Home Sweet Home

Cee Jem pulled into Port Credit on Sunday afternoon at 4.
Arriving home was a bit surreal. Everything was familiar, not much had changed. It was as if home had gone into hibernation with the winter cold, and was reemerging again with spring. Sure, our friends kids are bigger, some houses in the neighbourhood have been renovated, our car is a bit rustier than when we left. But overall, life at home is much the same.
That being said, just as it took some time to adjust to life on the boat, it will take us a while to settle in back home. Everybody is super-vigilant about turning lights off; I have many times tried to use the (non-existant) foot pump in our kitchen to pump fresh water for cooking; I wake up in the night, look out our bedroom window wondering why there are trees outside the porthole so close to our boat.
We don't yet know what this trip has meant for our family, how our girls are different because of it. In reality, we will never know. What we do know is that we wouldn't trade our experience for anything.

In the coming days we will post more pictures and thoughts on the adventure.
Plus, I plan to continue to update the blog from time to time, so that family as well as friends we met along the way can continue to follow our future adventures.

Port Credit in Sight!!

Less than five miles to go...
The wind has picked up a bit out of the east, a seldom seen treat for westbound sailors!

We have Port Credit in sight...not long now.

Emerging Toronto Skyline...

Continuing west this morning, we can now make out the Toronto skyline.

We can see the CN Tower, and are now just 24 miles from Port Credit!

Owing to the proximity, and the immense swarm of flies we have encountered on the water today, we contemplated heading straight home.
A unanimous decision by the captain and crew solidified our decision.

We should be arriving in Port Credit about 4 o'clock.

Canadian Soil

It was a perfect day for us to cross Lake Ontario.

By times there was enough wind to fill our sails, but generally the engine and autopilot took care of it all. Many sailors would disagree. They would say 'not enough wind'. That's fine with us. On all our major passages on this trip, we waited for calm weather. Though our comfort level grew, we were happiest to head out on big water knowing that there was no imminent front, no unsettled weather in the area. So far, it has worked.

We were only out of sight of land for about two hours. For the first five hours of the trip, the smoke stacks at the power plant in Oswego were visible on the horizon. It was not too long before we could make out the shoreline of Prince Edward County with the help of binoculars. The closer we got, the more details we could see. Trees, houses, and eventually the lighthouse on the pier at Cobourg.
Jessica was the first to step ashore. Greg stepped off, and laid on his back in the grass, arms outstretched, smiling!

After clearing in with Customs, we headed to the beach. As we walked along, I observed all the Canadian flags on the boats, I was astonished by how many Ontario license plates there were, all the people on the beach in bathing suits wading in the frigid water, how much it looked like .... home!!

It was the same beach we sat on last August, looking south, wondering what was in store for us. The girls called it their last beach of last year's endless summer, and the first beach of this summer.

We celebrated with dinner at a local pub, feeling almost like tourists. We had no Canadian cash, remarked about the spelling of words and the selection of beer available, and felt the chill a little sooner than the locals.

This morning we are out on the water early again. The lake is again perfect (for us).
We hope to pull into our last anchorage tonight, somewhere in Toronto Islands. There we will savour the last fleeting moments of this adventure, enjoy being just the four of us for one last night, raise a toast to King Neptune!

For those of you who have asked, we expect to be in Port Credit around noon tomorrow. We will update the blog in the morning, once we are out of Toronto Harbour.

Homeward Bound

The mast stepping went well yesterday, though we were reminded that as always, it takes longer to put something back together than it did to take it apart.

Cee Jem once again stands with tall, straight masts, rigged sails, and a much less cluttered deck.

Presently, we are and hour and a half out of Oswego with a gorgeous sunrise behind us.

We left at 4, owing to a sleepless captain, and the desire of all the crew to get home. When we left Memory Rock, it was after 6 am before the first hint of light backlit the sky. This morning, we could already see the outline of clouds when we pulled away. That's the difference 1000 miles due north, and 2 months closer to the summer solstice makes.

We are headed to Cobourg today.
Last night, we remarked that our concept of 'home' is very relative. It began when we could first see the continent again. Gradually, as we left the ocean at New York, then saltwater at Waterford, we began to feel closer to home. At Lock 21 on Wednesday afternoon, we began to lock down, which meant that we were in the same watershed as Lake Ontario. The sight of Lake Ontario was a big moment, and today we make a big leap. 263 days after leaving Canadian waters, we will return again.
Our schedule at this point has us arriving at our dock in Port Credit on Monday afternoon.


Here's the sun now .... Have a great day!

A Little Bird Told Me...

A little swallow sitting on our lifeline, singing away woke Greg at 5:00 this morning. That's how we came to be in Oswego tonight.

As per usual Cee Jem outcomes, it wasn't as planned.
We had hoped to get up around 6, see if Lake Oneida was calm enough to cross and get to Phoenix, a favourite stop on our way down, and stay for the night.
When Greg woke up at 5, he quickly checked the wind forecast. Before I had a chance to get out of bed, we were pulling away from the dock. Looking out the window, and seeing that we were underway, coaxed me awake on this chilly morning. Greg explained that the wind was expected to increase around 9, so hopefully our early departure would give us enough time to get across before the waves picked up. Waves are of particular concern at this point in the trip, as our mast is down. Stories of masts at the bottom of this lake, cause many a cruiser to carefully consider the weather before crossing the 18 mile length of Lake Oneida.
Sure enough, as predicted, the winds did increase. We were grateful that as they did, we approached the west shore, and though we saw whitecaps building, they never were a problem for us.
The remaining 8 miles to Phoenix went quickly, as we discussed what we might have for breakfast at the State Street Cafe.


While in Phoenix, we wanted to get in touch with Oswego Marina to see what the situation was there for mast stepping. The weather to cross Lake Ontario looks pretty good for this week-end and early next week, and we wanted to make sure we were ready to go. We knew we might have to leave Phoenix early in order to get to Oswego early enough for an afternoon stepping on Friday, or ideally on Saturday. Turns out they are pretty busy right now putting local boats in the water and stepping their masts. Bernie, the guy who runs the show, starts early and leaves at 3:30. Doesn't start any new work after 2, and won't be around this weekend, not back until Tuesday. Additionally, any boats who stay overnight at their marina are given priority for the next day.
So, a relaxing afternoon in Phoenix, turned into a quick and delicious stop for lunch, then back on the boat to try to get to Oswego. The limiting factor now became time: 22 miles, 7 locks ... and only 5 hours until the locks close. Would we make it??

Fortunately, we were now headed down to Lake Ontario, so the current was with us. Also, locking down is a lot faster than locking up, so we didn't spend very long in any of the locks. The Canal staff were great to have the locks ready for us when we arrived, doors open and ready to go.

All through the day, we thanked that little bird for singing his heart out...because of him, we were able to get across Lake Oneida, instead of waiting for the next calm day....because of him, we got underway in time to get to see Tammy, the owner, at the State Street Cafe in Phoenix....because of him, we had enough time to get to Oswego today, ensuring that our mast will go up tomorrow, and we can make use of the weather window to get across Lake Ontario this weekend.


At 4 o'clock, when the north doors of Lock 8 slowly opened, revealing the waters of Lake Ontario on the horizon, it was a pretty special moment for all of us. We felt like we were home.

Continuing on the Erie

Monday after breakfast, we said goodbye to my folks and carried on westbound. Initially headed for the little town of Amsterdam, 20 miles along, our plans were changed at the encouragement of the lock staff because of heavy rains expected. Amsterdam is just downstream of the Schoharie Creek, which sounds peaceful enough. Not so, they said 'keep going!'. They were adamant enough about their recommendation that they said they would keep a lock open past their normal operating hours to get us through. We had a look at our guidebooks and found that the Schoharie (kind of sounds like 'So Scary!') is known for it's strong currents and outflow of debris after rainstorms. It is just off the Erie Canal that a NY State Thruway collapsed over the Schoharie in 1987, taking 5 cars with it. No more encouragement needed! We carried on to the dock at Fonda (where the Henry Fonda clan is from). At lock 10, we encountered a crazy approach, with strong current from the dam overflows, and a maze of buoys that looked more like a slalom course!

We were glad to finally settle in at Fonda for the night, and even had power cords long enough that we could make use of their power! An added bonus on a chilly and damp night.

Tuesday was more canal, more locks. The highlight of the day was Lock 17. With an overall water level change of 40', it is the highest lock on the Erie Canal.
The other impressive feature is that instead of having doors that hinge open, the east gate lifts above the boats. This is only one of two locks in North America designed like this, the other being on the Ottawa River.

The walls sure look high when you're inside...

At the high water end of the lock, the doors only have to open to allow a depth of about 14' of water. That's why the doors don't go all the way down.

We thought Little Falls would be a good place to stop for the night. It was a bit of a frustrating arrival, as the first dock we tied up to wasn't securely attached to shore. Then we moved to a more secure wall and were all set to head into town when the dock master came out and said we had to move further from their pump-out station. So, we moved the boat forward to the spot she said (though not, in our opinion, enough to allow a boat that would be of sufficient size to require a pump-out to fit on the dock. And with only 30 minutes left until they closed, seemingly a silly request). By the time all this happened, the shops in town were due to close, and dark clouds were looming, so we settled in at the boat for the night.

Flight of Five

Hello friends and family,
We left Little Falls this morning and hope to go to Sylvan Beach tonight. On Sunday May 13 we went through the Flight of Five. The Flight of Five is five locks, each one is less than a mile apart. Yesterday while we were motoring along the canal about three thousand cormorants flew above us! They were all in formation and turned together. Yesterday we also went in to a lock that the water lifts so high the south door lifts instead of it swinging like all the other lock doors, there is only two locks like that in north America, the other one is in Ottawa!
Bye for now,
Jessica

187 miles to home as the crow fly's

Hello friends and family,
This morning we left little falls.
We didn't get to see the town of little falls because it was raining and we didn't want to get too wet.

At the marina we were staying at I found a little tune player that played tunes like 'I like to eat apples and bananas' and ' if you'r happy and you know it '
I left it were I found it but it was still very cool.

In Waterford when we were Geocaching I saw a chipmunk and a garder snake.
We actually saw the snake twice , it was black and yellow.

We have seen a lot of natural water falls here in the Erie canal, they are very pretty.

I miss my friends a lot but I will be glad to see them when we get home.

From: Madeline

Mother's Day!

Sunday we had decided that we would move another 10 miles, and meet my parents for the afternoon. Along the way, we passed lots of little waterfalls tumbling out of the rock ledges which the Mohawk River winds its way though.

Rounding the corner at the Schenectady Yacht Club, we were surprised to see lots of docks in the water, but no boats! Turns out we were their first customers of the season, and were waiting for the canal water levels to rise to put their members' boats in.

This area was devastated by Hurricane Irene last fall, and much work has been done to rebuild docks, houses and facilities to get them ready for this boating season. The dock master at SYC told us that their shoreline is almost a meter higher than it was last year, owing to the amount of silt that was flushed down from farmer's fields upstream! Other indications of Irene's wrath have been evident in this area, including this water level mark on a bridge abutment in Waterford. (The road is about 2 meters above the current water level.)

We enjoyed lunch, made by Madeline, with help from Jessica and then drove to the next few locks to see the reconstruction underway. The locks in this area were the hardest hit by Irene, and the main cause of the fall closure.

Check out her short-order sticky notes above the stove!!

Waterford Locks

Friday afternoon my parents arrived to visit for the weekend. Turned out to be great timing, because the town of Waterford was celebrating it's Canal Days, a community festival focusing on the waterfront. There was a band that played on a barge that went down the river and through the lock, local businesses, vendors of all sorts, and activities for the kids.
Saturday morning, we enjoyed breakfast, served by the local Boy Scouts, and then took my parents onboard to travel up the first few locks.The Waterford Flight of Locks consists of Locks E-2 through Lock E6. The flight of locks - bypassing Cohoes Falls just to the south - constitutes the largest lift in the shortest distance on any canal system in the world: This set of 5 locks lifts vessels 169 feet in about a half mile! The total trip took us just under 2 hours.
Pete, from the local Chamber of Commerce, even managed to snap a rare picture of all 4 of us on board going through the lock.

The rest of the day we spent visiting, hiking on an (unsuccessful) search for a geocache, kite flying and heading out for dinner.

De-Masting, and off to Waterford

Thursday morning we got rolling with the de-masting around 9. Sean and his crew were incredibly efficient and before 10, the mast was lying on the stands, ready to be secured.

By 11, Greg had lashed everything down, we lifted the booms onto the deck and were on our way. With the recent heavy rains, the current down the Hudson was swift, and slowed our progress all afternoon.
We did enjoy the light houses of the Hudson along the way.
In this case, truly a house, that would have been well lit to aid in navigation along the Hudson River.

By 6:30, we were approaching the Federal Lock at Troy, New York. This picture belies the significance of the current. Off to the left of the lockhouse, you can see the torrents of water falling off the dam. This, combined with the vagrants off on the right shore who were shoving huge logs into the water, so they drifted downstream at us, made for a very nerve-wracking approach to the lock.

Once inside we were able to secure our lines midship to the few cables that run down the inside of this lock, and were lifted 14' to a new water level of 15' above sea level. On our 150 mile trip up the Hudson, we had actually motored 'uphill' 1 foot already.

Soon after, we were securing our lines at the town dock at the Waterford Visitor's Center. A great free dock for cruisers in the area.

Croc socks

When we were packing last summer, Greg was hesitant to pack anything other than his crocs...he wanted to 'live a year in flip-flops'. With some convincing, he did pack some shoes, though said he wouldn't wear them.

True to his word, he didn't.

In January, in Georgetown, Bahamas, he gave them to a needy soul (sole?).
Though it has been suggested that he replace them once we returned to the land of shoe stores, he has refused.

Lately, he has found that his toes have been a bit chilly, especially in the cool, damp mornings.
Without even an 'I told you so', I knit up a solution to the problem...

Croc socks!

He admits he loves them!
His feet are warm, and he can keep 'living the dream' of a year in flip-flops.

Yeah!!

Good news today from the New York Canal System

"Mariners are advised that the Erie Canal from Lock E-2 in Waterford to Lock E-22 in New London has re-opened for navigation. Mariners may encounter high water levels and reduced bridge clearances, floating debris, and excessive currents associated with recent heavy rainfall."

We might make it home after all!

Preparing to Demast

Yesterday we motored from the quaint Poughkeepsie Yacht Club to Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill. Hop-O-Nose comes highly recommended as a place to drop the masts, which we will need to do to transit the Erie Canal.
Arriving around 4:30, we were quickly greeted by the very friendly and casual Sean, who showed us to the wood they had available to make the stands on which our masts will rest for the next 225 miles.
Greg quickly found appropriate lengths and we carried them back to the dock. As Greg got to work preparing the boat, the girls and I walked the 2 kilometers to grocery shop.

Funny story here: we called for a cab back with our purchases, and I was a bit surprised to see an old police cruiser pull up as our taxi. Dark windows, spotlights, the whole bit. The driver said she had one more customer to pick up and then would get us on our way. We go to the local dollar store and collect a pretty rough looking twenty-something girl who sits in the front seat. Now we drive back to the marina and Greg is walking toward the road looking to see if we are maybe walking back and he can help us. I say "oh look, there's Greg' of course, he can't see us in the back through the tinted windows, only the girl in the passenger seat. The taxi driver slows, rolls down her window and says 'you looking for your wife?' Greg pauses at the sight of the unmarked patrol car and cautiously says 'yes'. The taxi driver, fully aware of the comedy in the situation unfolding keeps a straight face and bluntly says 'she's in the back of my car.'. Greg has no response, just an unbelieving gaze. My eventual laughter from the back eases his concern only slightly, before I ease his concern by calling out 'it's ok, it's just a taxi.' Everybody involved had a good chuckle about the situation as we unloaded our groceries and continued with our day.

Back at the boat, Greg had been busy at work. Sails and booms off, stays undone, stands constructed. We had pulled in only 3 hours before, and by dusk, Cee Jem now is looking like this:

It's now 7:50, Jessica is out helping Greg move the stands onto the boat. Sean should be here around 8, and we'll be ready to take the mast down.
Once the mast is down, and secured on the stands with lots of rope, we'll be on our way northbound again. There is still a bit of tidal influence here, almost 90 miles from the mouth of the Hudson, but it is becoming diminished. Counter to that, the river current is weakening, as there is a Federal Lock 40 miles north of here.
What that means for us is that our days of checking tide and current tables to see how they will affect our day are pretty much over.

Poughkeepsie-Catskill.

Hello friends and family,
Today we left Poughkeepsie to Catskill, thirty miles.
On the way here I saw some birds, seagulls, robins, and a few sparrows.
This morning Madeline and I fed some goslings. We fed them some old pita mom made. I would guess that they were about one week old.
I am having a fun time. 'Hope you are too.
Listen for more updates,
Jessica

Ugh!!!

To quote the New York State Canals website:

"The Erie Canal from Lock E-2 to Lock E-22 is closed due to high water and flows from heavy rainfall."

They say this happens often in the spring.
They say it should only be a few days....we've heard that before!

Here's hoping the rain lets up, the water levels drop, and we can be on our way shortly.

New York City

Friday night we anchored at Sandy Hook at the south part of New York Harbour for some much-needed rest! The passage from Cape May had been long (110 miles total), though thankfully with great conditions.
We woke up Saturday morning, full of excitement to get to a marina in New Jersey, across the Hudson from Manhattan, looked out the windows and saw this:

Thick fog!

We put our faith in our chart plotter and radar, and off we went.
We passed a lot of day marks and buoys without actually seeing them, and one very large ship, who we exchanged fog signals with a few times before hearing him fade into the distance behind us. We knew he was big because of his radar image, and the 'big ship' sound of his fog horn. This was all confirmed by the size of his wake which we encountered a few minutes later.
We joked that NY Harbour wasn't so bad when you could only see a tiny part of it at a time.
By the time we reached the mouth of the Hudson, the fog was beginning to lift slightly, and we were passed by a few quick ferry's, including the Statten Island Ferry, and passed several big ships at anchor. All in all it wasn't as terrifying as we had imagined, and as we approached the marina, The Statue of Liberty came into view.

Checking in, breakfast, warm showers all took place before we considered our next move.
Shortly after noon, with a beautiful day emerging from the fog, we decided to take the ferry across and check out the city.

We took the subway downtown and went to Chinatown for a late lunch. Then we checked out Central Park, Broadway, and ended up at Times Square as the lights were coming on. A spectacular sight!
The favourites were definitely the Hershey store and the Toys'RUs with the indoor ferris wheel.

The weary crew then headed back for a nights rest.


Sunday morning we were on the first ferry across the river and started walking...
We began with a stop at a great bagel place for breakfast. Back to Times Square for more of the crowds and excitement. Then off to Lombardi's for lunch at the place where pizza began. More walking to check out Grand Central Station.

A hot dog is a New York must, so we stopped at Grey's Papaya, a local favourite to have a taste.
Finally, to Battery Park on the waterfront where the crowds were taking in a beautiful spring day. A quick stop at a produce stand at the corner and we were all ready to head back to the Jersey side once more. All in all we walked from downtown to midtown, across town and back, we figure covering about 10 miles. What a great way to see the city!

This morning we departed at 7:30, taking advantage of the flood tide up the Hudson. This is especially important at the southern end of the river where the ebb tide adds to the flow of the river to make a total current of up to 6 knots.
We watched New York City fade into the distance.

Going...

Going....

Gone.

The Big Apple!!

That folks, is what New York Harbor looks like tonight.
Details to follow ....

Delaware to Cape May

Tuesday night the bridge issue turned out OK, though not without it's own bit of excitement and drama. About 30 minutes after reporting the lowering of the train bridge, the bridge master reported that the bridge was opening...Yea! About 30 minutes after that, just as we got the bridge in sight, the bridge master reported that the bridge was closing for another train ... Oh no! We slowed a bit, the train went by, and all was well. We got to the end of the C&D Canal and saw a little shortcut into the planned anchorage, which was a bonus in the waning daylight. It was a narrow entrance, the current was strong, and we were right at high tide (which gives us the advantage of lots of water, but the disadvantage that if we went hard aground, it would be about 6 long hours of slowly laying over on our side followed by 6 hours of righting before we would be off the shoal). Well at this exact moment, our chart plotter (the computer program that uses GPS to put us on a digital map) appeared to fail! We were moving sideways in the channel instead of the direction we were pointing. I am now madly scrambling to restart it, as Greg begins to dead reckon and keeps a close eye on our depth to make sure that we don't get in water that is too shallow. By the time I got the plotter restarted, the excitement was over, we were back in decent water and our stress level slowly returned to normal as we continued the last 2 miles of our day to set the anchor down off a sleepy little town called Port Penn.

Wednesday morning we checked the weather again before heading out down the Delaware Bay. All seemed well, we knew we would be facing a bit of a headwind in the afternoon, but with speeds predicted at 5-10 knots, nothing that should be a problem. Not quite how it turned out. By 11:00, the headwind over opposing favourable current was making the bay quite choppy. We were also running down the side of a fairly big ship channel, and about 8 of these monstrosities passed us over the course of a couple of hours. A one point we lost all forward motion, being stopped by huge wake and unable to get forward speed again over the wave action. We increased our engine speed, and were oddly thankful when the current began to turn against us, as that calmed the sea state to something we were all more comfortable with. At 3:00, we had the beginning of the Cape May Channel in sight, but were suddenly alarmed at the radio chatter of a sailboat turning out of the canal, and having to go into the Atlantic around the tip of Cape May to get back into protected waters. We radioed ahead for local knowledge of the situation and were very relieved to hear that it was his mast height that made him unable to get under a bridge over the canal. We were thankful for our little 48' mast and motored though the canal without incident. We later talked to the captain of that boat, a native of New York who often sails the Atlantic, and he said he had never been in such terrible conditions. His wife got off the boat and took a bus home!

Cape May was the point at which we knew we would have to be prepared to wait for good weather to go up the New Jersey coast. These 3 day-hops up the coast had for Greg, been the boogie man in the closet. We had heard horror stories from many cruisers both before and during our trip of how nasty the sea conditions can be, how often forecasts are wrong, and how quickly the fog can roll in and limit visibility. We had 110 miles to go on the ocean before the protection of Sandy Hook, and then 18 miles across New York Harbor to the Hudson River, after which we would be in protected or familiar waters until our home port.

bye-bye Delaware

Hello friends and family,
We are at the bottom of the Delaware now. How cold is it at home? It is a little cold here. Tomorrow or Friday we hope to start the Jersey coast. Over the weekend we got to go to Washington DC! We even got to see the white house! I wish we could climb the Monument, we couldn't because in 2011 an earthquake hit and the Monument got a little crack in it.
Bye for now,
Jessica

So Far, So Good

We have made good time today, and are now approaching the beginning of the C&D Canal.

We have the benefit of the current, right now our speed is just above 7 knots, with slightly higher than idle power.
In true Cee Jem fashion, we have decided to push on. We always find it hard to stop before dark when we have the advantage of good current or wind. It is 12 miles to the end of the Canal, and we have almost 3 hours of light left.
The caveat to the situation is that we have just heard a radio call stating that a railway bridge halfway down the canal will be closing shortly and remain lowered until a train goes by. The closed bridge height is 45', our mast height is 48'...no good. The Canal controller was vague when we asked about the bridge opening, saying it would open when the train had passed, and there would be a call on the radio to let us know.

What to do???
We are going to carry on, and hope that the bridge opens in time for us to pass through tonight and get to the anchorage on the east side before dark. If not, we have to decide whether we will head into an unfamiliar anchorage after sunset or turn around and backtrack to Chesapeake City to anchor as originally planned.

New Territory

Monday morning, after returning the rental car we left the dock at Solomons headed north. The Chesapeake Bay narrows at the north end and it felt like a much smaller body of water than it had in the fall, before we had sailed "big" water.
Around 3, we passed the Thomas Point Light, fondly remembering our first sail south from Annapolis. Everything north of this light, until we reach Brewerton NY on the Erie Canal will be new cruising ground for us. We missed all of this area southbound when we trucked the boat, due to the damaged and closed Erie Canal. The Erie Canal was scheduled to open today, and we have heard that it in fact opened two days early.

Today our plan is to sail to the top of the Chesapeake Bay, and enter the first part of the C&D Canal. This canal, first proposed in 1661 and opened in 1829, links the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, shortening the water route between Baltimore and Philadelphia. The canal has since been enlarged considerably, and our guide book now states that the maximum allowable length for a self-propelled vessel transiting the canal is 886 feet! Though we hope not to pass a huge ship in the channel, their wakes can be tremendous and reverberate off the rock walls for quite some time, we know we will see many large vessels, and have found a website that shows commercial traffic in the area.
Though you won't be able to see us, you can check out who we might see by checking this website: marine traffic.com and zooming into the area between the top of the Chesapeake and the top of the Delaware.
Off we go.....

Washington Weekend

Our weekend in Washington was a great success!
We took in the science festival Saturday morning, then walked around downtown until we stumbled on Chinatown where we had a great lunch. Then off to the
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Sunday we headed downtown again, walked the Mall, saw the Whitehouse, Washington Monument, and WWII Memorial. Unfortunately, the reflecting pond has been emptied for a major overhaul, so we missed that.
Pictures will be posted next time we have wifi.

A Stop in Solomons

We made it to Solomons yesterday, arriving around 2. The predicted afternoon thunderstorms happily never arrived, so we had a peaceful day, catching up on some boat chores and planning our course of action for the next couple of days.

Several weeks ago, Greg had come upon some information about a science and book fair in Washington, DC. At that time we had no idea exactly where we would be, so it was impossible to make definite plans. Turns out our timing was impeccable! The drive from Solomons to Washington is only about an hour and a half, Enterprise has a fabulous weekend rental car rate, and we found a hotel just outside of downtown Washington. Our mission is a go!
We started this morning by lifting the anchor and putting Cee Jem on a dock (in 30 knot winds!) for a few days to keep her safe. The traffic on the way to pick up the car was a nightmare, so we were a bit later than expected leaving.
But now here I sit in the hotel while everyone takes their turn cleaning up in a 'real' shower. Then we're off for a late lunch. The girls are excited to come back a make use of the pool this afternoon.
Tomorrow we will take the Metro downtown to The Mall, check out what the Smithsonian is like, and see if we can find this science fair. Apparently Bill Nye will be there....we'll let you know ....

Northbound into Maryland...

Just passing Smith Point, where the Potomac River empties into the Chesapeake.
The Virginia/Maryland border runs along the south shore of the Potomac, so we are crossing the border into Maryland.
It's a grey and drizzly morning...we're headed for Solomons Island, hoping to be there early afternoon.
Here's our view from the cockpit:

Hello friends and family,
We are in Reedville . we are anchored in the same place we anchored last time.

When we were motoring down the dismal swamp we saw dragonflies, turtles and birds. The most interesting thing I think we saw was the cotton mouth snake , they can inflate themselves and they are highly poisonous.

In Hampton we saw Kate, the dock master, she is very nice.
We also saw an otter, the story is ,we were coming back from town and I said 'aww look there's an otter' and 3 seconds later I was saying ahhh!! there is an otter', we think the otter had rabies , we diddent stick around long because the otter was climbing out of the water and chasing us, Jessica said to another boater on our way by 'watch out the otter wants to chase you'.on our way back up for showers we saw his wet, muddy foot prints and then an area were he ate a fish or something.
In the Air and Space center I thought the Winogradsky column was cool, we are going to do it as a science project .
See you all real soon,
Madeline

Adventures

Hello friends and family,
We are at Reedville. At Hampton we went to the Verginia Air and Space Center. I liked the spot where you could make paper airplanes best. That was because I learned that if you made a perfect airplane you could get it going at just the right angle and just the right speed you could have a bit more gravity on the tail than on the nose that you can have the tail further down and the nose further up so the plane might go into one of the three holes that are on the wall. We also saw a Winogradsky Column, which is a self contained ecosystem. It is in a jar and the lid is on tight so only sun can get in. On the way back from the Verginia air and space musiem on the dock mom exclaimed " look, an otter". We all looked and there was an otter. He jumped into the water and we took some photos so we kept walking. I think that he thought we were playing a game so he tried to get out. He looked quite ill. So when he got out he started to chase us. So ( of course ) we ran and he ran.
Thats all the excitement for now,
Jessica.

New Galley Crew

Cee Jem has some new cooks working in her galley!
Madeline and Jessica have self-assumed many new responsibilites in our kitchen.
Madeline often makes pancakes for breakfast, and is also trying some new dinner dishes, including our local shrimp and rice meal from Georgetown.

Jessica in the Galley

Jessica has taken on the role of lunch cook, and we have had some wonderful meals. To date, she has made grilled cheese, salads, and pitas!

We particularly enjoy pizza pitas on warm days when it is too hot to turn the oven on...just put all your regular pizza ingredients on a freshly made pita and roll it up!

Best of all...they are also good dishwashers, and leave the galley clean!

The girls and their crazy frozen yogurt creations at The Fresh Berry in Charleston.

Walking to the shrimp dock in Georgetown, North Carolina.

Morning mist on Enterprise Creek, south of Myrtle Beach.

Cuddled up on a cool day.

Some Recent Pictures

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks of our adventure.


S'mores á la Cee Jem!
Made with graham crackers, Nutella, and mini marshmallows, flambéed with a butane torch.

Making a rope ladder to assist the Easter Bunny with getting onboard.

On the bow, enjoying a beautiful sunset. At this anchorage in Church Creek, South Carolina, the dolphins played around us for quite a while before the sun went down.

An Unexpected Dilemma

This morning we decided to head over to the fuel dock to fill with diesel and get some gas in our Jerry can. A simple enough task, one would think!!
The basin at River Dunes is amply deep, not at all busy, and the weather this morning was beautiful.
Our journey over was entirely uneventful, the trip back .... not so much.

One of my goals for this trip was to become more comfortable handling the boat. Indeed, I do my share of helming underway. I am pretty much exclusively at the wheel in and out of anchorages and mooring fields, as Greg does his thing on the bow. Docking however, is different. In an anchorage if you miss your intended target by a boat length or so, it generally doesn't matter too much. Not so at a dock.

Which brings us back to this morning, returning from the fuel dock:
I said to Greg 'why don't I try this?'.
In fact, it was the perfect opportunity. We were alone on a face dock, meaning it would be like trying to parallel park, but without any other cars .... You just pull up. Easy, right?

Well, it went like this...

Greg's only words of advice were to approach the dock nice and slow, which is exactly what I did. Right up to the edge of the dock. Jessica took the spring line, slipped it around the cleat on the dock, just like she was supposed to. Greg stepped off with the bow line, handed Jessica the stern line. Ta da!!
Except that the spring line was too long, and the dinghy engine secured on the stern railing was going to hit the piling on the dock.
So, Greg took the spring line off, a little puff of wind blew the boat away from the dock, and suddenly it all went awry. Jessica pulled with all her might, but 60 pounds of her was no match for 8 tons of boat with momentum...begrudgingly, she let go, as we instructed, and the lines fell into the water.
Now I am at the helm, looking at the three of them on the dock. I'm pretty good with math, and 4 of us total, minus three of them on the dock, makes 1 of me left on the boat!

I have practiced docking before, but always with Greg on board to handle the lines (and rush to my rescue, if it all goes wrong). This time it was just me, and I have to admit, once I gathered my thoughts, gathered and clipped the dock lines to the life lines at the widest part of the beam so they could be easily picked up as I approached the dock, it all went OK. I fully appreciate that it was absolutely ideal conditions, but should there be another time that I am required to put Cee Jem on a dock on my own, I will certainly approach it with more confidence than I would have before this morning. Meanwhile, I will continue practicing, hopefully with Greg at my side!

In River Dunes

Hello friends and family,
We are in River Dunes now, leaving tomorrow. We had a fun time here, I liked the swimming. Madeline and I pulled each other around with a piece of rope, it was quite fun. We went in to town today,
We saw the dragon. The dragon is in the middle of town and it is a town mascot.
I am missing you a lot,
Hope to see you soon,
Jessica

Long Day Amusement .... !

The girls are awesome on our long travel days ... Here's Jessica all 'decorated'.
They never cease to amuse us!

Down-Time in River Dunes

Monday night at Mile Hammock Bay, the flight training continued well after dark. Laying in our beds, we periodically heard the roar of engines at what seemed like a very short distance above the masts. On getting up to check, they were not actually as low as they sounded. A couple of hours later, all was quiet and we could get some rest.
We joked that Tuesday morning began as we imagine Murphy's might. First, we ran out of propane while trying to heat water for coffee and tea, and Greg had to negotiate the back deck, full of fenders and lines to change the tank. Once underway, the fire alarm went off a couple of times, owing to some grease Greg had used as part of a wet exhaust repair. No actual fire, just the oil heating up and causing the alarm to go off. Nice to know that it works well!
Throughout Tuesday, our luck improved! We caught great current and wind, and zoomed into Beaufort at a whopping 7 1/2 knots. Instead of stopping, as we had planned, in Town Creek at Beaufort, we instead continued north, with the now rising tide pushing us up the Newport River. A ten-mile jaunt up Adams Creek Canal, and by mid afternoon we were sailing on the Neuse River, past Oriental, NC, headed for River Dunes Marina. It was a stop we thoroughly enjoyed on our way south, and it was just as welcome a place to rest on our way north.
The girls swam in the pool, we all enjoyed the great steam showers, and used their courtesy car to drive into Oriental and get some groceries.

Mile Hammock Bay

A sunrise walk on Wrightsville Beach this morning started our day. The beach was beautiful, and many runners, walkers and treasure hunters armed with metal detectors kept us company. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our hunt for shark teeth.
We popped into Robert's Market, bought a few items including their 'World Famous Chicken Salad' (which was delicious!), and returned to Cee Jem to get underway.
Upon leaving the anchorage area and entering the main channel, we were immediately hard aground. A bit of running around the deck trying to adjust the angle of the keel, paired with a lot of power from our trusty engine, and we were soon off. Though we missed the bridge opening, which only happens on the top of the hour, we made good use of our wait time by stopping at a marina and filling with diesel.
The wind continued to build as the day continued, prompting us to conclude that it is always windy in this part of the world....we recalled it being equally windy in this area on our way south.
We figure we have seen the last of the native palm trees, only seeing them now planted in landscaped yards. The surroundings are beginning to look more like home. We even passed a raccoon swimming across the channel today.


We are anchored tonight at Mile Hammock Bay, part of the Camp Lejeune US Marine Base. We have been entertained since our arrival by three military aircraft doing circuits from a nearby field. From what we can see, they appear to be the V-22A Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. They have vertical take-off capabilities like a helicopter, and then tilt their propellers to enable them to have efficient forward motion like a regular airplane.

The guidebooks recommend an early northbound departure from here, to avoid being delayed by the closure of the ICW for ordinance practice. From what we can surmise, the ICW runs through a military training ground, and they often have live fire practice across the waterway. We will heed this advice, and be on our way brit and early!

It's Freezing!!

Literally!
This morning the temperature was 0 degrees Celsius. Colder than pretty much everywhere else....colder than anywhere in the Bahamas, colder than Charleston, colder than Norfolk, Virginia, colder than home in Mississauga!!

Luckily, it warmed up and by the time we pulled into Georgetown, South Carolina it was a beautiful 18 degrees, though still with a cool wind.
We had a great walk around town, enjoyed some ice cream, and then shopped for supplies for a local dinner. Shrimp from the docks with brown Carolina rice. Yummy!

Another short run tomorrow to a little bend in Enterprise Creek. Watch for our location update around 6. We won't leave here until just after noon so we can catch the flood tide up the river.

Frost Warning!!

Another 45 miles north, and tonight we have a frost warning!
Today is the first day northbound that we have stayed in long sleeves a jeans all day. It warmed up a bit by afternoon, but the north wind was still chilly.

So....instead of our original plan to cruise past Georgetown, SC tomorrow, we are instead going to stop and anchor for the night there.
We are looking forward to warmer temperatures as the weather is supposed to return to seasonally moderate temperatures over the weekend.

Bye, bye Charleston.

We left Charleston headed for an anchorage tonight. Themis, the mega yacht was still at Charleston. Themis even has a video camera. We went to the Knit, Jestine's
kitchen, Andoline's pizza and walked the market at Charleston. At the market there were mageladon teeth that cost 100$. Mageladon are huge sharks that used to live 300 million years ago. Dad, Madeline and I are going to look for their teeth in North Carolina. Did you know that more people get hurt with toilets than sharks? Five days ago we saw a alligator at the side of the river that we were motoring in. Did you know that great white sharks always get more teeth when they lose their old ones? That's pretty cool.
Talk to you soon,
Jessica

Memories of Charleston

Hello friends and family,
We are anchored in Minim Creek. Most marinas we have been to have dolphins, and there were a couple of anchorages that had them. In Charleston we went to Andolini's Pizza and Jestine's Kitchen. They were both very yummy! The Easter Bunny came to our boat on Easter. We left him/her carrots and pink lemonade. We also made a swim ladder from string (we are pretty sure he used it). And we used little knit bags for Easter baskets. The night we went out for dinner at Andolini's Pizza Jessica and I used some of our Christmas money to get some frozen yogurt from the Fresh Berry. You could choose a flavor of frozen yogurt, and you could choose from about 30 toppings.
I'll write more later,
Madeline

Back on Solid Ground in Charleston

Six days after leaving Fernandina Beach, we came ashore yesterday in Charleston. Our anchor was the only bit of our boat that touched land in Georgia, OK, the anchor and the bottom of our keel......

Wednesday was another day full of adventure. We had a leisurely morning, waiting for 11, so we could be on our way with the help of the tide. Motoring down Frederica River we dodged crab pots on our way out of the anchorage. At 12:30, we set the hook again at the south end of the Little Mud River waiting for a rising tide before proceeding. This is an area of the ICW that is known for severe shoaling. Luckily with the tides around here, time allows you to pass over what is shallow water at low tide. We waited until just the turn of the tide and carried on. Half hour later we were aground....and sure enough, a short time later we were off the bottom and could carry on.
Further up the river we passed an alligator sunning on the mud bank. Dolphins, egrets, herons and the occasional jumping fish kept us company along the way. Around 3, John on 'Vulcan' caught up to us. We first met John in Beaufort, SC on our way south in the fall. Then we ran into him again in Hope Town in the Bahamas. John is from Cobourg, traveling solo on this trip. He has covered several thousand miles in a sailboat, and a few years ago bought Vulcan, a beautiful 36' power cruiser. We continued to travel together the rest of Wednesday afternoon and anchored together in the Wahoo River that night.

By the time we woke up on Thursday, John was gone. He was headed to Hilton Head, an 80-mile trip that we couldn't make in one day. We got ourselves underway shortly before 9. By 10 we realized that we would be against current most of the day, and seeing the beautiful weather, decided to again hop out to the ocean. We sailed out St. Catherine's sound with the ebb tide pushing us along, seemed to pick up the edge of the gulf stream as we sailed northbound, and then were pushed back up Calibogue Sound (which borders Hilton Head Island) with the flood tide 5 hours later. On our way back in we radioed Vulcan to see where he was. We had done so well, that we had passed him! Our trip into the ocean allowed us to cover 90 miles of the twisty ICW in one day. Bryan Creek was our planned anchorage, but after checking it out, we found it fairly unprotected from the building wind off the ocean. Another 5 miles along we stopped for the night in Skull Creek.

Friday the weather was ugly..windy, at times rainy, and generally miserable. Unanimously we decided to stay put for the day, and not venture out across Port Royal Sound until things calmed down. We read, played games, planned our next few passages and generally had a good time just hanging out together.

At first light on Saturday we were northbound again. Port Royal Sound was nice and calm, though filled with debris. The full moon always causes exceptionally high tides (10.3 feet on Saturday) and combined with strong winds, the water level is raised further. At this time of year the high water picks up last years dead grasses from the salt flats and carries them down river. We did our best to dodge the biggest clumps, but couldn't miss them all. We sailed past Port Royal and Beaufort, and made good enough progress that we could attempt the notoriously shallow cuts between a couple of rivers in the area. With only inches below our keel, we slowly made our way through these areas and breathed a sigh of relief on the other side. Once past these cuts we decided to anchor for a couple of hours to let the worst of the opposing tide pass before continuing. Once it had settled a bit, we carried on and motored another 3 hours before anchoring again, this time for the night.

Sunday morning we had only a few hours to go before reaching Charleston. Good thing, because we had a surprise visitor in the night .... The Easter Bunny! Indeed this hoppy fellow made it to our boat and hid chocolate eggs in many ingenious places. We think most of them have been found, and luckily none were left in the engine room, so no fear of any melting chocolate! A relaxing trip up the Stono River, through Elliot Cut and we were in the Ashley River, which runs along the west side of the peninsula on which the city of Charleston was developed.

Charleston is a beautiful city, filled with old southern houses that look like they should have ladies sipping iced tea on their porches. The gardens are spectacular and you can often smell the Jasmine, which are in full bloom right now, before you see it. Many houses are adorned with wrought iron gates and sturdy wooden doors. We will enjoy a few days here wandering around, soaking up the southern atmosphere and eating low country cooking.

Sharks and Bites ( not from the sharks ).

Hello friends and family,
We are back on the ICW.
Last night we anchored at a place that had lots of no-seems and deer flies.
This morning we did a presentation, mine was on sharks. My favorite shark is the Great white shark, not because it eats us, because it keeps the population of fish and other small sea animals down.
Your writer,
Jessica.

Were about a quarter the way home!

Hello friends and family.
Happy Easter!
We are In Georgia, and mommy says that we are about a quarter the way home!
Yesterday we chose to go on the ocean, it was dead flat and at first you would of thought that we were on a pond.
Last night we were anchored in Frederica river and there were lots of no-see'ems and black flys.
We have seen lots of dolphins and sea turtles and in Titusville we saw a lot of manatee.
I am enjoying our trip wile were on it but really want to get back home to see my friends.
From: Madeline

First Night in Georgia

On our way south in the fall, we thought those we met who were headed off shore were crazy ... why would anyone leave the protected inside route and subject themselves to the scary North Atlantic Ocean???
"Real" sailors, as we thought of them, would actually spend an extra night anchored near an inlet, waiting for the right weather so they could head out of the nice, benign ICW and subject themselves to the wrath of mother nature.

Today though, with the benefit of a few more ocean experiences, we have a better appreciation for off-shore sailing. Today, we didn't have to fight current, the wind was light but steady, the sea was beautifully calm. Two other sailboats, crisp white sails bright against the blue sea and sky kept us company. There were a few shrimp boats on the far horizon. Beyond that, we spent the day in the company of hundreds of cannonball jellyfish, dozens of dolphins, and some of the biggest sea birds I have ever seen.
As we approached our inbound inlet, the swell began to build, and we could see the thunderheads building on shore. Our time was up. We happily headed inbound, thanked the ocean for the day, and motored a few more miles up the ICW to a secluded anchorage on the Frederica River. The sun was hot, and the flies were relentless so we ducked into the protection of our cabin and enjoyed a great family evening.

Tomorrow we will continue up the ICW. But in the future, knowing that the ocean is not meant to be feared, just respected, we would consider another outside passage. Maybe we're becoming "real" sailors after all!

Leaving Florida Behind

Sunday we strolled around St. Augustine, taking in the grounds of the fort and the lighthouse. Lunch was enjoyed on the second-level patio of a restaurant overlooking the water where we were able to watch the procession down the main street of the officials headed for the 'Blessing of the Fleet' at the yacht club.

Monday we departed early, and motored north headed for Fernandina Beach. Neither current or wind was in our favour. It was frustrating to be slowed to a meager 3.5 knots as the huge north Florida tides poured past us. The wind, when it blew with any strength was always against us as well. An additional delay was running hard aground, in the middle of the channel. We tried putting sails up, taking them down; using engine power in forward, and reverse; and all positioning ourselves on one side of the boat or the other in hopes of leaning it sufficiently to free the keel from the muddy bottom. In the end, the rising tide floated us off and we were on our way again about 30 minutes later.
We were all glad to set foot on shore once we arrived after a 12-hour day. We walked around Fernandina with my folks, hoping to find something suitable for dinner. Spring Break must be this week for someone nearby, as the shortest wait time we could find for a table for 6 was about an hour. We opted instead to hop in the car and found a spot away from the downtown hubbub.

After a nice week-long visit with my parents, we bid them farewell last night. Georgia, with it's winding creeks and desolate anchorages reachable only by water, was not going to be conducive to continuing to meet up with them after our day's travels.

The plan for today was to delay our departure until late morning when we would have a more favourable tide. We hoped our timing would allow us to catch the ebb and then flood in and out of St. Augustine inlet. On checking the weather this morning, we decided that it was a perfect day to head off shore. A quick trip to shore to check-out, and we were on our way. The tide was certainly in our favour, as the current pushed us out the inlet at a whopping 8.3 knots. Past the rocky jetty, we turned north into the ocean. Currently we are off the coast of Georgia, sailing on a peacefully flat Atlantic Ocean, with a beautiful light wind off our starboard beam!!

A Stormy Day

Another early start on Saturday had us through our first bridge at 7:30. We were joined by 'Charisma', another ketch that had been anchored beside us the previous night. We chatted a bit with them on the radio along the way and confirmed our suspicions that we had first run into them in Georgetown, Bahamas, and that the captain, Bill, was one of the morning cruisers net radio hosts. Bill said they were also heading for St. Augustine that night, hoping to get there before the thunderstorms rolled in that afternoon. We had checked the weather only briefly, and saw the forecast of 30% chance of rain, which is pretty standard for Florida.

As we travelled along, we gathered more sailboats, all traveling at about the same speed as we were. In all, 5 boats made a little northbound parade, sometimes spreading out a bit, depending on engine RPM, and who had a sail up. Though we seemed to regroup again at bridges, as the bridge masters would make the lead boats slow down and wait for the stragglers so they would only have to stop land traffic for one bridge opening.

Shortly after noon we could see the dark clouds forming in the western sky. As they approached around 1, the group of boats had again split up on account of no bridges for a long stretch of the ICW. As we neared the Crescent Beach bridge, we were the stragglers who were left behind as the other boats sped up to make the opening together. This turned out to be a stroke of good luck on our part. Just less than a mile from the bridge, Greg decided that we had better anchor to wait out the nasty-looking front that was quickly approaching. He radioed the bridge master and asked if there was any deep water south of the bridge that would be appropriate for us to drop the hook in while we waited out the weather. He kindly told us a spot between two channel markers that would keep us out of the way of other traffic. We sped up in an attempt to get to the intended spot before the wind really picked up, Greg went to the bow to ready the anchor. The wind speed steadily climbed, and Greg directed me from the bow, though we were having trouble making headway. Just as the rain started, the bridge master radioed that the wind at the bridge was gusting 30 knots, warning us that we would very soon be in those conditions too. Before I had a chance to yell to Greg, the wall of wind hit us, and even without any sails up, we were pushed sideways, as if a gust of wind had hit us with sails up. We were no longer in a position to be able to anchor. Our only reasonable choice was to turn around and run with the weather. This is where we were lucky we had not made it through the bridge with the others. They did not have the luxury of turning around, they would have quickly come back upon the bridge spanning the waterway. I began the turn back toward the canal, but the wind was preventing me from having the power to turn the boat. The deep water in this part of the ICW is only about 125 feet wide, or about 3 boat-lengths. Not a lot of room under the best conditions, and without the power to keep the boat turning, I was quickly running out of time before we met with the docks on the east side. From the bow, Greg yelled to me 'you need more power!'. This was absolutely counter-intuitive to what I thought would solve the problem. But, it worked, and our good ol' Perkins did the job and delivered the thrust we needed to get turned around!

For the next half hour, we endured pouring rain, luckily from the protection of our full enclosure. At times visibility was severely compromised, and the wind howled around us. I watched the plotter and depth sounder, while Greg stuck his head out the side window and steered point to point between the channel markers. We made use of some wider spots in the channel to turn around and orbit once the wind had calmed.
By 2 o'clock, all that remained of the storm was a light rain. We headed north, and requested a bridge opening, which we got after a short delay, as the sustained wind speed must have dropped for a specified time before they can open the bridge. We then passed through the Crescent Beach bridge, thanking the bridge master for his help.

After arriving in St. Augustine a couple of hours later, we decided it was safe to head for shore, hoping to make it before the rain started again. We did make it, and managed to check in at the office (hearing that their anemometer had seen wind gusts of up to 60 knots when the front passed through!) and get to dinner with my parents who had driven up the coast to meet us again.
We watched the pouring rain all through dinner, and when a break in the downpour appeared, headed to the bookstore next door. There we browsed the selection, taking in the vast choice available (still sometimes a shock from the meager availability in the Bahamas). Greg picked up a copy of SAIL magazine, and having submitted an article to them about lionfish in the winter, was pleasantly surprised to see it published in the current issue!
Another pause in the rain allowed us to dash back to the car, and we were dropped off at the marina where we grabbed showers and then headed back to the boat.

Northbound to Daytona

An early start on Friday morning had me running to the grocery store, and returning the rental car. All this before 8:30 when we we on our way. We passed a ton of wildlife on our way .... manatee, lots of dolphins, and even flamingoes. It is surprising to have a big pink bird fly past your boat!

Just south of Daytona, we heard a boat call for help from SeaTow, a marine towing company. As we neared, we could see that they were hard aground, and the tug that came to help was only successful in helping to level the boat, so they weren't on such an angle. Regardless, it seemed like it would be a stressful couple of hours before the tide came up again to float them.
At 4:15, we put the anchor down in Daytona Beach, and launched the dinghy so we could meet up with my parents for dinner. We found them flying kites with a local at a park on the water's edge. Before we headed to the restaurant, another boat had grounded not too far from where we were anchored. Wow! These guys should check their charts more carefully!
Dinner was at the nearby marina, which had a marine-themed restaurant. Many aquariums graced the walls, the plexiglass table tops were lit from within with bubble motifs, and the menus lit up when you opened them. There was live music, and we escaped the threatening rain at just the right time. By the time we were finished, the clouds had passed, and we had a few more minutes of light to fly kites again before heading back to Cee Jem.

Here's Greg helping Madeline fly a 2-line kite, and just to the left of them, you can see Cee Jem anchored on the far side of the canal.