Oct 23-24 We are on the move again! Our favorite boatyard finally finished all of the repairs, maintenance and upgrades. They all came out to send us off (and make sure we didn’t hit anything!) The skies were gray but the weather settled for our 5 hour trip down to Fisher’s Island East Harbor. Coming in to Fisher’s Island Sound and on to our anchorage in the dark was a bit unnerving as we hadn’t rigged any night vision covers for our electronic charts. I went out on the deck and looked for buoys with our binoculars while John stared at the charts and slowly maneuvered the boat safely into the anchorage for the night. The next morning we made the short hop over to Skipper’s dock in Stonington Harbor. A good friend was there to take out lines. For most of the day, we rocked and rolled at the dock because there was a southerly wind and the harbor is exposed to the south. We were there to let our friends see the boat which many had not been able to do yet as it was in either Maine or Rhode Island for all of the summer. After the festivities, John and I had a nice quiet dinner at Skipper’s and went to bed early.

Oct. 25-28 Up early and off the dock with no problem. It is sure nice having a boat that maneuvers well in tight places. Down Long Island sound in nice conditions, we motored for the whole day. At about sundown, we anchored in Indian Harbor for the night. This boat has a new tool to us- an AIS system. As the system picks up any boat registered in the system (most large commercial boats and some pleasure boats like us) that are nearby, they show up on our electronic chart labeled by name, speed traveling, and direction traveling. This information is wonderful to have at our fingertips. To be able to call them by name on the radio, as they barrel down on you, and get a response is very reassuring especially in the dark on passage.
The next morning, we pulled into the dock at IHYC and settled in for a few day of showing the boat to friends and family. I am finally calm about coming into a dock! My mother and her nurse even came for dinner, a movie, and spent the night. My son, Chris, and his girlfriend drove over from Long Island and had lunch. John’s mother came too. He has been diagnosed with early prostate cancer and he spent all day Tues. in NYC having tests. We hope he can have treatment in the spring so we can be on the boat all winter in the Bahamas.

Oct. 29-31 After looking at the weather report for the mid atlantic area, we decided to try to go all the way from Greenwich to Beaufort, NC in one fell swoop. We left IHYC at about 9 am and motored down Long Island Sound, down the East River and our into NY Harbor with all of its hustle and bustle. Out the main shipping channel with a good tide and down the Jersey coast we went. By the next morning, we were off of the Delaware Bay area. The first day on any passage is spent constantly listening to things shifting and making noises and “battening the hatches”. We are still learning what objects need to be moved to safer locations. The seas were not bad but coming from several direction (confused). I learned warming even a simple pot of chili on a powerboat with no gimbaled stove or fiddles to keep the pots in place, is quite a challenge. Note to self: design some thing to help with this problem! It was nice to be warm and cozy and have a bed that we could sleep on sideways (boat was slightly rolling) that didn’t slip on its platform. The AIS worked like a dream the whole way. For the next 28 hours, the seas and wind were better. We had franks and beans (John’s favorite) for dinner. Around Hatteras, the seas got confused and choppy because it is shallower there. Also the northern edge of the Gulf Stream seemed to be closer in due to the south wind. For the last stretch to Beaufort, it was sunny but the going was slow due to the current against us from the Gulf Stream. We could tell we were in part of the stream because the water temperature went up to 78 degrees!. Finally around 2 am, we pulled into our anchorage by the coast guard station for Beaufort, NC. We had traveled 462.5 NM in 75 hours. To bed!