Windjammers

One of the common sights along the coast of Maine is the windjammer. These are historic vessels which were once fishing schooners, coasting freighters, oyster dredgers, and pilot schooners. Today, about 20 windjammers carry paying passengers. At Swans Island, we had a couple of windjammers spend the night at anchor with us. The one pictured close by Ariel is the Nathaniel Bowditch. Designed by William Hand, the Schooner Nathaniel Bowditch was built in 1922 in East Boothbay, Maine, as a private racing yacht. In 1923, she entered the Bermuda Cup under her original name, Ladona. She won the race in 1927. Her second owner renamed her Jane Dore after his daughter.

In 1942, she was commissioned by the US Coast Guard and assigned to an offshore patrol to search for German submarines off New York Harbor. During this time, she received two citations from the Commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier, US Coast Guard, for seaworthiness in poor weather.
After the war, she got into the fishing industry as a commercial dragger out of Stonington, CT.
This schooner has a captain and a crew of five. They looked to have about 20 guests on board, spending almost all of their time on deck. Belowdecks are the sleeping accommodations and the heads. The meals were served up on the main deck.

It was very interesting watching them come into the anchorage. They sailed in, turned into the wind to slow the boat, and at the right moment let the anchor go. We enjoyed watching the guests get involved in activities on board, jumping in for a swim, or climbing the rigging.

Cruising Maine

We are now in our cruising region, namely Penobscot Bay and the Mount Desert Island area. We are making very short daily trips to our new locations, which we are doing under leisurely sail with light generally southwest winds. This gives us plenty of time to explore and still move on to a new site. This morning, we went hiking on Isle au Haut (pictures from the trail) before sailing to our current location in Burnt Cove Harbor on Swans Island. Isle au Haut has a large area, which is actually part of Acadia National Park. It is remote, so it gets very few visitors. We hiked the Duck Pond trail and had it all to ourselves.

This part of Maine is broken up by hundreds of islands and inlets. The shores are generally bold with smooth granite and a very distinct tidal zone in the 10 - 13 foot range. The islands are blanketed with spruce trees interspersed with fields of grass. The anchorages vary from busy working harbors to uninhabited coves. The weather is also varied. It can be bright and sunny with distant mountains as a backdrop, or completely fogged in when our world shrinks to just about the size of Ariel.

Weather Not Spoiling Our Time Here

The jet stream has been in a more winter-like position since mid-July. The effect in New England has been a series of cold fronts and low-pressure systems with very few sunny days. There has been a threat of rain and thunderstorms most days. We have been fortunate and have only experienced one thunderstorm, which was while we were anchored at Block Island. We have had plenty of rain, but with very little wind. It has altered our plans. We had originally planned two nights at Boothbay Harbor, but extended it to four, waiting for better weather to travel. It has not dampened our enthusiasm for Maine. We had only experienced fog on one day, and we decided to travel anyway, partly because we hoped it would lift before we reached our destination, the busy Rockland harbor, and also to build experience in case we got caught unexpectedly. We relied heavily on the radar and the chart plotter. It remained a thick fog and did not clear before we arrived. We knew we were approaching a mooring area from the radar display, and as luck would have it, we found an empty mooring right away and took it, not worrying about who owned it. As it turned out, it belonged to a bareboat charter company that was more than happy to rent it to us.

We visited the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland. It is neither a lighthouse nor near a lighthouse, so we were intrigued. It proved to be extremely interesting and maybe not well named. It did have a lot of lighthouse artifacts, but also a good history of the US Lighthouse Service and a lot about lighthouse keepers. The museum also had a lot about the US Coast Guard, particularly about lightships and buoy tenders, and a good section on the US Lifesaving Service. They had a nice selection of buoys and fog horns from different eras.

Over the past few months, we have kept saying we were going to Maine for the lobster and blueberries. Well, we are keeping our word, maybe not so much lobster, although we have done that, but we are definitely enjoying the blueberries as well as other fresh fruit and vegetables from the farm stands.

Whale Watching

Our plan was to sail directly from Provincetown to Penobscot Bay, but we decided to move up the coast with day trips, with the threat of storms, particularly thunderstorms, daily. We hoped to see some whales as we crossed Cape Cod Bay, heading from Provincetown to Cape Ann. It wasn't long before we had our first sighting, and our good fortune continued throughout the day. Later in the day, we came upon a pod that seemed to be spending a lot of time near the surface. We stopped and drifted to take pictures. It is unlawful to approach within 500 yards of whales, so we stayed well off and tried to get pictures with a telephoto lens. This was proving difficult as our drifting boat bopped on the waves. We suddenly realized that the whales had changed direction and were heading directly at us, approaching the port side and swimming on or near the surface. A bit or a lot of panic set in, but we decided it was best to let them avoid us, and so we continued to drift. They approached quickly and, at the very last second, slid under Ariel, resurfacing just on the other side. We were breathing a sigh of relief when we heard a loud noise behind us. We hadn't noticed, but one had paused just off our stern, no more than six feet away, and the noise was a rush of air from the blowhole. They continued on their way, as did we. It was a wonderful and unexpected experience. Unfortunately, we did not get any close-up pictures as we had a telephoto lens on the camera. These were Humpback whales.

The humpback whale is a baleen whale and a rorqual whale that sings amazing songs. It performs complex and cooperative feeding techniques. The humpback has a bulky head with bumpy protuberances (tubercles), each with a bristle. Humpbacks are the acrobats of the ocean, breaching and slapping the water. They live in pods and have 2 blowholes. The name humpback describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive.

Sharing Cuttyhunk With Wind Chaser

Brain and Jan joined us for a visit to Cuttyhunk. This wasn't a planned stop for them, so we were so happy they changed their plans so we could show it off. They also like to walk, and Cuttyhunk is a great place to do so. It was very crowded in the mooring field, so we anchored in the outer harbor, which worked out well. As soon as the anchors were safely set, we went into the town docks and began to explore the island. We ended with ice cream on the pier and made plans for breakfast the next morning. If on Cuttyhunk, be sure to have breakfast at the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club, now a Bed and Breakfast. It is outdoor dining looking across the water toward Martha's Vineyard. It is reached by walking across a lawn area next to the coast. The menu is extensive, the portions large, and the food fabulous. After a hearty breakfast, we did some more walking and island exploring. We had plans to leave at noon, so we said goodbye at the town dock, and we were soon on our way. Our next stop was Onset Bay, which is just next to the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. Onset is a wonderful small Cape Cod town. It is a picture-perfect bay. The people were friendly, with so many on vacation or at their summer homes. We stayed two nights, and it is a place we will return to.

On the way to the Cuttyhunk Fishing Club

Onset Bay

Block Island - Still Our Favorite

We are back at Block Island, and it feels like home. We stayed in East Haven until Saturday. Friday night, we had a very nice evening with Dave and Alice Droller. We took them out to Ariel for drinks, and then we went out for a very nice Italian dinner. It was so much fun spending time together. Norm knows Dave from when he worked at Bayer, and we just met his wonderful wife, Alice, for the first time.

We arrived at Block on the weekend at a very crowded Great Salt Pond. We anchored in 32 feet, a much deeper area than we are used to at Block. The next morning, we called Wind Chaser to see where they were and discovered they were also at Block and actually very close by. They were on the opposite side of the big tug that has become a fixture here. With hundreds of boats, they were lost in the crowd. Sunday was a stormy day, so we stayed on the boat. (Wind Chaser is boat-centered in the picture)

New York, New York

We had a very fast trip up the East River and through Hell Gate. We picked up a favorable current at times exceeding 4 knots, just before the Narrows, which carried us all the way into Long Island Sound. We returned to Port Washington to pick up a free mooring for the night. It was too hot and humid to do much, so we just picked up a few groceries. We continued on the next day to New Haven, Connecticut. We had the wind and the current against us all day. We felt the anchorage areas in New Haven were too exposed with expected rain and possible thunderstorms forecast for the next couple of days, so we backtracked to East Haven, which is only slightly better. About an hour after we settled in on our anchor, we recognized Wind Chaser approaching. We had not seen Brian and Jan since Florida. Like us, this was not their original destination. We spent much of the next day with them walking and having a great pizza lunch at a local deli. It was raining hard at times, so we spent several hours at the deli catching up. We are both heading for Block Island next, so we expect to spend more time with them there.

Delaware Bay And The New Jersey Coast

We stayed overnight at the Chesapeake Inn and Marina in Chesapeake City on the C&D canal, which connects the Chesapeake Bay with Delaware Bay. This was to position ourselves to travel down the Delaware Bay. The current on the Delaware Bay changes direction progressively, moving up the bay, such that there is a 2 1/2 hour difference between the change at the mouth of the bay and at the point where the C&D Canal intersects. This was to our advantage last fall when we traveled up the bay, giving us favorable current all the way up the bay and through the C&D canal. Of course, this works the opposite, going the other direction, where it is only possible to get about 3 1/2 hours of favorable current, and the rest of the time it is against you. We left Chesapeake City at 10:30 am to reach the Delaware Bay at the optimum point for the trip down the bay. We decided to skip a stop in Cape May and just round the corner and head up the coast of New Jersey. Last fall, when we were just starting out, we never would have considered this option. We just cleared the shoals around Cape May when the sun dipped below the horizon. The moon was soon up, very red at first, but later a real advantage as we could see the waves, which was really nice. We pretty much had the open waters to ourselves through the night. We saw the lights of a couple of tugs with their tows, but none closer than 2 miles. The only excitement was caused by a very large commercial fishing boat returning to port. We locked it in on radar a couple of miles away, and as he approached, the radar sounded the alarm that he would be too close as he crossed our bow.  We changed course in plenty of time to pass behind him. We both slept well on our off shifts. This is a big improvement over our previous overnight trips and a sign we are getting more comfortable with night travel. We arrived at Atlantic Highlands behind Sandy Hook at 3:45 pm the next day. We had covered 185 miles (per GPS) in 29.3 hours. As it turned out, our knot meter, which records the boat speed through the water, read 183 miles, so the overall impact of the current was negligible. We like Atlantic Highlands as the town is very convenient. We decided to stay for a day to rest up before moving on. We did laundry, bought a few groceries, and went to a movie (Mamma Mia). We both liked the movie and the theatre air conditioning very much.

Time Off For Family And Friends

We are in Chesapeake City on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on our way to Maine. Ariel was on a mooring in Annapolis for a full month. Between the five weeks last fall and four plus weeks this spring, Annapolis seems like our new home port. This time, we were away most of the time, enjoying visits with family and friends. We returned to Ariel for a few days with the car to do major restocking and a couple of maintenance projects. We were in Annapolis for the Independence Day weekend and had a great spot to watch the fireworks from our mooring. We also saw our doctors and dentist for our checkups while we were back in Massachusetts, so we should be good to go for a while.

Family gathering at Mohegan Resort at Mohegan State Park in Ohio

Family Fun Day - canoeing near Mohegan at Loudenville

Kim, Michael, and Evelyn at Bay Science Center

Karns Family Reunion

Our good friend Ellie

(from our former neighborhood in Franklin, Massachusetts)

Back In Annapolis

We had originally planned a few days at Solomons, and then we would go on to St. Michaels on the eastern shore, but we enjoyed Solomons so much that we stretched it to a week and bypassed St. Michaels and went straight to Annapolis. Solomons is really laid back, and that was the attraction. The Holiday Inn has a marina, and for $2.00 each day, we had use of their dinghy dock, a place to dispose of trash, and we could bring Ariel in to one of their docks for water. Right next to the Holiday Inn's entrance drive is a strip mall with a grocery store and a laundromat. Everything is actually close by, and there are several restaurants. We arrived in Annapolis on Father's Day, and what a sight with so many boats out enjoying a wonderful day. We anchored off the U.S. Naval Academy. It was initially a little choppy with so many boats out, but as expected, it quieted down as soon as the sun set. It was a beautiful night with the familiar lights from the City of Annapolis. We were awakened to the sound of the Midshipmen out for their very early morning exercise. On Monday morning, we moved into Spa Creek, a place very familiar to us, having spent five weeks here in the fall. This time, we took a mooring for 30 days so we could safely be away from Ariel without too much concern.

United States Naval Academy 

On From Washington

We are now in the Solomons after our week in Washington. Our last visit to the Solomons was during a heavy downpour, so we didn't get to go ashore. This time we plan to stay a few days. Our time in Washington was interesting. We had some severe thunderstorms, followed later in the week by a heat wave with temperatures at 98 and the humidity near 100%. Our highlights were the WWII Memorial, as we mentioned, the Holocaust Museum (exceptional), and the Botanical Gardens. The only exhibit we paid for was the Spy Museum, and for us it was a big disappointment. We kept cool by visiting the art galleries and museums during the afternoon heat. Our return trip down the Potomac was delayed two hours waiting for the morning fog to lift. This ruined our plans to stop at different places on the way down. The river was littered with debris from the storms. This was mostly small branches, but also some very large logs that could cause damage. By late in the first day, we had cleared the debris and didn't see any on the second day. It was a long trip up and back down the river, but well worth the effort.

Enjoying Washington

We are visiting the sites at a casual pace and trying to see things we have never seen before. We won't take you through our entire itinerary, but we were very impressed by the World War II Memorial. It is new since we were last here, and it was a high priority for us. It is really well thought out. While there was a lot of controversy about the location, there could not have been a better spot. It looks like it was always meant to be there. The designers were absolutely brilliant.

Heather, Linda's sister, Lois's granddaughter, and daughter of Alan and his wife Renee, works for an architectural firm on K Street just a couple of blocks away from the White House. It was most convenient to meet her for lunch since she does not live in the city, and it was a short walk for us. We had not seen Heather in several years, so it was nice to catch up.

Later this month, her boyfriend is being deployed to Iraq.

The area is being hit this week by severe storms. We time our excursions to be sure we are back on the boat when they arrive. We have seen strong winds and have had tornado watches. This weekend, they are expected to have the first heat wave of the year, with three consecutive days over ninety degrees. In this case, it is expected to be 94.

The National Mall

We spent Sunday on the Mall. This has been the scene of so many historic protests and rallies over the years. Today, it was the site of a celebration marking Israel's 60th birthday, organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

Washington DC

Our second and final day on the Potomac was just as exciting as our first. We passed Mount Vernon and then Fort Washington. As the Woodrow Wilson Bridge came into view, the Washington Monument also came into view in the distance. After passing the bridge, we then passed the former presidential yacht Sequoia, now a tour boat, going in the opposite direction. The Potomac is the flight path for Ronald Reagan National Airport, so soon it was one jet after another flying overhead. We made our way into the Washington Channel and followed it with the East Potomac Park to port and marinas to starboard. We anchored just across from the Capital Yacht Club. We have privileges at the Capital Yacht Club, where they are very nice and they gave us a warm welcome. The Washington Channel is the flight path for helicopters, and they are numerous. They pass directly over and not too far above our mast top. Pictured is the view from our cockpit during our first evening in Washington. We plan to stay here at least a week now that we have made the journey.

View From Ariel

On The Bay Again

We enjoyed our stay at the Bluewater Yachting Center. It is a well-run facility and very friendly. It is tight getting in and out, but it is one we would return to. We left Hampton on Memorial Day to take advantage of favorable winds. It was so good to be on the bay and to actually sail again. We knew Star Shadow was in Deltaville, our destination for the day, and we did reach Graham on the radio, but the wind strength and direction precluded us from getting close enough to their marina to visit. They were hauling out the next day and returning to Canada two days following. We enjoyed our time with Windsong, alternating dinners on Ariel and Windsong or going out for dinner together. We knew we would go our separate ways once we reached the Potomac. Alice called her friend Jane, who lives near St. Mary's. Jane's husband, Skip, recommended we anchor in Smith Creek and meet them for dinner at the marina there. It turned out to be a beautiful anchorage and very remote. We had a wonderful time with Skip and Jane. The next day was extremely windy, so we stayed put and enjoyed one more day together. Today, we started our trip up the Potomac to Washington, DC. We had a little excitement as we approached the Navy's Danlgren firing range. We could certainly hear the guns well in advance. As we approached, the Navy Range Patrol Boat contacted us and provided directions that would take us down the Maryland side of the range. As we were passing, they fired another salvo, and we watched the huge splashes in midriver. We are now about halfway to Washington and anchored just outside Port Tobacco.

Together Again

New Bern was a wonderful stop for us. We had not been there for several years and had never arrived by boat. As it happens, Rodger and Kathy from Talisman were on our dock, just a couple of boats away, so it was good to see them. They are also going to Maine this summer, so we are sure to see them again soon. Iain and Jan, and Ted and Alice finally caught up with us. Actually, we stopped long enough to let them catch up.  We wanted to see Iain and Jan before they left for Canada. They are such good friends, and we were so excited to see them and spend some time together. We managed to get the flavor of the marina and town. They have a wonderful farmer's market on Saturday mornings. Linda bought lots of fresh vegetables. We attended church at the United Methodist Church and immediately felt very much welcomed. After church, we stopped at a coffee shop, a popular spot for locals to discuss the day's topics. There we met Curt and Linda Wright, former cruisers who just moved to New Bern a year ago. Curt is an accomplished artist with paintings on display and for sale at the coffee shop and, of all places, Painted Post, New York. Curt and Linda lived in Dundee, New York, during their working careers. One interesting event while in town was rescuing some baby ducks. We were all out walking when we came upon a father and son working on removing a storm drain grate. The mother with her eight ducklings had crossed the street in front of his car. The ducklings were having trouble getting up and over the curb. One decided to go parallel to the curb, the others followed, and then one by one disappeared into the drain. Iain was the hero, hanging upside down in the drain and recovering the ducklings one by one. The young boy then carried them to the mother duck, who was frantically waiting off to the side. Once she had all her young, they were on their way again. We even had police assistance. The officer stopped to see what was going on and immediately jumped in to help.

We are now in Hampton, back where our adventure together all started. We had planned to anchor here again, but the city widened the channel so that there is really no room to anchor. We decided to stop at a marina for the holiday weekend. That decision turned out really well for Ted and Alice as they then invited their son Scott and his wife and two children to come spend a night on the boat. The children are very young (four and two), so being in a marina made it possible.

Ted, Alice, Iain, Jan, Norm, and Linda

Coming up the Virginia Cut. On our last day, we had six bridges
 and one lock, but it was a beautiful day for travel.

New Bern

We are spending a few days in New Bern, North Carolina. We are at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina. We are actually on a scouting mission. We are planning for 2009 and considering spending that summer in New Bern. The marina is downtown and, in addition to the typical marina amenities, it also provides hotel amenities such as the exercise room. New Bern, the second-oldest town in North Carolina, is situated where the Trent and Neuse Rivers meet. It is 23 miles up the Neuse River from mile marker 182 on the ICW. This puts it well off the beaten path.

Camp Lejeune

We are again at Mile Hammock on Camp Lejeune. This is one of our favorite stops. While we like variety, we prefer isolated locations. During the day, there are the sights and sounds of military exercises, but at night, this is a very peaceful and quiet place. It is a popular stop for many, so we are not alone here. Going ashore is not permitted, so everyone seems to use the time to relax and enjoy the natural surroundings from the comfort of their cockpits.

Jocks Lodge and Windsong are still two days behind us, as they have been for the past couple of weeks. We expect to stay in New Bern long enough for them to catch up. Iain and Jan are leaving Jocks Lodge in New Bern for a month while they fly home to Ontario.

Wrightsville Beach

We had planned to spend a couple of days in Wrightsville Beach, but we have now been here for five. The strong low-pressure system that generated so many tornadoes also brought high winds. We have seen long periods of sustained winds of 30 - 35 with higher gusts. Our anchorage is well protected, so the wave action is minimal. Bridges will not open in high winds, so we are staying put until it quiets down a little. This is a great place to wait it out. The town provides a very nice floating dock that is just one block from the beach. The beach, which is wide and flat, stretches for miles. This picture, taken from Ariel, shows how narrow the strip of land is between our anchorage and the Atlantic Ocean. The hotels front the beach.

Oops

We stopped at Calabash Creek, a spot we enjoyed on our trip south. It is right on the border with North Carolina. We had two other boats, both trawlers, join us later in the day. We were concerned when the pictured trawler anchored very close to shore. You must be sure you can safely swing in all 360 degrees. The wind picked up during the night, and these guys paid for their mistake. In reality, it is not as bad as it looks. They will just have to wait for the tide to come in, and they should be able to float off. We were on our way early to make the 8:00 am pontoon bridge opening. We are now in Wrightsville Beach and plan to stay a couple of days. The beach is literally a block away from the dinghy landing.