May 1-7 The tow boat came just after lunch and towed us up the river with the incoming tide to the Wilminton Marine Center. They used two boats to maneuver us down the channel and into our spot on the face dock. Luckily, the best mechanic to repair our transmission was across the street! Our good luck. The trouble turned out to be a fitting that connected a hose to a pump in the transmission. This fitting was supposed to have metric threads but the original mechanic who assembled this transmission, when the boat was being built, used SAE (american) threads and just pushed harder to get it to work. We are lucky that it held as long as it did. During our wait for parts, we met several nice couples on other boats and watched the six foot alligator swim around the marina and sun himself on the mud bank nearby. There were also egrets and other song birds and boats coming and going to watch. One day, we launched the tender and went up river to Wilmington for lunch and to walk around. There was a farmer’s market going on and we bought some interesting vegetables. Finally, all of the parts arrived and were installed and we were off with the outgoing tide. We decided to go up the ICW a short way to save about 35 miles on our trip. After we got outside into the ocean, the wind was a bit on our nose so we hobby horsed for the first 6 hours. Then the wind went around and died and we had a nice trip to Hatteras in the Gulf Stream.

being towed up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington

alligator in the marina

mr. alligator

May 8-9 Around Hatteras and up the coast with no incident. We were still putting oil in the Z drive reserve tank every 6 hours. Going this slow is like watching grass grow but we did have a good current with us much of the time which helped.

May10 By 9 am we were inside Sandy Hook and headed for New York Harbor through the Verrazano Bridge. It was strange seeing the new World Trade Center buildings under construction! The tide was with us (planned) and we zoomed up the East River and were spit out the other side. We docked at Indian Harbor Yacht Club by 2pm and after a nap, had dinner with John’s mom and stepdad that night at the club. 

Statue of Liberty out my sink window

NYC skyline

lots of boats moving in New York Harbor

the Brooklyn Bridge

Almost to Hellgate and zooming along

May 11-13 Saw my mom and went to several dinners with friends and relatives and celebrated Mother’s day.

May 14-15 The time was right so we headed off down Long Island Sound in calm seas all the way to Jamestown RI, where we anchored at around 2am.  After some sleep, we took the boat to Barrington to BCHM where she would get her repairs done and get ready for the summer.