Important Holiday Dates Coming Up Have a safe, prosperous and healthy 2014!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

 IMPORTANT HOLIDAY DATES ON SODUS BAY

All are Invited to attend

1- The Annual Oak Park Resort Marina's Holiday Party held at Docker's Restaurant (Lake Bluff Rd. at the Southeast end of Sodus Bay), Admission is $25.00 per person (Including free wine) at the door plus cocktails. It will be a Turkey and Roast Beef Buffet.      Hosts are Mike &Jill Virts and Mike &Chelsie Connelly

Saturday, December 7th 5:00PM till closing.

2- The Annual Abe's Restaurant Christmas Party and Customer Appreciation Night  at Abe's Restaurant (Greig Street, Sodus Point). Free Food, cash bar. 6PM till closing. Hosts are Jamie & Laurie Abel

Saturday the 14th of December 6PM till Closing

3- The Annual Bay Street Hotel (Greig Street, Sodus Point) Christmas Party is. Hosts are Doug McCloud and Dini Martini and her hubby. Free Food Cash Bar 

Sunday the 22nd of December.4PM till close

4- The Annual Bay Street Hotel's (Greig Street, Sodus Point) New Years Eve Bash.  This will be Doug McClouds (Owner and host of this years party)  last year, come out and meet the new owners.......if you don't know them already, but most of you do.....LOL Free Food, Cash Bar

Tuesday December 31st 6PM to 2AM



5- The Annual New Years Eve Dinner Dance at River Dunes Harbor Club and Marina. (Oriental, North Carolina) Open only to members and their guests.



Skipper's Restaurant is on a limited winter open schedule till April (Closed Mon & Tuesdays)

Connelly's Cove is closed till April

We made it home with a week to spare.

We arrived home on Thursday only to find no home phone,( I hope I can get my old number back, if not we will get something close to 2011)Internet or TV. As far as I am concerned, Time Warner screwed up really bad. So I left them for Verizon.
I finally got a chance to say..."What don't you understand about the words..."we will be home Thursday?"" Do I need to spell it out. In other words, I need all my services turned on by Today", and they just shut them off this morning, not the day of September 26th, as they were supposed to. So, now we will argue weather or not I have to pay them for the months that I was not here.

Anyway, I did without Time Warner before and I will do without them again...Actually I will save a total of about $200.00 per month, as I was paying big bucks for their High Speed Internet.$90.00 per mo., phone $26.00 per month and cable with all bells and whistles for a mere $175.00 per month. A total of $291.00 per month.....Crazy, I know. Right now I am down to $39 for a phone and $19.95 for Internet......I don't know about TV yet. It will probably be Dish Network, Direct TV......or even just a digital antenna.....LOL

They love raising your bill, and they can't tell you why.....oh well, lets see who is sorry now......LOL

Everything else is good and we will be home until the beginning of January.....when we will drive back to River Dunes and resume our trip.

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY NEXT THURSDAY, a Merry Christmas and a Happy, HEALTHY and Prosperous New Year,(2014) too!!!!!!!

So long for this year.......see you next year.

Finally...

It is now 3:00pm on Wednesday, and we are leaving New Bern, NC for N Y. We will drive as far as Fredericksburg, VA, rent a hotel and go to sleep...When we wake, it will be a 7 hour car ride home....LOL

Days 50, 51 & 52 - Clean, Clean, Clean

And that is what we have been doing because we are coming home this Wednesday for the holidays.

PS....Wind is gone and the temps have been back in the 70's each day...

Dinner was at the Clubhouse last night (Veal Chops and Stuffed calamari)..
and will be tonight too..Crabcakes and Grouper

Day 49 - Wednesday, Nov. 13th, 2013---Bbbrrrr - 41 degrees

When I woke up it was 41 degrees outside, a lot better than I expected, but nonetheless a bit "nippy", and a bit windy blowing out of the north at 15Knots.

When I went to bed last night they (the weather forecasters on TV) put out a freeze warning that ended at 4AM, however, we did not get it.

Today's forecast for Coastal Carolina is sunny, with the highs to hit the mid-50's, and by Saturday it will be sunny with high temperature in the 70's. Thank God, the weather is back!! to normal for this time of year.

Just a few Notes about River Dunes Harbor Marina

If you were to visit here for the first time, you would say it is backwards, because of the lettering system they use here. There are a total of 400 slips here, and because of that there are limits in each one as follows:
The first dock you see coming into the marina either by boat or car is called T- dock, because it is a mixture of (T)ransient dockage. Any boat not staying a month or more is put here at the rate of $1.25 per foot, per night, except for the Winter months of December, January and February, when the rate drops to 1.00 per foot, per night.
The second and third docks are called A-North and A-South, all fingers are 40' long x 16'wide. The fingers face north and south; B- dock is the fourth and fifth dock, all 45' long accepting boats up to 18 feet wide. Fingers facing noth and south; the sixth and seventh docks is C dock, all 50' long x 20' wide. Fingers face N&S, and finally D dock, wiich are the eight and ninth docks, facing north and south ALL fingers are at least 65' long x 25' wide.

The Tee ends are as follows: A dock for up to 75' boats, all beams
B- dock between 76 and 90 foot, all beams
C- Dock is 91 to 110 footers, all beams,catamarans with beams between 26' and 35' wide.
D- Dock is any boat over a 112 to 135, all beams and usually catamarans and tri-marans with beams over 35' wide

C & D docks are currently full. There are about 5 docks on B-Dock and maybe 8 on A-Dock that are not full. Transients docks are usually full, especially in Spring and Fall, as cruisers head either North or South.

And this is all set on 1,300. acres. If you think you know a large marina in land size bigger, let me know.400 slips set on 1300 acees is huge, because OPRM is set on 6 with 250 slips....LOL....LOL

LOCATION: North - 35.05.075 North Latitude by 076.36.068 West Longitude...or 35.08455 x 76.50733.....Off of Pamlico Sound, approx 1 mi. up Broad Creek, North Carolina, Chart # 11541_1 (Neuse River and Pamlico Sound)
All docks are dredged to8' feet deep in MLW, it is a deepwater water marina with between 8'-10' depths at the fuel and it is all the time, regardless of seasonl changes.

Tidal range is less than 2 feet.
All docks have 50 or 100 AMP service, at the top of each dock are huge panels with over 1600 amps servicing A dock alone. We also have water, cable and telephone jacks....they have included at dockside pump-out, but it is not connected as of yet.
During the fall and winter months, the restaurant is closed except for Friday and Saturday nights, however the chef comes in daily and makes one dinner for all cruisers at about 15.00 to 20.00 pp Sunday through Thrusdays. During the summer months, the kitchen is always open, serving three meals a day.

Check out these pictures I took at River Dunes

River Dunes Harbor Club

Tuesday - Day 47 - Don't rock the boat, baby.....

At about 9:30 AM we left Whittaker Pointe Marina to River Dunes Harbor Club. We got here around 11:00 AM, tied up ran our power and water, now we are enjoying a very nice lunch aboard the LF3. Tonight, we are supposed to go to a cruiser's dinner but they are making chicken....I never ever eat chicken in a restaurant.
I did make my car rental reservations. I am picking car up in New Bern on the 18th and traveling home.I will be home on the 19th of November on a one -way rental, I am returning the car at Syracuse Airport on the 20th. HERTZ was the only car rental agency that would allow a one-way rental from New Bern (EWB) airport. Everyone else said nope....I gusee you can figure out my car rental choice. Enterprise came up rent for one week and return car here ....Avis said no, and so did every other one of them. Hertz, when asked, said "sure, no problem"

After New Years, probably the 2nd, we are driving back down to Oriental with my Sebring and leaving it here while we take the boat to Florida. You have to have a car here and a courtsey car just don't cut it. I will look into a way to have my golf cart delivered here too, as I won't need it anymore in upstate, NY.

Day 46 - Monday 11/11/13....Putting our house in Order on Veteran's Day.

Today was spent "shoring up" financial matters, cleaning, sanding & staining rails and other teak trim and changing addresses.....our new address by the way, is::

Al and Dottie Baris
River Dunes Harbour Club Slip A-South #27
465 Harbour Drive.
Oriental, NC 28571

They wil accept and sign for all packages and whatever else is sent to me that requires a signature....regular mail come directly to my slip.

and a quick THANK YOU to all who gave their all, so that we have a free country!!

It is a spectaular place...River Dunes in Oriental, NC.

Day 45 - Membership does have it's privledges...11/10/13

Sundays are do nothing days in NC. And that is exactly what we did, nothing...on board the LF3.
However, we took the courtsey car and visited the other Marinas and Yacht Clubs in the area, and have decided this:

As a member of a yacht club you get a substantial discount on dockage, so therefore we joined the River Dunes Harbour Club We will pay about $300 per month for dockage, plus 0.16 KWH for electricity. We should never pay more than $15.00 for our electric per month.

The Florida Keys are a special place where the old adage "if you have to ask, you cannot afford it", never had a truer maning, but regardless of the cost, we like it there. After all, it is the KEYS

For the remainder of 2013, the boat will remain in Oriental, North Carolina until January 3rd then Dottie and I will head to the Keys with the boat.
Our new plan will consist of the boat being 5 months in Oriental, North Carolina and 5 months in Tavinier, Fl. leaving a month down and a month back to NC. We are now officially snowbirds, as after I called the marina in the Keys and told him of my plan, he said you are now official sunbirds.

Each year from 2014 on, the boat will spend March 2014 (traveling from Keys to NC) April, May, June, July and August in Oriental, NC, travel to Florida during the month of September 2014 and spend October, November, December, January and February in the Keys. This works out great both financially for us and for both marinas.

Please note, WE WILL NOT be on-board, 24/7/365...I do have to work sometime during the year.

For as much as I liked Whittaker Pointe Yacht Club and Marina, it is too new and too sterile for me, and has NO protection from hurricanes or named storms. It is a problem for me leaving the boat out in the wide open.
And although Active Captain has rated it the best that NC has to offer, right next door is beautiful and spacious River Dunes Harbour Marina and Yacht Club, which is only 7 years old and a beautiful place with a ton of amenities included...and it is a "hurricane hole" to boot!!.
Take a look at their website

The coutyard of cottages available to rent



A Wedding at the Mariner's Chapel on the grounds of the River Dunes Clubhouse

Day 44 - Pictures of Whittaker Pointe Marina and Oriental NC - 11/09/2013

Well...I said I would post something everyday and am doing the best I can.

Lunch was at the Oriental Marina and INN in their Toucan Grill Restaurant, and of couse, I had to have my daily dose of shellfish, which included shrimp, scallops and clams...then we went to Fulchers for some seafood (Fresh caught flounder) to make aboard for dinner and just did some local sightseeing. I have and will always like Oriental, NC.

More pictures as the day wears on......Hang in there!

The Whittaker Pointe Clubhouse



A 50' Hunter monohull sailboat

 




Keith came all the way from Australia....I never did ask why he named his boat Jack's Back.
a c



The brand new docks at Whittaker Pointe



This is a Fountain Perjot Catamaran....46 feet long and almost 29' feet wide.



Man, what far odd place to be from, this reired couple took 9 months to get here, but they made it all the way from the continent of Australia.

They are memebers of the Royal Port Yacht Club in Newport, Australia



And they have a large amount of rigging and a 70' mast... because 70' is the norm in Australia



Day 43 - Oriental, NC November 8th, 2013 and the end of Leg 2

We pulled into Oriental, NC this AM at about 11:30 after leaving the BelleHaven Marine Waterway Marina at 7:30AM ,and then off we went in the marina's courtsey car to town to do food shopping, and West Marine to pick up and return a few items. Lunch was had aboard the boat and dinner also, after the cocktail party at the marina.

I can't get over how nice this marina is, in fact, it is so nice and everything including the docks are brand new. If it weren't so wide open, I would choose this marina to call our Home Port. I don't know wether I am flying or driving yet, but Dottie wants to be home for the holidays. We will NOT be aboard from 11/19 until 01/03/2014.
I am not going to Morehead City as planned.
When we get back, our next stop will be Beaufort, NC.

On Monday morning they will haul her out so I can check the bottom and drop her back in Monday AM. We call that a "short haul". For less than $100 bucks I get hauled out for a few hours, left in the slings to do whatever needs to be done. Actually they charge about $250 a month plus $ 76.00 bucks for the "short haul", taxes included. If you need to do antything at all, you can do it here. I like Whittaker Pointe Marina a lot...you get a courtsey car for as long or as often you need it, and if I fly home they drive you too and from New Bern airport. Plus I just love these bathrooms it gives a new meaning to the words "nice and private", and they say it gets better the further south you go.
Hmmmmmm.....I don't know how better it can get, but I am dying to find out. They don't want or need the business here in North Carolina, so it stays this way year round.

Check out these pics below to find out exactly what I mean...

We have a lot of people, and some come from as far away as Australia

Day 42, November 7th, 2013.....Rain, rain go Away

We are not going anywhere today if the rain don't let up. It is not a heavy rain, just a really fine mist that makes it hard to see out, type of rain. If the rain does not end by 9AM, we will sit it out one day here in Bellhaven, NC

Days 39,40 and 41 - November 4th, 5th and 6th

We made it Coinjock, NC and the Coinjock Marina yesterday and had a great mealin their restaurant I had the mates cut of Prime Rib, Dottie had the Large Seafood Salad and she too, enjoyed it.
We met a couple aboard their Fleming 55 (Quintessence)in Deltaville, and we met again today in Coinjock for dinner. Alan and Liz Hendershot is their name.

We left Coinjock this morning for the Alligator River Marina another 50 miles south. The folks aboard the Fleming decided to anchor out and we went to the marina. This has been the smallest marina so far with just 18 slips and a wall of 950 feet. Dinner was aboard the boat tonight.

I cannot get over the bathrooms in the south...ever since Cape May, they have all been private baths instead of the Locker Room style that we found in the north. PRIVATE and CLEAN, spotlessless clean, I should say.

Left the Alligator Marina today (Wednesday)and headed for Bellhaven, NC. Another quaint, small village known for it's quality marinas and restaurants. We pulled into the Bellhave Waterway Marina at 1:30 PM, and took a much needed rest.

Dinner tonight in a place called Spoon River Restaurant at the Marketplace and Artworks bldg., and all I can say is that was the best so far...I had the mussels and clams and Dottie had Shrimp and Grits, and both were fantastic. I had never had mussels that tased so good, and found out that it is a chef-owned restaurant.
We had dinner with two women who we met the night before at the Alligator River marina. Debbie and Dale are real boaters and they are bringing Debbies boat, named Camelot, home to St. Augustine, FL.

Pictures from the Chesapeake



The Porch at Deltaville, VA



The Chespeake is known for it's oysters, which grow wild

The side Porch at Dozier's Regatta Point Marina

I am terrible at posting pictures. Although I have taken over 200photos so far, I always forget to post them.

Days# 37& 38 - Another Day.....Another Marina- Saturday, November 2nd, 2013

We got out of Deltaville around 9AM and we navigated our way down to Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA arriving at 2 PM.  Here is what I have learned...we all know that "company" is like fish, and after three days you begin to smell!!.

We didn't smell from lack of water or soap, but no one appreciates good clean drinking water, until you don't have it. In fact, the only con I found about Deltaville was their water had a funky taste, a funny odor, and although it was potable, it was dirty to look at, and even nastier to drink.

We arrived in the Norfolk area at 2:00PM, then we wasted all afternoon and evening just riding around Portsmouth and Norfolk Harbors. We had dinner aboard 7PM and got into the Tidewater Yachting Marina at about 9PM. First thing I did was fill the water tanks, we know have 140 gallons of the freshest tasting water since we left NYC.
I made reservations this AM for Coinjock Marina in Coinjock, NC for Sunday night and Monday night, then we are free to go where we want after those nights are up. We hope to be in Tavinier by the end of November leave the boat and fly from Miami to Rochester to be home by the third of Decemeber or so.

When are we leaving Deltaville?

I really don't know. We are supposed to leave tomorrow morning and stop at Hampton Roads, however small craft advisories went out this afternoon, and is supposed to last until tomorrow late afternoon, so....
We will not leave Deltaville until Saturday morning now.......No need to fight 4-5 footers on the Cheasapeake, especially when we don't have to. It is getting windier by the minute and they are calling for 15-25 Knot winds tonight and tomorrow AM. A cold front is responsible for the temperature dropping from mid-70" this afternoon to 55 right now, and a low of 48 degrees is expected tonight.....BRRRRR it is cold outside, baby!!

Boat Taxes...WOW

I was discussing sales tax with a fellow boater today, and as the saying goes, I have "learned something new" every day".
Now, I already know and am certain of these two things, One is;- Boats are a very expensive "hunk of fiberglass"
Secondly, Sales tax adds to the expense, especially the 8.0% charged in NYS.

Here is what I have learned new today....Maryland has capped it sales tax to $1,500.00. Now, if you buy a new boat in NY and pay one million $ dollars, you also have to pay the dealer $80,000.00 in sales tax. Really, not too bad, but then again, NY is not a boater friendly state by any means, especially when you consider that the average price of new yacht, using the definition that a yacht is a boat over 100' long, are selling every day for 2-5 M. Take the average yacht in NY which is selling for 5M. Times that by the 8.0% tax, and you have actually paid an additional $400,000.in sales tax. A bit higher than most states, but NY, being boater un-friendly gives you nothing but a hard time in return.
Second thing I have learned, VA rate is 5% of the selling price. An average yacht, selling for 5 M generates a sales ta of $250,000 per sale per year in VA Sales Taxes. VA is a boater friendly state that allows town municipalities to set tax rates. Currently I am in Middlesex County, and their tax structure is a bit higher than most other counties in the state. This a boating area by far. because if you are not in one of the marine trades, there is just nothing else to do. So, this guy told me, " I pay 1500.00 per year to be in the Chesapeake.....he went on to explain "he has a 40' sailboat which I beleive he said was 1994 Hunter, Salon Deck......his tax bill every year, every January 01 is $1,500.00. What he gets in return are green marinas, clean waters to fish in, boater saftey education courses plus other things....
So far this guy has paid over $15,000.00 (County tax) in taxes for the past 10 years.That is a hell of an expense added to marina costs, and insurance. 40' sounds like a lot of boat, but in reality is is a small sailboat by todays standards. 60 foot is more the average, especially south of Maryland. I can't imangine what their taxes are in this county, but I bet the average boater is paying over $2,000.00 per year, per boat.

Of course, like every tax there are loopholes, and the VA tax code is no exception. The loophole is as follows: Don't be in this county on January 1st, because that way you do not get taxed by the county.
He is now retired and has been so for the past two years, and his plan is to go to FL every year with his boat.

I cannot blame him!!

I will report more as we travel down the coast.

Synopsis of past two weeks October 17th to October 30th, 2013

Lets see.....we arrived in Deltaville, VA. on Thursday the 17th, after a smooth ride from Smith Point, VA. After arriving at Jack Dozier's Regatta Point Marnina, we tied up in a temporary slip until Sunday. Currently, I am in slip # Slip#G-35, however on Monday my new slip assignment will be G-3. We will stay there until we leave Deltaville...
Friday, Oct 19th....took the day off and did nothing,I did figure out that Dozier's monthly rate is a lot cheaper than weekly rate, so I paid marina for a month although I am leaving after two weeks.

On Saturday October 20, 2013, we started sanding the teak on the Lucky Find III,

Sunday October 21st, we continued sanding after a buffett breakfast at marina. I moved boat from G-35 to G-3....a lot closer to bathrooms, offices and courtsey cars.

On Monday the 21st of October, we returned to Glouscester to see about rental car for Dottie.....no luck, so I called Hertz and sure enough they had a car available on Tuesday.

Tuesday,October 222nd, I borrowed courtsey car and drove to Kilmarnock, VA to the Hertz place, and kissed Dottie good-bye as she drove north back to Clyde, NY.

Wednesday, October 23rd, thru Sunday, October 27th were work days as I tried to get our dinghy and davits back in shape after being torn off in Annapolis by a water taxi, and finally finished it on Sunday the 28th. Went to a Sunday buffet at a place called the Sunset Grill down the street. Basic breakfat and lunch fare, but a nice place with great friendly service.

Monday, October 28th, was spent doing sanding and getting all final amenities on dinghy. All teak is now done and waiting for Dottie to put on the Bristol Finish and get her looking new, AGAIN.
Tuesday, October 29th morning, I spent in the laundry room with the interior upholstery fabrics. After a quick phone call to Sunbrella, I found out that I could wash all cushion covers in a washing machine but do not put into dryer as they will shrink. After washing covers I put them on rail of boat to dry.....currently it is 72 degrees and sunny here, so a great day for that. All the guys on the dock are breaking my chops about doing "women's work", but when you are alone you do it all, and I am finding out that a woman's work is NEVER done..
Wednesday the 30th of October - Club Jeppesen Marine of which I am a member, is delivering my new navigation chip to cover me down the Chesapeake to St. Augustine, FL. Once in St. Augustine they will deliver a chip that covers St. Augustine to Key West FL.


I have cooked dinner and lucnh every day on boat and I need my restaurant fix soon.

Making Adjustments to Blog Site

Please let me know whether you can join our blog and or comment on posts.

Thanks,

AL

Days 25 thru 36 - Deltaville, VA

We received a call from our daughter Natalie on October 17th, where she said she was not feeling too good. Turns out she is in the middle of an MS Episode. Also our insurance regulations say that we cannot travel south of Virginia until November 01, the official end of the hurricane season, so thereforth I planned on staying in Deltaville until Nov, 1st anyway..

Dottie said she would be right there, but after going all the way from Deltaville to Glouster, VA (nearest Enterprise Rent A Car), And nothing available, Dottie called Natalie to say that she would be there Tuesday, October 22nd,(Thanks to Hertz, whose rates are less, and they advertise they will pick you up too!!). So, Dottie will leave here on Tuesday, October 22nd and return next Wednesday the 30th of October.

In the meantime I will enjoy our Virginia weather, and it is sunshine everyday, all day with temps hoovering to mid-seventies at lunchtime to near 49 at nighttime. The past few mornings the heat was on in the boat when I awoke, only to have a/c on by 11AM and heat again at 7:00PM.

There are plenty of things to do on this boat, such as sanding all teak, and then bleaching it and prepare to have Dottie re-finish it.
I had two divers, from a company called Under Boats, Inc. ,go down this past Thurday (10/24/13), and examine bottom of boat, only to see one surface with a tatered old American Flag and proceeds to tell me except for this flag, which was wrapped around your shaft, the bottom looks like new, no need to haul out and have her cleaned. GREAT NEWS to me, and for 20 bucks, it was well worth the peace of mind.
A canvas specialist from The Ship's Tailor will be here to fix a few broken snaps before Thursday the 31st., he did come on Friday the 25th to check it all out., but did not have the needed tools with him.

More to come as trip progresses.
Our next stop, before crossing into the Carolinas, will be Newport, VA for a night or two then North Carolina for a few days and nights, South Carolina for a few days and then Florida.....LOL....LOL...and then a week or two down the 700 mile coast of Florida to Key Largo and Tavinier(FINAL DESTINATION).

Day 24 - Smith Point to Deltaville, VA

Well, we made it to the "Yachting Capital of the East". I have been looking forward to a few days here in Deltaville.

You see, Deltaville became a world class operation for Yachting a few years ago,(1999) after Hurricane Floyd dumped more than 10 inches of rain on the Eastern Shore, and along the Chesapeake Bay on September 16-17. Chestertown collected 14.00
inches. Annapolis had 11.60 inches. Floyd's eye passed over Ocean City, with a barometric pressure of 28.88 inches. Gusts in Ocean City, MD peaked at about 60 mph.
Hugo ripped up the area badly, and when just about all insurance companies refused to cover anyone from the north from going south of here until after November 1st...the official end of hurricaine season. And the last year, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy lashed Maryland on October 29-30 with isolated hurricane force gusts and widespread gales, heavy rain in the eastern two-thirds of the state and
significant snow in the west. The Ocean City fishing pier was partially destroyed and
bay sections flooded.
It seems that everyone ends up here for a week or two before they venture south to NC, SC GA or FL.
Deltaville, with it's proximity to Newport News-Williamsburgh Intl Airport is an beautiful area. Houses run from 250,000.00 for a fixer-upper, to a norm of 500,000., to a high of 7M. Not too bad considering Annapolis and Solomons are about double that.

We had a great day of traveling.....not too long, yet not too short. However, 2 miles outside of Deltaville, we ran aground again for the third time so far this trip, and if that is not enough, after Tow Boat US came and wiggled us out of the sand, I ran aground the fourth time. Having his number in my cell, I called him, waited two minutes, and we are "wiggled" free again.

I apologize to those I made fun of running aground in a channel, but I guess it can happen to the best of us....LOL. The channel markers or bouys just don't outline the channel well enough after Hurricaine Sandy hit last October. The Army Corps of Engineers needs to re-survey certain areas and just don't have the time, money or manpower to do it down here as of yet.
I was in the center of the channel in three out of the four groundings. But again, no problem except for the loss of time (20 minutes, total)!

Anyways, the area is exceptional and so are the marinas here. We pulled into the marina at 1PM, tied up, and started meeting some others that are going south after bthe first of November. We have tied up at Dozier's Regatta Point Yachting Center.

Day 23 - Solomon's to Smith Point VA. -

We left Zahinsers at 10:30 AM and drove the 35 miles to Smith Point Marina In Smith Point, VA. This is the smallest marina we have seen so far, only having 98 slips. But all are occupied and we tied up at the fuel dock. We did see some intersting sights on our trip here, and I will post some pics tomorrow.

Frome here it is on to Deltaville VA for a week.

Day 22 - 10/16/13 - Solomons Island Maryland - An Expensive lesson learned the hard way

The best day yet...We spent the whole day catching up with the chores on a boat. This morning we went from Zahniser's Yachting Center to Spring Cove Marina to buy well over 200 gallons of diesel at 3.699 per gallon.($750.00). I saw Paul standing on our dock when we came back, he bled the engine and it started right up. hours of Labor t $100.00 per. The billat the yard came to 318 with tax and some materials.
Then this afternoon both Dottie and I changed the oil in both engines, and the generator, and later that afternoon, we washed the dinghy, and had a great dinner aboard the boat. All I can say is I learned an expensive lesson.

Day 21 - Solomon's Island,Maryland

Today is our 36th Wedding Avviversary....we celebrated it by going to dinner at the Dry Dock Cafe at the marina.
The day was spent just doing nothing but hanging out at the marina, and we took the courtsey shuttle to the local Food Lion Grocery store.
After grocery shopping I decided to go below to see if I could at least change fuel filters one primary and two secondaries......what a mistake that was, as I forgot how to bleed the fuel and alsoI forgot that the new "O" rings go into the housing of the secondaries and not to put them with the filters. The engine still would not start, so I called Paul in and he spent all of two hours changing fuel filters on port engine, fixing those I put in starboard engine and also changed both oil filters for me.

Guess what, the starboard engine would still not start,then Paul asked how much fuel I had in my starboard tank, when I answered not much he had me and Dottie stand in the cockpit while he measured the length of the pick-up tube.....sure enough having three inches of fuel left was not enough, you need four he said.

Day 20 - Columbus Day - Annapolis, MD to Solomons Island, MD

Today we traveled from Port Annapolis Marina to Solomons Island, MD., an all day run of about 60 miles down the Chesapeake. What a beautiful bay she is too. About two miles short of our destinaion, the starboard engine quit because of what I thought was dirty fuel. After registering at the office of Zahniser's (say Budweiser a few times)Yachting Center I asked Paul, one of the 12 mechanics employed there, if my suspicions were correct. He answered in the affirmitive. He also offered to stop by tomorrow if we needed help. We would let them know....

Days 11 to 19 - Annapolis, Maryland

On Sunday the 6th we attended the last day of the US Powerboat show and then we took the watertaxi over the Charthouse Restaurant, where we both had an excellent dinner. We hung at the Port of Annapolis Marina for a few days and then on Thursday we rented a car from Enterprise and drove the 6 hours back to Clyde to handle a funeral.Both Friday and Satuday were uneventful, so we returned to Annapolis later on Saturday. Well, unknown to us, Annapolis had a huge rain and wind storm on Friday and somehow or another we lost our dinghy and the davits. We had the car until Monday, so we decided the go to the Paxtucket River Appreciation Dasys and they really know how to a festival down here. A great time of everything nautical and food.

Day 10 - Saturday, October 5th, 2013 - Worton's Creek to Annapolis

We left Worton's Creek Marina at 9:00AM and arrived in beautiful Annapolis at 12:30 PM.
You have to understand Annapolis to realize why it is known as the "Sailing Capital of the World." We are docked at the Port of Annapolis Marina, another huge marina with over 500+ boats.
Out of the 500 boats here I bet more than 400 are sail boats and out of those 400, more than half are full time "live aboards". We had never seen so many sticks in one place before.

The Port of Annapolis Marina is a privately owned business and the owner lives and works this business like he cares about boaters. He is around 24/7/365. and it is the second place winner in our quest for the perfect marina. It has every marine related facility and business located here, plus every amenity known to boaters, including clean and cared for showers and bathrooms, club house, fitness center,  bikes, pump outs and wireless internet all, of course at no charge, plus they have free shuttle van service, free pool, free laundry, free putting green ,a water taxi stop, picnic area, playground, and a great restaurant known as the Dockside Grille. Their "goodie packet" alone reduces cost to about $2.00 per foot.

There rates are $2.75 a foot ($83.85 per diem) for transients, a week or longer will cost you $11.00 a foot ($418.00), a month or longer is $25.00 a foot ($960.00) and 12 months or more is a flat rate of $6,325.00.....double of what I pay now, but down here you are in the water 12 months of the year, as very few boaters pull their boats out of the water for the months of January and February.
Right now, I pay over $3,000 a year for this boat, and I am seriously considering making a permanent move. I love the weather and atmosphere of southern boating.

If it has to do with boating they do it here. They have a fully stocked ship's store and they also do fiberglass repairs, bottom refinishing, engine sales and repairs, rigging, electrical repairs, fabrication custom carpentry and woodworking.

The reason it is still not number one is the size, it is just too big (18 acres) and location....it is too close to downtown Annapolis and it is located on the Back Creek of the Serven River, which is just a busy boating harbor. All you see is boat after boat after boat. This marina is noting like an average marina up north.

The weather for the past 10 days has been great too......sunny and warm, with the temps in the high 70's and mid 80's every day. But as we all know, good things will soon come to an end. Everyone here is concerned about the Tropical Storm Karen that is coming up the coast.
 If the weather is good, we are going to be traveling to Solomon's Island, MD,  if not, we stay here, and fly out of Baltimore home so I can do a funeral before resuming our trip.

Day 9 - Friday, October 4th, 2013 - Cheaspeake City to Worton's Creek, Maryland

We left Summit North Marina at 8:15 AM and arrived here at 12 Noon, for just a nice, peaceful ride toward Worton's  Creek, and this is about just enough time for me behind the helm, because after 4 hours steering it gets very, very boring.
We pulled out into the C and D canal hung a sharp turn to starboard and continued on down the center of the canal into the Elk River. We stayed within the shipping channels all the way down to Wortons Creek Marina, then a hard turn to port put us right into our slip here.
It is a nice marina, but nothing like the Utche's Marina of Cape May, NJ (it spoiled us early in our trip).

Lunch aboard and then an afternoon of rest, followed by a local restaurant for dinner called Harbor House. It was nice place with great food and even better, friendlier service.

Tomorrow we shall be on our way to Annapolis and the US Powerboat show....Yeah!!

Worton's Creek Marina is a nice, family owned and run business.
Dockage is $2.50 per foot.

Day 8 - Thursday October 3rd, 2013 - Cape May, NJ to Chesepeake City, MD

We left Utche's Marina a t 8AM today and planned our day in the following manner.....we would take the Cape May Canal out to Delaware Bay, have lunch in Delaware and the go on to Maryland via the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, winding down our day at a marina called Summit North in Chesapeake City MD.
After taking on an additional 130 gallons of fuel at 3.39 per gallon at Utche's Marina we got underway. We were in Delaware by 10 AM, had lunch at about 11:30 and kept on going to Chesapeake City in Maryland, arriving at Summit North at about 4PM. All marinas down this way are large, especially this one, however this is too large for me, acreage-wise. It is about a half-hour walk from the boat to the office.......or Restaurant, which is called Aqua- Sol. We had dinner here and it's food is excellent and Miami style.


The St. George's Bridges welcome you to Maryland



We are small here compared to other boats. A 50' Marine Trader Europa Style



The Lucky Find III is a dink in comparison.



On the left is a 50's and on the right our 38 footer. You can see and  feel the difference right away.

Summit North Marina




The marina's fine restaurant, serving everything Miami Style.

Summit North is a brand new mahttp://www.summitnorthmarina.comrina, charges $2.00 a foot for a transient

Day 7 - Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013Cape May, NJ

We decided to spend an extra day in Cape May, so this AM we took our bicycles and went for a ride around Cape May. We had breakfast in a place called Zoe's. It was quite good, except the portions were small.
We rode back to the boat around 10:30 AM and passed a place right next door to Utsch's Marina called the Lobster House. I went in to see if I could get a reservation for dinner tonight, but was told they do not accept reservations, however the girl said she would make sure I had a table at 6:30 PM. The Lobster House also has a fish market, so I bought some lobster salad and shrimp salad for lunch along with a fresh loaf of their house bread (onion bread) . It was excellent, so I knew that dinner would even be better. After lunch we just hung around the boat yard all day until dinner time, then we went to the Lobster House for dinner.....but of course, first came cocktails aboard the sailing schooner Americana. Utsch's Marina had the best facilities so far, making our local marina look like a POS, and the rest of the marinas also. Talk about clean, their bathrooms were spotless and not only that you had a choice between a private bathroom and a locker-room style. They give you keys for both, but I really have to say the building with the boaters lounge and pvt. baths was superb.
All furniture is wicker or bamboo, and it all fit in nicely with the surrounding atmosphere.
The marina itself is huge with 615 slips accommodating boats up to 200 feet in length.....it just made any other marina that we had ever been to look and feel crappy. and for $2.25 per foot, we got, the most bang for your buck!!. Their " goodie packet", given to each transient boater is fantastic. A bottle of local wine, tee-shirts and a whole bunch of local advertising materials.

Cape May, NJ is noted for their architecture

From modern skyscrapers downtown to...

the Victorian homes which put Cape May on the National Register of Historic place, the only city in America with that distinction.

The NUMBER ONE MARINA SO FAR....Utschs Marina.based on cleanliness, bathroom facilities, and friendliness.



Day 6 - Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 - Atlantic City to Cape May

We celebrated Dottie's birthday by leaving AC at 8:15 AM and traveling the 60 some miles to Cape May. It was a very long and twisty ride., You see, we took the inside route (ICW)  all the way. Had we gone outside and taken the ocean, it would have been only a 32 mile ride.

The Jersey ICW  added, probably double the mileage, but it was slow and leisurely, and of course well worth it.. We went through Ventnor, Margate and Longport......all towns that I knew really well from my teens of growing up in Margate.
What changes have happened over the past 30 some odd years, properties that were selling for 20 and 30 G;s are now selling for 300-500K. Since Superstorm Sandy hurt, Jersey has changed it building code to one of safety and pre-cautionary.....all waterfront homes, now, must be built on stilts at least 16 feet high. We also went through some very narrow channels and "skinny water" and by skinny I mean shallow, 2 feet or less under our keel and by narrow I mean channels that are maybe 20' feet wide.

After passing the inlet at Longport, we were in Ocean City, then Sea Isle City, Avalon, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest and the finally Cape May.

We are staying at a marina call Utsch's Marine Center and will be here until at least Thursday, the 3rd of October. Then it will be off to Chesapeake City, DE and Annapolis, MD.  Once we get to Annapolis, we will be there till at least Monday the 7th because I want to attend the US Powerboat show.

Day 5 - Monday, September 30, 2013 - Forked River to Atlantic City

We left the dock at 9:00AM and arrived in AC at 12 Noon, just in time for a buffet lunch at the Golden Nugget Casino.
We are docked at the Senator James Farley Marina, which is right across the street from the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, which is right next door to Harrah's Casino and Hotel. Here are a few pictures from Atlantic City before lunch.

The Atlantic City In-Water Boat show was over yesterday and I figured they would have room to stay, and I was right. Out of 640 slips, only 385 are filled year-round, and the rest is for transients and boat show guests. They charge $3.00 a foot for nothing but a parking space and the closeness of Atlantic City.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Dottie's Birthday and we will go to Cape May, NJ for the day.

Day 4, Sunday September 29th, 2013 - Forked River, NJ

We spent today just doing nothing, no cruising or going anywhere. You see, if you don't know NJ at all, we are right across the bay from Tom's River......where Dottie's parents and relatives live.


Dottie's father picking us up in Forked River to go shopping.

so....my father-in-law picked us up to go food shopping and then to a discount marine store, which ws no really discount at all.

After shopping, Dottie did all the laundry and then we went to dinner at the marina's restaurant with Dottie's parents and cousins Jeff and Helene Roscoe.
Dinner was fantastic, and hopefully someday the resturants we now frequent in and around Upstae, NY will be similar.

The Tiki Hut Bar at the Marina

They have a bar down here called the Tiki Hut which also serves lunch, which that too was terrific.

Sun setting at the Captain's Inn and Marina, Forked River, NJ

Day 3 - Saturday, September 28th, 2013 - Manasquan, NJ to Forked River, NJ

We had left Manasquan at about 9:00AM and arrived in Forked River, NJ at about 3:00PM. I was chatting with a fellow boater this morning and he said that NJ should be our worst experience as far as running aground goes. Although magazines and others say it will be in the Carolinas and Georgia. It is just devastating what Super storm Sandy did, especially down here.

The trip from Manasquan to Forked River was uneventful after the first two hours, and I'll explain why. 

We ran aground in Manasquan AGAIN. Buried in the soft sands of NJ, but this time, we got buried hard in the sand. We waited for the Towboat US like about 20 minutes and by the time he got ready to tow us a bit, the tide rose enough to free us and on our way we went.
Let me tell you, the best thing I ever did was sign up for Boat's US unlimited towing package, because I got my money back yesterday and on Friday 9 fold. You see, a soft-grounding cost just a tad under $500.00 each time, Friday's bill was $467.00 and the same for Saturdays bill.......so I definitely did the right thing.

The weather today was another hit....mid 70's and low 80's with 100% sunshine. In fact, they are calling for that same type of day tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ( although, the temps may rise to mid 80's) Thursday and Friday.

We are docked at the Captain's Inn and Marina in Forked River, NJ. The reason we picked Forked River was so my mother in law and Father in law who live about 5 minutes away in Bayville, could have dinner with us on Sunday, along with Dottie's cousin and her hubby Jeff.

I met a guy by the name of Peter James who owns company called The Big Pond Boatworks. www.bigpondboatworks.com and he is going to single hand it to Key West aboard his 52' sailboat, Viewfinder......what nice guy he was and we are supposed to meet up again in Norfolk, VA. Every boat he builds, he builds from the hull up, and his wood craftsmanship is second to none. Simply beautiful boats, with beautiful lines.

We will leave here on Monday and if it is calm enough, we are going to take the outside passage( in the Atlantic Ocean) south to Cape May, if not, we will remain inside (ICW) to Atlantic City. Both Dottie and I are looking forward to visiting Cape May, as either of us have been there before.

MORE PICS TOMORROW

Day 2 Friday, September 27th, 2013 - NYC to Manasquan, NJ

Well, being our first day was uneventful, lets see if today is the same.
We left Liberty Landing Marina


The fuel dock at Liberty Landing Marina in NYC as we were leaving

at about 9AM and arrived in Manasquan, NJ at 4:00PM, a run of almost 60 miles, however it was not completely uneventful.
We were supposed to follow some friends, (Roger and Dorothy Hayes aboard SLOW CHURN) of ours to Manasquan, however they travel about 2 hours earlier in the AM than we do.....so, we decided to meet at Manasquan. Mistake #1......

Our welcoming committee at Hoffman's Marina.....what a beauty!

The trip through Lower NY harbor is a maze of buoys , ferries and freighter's, but after about an hour of not knowing where we were heading, and watching our charts and e-charts we figured it out. I have to say one thing for captains of ferry boats....they suck!! They try their best to come as close as possible and have their wake rock the crap out you. They are the most rude and obnoxious bunch of boat captains we had ever met.

We headed down the New Jersey Coastline finally getting a response from the Manasquan Coast Guard on the VHF radio. They gave us our position and then told me to hang a sharp left and we would see the inlet.....they never said it was the Manasquan inlet and it wasn't. I listened and they were wrong....MISTAKE #2. Never listen to anyone!!
We lazied up the Shark River through two draw bridges and a railroad bridge with no sight of Slow Churn, so I called Dorothy on the cell, and she said they had just entered Manasquan and that they had just gone through the railroad bridge.....:Where are you"? she asked. I was getting more and more pissed, because as far as I am concerned when I ask someone for help, either they give it or they don't. and I kept telling Dottie, "Wait till I get Roger" "I am going to yell and beat him to a pulp".I WAS PISSED!
We tied up at the first marina we saw and we asked someone why the Manasquan Inlet was not so busy, his response was "this is not the Manasquan Inlet, it is the Shark River Inlet, Manasquan is about 5 miles south of here."..so we had lunch, re-couped and headed back out into the ocean, turned right (starboard) and headed south.
After about an hour, Manasquan came into view.....I was boiling inside ready to attack Roger for not waiting for us earlier in the day.

(You see, Roger and Dorothy come from Toms River, NJ and live aboard full time on Slow Churn. If anyone knows NJ it is them.
We have gone out of our way numerous times to help them out, lending them our car and whatever it took to give assistance. However, they could not do the same for us, but that is a whole different story, that I will not get into here.....)



Some sport fishing machines we tied up in front of....

After heading through Manasquan inlet, Dottie points and says there is the Point Pleasant Canal, so I throw a hard left (port) to enter the canal and then... BOOM....nothing. I had run aground in the soft, white sands of NJ. The Coast Guard answered me on Channel 16, saying, "We can see you captain, but we figured you knew what you were doing"......a few hours earlier giving me instruction, although wrong, on where the Manasquan Inlet was located.
So after waiting about 30 minutes for the BOAT US Tow Boat to arrive, and free us, which I must say they were very helpful, we were on our way again.....pulling into Hoffman's East Marina at exactly 4:00 PM.

An un-eventful day ??....to say the least, eh!

Tomorrow we head to Forked River and Bayville, NJ on our own.

Day 1 Thursday, 09/26/13 - Stony Point, NY to NYC

Competing with a freighter on the Hudson River

Well, at least on the River, the Hudson River that is. We left Patsy's Bay Marina in Stony Point this afternoon at 1:45 PM (we had to wait for a tide high enough to get us out) and arrived in the Haverstraw Marina to buy some fuel at 2:00PM. Let me tell you something about a small marina, like Patsy's Bay....there is nothing like it... the owner, Mike was as hospitable as could be always asking if what we needed from them, and the manager Jim Tammen was fantastic and very helpful. Last year, after being hit by Superstorm (Hurricane Sandy), they just bounced right back, rebuilt and are on their way ONCE again. Jim wished us well, and the we hit the throttles and left.


I thought we were going to see prices in excess of $5.00 per gallon for diesel fuel, but instead the fuel was $4.40 per gallon. I took on exactly 100 gallons of diesel (as I only had about 60 gallons left from last season, and we hold about 310 gallons) and we shoved off at 2:30 PM.with 160 gallos of diesel in the tanks.

Ahhh....the Tappan Zee Bridge

The weather was beautiful, sunny and cool, the highs only in the mid-seventies. We followed the Hudson River south until we arrived at Battery Park in NYC, hung a sharp turn to starboard (right) and we tied up at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ at 6:30PM.

And the workers that make bridges.....as they are building the Tappan Zee 2

Now, Liberty Landing Marina is in a class by itself.....any marina who charges a transient rate of $4.40 a foot per night is in a class by itself, but just about all of their income goes to advertising. And for some reason, most boaters heading south stay here. Maybe it's the draw of the Manhattan skyline or bathrooms that attracts all the transients. Dottie and I were both raised in NYC, and find nothing super, except for the boater's lounge and bathrooms, about this marina.

After tying up and putting things away, we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner of sausage, creamy macaroni with a garlic parmesan sauce and dessert, aboard the boat.

I was exhausted and hit the pillow by 8:00PM. Tomorrow it is onward to Manasquan, NJ and then to Forked River, NJ

Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City charging $4.40 ($167.20 per night) per foot, and gives you nothing but beautiful views of Manhattan. RIP OFF to Say The Least.



The George Washington Bridge welcome all travelers along the Hudson River to NYC....

Finally....It has been a 3 year preperation!!

Well, here we are, September 25th, and as promised, and we are shoving off in the morning.

We made the trip to Stony Point via car. We had left Clyde at 9:20AM and arrived here at 1:15 PM. The only thing that did happen was:

 I ran out of gas in the van. Dottie and I were shooting the shit and not paying attention the fuel level, ligt or gauge. and all of a sudden, about 1 mile from our destination, the car just quit. I did a bunch of exspearlitives and then realized it was nothing major.....we we were out of gas. We sat on the side of 9W Southbound for only 10 minutes when a real nice guy asked if we were ok.....Dottie explained the situation and lo and behold he said well, I have a five gallon reserve that I keep in a portable tank in my truck......he ran to the truck, got the gas and a funnel and we were off after giving him a $20.00 dollar bill as our way of saying thanks. He took it and then we drove about a half-mile to a Gulf station, fillered her up to the tune of $73.00 bucks!and off to the marina we went. We had heroes for lunch, and then unpacked the car and put everything away in the boat.

At 6PM we went to a nice Italian restaurant called Babes.....there I had calamairi and shrimp fra diavalo and dottie had shrimp parm......both of us agreed it was a delisious meal, and well worth the few bucks we spent for it. It is bedtime soon and tomorrow AM we leave for the Florida Keys.....after filling fuel and water tanks and doing a few odd jobs on the boat.

September 25th .....we will resume this blog

We will continue our blog on September 25th when we resume our trip to the Florida Keys.

Stops will include, Leg 1- NYC, Manasquqn, NJ; Forked Rive Atlantic City, NJ; & Cape May, NJ

Leg 2 - Delaware and Maryland
Leg 3 - Virginia, Washington, DC
Leg 4 - North and South Carolina and Georgia
Leg 5 - Northern Floida to West Palm Beach
Leg 6 - West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach......ananananand.......................KEY LARGO

Our final destination.

New Link on our web page

We have added a new link to our website, it is Titled......Hurricaine Sandy, The Aftermath

Check it out here: Hurricane Sandy

Updated News

OK, so I made five trips to Florida this winter season, and most will say for what.

Well, Trip One I covered here already. I went to the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in October and I got stuck here for an extra week thanks to Sandy closing all airports into NYC.

Trip two was in December, I flew down to secure a slip for next winter, but had no luck. The Florida Keys have way too many marinas and the choices are overwhelming. I need to get Dottie to come down with me. Actually it was a trip I could not turn down; airfare was a whopping $39.95 r/t, from Atlantic City to Fort Lauderdale.

Trip three was during the second week in January. Dottie did not want to go, but told me the type of marina we should be in.....so I followed through, and I found a nice,  family owned marina on Key Largo in Tavernier. Check it out at Blue Waters Marina

One of the marinas I did look at had a dockaminium for sale.

This place was called the Manatee Club in Key Largo. It is located at MM125.5 oceanside as you come into the Keys from the mainland. Perfect setting, in fact it was all too perfect.

Here is a link to a few pictures of the place and the slip: Manatee Bay Yacht Club Photos

Trip Four: So, Dottie and I flew back down in the third week of January only to have what follows happen......

That story, in a quick synopsis, goes like this. The person who owned the slip paid $267,500 for it back in 2006. As we all know, the real estate market fell apart in 2008, and guy bellied up owing the bank about $110,000.00. All the bank wants is to get out of the real estate business and back to banking.

Dottie and I put in an offer of $50,000., but then some Cuban gentleman put in a bid of $51,250 and he got the dock. However, prior to anyone knowing of him, or his bid, the bank calls me and tells me we got it, then within a half hour I get a call from the broker with some BS story about Senor Jamma and the bank was unware of his bid, and it is higher than ours. No chance for a second time bid.

After some quick research, I found I could have brought a discrimination suit against the bank, however, I can't blame them. See, the bank is based in Cuba, Senor Jamma lives in Cuba and the real estate broker is Cuban also. Now, if the bank was Bank of America, and the broker was an American, I would proudly own this slip.....but I dont.
Oh well, so is business, and as Dottie would say "apparently it was not meant to be....".

But it was not all wasted, we visited some boating buddies of ours, Roger and Dorothy Hayes aboard their Tug named Slow Churn. We had not seen them since July 4th of 2012.

We got everything in order with  Blue Waters Marina and flew back home on the 21st of January. Temps started dropping rapidly, and we decided on a road trip.....We can we go, where it will be warm.....FLORIDA....LOL

TRIP FIVE:

Crossing into Florida from Georgia

On January 25th we left NY to drive to the Florida Keys, so off we go for a three week excursion......and we had a blast. It took us four days to cross into Florida, and four days to drive home. We stopped to see friends and relatives all along the way. Mickey & Elaine Storto our dear friends who moved to Hilton Head last May, Dave Dozier and his wife, they own theRegatta Point Marina in Deltaville, VA and they also publish the Waterway Guide Chart Books. We met them back in 2009 at a trawler-fest on Hutchinson Island, FL., Gary & Carol Federation, (former Oak Park Boaters), Bruce & Diane Malboeuf, my cousin Rick and his wife Chris, Rolfe and Harriet Wall, cruising buddies of ours we met in Alabama two years ago and did the Erie with them this year.

On our way south we visited the towns of Annapolis, MD; Virginia Beach, VA; Deltaville, VA; Morehead City, NC; Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks, NC; Charleston, SC; Stuart, FL, then drove across the state to N. Ft. Myers Beach, FL, then north to Bradenton, Clearwater, North Redington Beach, Tampa and on to Old Town and Suawnee, through Gainesville, St. Augustine, Charleston, NC and Hagerstown, MD and finally Clyde, NY.

As soon as I get back to my own desk, I will add some pics, etc.

Just as a reminder to all: Miami Boat Show begins later on this month.....LOL, you never know, now do you??

Florida Update

I did not realize that my last post to this blog was back in November.....How time flies when you are having a blast!!!, and we have been having a great time.

Anyway, this cold, snowy, winter season is almost over. After four air trips to the Florida Keys and one car trip I need to update everyone on what has been going on. However, for now, I will just say this.....whoever said driving to Florida is cheaper than flying, just never did the math. I will never drive to Florida again....LOL.

I expect to be back in Clyde by the 13th of February and will do a complete update no later than the 21st of February. I have to get funeral home business back on track first....then Florida business.

Also, to those who thought we were buying a dockaminium, forget about it. The deal fell apart and I lost the bid by $1,200.00, but that is another whole post.

Currently we are in Charlotte, NC, tomorrow we will be in Hagerstown, MD.