Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sunday, October 30 - 31 - Chesapeke to Norfolk

Chesapeke City, at the top on the Chesapeke Bay at the western end of the C&D Canal ... quante colorful historical town ... at one time a boat ran into the bridge connecting it to the mainland and they were without a bridge for 7 years .. back in the early 1800's ... I bet that captain was fired!


On of the historic B&B's in Chesapeke ... look carfully for the guy climbing the rope.



One of the Christmas Tree looking navigational markers ... it is pretty high tech ... from one way it is one thing and the other it is something diffferent ... and you should see the ships that use them ... makes any boat look like a dingy!



About 1/3 of gthe way down the Chesapeke Bay is the famous town of Annapols. This "Sailing Capitol of America" is quite a place and the main reason why wedecided to take the longer route up the Delaware and down the Chesapeke. These bridges spans the Chesapeke just before Annapolis city. They are the William Lane Jr Memorial Bridges.




The first thing you notice on arrival into Annapolis are the Buildings ... these are part of the Naval Academy and they dominate a lot of the town.


The second thing you notice here is how quickly they come to collet the Mouring Fees! Here is the Harbor Master giving us the Q&D tour of what to see in Annapols.


Here is Saber Tooth swinging at the mouring in Annapols. It is very cool to be here.



The famous "Chart House Restaurant". We picked a mouring ball just ourside their huge windows overlooking the bay ... and of course as a result Saber Tooth was there for the dinner guests to look at ... hey ... if "they" can show off why can't we ... :-)



Here we are (well mor of the "we" part) having dinner at the "best crab cakes on the Bay" place .... now I understand what all those "Crab Pots" were about that we had been dodging in the bays for the last couple of days.






Some of the Halloween festivities ... this was a boat that catered to the Pirates in the city ... this group was a bunch of kids.


The streets slope down to the water ... with the boats far in the distance.




We had dinner with Eva, Jonathan and Justin at "Pussers" and then a quick visit on the boat before they drove 45 minutes to home. Great small world where it took a visit to Annapolis to get to meet Johnathon and revisit with Eva after 7 years.




All good things must come to an end and it was time to push on ... a great destination for all this place called Annapolis ... wonderful history, places to see, people and food.




On route down the Chesapeke ... more divesity in the "Aids to Navigation" and the boaters who like to be close to them.

One of many commercial vessels that frequent the waterways. They are bigger than us and


Sunrise in Sandy Point, Reedville
We got here Saturday, 7:30 PM, very dark. We did cruise 80 nm from Annapolis, battled with wind, wave and strong current against us. Many times the boat just stopped, not moving..it's not fun at all.

The next day when the fetch from inlets and bays allowed the waves to build ... short and steep ...



burried bow with dorads piping in salt water to the cabin ... everything wet ...




All is calm on arrival to Norfolk ... Thimble Shoal Light
We anchor in Willoby Bay for the night as the winds build from the NW with a "Canadian High" building in behind it.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

We are in Chesapeake City...amazing 8 hours cruising!

It started with very 'stress' early morning..05:00 o'clock..oh boy, so dark, all you can see so many flashing red and green lights, plus a very bright white light in the distance..what is that? Meanwhile you had to keep looking to the depth, this low and high tide things not fun at all! Especially after the experience stucked in the sand for half an hour..skipper Shawn where are you..you leave us!

Here some of the pictures of Cape May, Delaware Bay and C & D Canal..


Nora, background Cape May Light House


Strolling in down town Cape May, watching the parade


So cute...


Band from the Town in the Halloween Parade


Tourists in town...^_^



As soon as you enter Delaware Bay you will see this marker and many more like it.


Don't be so stress Captain..enjoy the ride, the strong current in the bay speed up the trip


First time to reach 10 to 10.3 kn


I like this light house..we are in the middle of Delaware Bay


Entering C & D canal, first bridge:


Chesapeke Inn docks in Chesapeke City



Planning the next leg with Dianne and Ted from Boatel.ca ... it is great to meet others and learn from their experiences!


Saturday, October 23, 2010

Saturday, October 23, 14:30: We are in Cape May

We keep pressing on to the blue Atlantic Ocean

We will post photos of the trip from Highland Landing, Hudson River to Cape May when we get better connection.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Back to sail boat again...

Arrived in Hop-O-Nose Marina Saturday,
October 16, 14:30..we were rafting to 2 other boats, Zelkova (from Montreal) and Sundance (from Chicago).

Sunday, 07:00 AM..preparation for the mast..

View from Hop-O-Nose, sunrise in the channel 

Here is the equipment to put up the mast

Coffee in the morning Captain? Hm...

With the smile? Hm...

Hang on Shawn..

Hold tight..is getting there

Finally...

Burger for lunch..

Nice place to rest after few tough days

Boaters shopping provision..call the cab

What a night..chatting and M&M

and..bon-fire...

Tomorrow still working on mast..