad

 

 

After going through 7 locks, we stopped for the night at the Phoenix town dock. This town dock is run by an organization of kids called "Bridge House Brats". Just to give a little history, the town of Phoenix with its population of 2000 could not afford to run the town docks any longer. Someone had the great idea to organize the towns young people to beautify the city and rebuild the docks and clean up adjacent park. This was all accomplished by donations from boaters and tourists travelling through the area. A network of parents help the kids perform these tasks. To our amazement these youths were very eager to help the boaters out in any way such as handling dock lines, wash boat if you'd like and the best part of all, they would come onto our boat to deliver menus from the nearby restaurants and serve us! They cheerfully took our orders then ran over to the restaurants to place the orders. Afterwards they delivered our meals to our boat. All these services were provided to us free, including the docking, electrical, and water hook-up. The "brats" gratefully accepted tips and we also left a donation to the organization. On the friday night stay, they had a band playing in the park right next to us. The towns people would gather there and enjoy the music, a meal or just a homemade piece of pie for $1 baked from the kids parents. We enjoyed their famous breadbowl salad and peanut butter pie! It was an excellent 2 night stay.

Arrived in Oswego, NY Aug. 16, 2012.

Uncomfortable 5 3/4 hour crossing from Rochester as there were 3+ ft waves on the stern quarter. Lock 8 of the Oswego canal was our 1st bridge and lock that we came to. Busy getting prepared for the lock we neglected to lower the VHF and WIFI antennas as passed under the bridge....broke both of them. Had to have new WIFI antenna shipped from Florida to a marina down stream. Stayed overnight at the free wall dock between lock 8 and 7. Nice lock master told us to pick some fresh tomatoes from their garden.

Finally, after years of dreaming, preparation, and lots of hard work, we have started our travels south on the Rol & C's. We left Port Dalhousie today, August 15, and reached Rochester, NY. I won't be writing everyday but thought that I should at least commemorate the first day of our voyage with a few lines. The day went well, we pulled into the Youngstown Yatch Club to report to US customs around 9 am and then we're off to Rochester with all the legalities taken care of. Lake Ontario cooperated allowing only 1 to 2 foot waves from the north west. Our blinding speed of 9.5 mph got us to our destination in 11 hours. Of course we had about a 1 hour delay for our customs stop.
Tomorrow we are heading for Oswego, NY. That will be our last day on the great lakes for the foreseeable future. Once we enter the Oswego Canal, it will take us to the NY State Barge Canal and then the Hudson River to New York city.
After all the rushing to get ready for this adventure, it's time to slow down. At these speeds we have no choice but we plan on travelling shorter distances each day and some days not at all. It's time to wind down and relax.
We have a passenger with us for the leg to the Big Apple, Carole's father Doug . He decided to take us up on our invitation to come along for part of the ride. I hope he can put up with all this excitement!

Catch a Fire restaurant, Exuma

Stocking Island, Exuma

Rolleville, Exuma

Tam Fleming from Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, on his 45' schooner "Ask For"

Port Chalotte canals.

Roly in the old dinghy.

Carole riding through the Port Charlotte canals.

View of the Gulf Intercoastal from our condo in Fort Myers Beach.

The beach at Fort Myers.

Chasing dolphin, Fort Myers Beach.

Sunset, FMB.

View from our back porch, Hooper's Bay, Exuma, Bahamas.

Snorkeling with the kids, Exuma.

Sign post, Chat'n Chill Bar, Stocking Island, Exuma.

Time capsule.

Great time at Charlie's, George Town, Exuma.

The day after Charlie's...

Tam's schooner,"Ask For".

Carole, walking the sail boom.

Tommy.

Dolphin swimming at our bow.

Carole up on the mast ladder.

Sea turtle off from our beach.

Large starfish.

Leanne, Lisa and Chris, feeding stingrays on Stocking Island.