Our First Coast Guard Boarding and First Anchor Out!

Coast Guard "Big Guns" approaching us

We left Annapolis looking forward to a sunny day of cruising down the Chesapeake Bay. As we were enjoying the sunshine we heard a siren and looked around and found the Coast Guard approaching with lights and sirens on. Seems while Dixie was using the chart plotter, Captain Jack cut 100 feet across a security zone, and the Coast Guard came out of nowhere. We were boarded and all our documents and safety gear was checked and we were told to go on our way but to pay closer attention to security zones.

After our Coast Guard encounter, we went a few hours further down the bay and anchored off the Great Wicomico River on Cockrell Creek. We had our first dinghy ride, our first anchor out, and . . . . our first sunny day. The first time of the trip that we didn't need our warm coats - all reasons to celebrate!

Annapolis

October 31, we raced from Cape May all the up the Delaware Bay through the C and D Canal and into the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis all in one very long 125 mile day. We decided we deserved a break and stayed an extra day to explore Annapolis. We had only been there during boat show so it was nice to see it from a different perspective. The highlight was our tour of the Naval Academy.

The Naval Oath

 Navy Won the Game the Day Dixie was Born!

The Naval Academy was really impressive.  Beautiful Architecture, an amazing military tradition, and of course a proud sporting tradition!

We all enjoyed  an afternoon of looking through the shops and 

walked at least 6 miles all around the town. 

The Boys Shopping with their new Annapolis Hats





Our Trusty Mascot

Annie the  Halloween Witch

No one was sure how Annie
would fare on the boat, 
so we thought we'd let you
see how she is doing!

She is a great boat dog
-she is still good at letting
us know if anyone is
coming on the boat!

Annie loves her new
friend Brian. -dosn't love waiting
all day to get off the
boat  to go potty!

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty

We left Haverstraw New Jersey on the Hudson River heading for NYC to stop at a marina right across from the Statue of Liberty for a perfect view of all the fireworks for her 125 birthday, but when we heard the weather report of the impending storm, we went right past, and headed out to sea and into the first inlet about 30 miles.

  

Where's the Dock?

It was a good move because the 40 knot winds and snow and flooding all started that night and lasted a few more days.

We ended up in Brielle New Jersey and had to wait out an extra day becuase of the rain, sleet, snow, wind and flooding!  Here is a photo of our dock - we were kind of stuck on the boat at high tide becuase everything was flooded under water.    We headed out but . . . Talk about cold!    John was wrapped up in his warm clothes, mittens, hat and scarf, and with the bed quilt over all that! Its gets really cold up top driving the boat in the wind when the air temperature is already just below freezing! 

Can't believe our trusty first mate Brian is still with us - when he checks the weather back home in California he just shakes his head and wonders why he signed up for this crazy adventure with us!

Cruising down the Hudson River

Hudson River Lighthouse

They have the most interesting lighthouses in New York State! We only went 60 miles today, we had lots of fog, and rain and lots of floating logs in the water to dodge.   We stopped at Haverstraw Marina just 25 miles out of New York City Harbour and really hope we don't wake up to the snow that is forecasted.

Richelieu river and chambly canal

We were excited to get to Montreal but the locks took so long to get through that it was almost dark so we got to the outskirts and tied up to a closed marina.


In the morning we headed to Sorel past Montreal and into the Richelieu river. So many people had told us this was there favorite part of this whole trip and we could see why - It was truly beautiful even though it was cold and the leaves were dropping almost as fast as we were moving.

Dixie had misread the lock openings and about halfway into our leisurely day realized if we didn't arrive to the first lock at St. Ors by noon that we couldn't go through the Chambly canal for 2 more days. So captain jack sped up and Dixie called and convinced the lock master to stay open an extra 15 minutes and we made it. We got to Chambly and had a wonderful afternoon and evening with one of the best meals of our trip. Bright and early we entered into the first Chambly lock and four hours later we were through all nine of them. We coudnt stop on the way and tie up to the picturesque town docks and walk around because we were the only boat going through and the six people it took to run each lock had to physically walk between each lock and open them as we went. During the summer they had a full staff at each lock and would have more than 150 boats each day. We really appreciated how friendly and accommodating they all were, especially since we were the only boat through that day. We would like to go back and explore more because it is truly lovely.

St. Lawrence Seaway and Locks

We left Kingston, blasted by the thousand Islands and got through the first few locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

At first it was a little intimidating, especially when we had to wait for 2 hours at each lock for the 300 plus ft commercial cargo ships.  Up to this point we hadn't seen any other  private boats out on the water,  and when we called marinas for dockage we were told everyone was closed for the season.   We were sure glad Brian was with us, as  some of the locks had a 40 foot drop and required a person on each bow and stern line, and  John was busy at the helm keeping things steady.