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10-31-2010 |
Left today at 7:00 am (kind of dark outside) and arrived safely in
Seapath yacht club around 2 pm. We had to time our speed to
arrive at several bridges in order to avoid waiting for them to open up
to let us through. The most we had to wait was around 10 minutes
which may not seem like a long time. However, Joysea gets a little
antsy trying to sit still with a lot of company hanging around. We
are glad to report that she didn't smack anyone while waiting. |
On our trip over we saw a whole lot of nothing along the ICW
as depicted in left photo. And then all of a sudden it's condo
after condo.
Tomorrow we leave for Southport, NC. The next day we should
arrive in South Carolina .... yeah!!
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10-30-2010 |
We left River Dunes marina around 7:15 am and arrived at Dudleys Marina
at 2 pm. We are in a slip right on the ICW in what is called Bogue
Inlet. It was a nice cruise, but a little chilly. Nothing
eventful to report except Dave had difficulties getting Joysea into the
slip. There was a lot of current pushing Joysea around (and she
hates to be pushed around) but we finally manage an outside slip with no
damage incurred.
Tomorrow we head out for Wrightsville Beach, NC which is 55 miles
further south. We believe we will be staying at Seapath Yacht
Club. Captain George can sometimes get us a free slip if the yacht
club participates in a reciprocal program with his yacht club. We
are not sure about this one. |
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10-29-2010 |
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It was too windy out there today so we are staying over tonight at the
marina. I won't bore you with how plush and nice this place is ...
you can check it out yourself on their website:
www.riverdunes.com
Oh well sometimes ya gotta slum a little!We took the courtesy car to
Oriental this afternoon for lunch and a look around. Not a lot to
see in Oriental. The picture at left is from the front of the
restaurant ... I also included the restaurant porch railing for your
viewing pleasure. Tomorrow looks like good weather so we will head for
Swansboro, NC, about a 56 mile trip. Hopefully we will have phone
service. This part of North Carolina must not like AT&T mobile
because we have been without service for several days. |
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10-28-2010 |
We arrive at a marina near Oriental around 1:30 pm. It was suppose
to be a little windy in the morning but settling down in the afternoon.
It turn out to be fine for the first 2-3 hours, then heavy rain pounded
us. We got to use the radar for the first time ... how great is
that! Actually we hope to never use it again. At first Dave
thought it wasn't working but then figured out he had to set the range
down a bit and it works just fine. Between radar, GPS and the
depth finder (plus just barely able to see Reflection) we managed just
fine. The only thing Dave worried about was crab pods which
unfortunately the radar cannot detect. Given the choice between
driving on the highway in blinding rain and cruising on Joysea .... we
both pick Joysea. The marina we are staying at is real nice. It
is very new and are only charging $1.25/foot ... which is one heck of a
lot cheaper than in New England.
Holly, John and John ... sorry for the short notice. Maybe we
can catch you on our trip back in the spring. |
Probably the biggest news for today is that we booked a two month stay
at a marina in Marathon, FL (i.e. The Keys). We hope to be there
mid-November. We want to stay there longer but right now nothing
more is available. Everybody says things change, and more than
likely we can stay there longer .... so send in your reservations for a
stay on Joysea! |
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10-27-2010 |
We left South Lake this morning around 7:20 and arrived at the Pungo
River around 1pm. It was a very nice trip with no rain but a
fairly stiff head wind. Weather permitting we will head for
Oriental, NC tomorrow morning. Tonight the Johnson's are hosting
dinner. Not as elegant as last nights, simply baked beans, potato
salad and hamburgers on the grill ... oh well what can we say ... just
plain old country folk. Oh yeah, Joysea rafted up again to Reflection
... I think she is in love. |
No air card service or cell phone where we are anchored today.
Maybe we can publish this update when we get to Oriental.
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10-26-2010 |
We left today around 7am and safely anchored around 3pm in South Lake
(decided it was better cover than East Lake). We had a bit of rain
on this trip so Joyce and Dave decided to use the lower helm. They
checked out the windshield wipers before the rain hit and all was fine
except that when the rain started the starboard side wipers didn't work.
Of course that is the side where you navigate/steer from. I think
a bottle of rainex is in the plans.
Actually only Reflections anchored and Joysea rafted up next to her.
Talk about getting spoiled! The above picture was taken from the
top deck of Joysea looking at the back deck of Reflections. While
everyone but the photographer was enjoying happy hour, Dave was taking a
few pictures (but not to worry, he caught up!). |
The dinner that Pat and George fixed was delicious. Pasta with red
sauce and sausage, salad, bread and a very nice bottle of red wine.
The evening scenery and overall atmosphere was something to behold.
It was the best restaurant that we have been in for a long time.
Of course Joycie was the first one to the table:-).
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10-25-2010 |
Another beautiful day on the water! We hit the lock at 6:50 (I
mean arrived at the lock) and waited 10 minutes for it to open.
This will be the easiest lock to get through for the entire trip ... but
the last one while on the east coast. It only rose up a foot or so
and we didn't need to put fenders out because the walls of the lock are
padded.
The canal system we are on is a combination of rivers, lakes and
canals. The tree leaves in northern North Carolina are already
beginning to change colors. The picture at the right doesn't show
how bright they really are.
Tomorrow we sleep in and leave at 8:00 am. We will go through a
part of Alligator River and anchor in East Lake.
We may not be updating the website for a couple of days because we
will be in some fairly remote areas/anchorages. |
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10-24-2010 |
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We left Fishing Bay Yacht Club today at 6:55 am. The first part of
the trip was smooth however it was a little rough in the middle of the
Bay for about an hour. Only 1-2 foot waves were predicted,
but we experienced a few 3-4 foot bad boys. Then it smoothed out
and we enjoyed the ride down the Elisabeth River and thru Norfolk, VA.
There are many, many Navy ships in Norfolk. Joycie and Joysea
drive by several in the picture to the left. We will leave
tomorrow before sunrise in order to arrive at a lock that opens up at
7am. The lock isn't that far away from the marina we are staying
at (Top Rack Marina - a few miles south of Norfolk) but it will be
interesting to cruise in the dark for awhile. We have a fairly
short day tomorrow going 43 miles to Coinjock, NC. We are not
taking the Dismal Swam route, but instead the Virginia Cut. |
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10-23-2010 |
We left for Deltaville today around 6:50 and arrived around 2:50 pm.
It was a great trip ... and best of all no bilge pump light for the
entire trip! This trip was sooo easy because all we had to do was
follow Reflection. It was like we had auto pilot and a crab pod
detector. We simply aimed at Reflection and when Reflection told
us there were crab pods ahead we took the corrective action. It
doesn't get any better than this!
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We are in Fishing Bay Yacht Club marina and it is a beautiful setting.
Very quaint and very nice homes surround this cove. Pat and George
brought appetizers to Joysea (shrimp, nuts, crackers ... oh so good!)
and Joycie served crab cakes, asparagus, rice, bread and salad.
Man, this is a tough life! Wish you were all here! |
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10-22-2010 |
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We met a great couple that just completed the loop and are headed for
Florida ... and guess who will be trailing them? George and Pat
Hospodar (picture at left on their beautiful 48 foot vessel
"Reflection") are from New Jersey and we met up with them yesterday.
Today we dingy'd over to their boat and George and Pat explained the
planned stop over's. We plan to leave 7am tomorrow and head for
Deltaville which is about 60 miles from here. In a couple of days,
if the weather holds we will be in North Carolina ... yeah!
Of course something crazy always seems to happen. George was
showing Dave his routes on the pc when Dave happen to look out the
window and saw someone towing a dingy that looked like ours ... it even
had our blue "walmart" bags that we were taking to the laundry after our
visit. Well, there were no pirates involved, just some good
Samaritans. Evidently our dingy rope broke (a lot of wind today)
and set our dingy free. A couple and two of their children saw it
floating and was taking it to a dock to tie it off when Dave spotted
them. We may be using our cable to tie off our dingy from now on! |
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10-19-2010 |
Looks like we may stay here until Thursday. Tomorrow it looks like
an all day rain. Yesterday was very nice. To the right
Joycie enjoying an evening cocktail Monday night on the upper deck of
Joysea
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Picture at left is from Solomons Island with the Patuxent River in the
background. Not a very pretty day today. As you can see the
cloudy overcast, but at least it is not raining ... yet! Dave
talked to the boat yard and the water problem could be left over from
the old problem. That is old water working its way back from the
bow to the stern. Could be something else but probably can wait
(if problem persists) until we get to St. Augustine, FL where there is a
large Mainship facility. |
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10-18-2010 |
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We left today around 7:30 am (beautiful sunrise!) and arrive Solomons
Island around 1:30 pm. We planned to anchor out but we couldn't
get our anchor to hold so we decided to rent a mooring ball Zahniser's
Yachting Center. We were about 4 hours into the trip before the
dreaded stern bilge pump went on. It was very sporadic but still
too much water coming in. Dave check the swimming platform and
could not see water entering from there ... so now we have a real
mystery. After slowing down to enter the bay to Solomons Island
the bilge pump didn't come on at all. Dave will be talking to the
Lippincott guys tomorrow. We are not sure how much time we are
going to spend here ... a lot depends on the weather. |
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10-17-2010 |
We decided this morning at 6:30 am to wait until Monday morning before
heading to Solomon Island. There is a small craft advisory for
today, although it seems kind of mild (i.e. 2 ft. seas). Monday is
only 1 ft seas so we think it best to play it on the safe side.
You can see in the picture on right that we were ready to go early.
We put the dingy on the davit system yesterday ... and what a job that
was. Joysea is sitting higher in the water (because there is no
longer water in the swimming platform) and we barely had enough rope on
the pulley. Someone from the boat yard had to help us, but we
think we will be able to do it ourselves the next time. If not, we
will buy longer ropes.
We can't wait for Monday morning! |
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10-15-2010 |
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We are always meeting nice people and forgot to get George & Sue
Beling's picture so we did the next best thing. We took a bottle
of wine and a thank you note to their boat and snapped a picture of
their lovely Grand Banks. They were a lot of fun to be with and
very helpful ... a big thanks to both of them! It looks like
Saturday is going to be windy but we are hoping on Sunday to leave for
Solomon Island. We can't wait to see how Joysea performs now that
she is not caring around a ton of unnecessary water. |
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10-12-2010 |
Tuesday we had a great time visiting with some of our old friends (not
as in aging, but from our high school years). Larry and Monica
McCoy and Barb and Mike Schura are vacationing in Virginia and drove 4
hours to visit us ... Dave and Joyce were delighted! Joyce made
tuna fish sandwiches for lunch (picture at right) and then we drove to
Annapolis for a quick visit. Dave was bragging about the crab
cakes we had recently, so we drove back to the boat picking up crab
cakes on the way .... Mike's treat! We fried them up along
with Cole slaw and bake beans ... what a great meal. We sat on the
upper deck of Joysea sipping wine and enjoying the scenery ... and most
of all the company. |
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10-09-2010 |
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Saturday we walked to the Kent Exploration Center where they had tents
and a stage setup for the "Taste of Kent Narrows" event. It was a
real nice event with live music and plenty of really great food from the
local restaurants. For $25 per person you can eat all of the
oysters, shrimp, crab chowders, roast beef, etc. that your stomach can
hold ... which for us is not much.
Work on the boat will not resume again until Tuesday, if it does not
rain. Aaron is off this Monday so no work will take place then and
rain is predicted on Tuesday. At this rate we may be here for
Christmas. |
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10-06-2010 |
We are still here waiting for the work to be completed. It looks
like the weather is going to cooperate ... that is the good news.
The bad news is that this could take 4 more days. If this doesn't
fix the leak, then I have a boat to sell. These guys seem very
competent and know Mainships. The top of the swimming platform has
been removed and the foam inside also removed. There are five
separate compartments with only the middle one having a drain plug.
Whoever engineered this thing should be shot. Holes have been
drilled in the other compartments, so that if it does leak, we will at
least have a way to drain the water. Aaron, is the guy doing most
of the work and he is now applying a proxy like substance to the inside.
He also installed a thru-hull drain/valve so that water can drain into
the bilge (hopefully this will not be needed). We will let you
know when we finally get underway! |
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10-01-2010 |
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Well off they go! It may look like calm water but I assure
you once they get around the island and into the bay it is very rough.
Someone said up to 6 foot waves. No way we would try it!
These guys are suppose to be experienced sailors, so we wish them well
(and said a prayer for them). Today they are beginning to saw
off the top of the swimming platform. I imagine we are hear until
early next week because we believe the job will take more than a day.
We changed our cruise plan somewhat. We decided we would go for
Solomon Island (like our sailor friends) when we get back into the
water. It is around 46 nautical miles from here so it should take
us around 6 hours to get there. More later! |
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9-30-2010 |
We are waiting out the storms and have little change to report.
Picture at right is a friend who is waiting out the storms to get the
sailboat he bought back to his home port. Vaughn was going to have
his wife and daughter go with him, but has decided to get a couple of
experienced sailors to help him move. Picture of today's scene is
ugly ... don't need to publish a gloomy day. We forgot to report an
interesting story when we were at Annapolis Landing Marina. Right
before leaving, Dave was working at the bow of Joysea with his IU
t-shirt on. A woman on the sailboat directly in front of our slip
approached Dave and asked if he was from Indiana. Long story
short, both he and she were from Indiana. Very nice people.
He was a very distinguished looking guy who personally knows (and likes)
Mich Daniels. He also knows many other politicians. He is
Adm John Poindexter ... you can Google him for more information.
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9-27-2010 |
Dave will be contacting a marine lawyer if Mainship continues to refuse
to help us out. It seems to us they are responsible for the
recommended fixes that didn't work ... and for the one that hopefully
will get us back on the water.
Stay tuned .... more to come!
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Oh no .... not again! Well the swim platform leak from hell has us
on the hard again. The marina we are currently in is a Mainship
dealer and the guy that heads up the maintenance is very knowledgeable
about this problem. Turns out Mainship sent out recalls and a fix,
at no expense to the owners, but stopped doing this a couple of years
ago. It is a mystery why the previous owners didn't take advantage
of the recall. We know for sure Joysea has never had the fix
applied. Mainship previously told us how to fix it (twice) which
did nothing but pour money down the drain.
We have lots of unanswered questions: Did the listing broker
know about the problem (they actually owned the boat before selling it
to the person we bought it from)? Why did Mainship support
personnel take this shotgun approach to resolving the problem? The
real resolution, (at least we hope it is because it is a very expensive
fix), came from the marina guy who actually worked for Mainship and use
to build this particular boat. |
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9-25-2010 |
Yesterday we anchored out in Goodhands Creek. The water in this
area is very shallow and we had a time of it keeping Joysea's bottom out
of the mud. We finally managed to get her settled down in about 5
ft of water at the mouth of the creek. On the other side of the
creek (right picture) there is a gorgeous large home. We enjoyed a
very pretty sunset and slept very comfortably ... except that Dave was
up 4 or 5 times checking to be sure the anchor was holding. We are
not sure of the weather for tomorrow so we will probably head for the
marina (Grasonville) this afternoon.
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Oh yea, the fix was as good as the other fixes. Joysea is
still taking on water while underway. Dave will be calling
Mainship Monday.
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9-23-2010 |
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Tomorrow (Friday) we will be leaving this nice marina and will travel
only 10 or so nautical miles. We are going to anchor out in Kirwan
Creek or Goodhands Creek in order to be close to the Lippincott Marine
yard where we will have some scheduled maintenance work done. The
weather has been great but now that we want to travel on, it is suppose
to be rainy. So if it turns bad we can still get to the ship
yard (either Sunday or Monday) because it is very close to where we plan
to anchor. The closest town we will be near (probably within
walking distance) is the town of Grasonville, MD.
On our trip over we plan to test out our "fix" of the swimming platform
leak. It took all day to get the bumper strip off,
re-sealed/caulked and screwed back on ... not one lost screw of the 32
removed ... but Dave was very nervous about hanging his new cordless
drill over the back of the swimming platform.
The picture at left was taken from Joysea's upper helm and is of Joycie
standing in front of the Back Porch Cafe. Talk about gourmet food!
The chef here has served meals to Clinton, Bush and other celebrities.
We had lunch here and had the left-over's for dinner. |
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9-18-2010 |
We decided to get a weekly slip in Eastport, which is right across the
river from Annapolis. This is the nicest marina we have
experienced to-date. Great facilities and a short dingy ride to
Annapolis. Annapolis is a really neat town with many people in the
downtown area enjoying the sites. Everywhere you look you see
cadets in their white dress uniforms. Pretty cool!
We will be leaving the marina on Friday and are planning our next
stops. Joysea's ticker (engine) is almost 500 hours old, so we
will try to schedule maintenance work at a Mainship boatyard that is
located in Grasonville, MD at the south end of Kent Narrows (if you
don't know where that is, ask my partner Doug ... he has downloaded the
navigation charts and is following us in his virtual yacht.). We
haven't figured out our next stop, but we may anchor out somewhere in
the Little Choptank River area and then inch our way down to Virginia.
We may get a monthly slip somewhere at the far southern end of the bay
before heading south to the Carolina's. While in the
Chesapeake Bay area we hope to connect up with our friends Barb/Mike and
Monica/Larry.
We have some pretty hefty goals this week. Dave talked to the
Mainship people again about water getting into the stern of Joysea thru
the swimming platform. Joycie and Dave believe they can fix the
problem themselves (and you know how much Dave loves doing hardware!).
We will be removing the bumper strip from the swim platform and
resealing the seam ... this may be the biggest adventure yet!
How many screws and tools will go for a swim ... maybe we should have a
"guess the number" contest. |
The picture below is of the State House. There were so many photo
opportunities, it was hard to decide which ones to publish.
Oppps! Almost forgot to mention that when leaving for church
Saturday afternoon a couple at the marina stopped us and asked us about
Joysea and Cloverdale, IN. She was originally from Muncie, and has
a cousin (Kelly Bales) who lives in the Cloverdale area ... what a
surprise for them and us ... small world! |
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9-16-2010 |
We plan to stay in this marina for a couple of days ... yep, to spend
more money on Joysea. Man, this girl is expensive! Then we
plan to cruise further south in the bay and perhaps set up a home
base marina for a month. We will cruise from this base to see
other parts of the bay.At right is Joycie returning from shower
facilities and is on the bottom deck of Joysea. In the back ground
is the harbor we are currently docked in. |
We left Chesapeake City this morning around 6:45 and arrived in
Annapolis around 12:30. It was a very smooth trip for the first
several hours but the last two got a little bit bumpy. Nothing as
bad as the seas Joyce and I experienced but enough to make you hold on
to something before trying to move around on Joysea. At left is
Joycie on the upper deck of Joysea after we passed this "pirate" looking
sail boat coming out of the C & D cannal.
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9-15-2010 |
We left Atlantic city 6:20 am and arrived at Chesapeake City marina at
5:40 pm ... long day, but another wonderful trip. Weather
cooperated (due to Irish Joe's lucky charm ... Brian, this guy has more
Irish luck than you!) and it was a real enjoyable ride. Chesapeake
city is about half way through the Chesapeake Delaware canal.
Tomorrow our goal is Annapolis, but we have some weather concerns.
Picture at right is Joycie relaxing as we approach the canal.
And the picture at right is Joyce and Dave relaxing at this very
charming marina. Too bad we need to get up early (again!) and head
for our destination ... Annapolis, where we will drop off Captain
Joe ... how sad. We have really enjoyed Joe and truly appreciate
all of his companionship and expertise. |
The picture at left is Captain Joe entering the canal.
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9-14-2010 |
The picture at the right has Dave at the helm with Captain Joe looking
for the entrance to the marina. We had to be very careful entering
this channel. Not a lot of room for error.
Later tonight we may visit the casino for a short while. We
plan to get up early again tomorrow and head for Cape May. We
think we can get around the cape and into the Delaware river. We plan to
anchor out somewhere along the river. If the weather holds, we
might be able to reach the Chesapeake Bay by Thursday .. a major
milestone! We plan to party hearty and celebrate with a few (many, many,
many) cocktails!
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We left Sandy Hook bay this morning around 6:15 am heading for Atlantic
City, NJ. It was a wonderful (that means calm seas) cruise but a
very long one. Ten hours later we arrived at Trump Marina.
Ole Donald needs the money ya know. Nice place but very over
priced ... and no free WIFI!
At right Joyce relaxes reading a book while Captain Joe is at the
helm. The background beach is the New Jersey shoreline. We
were very impressed with this seashore. For some reason, we had a
different image of the New Jersey coast. It is actually very, very
nice with mega homes/resorts crowding the shoreline.
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9-13-2010 |
What a great trip today! Calm seas and the trip down the East
river (including Hell's Gate) was absolutely stunning. Seeing New
York City from the East river is a life time experience. We were
going against the tide so we were moving slow ... a lot of people along
the walkways and streets would give us a big wave. At one point
Joysea slowed down to 3 knots, because of the tide current, and a jogger
past us. Picture at right is Joycie at the helm with Captain Joe
standing by. Below is Captain Joe at the helm with Joycie
doing the back seat driving. .
Tonight we are on the hook (first time anchorage) at Sandy Hook, NJ
(entrance to New York Harbor). We will be pulling anchor early
because we have a long trip planned for tomorrow. 70 nautical
miles to Atlantic City. |
What can I say .... awesome!
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9-12-2010 |
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Joyce and Dave walked into Old Saybrook this morning to check out the
location of church. We timed the walk to be about 35 minutes at a
good clip. Joe called us in the afternoon around 4:10 pm, so we
decided to have him meet us at the church for the 5:00 pm mass. We
had to "hoof" it back to the boat since no transportation service was
available however the evening was a delight getting acquainted with Joe.
Joe is a true sailor and thinks radar and GPS systems are for sissy's.
We feel very safe and comfortable with Captain Joe and are looking
forward to tomorrow because we will be seeing New York city up close and
personal. We had a nice long run today from Old Saybrook to Port
Washington New York (10 miles from Hell's Gate ... hey Brian we are
going to go thru it !!). Joe's biggest accomplishment was to get
Joycie to drive Joysea ... something Dave could have never done. |
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9-10-2101 |
We arrived safely after a somewhat rough day at sea (probably not by
experienced sailors standards). Joysea got bounced around pretty
good today (and yesterday). Sitting up on the upper helm is quite
high, but we had a few salt water showers anyway. Way too rough
for us amateurs. We can't wait to welcome aboard Captain Joe
Delahanty this Saturday. |
No pics today ... too damn tired ... going to have a few drinks and
crash! |
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9-9-2010 |
Well we finally get to leave Mattapoisett and head for Jamestown, RI.
The picture at right is our last night in the shipyard. We were
happy to leave, but not with the bill ... especially when half way to
Jamestown, RI the stern bilge pump went on again ... same as before the
"fix". Well, the $4K spent at least got Joysea some bottom paint,
new zincs and new batteries. Dave will be contacting Mainship
support once again to see what other good ideas they have to fix the
problem.
We didn't stay long in Jamestown because we are in a hurry to get to
Old Saybrook, CT where we have a captain waiting to help us get to the
Chesapeake Bay. |
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9-8-2010 |
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Yesterday we waited on repairs so we planned out our next two stops.
We wanted to leave this morning for Jamestown, RI but there was a small
craft advisory so we decided to stay put. In addition to other
maintenance issues, we are fighting battery problems. So, of
course we had to buy a couple of high priced batteries while on
dry-dock. Kids, the inheritance is going faster than planned!
To the left is JC who is doing most of the work. He is very
good, but is pulled in all directions, so it seems like an eternity to
get work done. Hopefully the battery issue will be resolved and we
can get on our way tomorrow. Pray for good weather ... we sure are
tired of our shipyard adventure. |
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9-6-2010 |
This morning after we ate an outstanding breakfast in the club house
(which aunt Carol cooked for us), Joyce and Dave spent time exploring
the club house and sat on the deck facing the 1st tee and golf club
house. After Carol finished up with some work, she took us for a
golf cart ride around the course. All of you golfers would
appreciate this links designed course. It is very unusual in that
some holes have an ocean view, but most holes are isolated and the only
fairway you see is the one you are on. They are currently
preparing for a PGA senior tournament and are frantic about a
grass/fungus problem. It is a beautiful course even with the
problem, but they are worried about losing the tournament.
After that, they chauffeured us to the grocery store (none within
walking distance from the boat yard) waited for us and brought us back
to the boat ... what a wonderful couple and wonderful experience!
Carol actually extended the invitation to stay over another night, but
we had to decline to prepare for our departure, hopefully tomorrow. |
Joyce and Carol chatting on deck behind club house with golf club house
and 1st tee in background. |
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9-5-2010 |
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We have been waiting for the wind to subside before attempting to put
the canvas top back on Joysea. But today we decided to give it a
try anyway (strong winds). This was a mistake. Joyce and
Dave fought the wind, canvas, each other and were about to give up when
someone from below ask if we wanted help. Yep, it was aunt Carol
and her husband Tom. What a delightful (and helpful ) couple.
Carol had phoned us earlier, but with all of the wind noise we didn't
hear the phone. So they stopped by anyway ... thank God!
Between the four of us we managed to get the canvas back on Joysea.
The actual reason they stopped by was to "rescue" us from the boat yard.
They told us to pack our overnight bag and jump in the car with them.
Carol had arranged for us to stay at the Kittansett Club where she
works. What a treat! Look up this club on the Internet, it
is quite exclusive. They then proceeded to drive us around the
Cape Cod area where we actually drove over the Cape Cod Canal that we
floated through the other day. |
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9-4-2010 |
Today, the day after "Earl" is a beautiful day, but very windy. There
was no apparent damage to Joysea or the dingy. So thanks to all of
you for your prayers ... they really worked! Today and tomorrow we
will work on putting the canvas back on Joysea and getting the dingy
back into the water. We want the wind to die down before we
attempt either task. We are not sure when we are leaving this harbor.
The workers here may be taking a long and well deserved 3 day holiday.
If so, the earliest we could leave would be Tuesday. We will post
the departure date from here when we know.
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The people around here have been great! The left picture is Dave
with Charlie. Charlie has been our launch captain taking us to the
town of Mattapoisett and back (via waterway) whenever we want.
And, yesterday afternoon he drove us, in his personal automobile,
to town of Fairhaven (5-6 miles away) and dropped us off at the Hampton
Inn. He also offered to pick us up in the morning, but we passed
because we had some shopping to do.The above picture is Joycie with
Carol. Well, we should have taken Charlie up on his offer.
Actually that's not true because we would have never met Carol.
Joyce was at the hotel lobby asking the clerk for another taxi company
after another company told us the fee would be $45- 50 to get us back to
our boat. Carol overheard this, was outraged and told us she was
going that way and would drop us off. Carol is the innkeeper and
lives year round at the Kittansett Golf Club in Marion (we heard later a
very exclusive golf club). She was evacuated last night because of
"Earl". Well, kids meet you new aunt. Carol is a stitch and
has joined the family after 5 minutes of knowing her! She had mom
and dad laughing all the way back to the boat. |
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9-02-2010 |
Today, in preparation for Earl we took the canvas top off of Joysea.
I guess she didn't want to be topless, because we struggled for hours
getting the job done. The only good thing about the effort was
that Joycie could wash down the top (seagulls around here are huge ...
and messy) We have been securing other loose things on deck and the only
thing left is to the get dingy inside or at least off the water (i.e.
currently in a dingy tie up).
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Both Joycie and Joysea ... one without her top!
We made reservations for Friday night at a Hampton Inn not too far
from hear. We think Earl will come visiting around 2am Saturday.
And we personally don't want to meet him. However, say a prayer
for Joysea because the Inn will not let us bring her with us. Some
sort of pet policy I guess. |
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9-1-2010 |
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Waiting on maintenance work ... and Earl. This going to be an
expensive stop. Dave called Mainship and they told us what the
probable cause of the leak was and while working on that the mechanics
here found a significant crack between the swim platform and hull.
Not a real big deal to fix. We are having the bottom paint touched
up and a couple of minor window leaks fixed along with new zincs (okay,
google it if you don't know what zincs are). The left picture is
Joycie sitting on Joysea's lower deck while on dry dock. Not a bad
view for a shipyard stay!
Below is a few hours later ... pretty nice sunset
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| 8-31-2010 |
We are in Mattapoisett Marina/Boat Yard and decided to have Joysea
hauled out of the water. The Cape Code area (where we are
currently positioned) is not the best place to be in terms of "Earl", so
we decided she might be a little bit saver out of the water. While
she is out of the water we will see if we can find where the water is
entering the stern and have other maintenance items addressed.
I decided, for all of you Cloverdale area folks, to publish a larger
picture of Joysea's stern. You can barely make out the hailing
port ... Cloverdale, IN. Can someone tell me where that port is in
Cloverdale?
The below picture is backing Joysea into her new location.
Actually we will live on her (until Earl arrives) during the maintenance
work. We even have a nice seaside view from the stern lower deck!
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| 8-30-2010 |
To the right Joycie ready to cast off, giving Tug the lines to hold us
in until Dave turns Joysea to the right (and yes, Joysea kept her behind
away from Barbra Ann).
Leaving the canal and entering Buzzards Bay, we met a couple of large
ships. One of them a freighter and the other a tug. You stay
on your side and I'll stay on mine!
Tomorrow we have lots of planning to do. We need to pay
attention to the hurricanes and find out if there is a safe place for
all of us (including Joysea). We are also going to check on
having some minor repairs (stern bilge pump running too much and will
have battery charger check out also). More to come later! |
Just before we cast off today, we met an interesting person with
an interesting boat and story. This young man's name is Tug and he
built the small sailboat he and Joyce are standing in front of. I
forget the dimensions, but believe me, it is small. There isn't
enough time for the whole story, but Tug was brought up on the water and
has done most of the Great Loop in this small sail boat which he built
himself. Tug is also a member of the American Great Loop Cruising
Association, and helped us cast off.
The whole trip from Scituate, thru the canal to the marina we are
moored in, Mattapoisett, MA, took about 5hrs. It was a very nice
and enjoyable trip. We hit the canal entrance at the perfect time.
The first part of the canal was a cake walk. People and pets on
walking trails on both sides of the canal with huge beautiful homes
scatter throughout. Further into the canal the cake walk was over.
Nothing really too bad, but Joysea had her bow pointed straight down and
then back up a few times (well maybe not straight down but it was no
time for picture taking). The picture to the left shows a railroad
bridge. When trains come across the bridge the bridge actually
slides down towards the water. The bridge was up so we had no
delay at this point.
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| 8-29-2010 |
We made it to Plymouth without a hitch. Well all most no hitch.
Coming into Plymouth harbor the channel is very narrow in places and
Dave got over too far to the right seeing a large ship coming our way.
Thank God it was a mud bottom (a bunch of huge rocks in the area).
He put Joysea in reverse and she got us unstuck in a minute. The
real excitement came when we arrived at the marina "too early for
check-in". At the prices they are charging we should be able to
get there a week early! However, they did accommodate us but
didn't give us the "easy outside slip". Dave had to back into this
narrow slip next to this beautiful boat. Joysea meet Barbra Ann,
but don't touch her! God was good to us ... made it with no
problem. Tomorrow leaving we told Joysea to keep her hind end out
of Barbra Ann's nose (that didn't sound right!).
Going thru the Cape Code Canal tomorrow. Wish us luck. We
are pretty sure we have the tide thing down (i.e. we want a western tide
flow). |
Okay we had time for the tourist thing and saw the Mayflower replica
... and of course the rock!
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| 8-28-2010 |
It's happy hour! Another million dollar view aboard Joysea.
Every time the current shifts or wind changes you get another great
view. |
Spent the day planning for our next two stops. We will leave for
Plymouth tomorrow. We will probably only stay one day, so we won't
get to do a lot of sightseeing. We are anxious to get further
south. The next trip will be a little scary because we are going
to go thru Cape Cod Canal. You need to plan and time this one
well. There is a 4.5 knot tide that changes every six hours and we
want to hit the one that flows westward. The highlight for the day was
that Joyce and Dave put together the outside grill. This is the
first time for a cook out on Joysea! We are only
doing chicken (Joycie's favorite recipe) tonight but have several
steaks in the freezer (Dave didn't want to screw up steaks while
learning the new grill).
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| 8-27-2010 |
Today we set out for Scituate around 9am. This was our solo "blue
water" trip. We were a bit nervous but everything went perfect.
As we traveled southward at times we were 4 - 5 miles from shore ... but
we could always see it. Dave saw a whale jump out of the water and
when Joyce went below to get sun screen a seal swam by. Dave 2,
Joyce 0. We arrived and had the boat secured to a mooring ball by
12:45 pm.
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Scituate is a beautiful harbor and is what you would expect to see in
New England. We went into down for a couple of hours, bought
groceries and returned for the evening. We are dead tired,
probably more from mental fatigue than physical. To the left is
Joycie sitting on the bow of Joysea. What a pretty site ... the
harbor too! |
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| 8-26-2010 |
The picture to the right is our captain Dan who shuttled us out to
Joysea (in the background) several times with Joycie standing next to
him. |
Our last day in Salem and we finally saw the sun! We plan to leave
tomorrow morning for Scituate, MA which is about 25 nautical miles away.
It will probably take about 3.5 to four hours to get there. We
will only be traveling at 8 knots or so but we have quite a bit of idle
speed getting away from the marina and into the ocean. We will be
approximately 3 mile or longer from the shore to avoid all of the
islands in Boston harbor.
Oh, by the way we had to move to a different buoy because the
seasonal owners of it were coming in today. We actually made it to
the other buoy without hitting another boat!
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| 8-25-10 |
No pictures today and no John I didn't forget the camera:-) There
is simply nothing pretty about another rainy day. Last night went
well. We decided to sleep on the hide-a-bed in the salon area.
We wanted to try it out anyway but also thought the bouncing around and
noise would be less since it is in the rear of the boat and the master
bedroom is in the bow (taking all of the waves head on). We think
it worked but are moving back to the master bedroom tonight. We
may see some sun tomorrow and will take a ferry over to Boston .... more
pictures then (if I don't forget the camera). |
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| 8-24-2010 |
Well last night we wimped out, went ashore and stayed in a hotel.
The idea of 3 ft waves hitting us all night did not set right.
Tonight, however, we are going to stay on boat. Waves are
predicted to be the same, but we think we will worry less about Joysea
being left alone. Last night she did okay, but the refrigerator
and freezer defrosted a bit. We probably should have run the
generator more before we left. We are still planning to leave for
Scituate on Friday. Well we finally got to use the first aid kit that
Margaret and Carl Singer got us a few years back. On our way back
from the hotel in the boat that shuttles us to and from our boat, Dave
was helping another boater get onto their boat and got his finger
between the rail of the shuttle and other boat. Wedding ring cut
in pretty good and had a few other scratches. Luckily nothing
broken and we are pretty sure no stitches will be necessary. |
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| 8-23-10 |
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It's around 6:15 am and things are not as bad as last night. We
are still "rocken & rollen" but as you can see Joycie and Joysea
are having no problems. It rained all night and the winds were
strong creating a lot of motion in the boat. All of you know that
Joyce is a very neat housekeeper and it is strange seeing "stuff" in her
kitchen sink. However this is what you do when you know a storm is
coming. Fill the sink with things that are not secure. It
wasn't a very comfortable night, but the good news is that neither of us
got sea sick. Going no place today. Pray for better weather.
We really need to get further south where things are not so extreme. |
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| 8-21-2010 |
If you guessed we are in Salem, MA, then you got it right!
Unfortunately we may be here for a while due to predicted high seas.
We changed our next planned stop to Scituate, MA. It is suppose to
be a beautiful, and most important, protected harbor. Yesterday we
spent a lot of time in Salem. It is a very "New England" style
town with lots to see. The picture to the right and below is the
ship Peacemaker. It has a very interesting story behind it.
You might want to "Google" it. If you get a website and it
mentions flagship of the12 tribes then you have the right website.
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The below picture was taken in the garden of The House of Seven Gables.
To the right of Joycie is part of the house and in the background
somewhere
in the midst of all the boats is Joysea.
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| 8-20-2010 |
We left Beverly marina this morning thru the channel on the left side of
the picture and headed to Hawthorne Cove Marina (short 15 minute ride).
We plan to stay there thru the weekend and then take a longer ride
(maybe 20 - 30 miles) perhaps to Hull Bay just south of Boston. We
will plan this trip out in detail this weekend.
Okay, you history buffs, here is the quiz. We dinged to the
marina and walked to this neat little town in Massachusetts. I
took Joycie's picture next to a place that inspired a book to be
written. Clue; witches.
Name the town! |
Well, we had our first (and hopefully last) boating accident today when
trying to tie off to a moor ball in a fair amount of wind. See the
railing pole on the sail boat to the left? It is suppose to be
straight. You can also see "bad girl Joysea" in the background.
We both learned a lot on this venture and I'll let the other Joycie
explain how to grab a mooring line.
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| 8-19-2010 |
Joyce enjoying the ride. We had some sun and some clouds. A
little bit cool, so jackets were in order.
Safely tied up at dock after a long day in blue water.
Today we are without a captain and are deciding our next step.
It is kind of expensive staying in transient slips, so we might try to
venture out on our own. Dave managed to take the boat to and from
the fuel dock ... and we are still floating! We will let you
know what we decide! |
We headed out to sea yesterday and put in a long day (9hrs). Our
captain, Peter Hayden, got us safely to Beverly, MA, which is across the
bay from Salem. Dave and Peter took 1 hour shifts during the
journey, keeping a close eye on our navigation system and the lobster
traps. There are tons of traps to avoid so it makes you stay
alert. Our stern bilge pump kept coming on every 3 seconds (too
much) which added to the excitement (tension!). We think extra
water may be coming from rear swimming platform section. Will need
to check it out.
Above Dave going around the Isle of the Shoals, which is north of Cape
Ann |
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| 8-18-2010 |
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On Sunday we washed down the boat. On Monday it rained in the
morning, but we were able to dingy over to Portland in the afternoon.
The picture to the left is Dave as we return to our boat with Portland
in the background. Also on Monday we had the sign guys change the
name of the boat and hailing port ... can someone tell me how to get to
the port in Cloverdale! Today, we leave for Salem, MA. We
have a captain that will take us there and hopefully give us more
training.
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| 8-14-2010 |
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We took the dingy across the bay to Portland and of course forgot to
take the camera. It took awhile to find the dingy tie-up the
marina owner told us about, but we did. Nothing real exciting but
we did get an up close view of a seal coming and going. We
certainly don't have our sea legs yet, because getting in and out of the
dingy was more of a challenge than we anticipated. I imagine we
will both be sore tomorrow because getting the dingy on and off the back
of the boat (davit system) took a bit of muscle power with muscles we
haven't used for awhile.
We are going to have some of the fish we were given tonight. We
will let you know how Cask tastes. |
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| 8-14-2010 |
Yesterday Joyce got the "stuff" in the boat better organized and it
feels more like home now. I spent a lot of the day pretending to
do captain stuff (i.e. checked the sea strainers and battery water
levels). All in all, a very nice day, cool mornings and warm
afternoons. A few slips down from our boat is a commercial fishing
boat. I actually met one of the crew members at 5:00 am (yep, I
still get up early) before they took a party of people fishing.
These guys are awesome and have actually been on the Discovery channel.
They had a huge catch yesterday (aprox. 600 lbs of fish). Here
Joyce is posing with some of the gals (and one guy ... who by the way
caught the biggest fish) that were on the fishing trip. They
caught Cod, Halibut and Cask. I've never heard of Cask but
tomorrow we will let you know how it taste. The crew gave us
enough fish for two or three meals ... can you believe that! The
people in Maine are great! |
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| 8-13-2010 |
We had a little excitement yesterday on a training exercise. Craig
took us out into the bay and let Joyce and I drive the boat for awhile
(not a big deal - nothing around to bump into). He showed us how
to anchor and that went well. After we pulled anchor, I turned the
boat and start back to the marina. A few minutes later Craig said
we had a problem. He felt some vibration and saw smoke coming from
the back of the boat. Long story short, the engine was okay and we
apparently caught line or something in the prop/shaft that was causing
the clutch to smoke. So we called for the tow boat and sat
anchored. We decided to try to go in reverse to back off what was
tangled ... and it worked! We called the tow boat off and
returned to the marina with no problems. I bought a wet suit (cold
water up here) and Craig checked the prop/shaft and everything was okay
(Rob, thanks for the fins, mask and snorkel ... we used them sooner than
I wanted!). Now I am a proud owner of a wet suit ... that I will
let somebody else use!
We have been very busy trying to learn a lot, so I have been somewhat
negligent taking pictures. It is almost 7:00 am and I am waiting
for the laundry lady (Joyce) to get back so I can snap of picture of her
on the dock ... oppps! Here she comes (she's going to love
me for this)
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| 8-11-2010 |
On board at last! The very gracious previous owners, Craig and
Gail, have been a tremendous help. Craig has been a captain of tug
boats and really knows his way around boats. Here he is rigging
our new dingy to our boats davits. |
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We (actually Craig) have moved the boat from Portland to South
Portland at a marina called Sunset. The marina has a live
web cam and lets you view the marina. Take a look at it. We
will be here for a week and you might see us on the dock. If you
do, give us a call and we will wave to you:
www.sunset-marina.com
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| 8-10-2010 |
Our title company received a green light from the US Coast Guard so we
should be closing later today or early tomorrow morning. After we
pack away some of our things we will be moving to a new marina in South
Portland for 1 week. The current owner has agreed to move the boat
and will provide a couple days training. We may hire another
captain to help us go a little further south .... maybe south of Boston.
The marina in South Portland is Sunset Marina and they have live cameras
on there website. So if you are online tomorrow morning you might
see us arrive. The website address is:
www.sunset-marina.com |
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| 8-07-2010 |
The current owner graciously allowed us to move our personal belongings
on board today. We are still waiting for the US Coast Guard to
give us the go with the purchase. Until that happens we are stuck
and in limbo. It is sort of like buying a house and getting title
insurance. The difference being that the "title company" is a
government organization. Need I say more? Sorry, we forgot
to take pictures of our first move aboard the soon to be "Joysea". |
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| 8-03-2010 |
We believe we will be closing this week on the boat so we decided to
pack up our things and head for Portland, Maine. We are currently
a little north of Columbus, Ohio and plan to take it easy and get to our
final destination sometime on Thursday. |
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