adventure | LooperLucy

We finally have a break in the weather. We are trying to get to New York for May 15th to meet Rodney’s daughter, Annemarie and her husband Jon. With all the weather delays, it was really not looking like we would be able to make it. We got our break on May 7th and headed up to Soloman’s Island on the other side of the Potomac River. We had pretty decent seas until about 4:00 when the winds blew up. We were able to stay at Spring Cove Marina with our friends on Road to Nowhere and met another couple on a similar boat to ours called House Is A! Pleasant rest stop and by the 9th, we had more calm seas. Road to Nowhere went to Annapolis but we had to forge ahead and made it all the way to Chesapeake City, a very nice little town.

We got a 5:00 am start to travel down the C & D canal and then go down the Delaware Bay to Cape May. We had the current in our favor for about half of the trip down and were a little concerned about the tide and opposing current later in the afternoon which can make for uncomfortable seas. We went faster than we normally do to avoid the possibility os bigger seas. The Delaware has limited options to duck out of bad weather. It is also a major shipping channel.. at one point Rodney said he ou,d see a boat behind us that had AIS. When I turned to look, it was a huge freighter coming up behind us. We slipped out of the shipping channel and then continued on to Cape May on the New Jersey shore in a dreary rainy day. Our next choice was to wait to travel on the open Atlantic Coast or travel the shallow inside New Jersey Intercoastal waterway. Because our boat has a shallow draft, we opted to keep going on the inside.

Two days of tense navigation through extremely shallow channels with plenty of shoaling, missing or moved markers and pleasure fishing boaters blocking the channel. We had tons of high winds and a couple minor mishaps but found ourselves waiting to travel the following morning out the Manasquan Inlet to make our way on the Atlantic and around Sandy Hook and into New York City Harbor. To say I was skeptical is an understatement! Too many watched You Tube Videos of Haulover Inlet did little to I tall confidence on this next leg of our journey!

We met up with two other boaters who were also going to the trek the following morning so we joined up with them, Blessed, a 34 Beneteau Swift Trawler and A Bridge Too Far, a 27 foot Ranger Tug. Winds were forecast 5 to 10 knots, a 3 foot sea with a 3 foot swell, 8 second period. This looked to be our best opportunity. I checked Windy, NOAA and even asked AI if it was possible.

The sun was rising, it was high Slack and as we entered the inlet, we had slow swells to glide over and out into the Atlantic Ocean. The sun was breaking over the horizon and once the boat was turned northward, the big rolling swells lifted us gently along the coastline. The swells seemed pretty big but the boat ride was comfortable and a few hours later, we were into the chaos of New York Harbor with plenty of boat traffic, ferries and waves.

Five days sightseeing New York City in 90 plus degrees was challenging! Big cities and heat are difficult for me but I am glad I got to see the sights. Beautiful city! Lots of dogs and I mean a lot….super well behaved too!

Wonderful to be back en route and headed up the Hudson and caught up with our friends once again on Road to Nowhere. We are destined to keep meeting them. We travelled up the Hudson and stayed in Coxsachie and Waterford where we have truly parted company as they headed west on the Erie and we continued north. We met Cattyshack, a PDQ 34 from Anacortes and on the loop. We have spent three days travelling with them from Fort Edward, Whitehall and Vergennes, Vermont.

We crossed the border into Quebec yesterday and met with an intense windstorm/thunderstorm that was very intense. Fortunately we were able to get onto a mooring dock at the Entrance to the Chambly Canal at St Jean Sur Richelieu. My first experience with being in a squall!

We bought our mooring pass as well as a locking pass which we will be using as we navigate through Quebec and Ontario this summer. Today started off windy and cold but warmed up nice and we were able to get groceries as well as visit this lovely little town. Rodney bought me some wool and knitting needles too!

Okay, I have been lazy and remiss in posting updates. It has been a couple of weeks with slow progress and being held up by bad weather. We travelled from Navarre Beach to Rocky Bayou near Niceville, Florida. Peaceful and calm. When we left Rocky Bayou, we got our first taste of spicy seas and we moved down to Smack Bayou, another beautiful anchorage. The winds were forecast to be 15 to 20 mph so we moved to a marina in Panama City. We were on a fixed dock with pilings and no breakwater. What we didn’t know is that we would be rocking in our slip for three days. It was interesting to have to jump from a moving boat onto a narrow finger that was three feet higher than the boat! We spent Thanksgiving there with the staff and other loopers!

we left there November 29th for a peaceful night at Saul Creek. We then headed over to Carabelle where we met lots of other loopers, all waiting to make the overnight crossing to Tarpon Springs or the three day trip around the Big Bend. Weather was not good with no good weather window to do the long crossing. We, and three other boats, opted to go from Carabelle to Steinhatchee. It was truly my roughest day on the boat. There were big waves and lots of wind. Part of the trip, which was about 9 hours, had the seas rocking and rolling our boat. Stuff flew off the counters and shelves, I just stayed in my bed under the table. You couldn’t walk anywhere in there! It was a big relief to stop at Steinhatchee.

It was a big bonus to be there, lots of walks, friendly people and FISH! My dad went fishing everyday and caught his limit of speckle bellied trout! That meant there would be fish in my bowl. We ended up spending a whole week there. We decided we would wait for better seas as we are not in a hurry and we had about 150 more miles to travel. My mom was able to make a pretty Christmas tree with a looper lady that has all kinds of pretty crafts on her boat! They had a couple of potluck dinners with everyone and really enjoyed their time with them.

They had several cats at the marina that I really was interested in chasing but I wasn’t allowed to!

Our trip to Crystal River and then Tarpon Springs was uneventful. Beautiful, flat calm seas. Sadly we have parted ways with the looper boats we have been travelling with as they moved onto different destinations so we are back on our own again.

We are now in Gulfport, Florida at the Municipal Marina waiting out more windy weather. With any luck we will be able to start moving again. Dad bought some bicycles so he is teaching me to trot alongside which will give me a little more exercise too! (And them)!