Wow - we finally have internet!
Here's the update up until yesterday -- I will update again before we leave Baltimore.
Sept 29 – Westbrook
We woke up at 6:00 and it was pouring with rain so we decided to stay in Westbrook another day. It turned out to be quite a nice day. The girls did school work in the morning. In the afternoon they went over to visit Linda and Ed and make some jewelry. I walked up to the Laundromat and got the laundry done.
Sept 30 – Westbrook to Glenn Cove, NY
We left fairly early – a little after 6:30 – to catch the current down Long Island Sound. Originally we planned to all the way to City Island just north of New York City, with the plan to go into the city by bus on Wednesday. After considering the forecast we decided that we should go through NYC tomorrow, so we only went about 60 miles to Glenn Cove. We were anchored around 4:00. Glenn Cove is on Long Island and we were there with Misty (on Sept 30th). It is surprisingly underdeveloped. There is a good sized park that seems a little tired, but it had a playground and a nice beach. Kristen found some new shells that we hadn’t seen before.
Oct 1 – Glenn Cove to Great Kills (Staten Island)
We left Glenn Cove around 10:45 after the girls got some school work done. It is important to get the current timed correctly to go down the East River through New York with favourable current, so it meant we got to make a late start. Travelling through New York is pretty exciting. You start north of the city with Laguardia airport and the jets are taking off and landing right next the to river so they are flying right over the boat. Next you pass by Riker’s Island prison. Then you go passed a couple of islands and you are into Hell’s Gate where it can be quite turbulent with the current. After Hell’s Gate you are travelling right down beside
Manhattan and all the skyscrapers including the United Nations building, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. You go under 9 different bridges in one day. After you pass by Manhattan you are in New York Harbour and can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 
We crossed under the ninth bridge – the Verazzano and then headed south east to Great Kills Harbour in Staten Island. It took a little while to get organized with a mooring, but eventually we were settle about 4:00 – just a few minutes before the rain started.
Carpe Diem was also here and they came over for a visit after supper. It was really nice to see them and to get caught up.
Oct 2 – Manhattan
We had a great day visiting New York. We walked about half a mile to the Great Kills train station, and then took the train all the way up Staten Island to St. George and the Staten Island ferry. We then took the ferry to
Manhattan and the subway up to 81st street and the Museum of Natural History. It is an incredible museum in an incredibly beautiful building. There are beautiful displays of animals that date back to 1920. I’m not usually a fan of taxidermy, but this is so beautifully done with such wonderful backgrounds for the animals that it is really great to see. Annie and Dave went to see an IMAX film on sea monsters, and Kristen and I went to see a display on Horses. They had a great discovery center and we looked at lots of things through the microscope. We were at the museum until around 2:00. After we left the museum we went for a walk in Central Park. It is really nice. There was a pretty pond you could walk around and there were people rowing boats. There were turtles in the pond too. 
It was really different to have such a peaceful place surrounded by the skyscrapers of New York. We walked down through Central Park and then down Broadway to Times Square. We went into a couple of stores including the biggest and best Build-A-Bear Workshop we’d ever seen. Lucy (Kristen’s bear) and Juno (Annie’s Boxer) are now sporting New York Jets clothing in honor of Brett Favre having joined the Jets, and Carmel (Annie’s girl dog) has a flashy New York t-shirt. We left the city around 4:00 and took the long trip back to Great Kills. The day went really well. Transit was really easy (and cheap), the city was clean, and there were lots of police around so we felt really safe.
Oct 3 – Great Kills
It was windy again today so Great Kills is filling up with boats waiting to go south. It sounds like there is a good weather window to do the coast of New Jersey starting tomorrow, but it is long enough that we can wait and leave on Sunday. We went to shore in the morning and the girls did their school work in the club house and we all got showers. There is no wireless here so we can’t update the log, but there is a computer we can use. I bought tickets online for us to go see Hairspray on Broadway tomorrow – Kristen and I are really excited, Dave will come if he has to. We also found a possible house to rent in Florida. In the afternoon Annie and I walked up to the "Top Tomato" grocery store. On our way we ran into Chris and Penny (carrying their Sobey’s Green Bag!) and Penny can with us too. It had great produce and very reasonably priced meat but very expensive and limited canned and dry goods. There were lots of people in the clubhouse around suppertime as they all planned their departure the following day.
Oct 4 – Manhattan (again)
We made the long trek to Manhattan again – train, ferry, subway and it took a little longer than it did on Thursday as train was delayed and there wasn’t enough time for us to get from the train to the ferry and we had to wait for the next ferry. We took the subway up to Penn Station and when we go there it was raining so we decided not to go to the Empire State building. Instead we went to Macy’s which was really incredible – we went up the 7 floors to kids wear on an escalator that was all trimmed in oak, and on the way back down the whole escalator was wooden. As we continued up 5th avenue we came across the magnificent New York Public Library. It is an incredible building that shows how important the written word was around the turn of the last century. Then we walked over to pick up our tickets for the show and had lunch at the Cosmic Diner across from the theatre. We were sitting in our awesome, fourth row seats by 1:40 and ready for the show. It was terrific. George Wendt who played Norm on Cheers was Tracy’s Mum (the role played by John Travolta in the movie) and he was absolutely fabulous. The show was so well done, Dave couldn’t get over it. He really enjoyed it, as did the rest of us. We were so glad we stayed the extra day so that we saw it. It was pretty crowded walking back to the subway through Times Square after the show, but it was really the only time in New York that we saw big crows and we had walked around enough before to know where we were going so it was ok. Again, we missed the train connection after the ferry and had to wait and extra half hour. It was about 7:00 when we got back to the boat.
Oct 5 - Great Kills to Barnegat NJ
We left Great Kills around 7:00. The seas were kind of sloppy as we went across from Staten Island and around the tip of New Jersey and back out into the Atlantic. It was a little too rough for school so it was a bit of a long boring day. The most interesting (?) thing that happened was overhearing a conversation on the radio between a fishing boat that was dragging about 14 miles off shore and the Coast Guard. Apparently the fishing boat pulled up a wetsuit in their fishing gear and there was still a leg in it… Certainly conjured up some pretty yucky thoughts and sent shivers down our spines. We decided to push on past Manasquan Inlet to Barnegat inlet where we had gone before with Misty. It is supposed to be a sort of challenging harbour but after talking to a guy at Great Kills we decided we would rather anchor there than do the marina in Manasquan. We had a bit of a time getting tied up at the fuel dock as there is quite a bit of current, but we took our time and got tied up safely. We took Rudder to shore and then we went out in the harbour and anchored. We were anchored a little after 5:00.
Oct 6 – Barnegat to Atlantic City
We left Barnegat around 7:00. It was pretty sloppy as we went back out into the ocean but it settled down after a bit. After listening to the forecast it sounded like Wednesday would be a better day to go up the Delaware than tomorrow, so we decided to stop in Atlantic City rather than push on to Cape May. We headed into Atlantic City around noon and were tied up a the Gardiner Basin Marina around 12:30. After lunch we caught the Jitney bus to the Boardwalk and had a look around. We saw a water show with fountains inside a mall near the boardwalk. Then we walked up to the outlet mall and bought a couple of things and caught the Jitney back to the boat around 5:30. (Still no internet!!)
Oct 7 – Atlantic City to Cape May
We left Atlantic City around 10:30 as we wanted the wind to die down a little. School got started early and was almost done before we left. The trip to Cape May was uneventful. The seas were calm which was a pleasant surprise. We had a little bird land on the deck and stay with us for about 15 minutes. We got out the bird book and decided it was a pine warbler. We got to Cape May 5:00 and put down the anchor. Annie and I took Rudder to shore on a little sandy beach off the Coast Guard College.
Oct 8 – Cape May to Chesapeake City
We knew the current would be against us in the morning, so we didn’t try to leave really early. We’re out of bread (as well as most groceries) and there isn’t a grocery store close to the anchorage. Kristen and I tried to make two different recipes that looked like bread – the first turned out to be more like cookies and I burnt them… The second was pretty easy and Kristen whipped up the 3 cups of flour, 2 tbsp of sugar and a can of warm beer and we put it into a heavy pot to cook. We weren’t sure quite what to expect but we ended up with a palatable loaf of bread!! When we make it again I think we’ll try to make it in a coffee can so we get a better-shaped loaf. In the end we left around 8:00. We went through the Cape May Canal and then did the long trip up the Delaware Bay. It was about a 60 mile day and we finally arrived in Chesapeake City at around 6:00. It was just getting dark and we were pretty tired and we had a hard time anchoring. Annie and I went to shore with Rudder and tried to find some groceries but no luck. We went back to the boat and scraped up a supper of hamburgers and noodles
Here's the update up until yesterday -- I will update again before we leave Baltimore.
Sept 29 – Westbrook
We woke up at 6:00 and it was pouring with rain so we decided to stay in Westbrook another day. It turned out to be quite a nice day. The girls did school work in the morning. In the afternoon they went over to visit Linda and Ed and make some jewelry. I walked up to the Laundromat and got the laundry done.
Sept 30 – Westbrook to Glenn Cove, NY
We left fairly early – a little after 6:30 – to catch the current down Long Island Sound. Originally we planned to all the way to City Island just north of New York City, with the plan to go into the city by bus on Wednesday. After considering the forecast we decided that we should go through NYC tomorrow, so we only went about 60 miles to Glenn Cove. We were anchored around 4:00. Glenn Cove is on Long Island and we were there with Misty (on Sept 30th). It is surprisingly underdeveloped. There is a good sized park that seems a little tired, but it had a playground and a nice beach. Kristen found some new shells that we hadn’t seen before.
Oct 1 – Glenn Cove to Great Kills (Staten Island)
We left Glenn Cove around 10:45 after the girls got some school work done. It is important to get the current timed correctly to go down the East River through New York with favourable current, so it meant we got to make a late start. Travelling through New York is pretty exciting. You start north of the city with Laguardia airport and the jets are taking off and landing right next the to river so they are flying right over the boat. Next you pass by Riker’s Island prison. Then you go passed a couple of islands and you are into Hell’s Gate where it can be quite turbulent with the current. After Hell’s Gate you are travelling right down beside
Manhattan and all the skyscrapers including the United Nations building, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. You go under 9 different bridges in one day. After you pass by Manhattan you are in New York Harbour and can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 
We crossed under the ninth bridge – the Verazzano and then headed south east to Great Kills Harbour in Staten Island. It took a little while to get organized with a mooring, but eventually we were settle about 4:00 – just a few minutes before the rain started.Carpe Diem was also here and they came over for a visit after supper. It was really nice to see them and to get caught up.
Oct 2 – Manhattan
We had a great day visiting New York. We walked about half a mile to the Great Kills train station, and then took the train all the way up Staten Island to St. George and the Staten Island ferry. We then took the ferry to
Manhattan and the subway up to 81st street and the Museum of Natural History. It is an incredible museum in an incredibly beautiful building. There are beautiful displays of animals that date back to 1920. I’m not usually a fan of taxidermy, but this is so beautifully done with such wonderful backgrounds for the animals that it is really great to see. Annie and Dave went to see an IMAX film on sea monsters, and Kristen and I went to see a display on Horses. They had a great discovery center and we looked at lots of things through the microscope. We were at the museum until around 2:00. After we left the museum we went for a walk in Central Park. It is really nice. There was a pretty pond you could walk around and there were people rowing boats. There were turtles in the pond too. 
It was really different to have such a peaceful place surrounded by the skyscrapers of New York. We walked down through Central Park and then down Broadway to Times Square. We went into a couple of stores including the biggest and best Build-A-Bear Workshop we’d ever seen. Lucy (Kristen’s bear) and Juno (Annie’s Boxer) are now sporting New York Jets clothing in honor of Brett Favre having joined the Jets, and Carmel (Annie’s girl dog) has a flashy New York t-shirt. We left the city around 4:00 and took the long trip back to Great Kills. The day went really well. Transit was really easy (and cheap), the city was clean, and there were lots of police around so we felt really safe.Oct 3 – Great Kills
It was windy again today so Great Kills is filling up with boats waiting to go south. It sounds like there is a good weather window to do the coast of New Jersey starting tomorrow, but it is long enough that we can wait and leave on Sunday. We went to shore in the morning and the girls did their school work in the club house and we all got showers. There is no wireless here so we can’t update the log, but there is a computer we can use. I bought tickets online for us to go see Hairspray on Broadway tomorrow – Kristen and I are really excited, Dave will come if he has to. We also found a possible house to rent in Florida. In the afternoon Annie and I walked up to the "Top Tomato" grocery store. On our way we ran into Chris and Penny (carrying their Sobey’s Green Bag!) and Penny can with us too. It had great produce and very reasonably priced meat but very expensive and limited canned and dry goods. There were lots of people in the clubhouse around suppertime as they all planned their departure the following day.
Oct 4 – Manhattan (again)
We made the long trek to Manhattan again – train, ferry, subway and it took a little longer than it did on Thursday as train was delayed and there wasn’t enough time for us to get from the train to the ferry and we had to wait for the next ferry. We took the subway up to Penn Station and when we go there it was raining so we decided not to go to the Empire State building. Instead we went to Macy’s which was really incredible – we went up the 7 floors to kids wear on an escalator that was all trimmed in oak, and on the way back down the whole escalator was wooden. As we continued up 5th avenue we came across the magnificent New York Public Library. It is an incredible building that shows how important the written word was around the turn of the last century. Then we walked over to pick up our tickets for the show and had lunch at the Cosmic Diner across from the theatre. We were sitting in our awesome, fourth row seats by 1:40 and ready for the show. It was terrific. George Wendt who played Norm on Cheers was Tracy’s Mum (the role played by John Travolta in the movie) and he was absolutely fabulous. The show was so well done, Dave couldn’t get over it. He really enjoyed it, as did the rest of us. We were so glad we stayed the extra day so that we saw it. It was pretty crowded walking back to the subway through Times Square after the show, but it was really the only time in New York that we saw big crows and we had walked around enough before to know where we were going so it was ok. Again, we missed the train connection after the ferry and had to wait and extra half hour. It was about 7:00 when we got back to the boat.
Oct 5 - Great Kills to Barnegat NJ
We left Great Kills around 7:00. The seas were kind of sloppy as we went across from Staten Island and around the tip of New Jersey and back out into the Atlantic. It was a little too rough for school so it was a bit of a long boring day. The most interesting (?) thing that happened was overhearing a conversation on the radio between a fishing boat that was dragging about 14 miles off shore and the Coast Guard. Apparently the fishing boat pulled up a wetsuit in their fishing gear and there was still a leg in it… Certainly conjured up some pretty yucky thoughts and sent shivers down our spines. We decided to push on past Manasquan Inlet to Barnegat inlet where we had gone before with Misty. It is supposed to be a sort of challenging harbour but after talking to a guy at Great Kills we decided we would rather anchor there than do the marina in Manasquan. We had a bit of a time getting tied up at the fuel dock as there is quite a bit of current, but we took our time and got tied up safely. We took Rudder to shore and then we went out in the harbour and anchored. We were anchored a little after 5:00.
Oct 6 – Barnegat to Atlantic City
We left Barnegat around 7:00. It was pretty sloppy as we went back out into the ocean but it settled down after a bit. After listening to the forecast it sounded like Wednesday would be a better day to go up the Delaware than tomorrow, so we decided to stop in Atlantic City rather than push on to Cape May. We headed into Atlantic City around noon and were tied up a the Gardiner Basin Marina around 12:30. After lunch we caught the Jitney bus to the Boardwalk and had a look around. We saw a water show with fountains inside a mall near the boardwalk. Then we walked up to the outlet mall and bought a couple of things and caught the Jitney back to the boat around 5:30. (Still no internet!!)
Oct 7 – Atlantic City to Cape May
We left Atlantic City around 10:30 as we wanted the wind to die down a little. School got started early and was almost done before we left. The trip to Cape May was uneventful. The seas were calm which was a pleasant surprise. We had a little bird land on the deck and stay with us for about 15 minutes. We got out the bird book and decided it was a pine warbler. We got to Cape May 5:00 and put down the anchor. Annie and I took Rudder to shore on a little sandy beach off the Coast Guard College.
Oct 8 – Cape May to Chesapeake City
We knew the current would be against us in the morning, so we didn’t try to leave really early. We’re out of bread (as well as most groceries) and there isn’t a grocery store close to the anchorage. Kristen and I tried to make two different recipes that looked like bread – the first turned out to be more like cookies and I burnt them… The second was pretty easy and Kristen whipped up the 3 cups of flour, 2 tbsp of sugar and a can of warm beer and we put it into a heavy pot to cook. We weren’t sure quite what to expect but we ended up with a palatable loaf of bread!! When we make it again I think we’ll try to make it in a coffee can so we get a better-shaped loaf. In the end we left around 8:00. We went through the Cape May Canal and then did the long trip up the Delaware Bay. It was about a 60 mile day and we finally arrived in Chesapeake City at around 6:00. It was just getting dark and we were pretty tired and we had a hard time anchoring. Annie and I went to shore with Rudder and tried to find some groceries but no luck. We went back to the boat and scraped up a supper of hamburgers and noodles
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