We enjoyed an extended stay at Solomon’s thanks to — can you guess? — the weather. Two lovely days, one one day of gale conditions and historic flooding. We picked a good spot to ride it out.
October 28 – 31 Solomons, MD Days 16 – 20
We left Annapolis behind as the clouds cleared out, the sun began to shine brightly and a stiff northwest breeze pushed us down the bay. Small Craft Advisories were up. It was blustery — 15 – 25 knots — but as it was behind us, we were pretty comfortable. The current was erratic, first against us, then with us, then against us. The sea state got a little lumpy when it turned against us off Jefferson Island at the entrance to Eastern Bay, so we pushed up our speed for twenty minutes or so to get beyond it, and life became happy again.
It has been a long time — far too long — since we really went cruising. We’re about to cast off the lines again.
October 10, 2021 Portsmouth, RI
We are sitting aboard the Esmeralde in our slip at New England Boat Works in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. It is early evening, very dark, and raining. Our two new puppies, now five months old, are beginning to learn boat routine. They have adapted wonderfully. We are optimistic.
As we cruise, Bruce and I don’t always agree on what is a “good” destination or a “not so good” destination. This last stretch of North Carolina, to Swansboro, Surf City, Wrightsville Beach, Southport and Bald Head Island had some of each. And logistics scrambled our plans.
November 9 – 13, 2019 Swansboro – Surf City – Bald Head Island, NC Days 28 – 31
We don’t typically “plan” very much when we cruise. We have general intentions, but plans? No. On this last stretch of the North Carolina ICW, our lack of plans tripped us up a bit. We had to punt, and make some last-minute switches.
True to form, our fall trip out of New England is punctuated by regular gales. It’s always nice when the gales schedule themselves so we can hang in nice places. Cape May is definitely a nice place to hang. When the weather settled we ran up the Delaware Bay.
October 19 – 22, Cape May, NJ Days 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
We were settled in at South Jersey Marina in Cape May by 3:30 on Saturday afternoon after the 120-mile run from Atlantic Highlands. Always a little buzzy after a long, fast run, I got the dogs off the boat to go for a walk and to get the blood circulating again. It was a beautiful warm afternoon and town appeared relatively crowded. Lots of folks were out enjoying a nice fall Saturday.
Esmeralde is on the move. So are the fall gales, just like last year.
October 12 – 15, 2019, Days 0 – 3
Portsmouth, RI – Stonington, CT – Mamaroneck, NY
Thus begins our Winter Cruise 2019 – 2020. It will generally be a re-run of last year’s trip down the ICW to Florida, across Lake Okeechobee, along the Gulf Coast then down the the Keys. We will stop at some of our favorite spots from last time, and also add as many new destinations as we can. There is plenty to see and do. And, of course, it is a great way to get away from the New England winter cold, ice and snow. Continue reading Here We Go Again!→
All things fun (and tasty) in the life of the Beards
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