9/29/19

9/29/19

First apple pie!  We made our first apple pie upon reaching Waterford, NY at the end of the Erie Canal.  And we had good reason – our friend Lisa Church, who recently graduated with a degree in chemistry from the university here in nearby Albany, just started her first job about 10 miles from where we were docked..  Many reasons to celebrate!

Nice visit with Lisa - she drove to Wateford for dinner.  Enjoyable visit.  Apple pie too!

Of course, we made another pie when we reached Kingston on the Hudson to take down our mast.  We always make an apple pie for our buddy Vince at Hideaway Marina.  He sure takes good care of us!

Two more days on the Hudson to Atlantic Highlands, NJ where we visited with Marianne and her friend Richard before heading to sea.

Another picturesque day motor sailing the Hudson River.  Spectacular and warm!

I’m always intrigued to see what new structures have been built in New York City.

Hmmm….maybe we’ll see how this turns out upon our return in the spring.

We’re heading out to go under the Verrazanno Bridge as a “box boat”/freighter is coming in.  Looks close for clearance but he had plenty of room.

And the tomatoes you saw on the cabin top in the last group of pictures…Had to take care of the tomatoes before heading out to sea!

Our route in the past has been one hop from Atlantic Highlands to Norfolk.  Because of all the southerly winds this season we took a short hop from Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Barnegat, NJ – almost enough northerly winds before they built from the south as we neared Barnegat.  The exciting part of that leg – we were playing backgammon in the cockpit and keeping watch.  I happened to look towards shore and saw a 60’ whale jump straight up out of the water!  A number of times!  (But not enough times for me to get the camera in time.)  Also, lots of dolphin stopped to swim with Persephone for a few minutes before going about their business all along the coast.

From Barnegat we had a fantastic sail down to Norfolk!  The winds clocked around, as they do with an approaching cold front, from west to north, to east.  All about 12 knots give or take.  We finished the passage with a southeast wind coming into the Chesapeake Bay.  Ron and Deb on Scheherazade just behind.  Sure has been a warm trip thus far!

9/18/19

What a busy summer…graduation, wedding, family reunion, reuniting with friends and family, the Clayton Boat Show for Debbie and I and my parents,  cars, projects galore!  It seemed like we arrived a week ago and we’re already on our way south!

The last big project was to haul and paint the bottom at Callahan’s Marina on Oneida Lake.  With that done, we headed back to “home base” at Brian and Debbie’s, loaded up the boat and were ready to leave – the earliest we’ve ever left!  The weather should be better, the days longer, less stress as we head south a couple weeks earlier.

If you click on the SPOT link (upper right hand corner of this page) you  should be able to follow us this winter thanks to my brother Brian, our neighbors Laurie and Bill, fellow sailors Liz in NY, Sunny in NY & SC, Arnaud in FL,  Tracie in CT, colleague from Trumansburg Elementary Pat, friend from grade school Bernadette, family friend and wooden boat enthusiast Anne, and Ya-Shian who was a 3^rd grader in my class of my first ever teaching position in Ithaca many years ago!  Thank you for funding the SPOT tracker.

We traveled the Erie here to Waterford, NY with Ron and Deb on Scheherazade.  Tomorrow onto the Hudson where we will put the mast up, head to Sandy Hook, NJ, and then on onto the Atlantic.  Our first and foremost concern will be, as always, the weather.  We always carefully watch the weather, especially now as we are still in an active hurricane season, and we will travel with plans to duck into safe harbors if and when needed.
PS: There are harbor cams at the Waterford Visitor Center: http://www.town.waterford.ny.us/harbor-visitors-center.html  I don't think we're on the camera (we're closest to the lock) but maybe you'd like to see Waterford!

My niece Kira's graduation in Maine

My niece Marjatta's wedding in Candor, NY.

A picture of the rearview mirror of a classic wooden boat - Miss Thousand Islands in Clayton.  You'll see the driver, me, Debbie, Dad and Mom enjoying a beautiful ride on the St. Lawrence River.

One of the castles along the St. Lawrence River boat ride.

Screens, handrails, and companionway trim freshly varnished.

The anchor chain is pulled into the yard and marked so we know how many feet we're putting out when anchoring.

Persephone is ready to put back in the water after new bottom paint application.

My 4 five gallon buckets produced a load of roma tomatoes on the cabin top.

Apples on the aft deck.  No pies yet but soon come!

Persephone and Scheherazade tied up at Lock 15 at the end of a long day of motoring.

Up early from Lock 15 and headed down the Erie with the fog.

Looking back a Scheherazade in the fog.

Fog clears - another glorious day on the Erie!

This morning's approach to the Waterford docks.

5/20/19

Where's Persephone?  On the Hudson River at Kingston ready to put the mast down and continue on!
Since the last post we had some wonderful sails in NC..........
Here's Persephone and Bluejacket trying to sail with little wind and no motors on the Neuse River from Oriental to Broad Creek.

Bluejacket with Jerry and Donna aboard

Persephone - if we're carrying that spinnaker we're gonna use it!

Just another day at Donna and Jerry's with a few cruising friends on the dock!  What fun we have at Luh's Landing.  Jerry figured there must have been a total of 100 tons of boats at the dock with all 6 boats.  Of course we all congregated at the house for a potluck, visits and stories.

Donna and Jerry's dock.

2 sailing catamarans, 1 trawler, 2 sloops, and 1 power cat.

What a beautiful place!

In VA we stopped at Portsmouth.  This photo is taken from the ferry we're on to go see Ryan and Harmony and Ryan's parents across the river.  Persephone is in the back corner.  Life on land is so busy but we're lucky to have friends who make time to visit when we sail into their neighborhood.  Thanks!

Portsmouth - Persephone at left corner.

Steve, Heidi, and Addi came by to pick us up and take us to Norfolk Botanical Garden.  Lots of walking - just what we needed with a few rain showers along the way.  Then dinner aboard Persephone.  We've watched Addi change and grow each time we stop.  Cute as can be!

Jerry, Addi and Steve

We started our sail from the Chesapeake Bay to NY with our good friend Bob just behind.  Bob is still single-handing his 37' Gulfstar from NY to Palm Beach and back each year.  For the last 20+ years.  When I'm in my 80s I hope to be in such good shape!

This is a menhaden fishing boat just off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  There are smaller boats with nets that round up the menhaden fish.  The big boat has a "fish vacuum" that sucks the fish from the net into the boat.

We had westerly winds for the trip from the Chesapeake to NY arriving to Sandy Hook just before the rain squalls.  It's hard to describe how pleasant it feels to anchor and just sit back without reaching for secure hand holds for each step you take after 36 hours of non-stop motion.
Sandy Hook has become one of our favorite stops as we have the opportunity to visit with Marianne.  Her son Andreas happened to be in town and he came to the boat for dinner.  Our first time to meet him and hear his stories of sailing.  He is taking charge of some sea scout boats back where he lives and he had many questions for Jerry in order to maintain the vessels.  It was a wonderful evening.
What was difficult at Sandy Hook was the weather.  We had some acclimatizing to do (with the help of our diesel furnace - thanks Marianne for helping us attain the control panel we needed from Germany!)  On Mother's Day the wind picked up to 35 knots out of the east creating rollers coming into our anchorage and splashing over the bow.  As a power boat dragged to the beach and another sailboat trying to anchor got caught around a mooring ball line we hauled anchor and tacked back and forth at 3 knots using the motor to go 2 miles across the bay to Horseshoe Cove.
Click here to see the video we took:  https://youtu.be/W4ZpVgKkTFk
At Horseshoe Cove we had protection from the east winds and they continued to blow for 2 days!  And rain!  And cold!  Yuck!  Luckily, the winds died down, we had a nice jaunt up the Hudson River to Kingston.  Even a little sun!  We are here to put the mast down but haven't been in a hurry to do so - the Erie Canal has delayed the opening due to high water.  They say they will be opening more of the canal this week.  Looks like tomorrow may be the day to put the mast down and then we'll head to Waterford!  When we move I'll hit the SPOT button at the end of the day.  Cheers!  Karen & Jerry

4/24/19

The colors of the waters in the Bahamas are so vibrant!  Here’s a picture taken on Man-O-War Cay in the Bahamas, Jerry and Jerry looking out to sea.

Man-O-War is yet another picture perfect Bahamian settlement.  

 

This is the street we walked down to arrive at the beach.  You can see the brilliant water in the distance.

The streets are just the right width for the main mode of transportation – golf carts!

Another stop in the Abacos was a place called Buckaneer Bay.  This is an area where we took the dinghy into a series of cuts between rocks and mangroves at high tide.   So many sea turtles!  We also found what is referred to as a blue hole.  We noticed an area where the water was dark blue and went to check it out.  The water goes from 3 feet to really deep!  It’s like looking into a cave underwater.

Exploring the mangrove creeks at Buckaneer Bay at high tide.

We saw one of the biggest sea turtles we’ve ever seen!  Maybe 6 feet long!  I have a link for a video to see the sea turtle here:  https://youtu.be/arzto5ev9ro

Marsh Harbor is the settlement we stop at to buy groceries.  The harbor is always full of boats anchored, ferries coming in and out, and it is shallow.  Moorings, the charter company, has a fleet of boats at Marsh Harbor if you’d like to rent a sailboat and sail the Abacos.  We’ve been sailing everywhere –that means hauling the sail up before hauling anchor, sailing to a destination, and anchoring, all without starting the motor.  Here’s what our path looked like as we tacked back and forth on the mainsail into Marsh Harbor between all of the anchored boats to the sound of applause from a few admirers.  No one sails into Marsh Harbor!

This is our GPS screen.  The black and white line is our path to where we anchored.

It’s always sad to leave the beautiful water, people, and places in the Bahamas when we head north.  Oh yeah, we hate the leave the tropical weather too!  

Here’s a link for a video of dolphins swimming off the bow as we sail on the banks in the Abacos:  https://youtu.be/GO-Yqo7eb6U

But we have a graduation and a wedding to attend at beginning of June so we sailed back to the states in two hops with Donna and Jerry on Bluejacket.  The first was from Double-Breasted Cay in the northernmost Abacos to Fernandina Beach, FL.  A northeast wind going to south was perfect for the 48 hour sail.  We felt like we were in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie when we spotted this off in the distance…..

A tall ship flying 18 sails!  But no Jolly Roger flying.   It turned out to be a Spanish Navy training ship I believe.  We heard them on the VHF radio.  Do you recognize the ship?  Donna and Jerry also heard the Swedish Navy on a tall ship training vessel out on the ocean that night.

We stayed at Fernandina Beach, FL long enough to check in with customs & immigration, have some lunch and ice cream ashore with Donna and Jerry of Bluejacket, visit with friends Chris, Amy, and Andrew, and ride out the cold front that came through.  52 knots of wind was the peak as it came through with heavy rain and tornado watches.  It made for a choppy anchorage when the wind opposed the current.   

The next morning, Saturday, we were off again for our second hop to Beaufort, NC.  We left the anchorage with very little wind.  That didn’t last long!  As forecast we enjoyed 30 knots of SW and W wind breezing up the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.  That made for a fast passage and semi-comfortable as the large waves were behind us pushing us along.  We had a warbler land in the cockpit and stay aboard for a while.  Entertaining!  

Here is a video of the bird on the steering wheel.  The autopilot is hard at work as you can see:  https://youtu.be/R-rNmgmf1wg

Here's a video Jerry took on this passage:  https://youtu.be/yU_ExbnuDwo

As we approached the Beaufort Inlet the winds dropped down to 10 knots.  Just over 48 hours from Fernandina.

A Coast Guard ship was in the channel working on the markers.

We are currently tied to the town dock in Oriental, NC.  See if you can find us on the towndock.net harbor cam today (we’ll be leaving tomorrow - Thursday).  We’re all the way to left near a big red shrimp boat.

That’s all for now!  We’ll be heading to Donna and Jerry's place about 10 miles from here, then to Norfolk via the intracoastal waterway, on to the ocean back to NY to see Marianne at Sandy Hook, and then up the Hudson River and Erie Canal.  Keep in touch!

Karen and Jerry

4/5/19

If you’ve checked our SPOT you’ll see that we’ve moved north and are now in the Abacos; the northern island chain in the Bahamas.

We sailed from Hog Cay in the Jumentos to Georgetown to Black Point in the Exumas where we stopped for a quick visit with our friends Doug and Jean who live in the sandcastle.  Yes, you’ve seen pictures in the past.  It looks just like a sandcastle!  We brought Jean some potatoes from Georgetown and she gave us a bag of goodies from her garden – peppers and cherry tomatoes.  Yum!

We had a slow sail from the Exumas to Eleuthera.  Little wind and we didn’t want to start the motor.  Took us forever to go about 40 miles.  But what a way to end the day – coming in to Rock Sound with clear water and a full moon and music blaring.

The moon just coming up over the settlement of Rock Sound.

The moon is up…..the sails are up.

Here is a link to a movie looking at the bottom through the clear turquoise water coming into Rock Sound…..  https://youtu.be/xHX7AcD5n1s

And another link for a movie sailing into Rock Sound, Eleuthera with the full moon….. https://youtu.be/dHD2m2zyXv8

 

The next leg heading north was a great day for sailing with easterly winds all the way to Spanish Wells 60 miles away.  No motor needed for a fast sail.  Spanish Wells is a pretty settlement – all the houses are neatly kept.  No trash on the sides of the road.  And lots of colorful flowers.  Loyalists settled this area and continue to be a hard working community with pride in  their accomplishments.  This has always been a fishing village – though the tourist trade is luring some of the fishermen to new endeavors.

An example of a home at Spanish Wells.

Donna and Jerry rented a golf cart and we spent the day on an island tour.  Actually 3 islands make up the area connected by a bridge.  The island group is about 4 miles long and ½ mile wide.  Easy ground to cover in the golf cart.

A  view from a park on the north side of the island.

A view of Persephone and Bluejacket at anchor from a stop on our golf cart tour.

The students are gathered outside at picnic tables in the morning at the school on Spanish Wells.

A stop at the block factory.  No blocks being made today – chance of rain would ruin fresh made blocks.

 A Haitian settlement outside of town.  Many of the Bahama islands have Haitians who escaped their homelands in search of a better life.  Here in the Bahamas they find a way to make a living working jobs the Bahamians choose not to do.

We stopped at a place in town called Buddhas for lunch.  They have 2 African gray parrots that we all took turns trying to coax into saying something.  An occasionl squawk or whistle is what we got.

And Buddhas had signs all over the place with words of “wisdom”.  Our waitress had hand painted 106 signs a week ago.

And one more stop on the golf cart tour – a place called Tight Spot.  Donna and Jerry know the people who built the place and they’re now selling.  They’re off sailing the South Pacific islands in the sailboat the guy built.

Tight Spot (I included the real estate sign just in case you’re interested).

The view from Tight Spot looking south.

 

 

Pinders Grocery Store in the background with our dinghy and my Klondike bar.  Yes!  I had ice cream!  And it was only 9:30 in the morning.  We can't keep ice cream on the boat but it's nice to have a treat when we have the opportunity!

When the wind warranted, we hauled anchor and moved to a small island called Meeks Patch.  The locals may tell you that that’s where to go if you want to swim with pigs.  For a fee.  We would tell you Meeks Patch is the place to get coconuts!  After discovering the place last year we were anxious to go back for more.  Part of the island (away from the pigs) is loaded with coconut trees and coconuts on the ground.  We spent the morning gathering and processing coconuts.

It takes a lot of work (it was windy and rainy that day) to shuck the husk off the coconut and get the nut inside.  Here are a few of our coconut nuts ready to be cracked open and grated.

Jerry cooked some of the grated coconut on the stove for hours with water and sugar in order to make coconut bread.  Here it is all ready to be rolled up….

Rolled up and ready to put in the pan.

Coconut bread fresh from the oven!

So now we are in the Abacos walking the beaches and thinking of continuing our journey north in the next couple weeks.  The 19^th of April has a full moon – great for a passage to North Carolina.  We hope the weather cooperates somewhere around that time.  We love to sail with a full moon!