It was the perfect trawler day-- not a puff of wind on the Chesapeake, turning the Bay into a luminous pool that looks like oil as you slip through it. Your bow makes a vee shaped slice in the water that reminds me of the flight of geese and ducks as they migrate South. There is not a cloud to be seen in the cerulean sky which fades to pink, lavender and peach at the horizons. I Wanda is not a trawler, of course, and we would prefer a nice 15 knots abaft the beam... but it sure beats wind on [View Full Entry]

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We were just preparing to leave Penobscot Bay to begin our migration South when last we wrote. That does not mean we were ready to leave MAINE, however. We still had a bit of Muscongus and Casco Bays to traverse and more family visiting in Portland ahead. One of the sailing groups we belong to is the Ocean Cruising Club. They were having a gathering in South Bristol so we were heading that way as we set out. We had never been through Port Clyde since the charts show skinny water on one route and a narrow torturous second route through [View Full Entry]

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I have always loved the word "Penobscot" since it was used for the obnoxious guy's name on MASH. Turns out it is a really lovely part of Maine that straddles the more 'civilized' or at least populated parts of the state with the more remote. So sometimes your cell phone works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you can pick up WiFi from the boat and sometimes you can't. Mostly you can't, though there are some GREAT connection spots if you need a fix (or if you have moved to on-line payment of bills). We have never found the urge to go [View Full Entry]

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July 23, 2009 When last we wrote we were dealing with fog and had just experienced the coldest wettest June that the Northeast has ever seen. We were hoping that we would find the Maine we love when we headed "down east" and we haven't been disappointed! We arrived on the 4th of July and have been enjoying mostly sunny days since-- with the occasional magnificent fogs and pouring rain! Our passage from Massachusetts was a motor sail in the sun-- but it started to cloud over when we neared Portland and we could see the rain approaching. Portland Head light [View Full Entry]

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There was a fun interruption to our summer cruise (more on that later) but we have been anxious to get going towards Maine. Lauren doesn't work on Sundays so it would be nice to be in Portland then. The weather has been AWFUL in New England and this week it has been 60 degree temperatures with rain and drizzle which is not dangerous but certainly unpleasant. Then came the thunderstorms (a boater killed on Cape Cod). The wind was also on the nose so we have been watching the forecasts. Today the wind was to be from a sailable direction-- but [View Full Entry]

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June 21, 2009 To celebrate the first day of summer we are hunkered down in Beverly, MA listening to NOAA (the weather gurus) warn of an "unusual gale center" heading our way with 45 knot winds, 15 foot seas, rain and fog. Well all righty then! When we wrote last we were already getting less desirable weather than we had experienced up through the Carolinas and the Chesapeake. While in New York the meteorologists lamented that we were well on our way to the coldest, wettest June on record. What does all this do to our cruising lifestyle? It changes it, [View Full Entry]

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June 10, 2009 We have been enjoying an easy slow cruise North this Spring and marveling at the mostly GREAT weather -- not too hot or humid, no big storms, hardly any bugs, cool for great sleeping... just what we like. Still, you keep your eye on the forecast and try to get your weather from more than one source. When our time in the Chesapeake was winding down I began to download weather for the Delaware Bay and the New Jersey Coast and beyond to get a "feel" for conditions and how they might evolve. We check the tides and [View Full Entry]

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June 1, 2009 Once we crossed the Potomac River there was no going back! Plans to return to Reedville and Tangier Island were scuttled as there was WAY too much to see and do in the Maryland waters. We found ourselves sliding ever so slowly into the "old think" that we will "catch that on the return trip." We know that some things never come by again and it is a shame to pass up things you would like to do and places you want to see. Then again my grandmother always said that you "have to leave something to see [View Full Entry]

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May 16, 2009 When last we wrote we were preparing to discover some small out of the way places on the Albemarle Sound, Columbia and Edneton. We had anchored well inside the Little Alligator River-- a feat that we would not have attempted without a chartplotter at the helm or someone with a lead line sounding from the bow! The river is quite wide and not buoyed. The charts show adequate water for I Wanda but how do you know EXACTLY where that is? We have always had paper charts and for many years we have had electronic charts on the [View Full Entry]

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May 7th in the Alligator River We often wonder why it is called the Alligator River as we have never SEEN alligators here... but we always look! When last we wrote we were enjoying Charleston, one of our favorite cities, made all the more fun by having our daughter Andrea to guide us to the best places. This trip was no exception and we enjoyed both time out and about and time at her house watching movies and eating pizza. We anchored in the Ashley so didn't feel the financial pinch (marinas in Charleston range from $1.40 to $2 per foot [View Full Entry]

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