The Voyage of Foxglove

Lots of new photos and posts!

In an attempt to catch up, I've posted a few quick words on what we've been up to since we left NYC and a selection of photos to boot!  

All of the posts since the one titled 'new posts'  are new and all of the photos above the album titled the '4th of July'.  Remember to click the arrow at the bottom of the photos as some take two pages to display as there are so many.

I haven't had time to properly edit either and still have to title the photos - but that should keep you going for a bit.

If you keep reading, we will do a post a week from now on.... photos may take a bit longer as they are harder to upload.

Enjoy

PS, here is one to keep you going...

Its a worry.......  

 

The ICW

So of we went.... Lifting anchor at about 7am or earlier and running non stop until about three or so - just enough time to get settled into a new anchorage and to enjoy a couple of hours of sun, before eating and hitting the hay ready for another early start.  By this time, the weather was starting to get decidedly cooler.  Some nights were just a couple of degrees above freezing, but the days were warmer... if the sun came out - which it didn't manage to do for the first week or so.  

Travelling the ICW in a hurry, in the winter, really is a two sided experience.  Motoring in a very narrow channel makes it almost impossible to use the autopilot and necessitates a nodding dog action, 'up' to see where you are going, 'down' to look at the depth sounder.  Couple this with looking at the ubiquitous 'Skipper Bob' pilot book listing all the anchorages, hazards and bridge opening times - did I forget to mention, there are 85 bridges over the ICW's 1100 mile length?  Oh and then theres the tugs and barges....

The other side to this is the scenery and anchorages en route.  Some of the places we stopped for the night need to be seen to be believed.  Not a person for miles around.  No roads, no mobile phone signals and a couple of dolphins swimming around your boat at sunrise - idilic just doesn't do it justice.

Some of the ICW is just full of shallow spots or has such a torturous route (if you are in a hurry) that on occasions it makes sense to do a short twenty four hour ocean passage to make up some distance - weather permitting that is.  We managed a couple of these, from Beaufort in North Carolina to Charleston in South Carolina and from Charleston to Fernandina on the boarder of Florida and Georgia.  You can probably guess by now that Georgia has most of the bendy shallow bits!

Pretty much since Norfolk, we had been in full wet weather clothing, hats, gloves and fleeces - it had become chillier and chillier and although we had made some excellent distance, time was rolling on.  It was a huge relief therefore when on arriving in Florida, the sun came out.  Its bizarre to experience it, but one day it was frosty in the morning and the next afternoon, we were in shorts and t-shirts.  I think its something to do with Florida not being subject to the same weather patterns as the rest of the continental US, but it was a welcome shock nonetheless.  

With only another couple of hundred miles to go, it was time to start looking at potential weather for crossing to the Bahamas.  Unfortunately it all looked terrible, not just for the next few days, but for weeks afterwards.  It was now the end of the first week in December and things were getting perilously close to my 'eviction' from the US.  As a plan, we decided to head as far south as we could, in order to make the passage to the Bahamas easier.  The trip includes a crossing of the gulf stream (like on our trip from Bermuda if you want to know more about it!) and as such the weather has to be good in order to make a safe passage.  So with that in mind, we set off from Fort Pierce, Florida with the thought of ending up in Miami a couple of days later - if the weather played ball.  Some nasty weather was forecast for two days time, but i thought we should just scrape in if we were lucky.

Well what was meant to be a nice easy passage along the coast turned a little bit sour, when the forecast winds of 10 to 20 knots quickly became 25 to 30.  Many boats decided to stay on the inside and continue down the coast on the the ICW.  It would take them longer, but they would be sure of a weather window for the crossing before Christmas..... probably.  

We stuck with it.  It was uncomfortable, but not desperately so and we were making progress, albeit slow when suddenly, the autopilot decided to put the rudder hard to port and stuck it there, refusing to budge, even with the power off.  Being only three miles from shore as we were and being blown towards it at a couple of miles per hour, this had the makings of a pretty serious situation.  Spanners and screwdrivers flew about and thank God, we had the thing apart and regained control a short while later.  We thought at that point that maybe we should return to Fort Pierce and take stock, but we decided to push on and hand steer (the wind vane autopilot wasnt rigged at the time) and see what the weather gave us.

Not a bad decision as it turned out.  Later that afternoon, the winds dropped to about 6 knots - very light and a sudden thought occurred to us - how far was Miami? How far were the Bahamas?  How do we clear out of the US whilst at sea?  With those questions answered and a quick radio call to our incredulous fellow travellers on the ICW to tell them that we wouldnt be seeing them in the anchorage that evening, we turned left and set a course for Grand Bahama, from where I'm writing this now, having been holed up in a marina to shelter from the nasty weather that was forecast (it was nasty and some)

So, a rather hasty and unplanned exit from the US and we were both somewhat disappointed to leave - I'll tell you why in my next post, but to arrive in the Bahamas, ahead of a storm and before I was due to get kicked out of the US was a bonus that neither of us expected and to be honest, we are very glad to be here!

Since we crossed, there hasnt been a suitable window for other boats to join us and by the looks of it there wont be for at least another week, if then.  Rather too close for comfort.

So here is where we will spend Christmas this year.  Away from families and friends, but we will be thinking of you all as we constantly do, so have a good one, all of you.  And if anyone finds a cheap flight or owns their own jet, then you more than welcome to join us.  We wont be sailing far as the weather looks somewhat windy, but there is plenty to keep you going whatever!

I'll do another post shortly with some thoughts on America and its people - not what I expected at all, but for now, I'll concentrate on putting up some photos... enjoy!

As they say in the Spanish Caribbean... Hasta Bananas

Portsmouth again!

I think by this time it had become apparent that I needed to be out of the US by the end of December, so moving South had become a real priority.  Sinead had popped back to the UK for a week, so Foxglove and I sailed down to Norfolk and Portsmouth to meet her and were put up on a dock in the centre of town by OCC members extraordinaire, Garry and Greta.  Once again, the timing was right an we got to see Norfolk's 'lit parade' - another fantastic parade of local groups and businesses, all festooned with thousands of fairy lights.  Pretty cool I thought - and were treated to dinner at a cool spot in the old district by yet more friends of friends - delicious as we'd come to expect! I'l talk some more about parades later and how important they appear to Americans, but for now, we paid a quick visit to yet another Portsmouth and then set sail... or rather motor, along one of the first really narrow stretches of the ICW... Southward bound.

Cheese Quake

For some reason, there was a typo in one of our cruising guides and the words Cheese Quake popped up instead of 'Chesapeake'  The Cheese Quake is a glorious bay, which we entered after returning from our little excursion inland.  Bordered on one coast by Annapolis, Baltimore and with Washington DC close by, this must have been one of the best cruising destinations we have come across to date.  Relatively sheltered waters, hundreds of sheltered bays with huge, beautiful anchorages which we regularly had to ourselves.  Couple that with great fishing, fascinating history and the above mentioned cities means we will definitely be back.  

Once again, we were helped enormously both by contacts and friends of Sandy and Sydney and also the OCC, where we joined a rare gathering of boats for an evening meal and met Ben and Lauren, who were to become great friends, inviting us to visit them in Washington and treating us like royalty despite their busy work schedules - Ben works for National Geographic and Lauren, the Washington Post.  Two kinder, more generous and hilarious people, you couldnt wish to meet.  As you will see, they are to feature more in times to come and long may it continue!

Our final time in the Chesapeake was spent in Deltaville, where we hauled out for a wee or two in order to do some underwater maintenance and ride out a huge storm that hit the East Coast.  Whilst we were there, Ben and Lauren invited us to stay with them and some friends at the Urbana Oyster festival, nearby.  Lauren described it as "parade, eat and then eat some more".... so, with that in mind, my love of American parades and my dwindling list of 'bad foods to try', we set off to join them and friends Chris and Stacey for a weekend of fun and oysters.  Once agin, we cant thank everyone enough for their kindness and generosity, we had a great time... again.

Snowbirds

So following another quick sightseeing trip of New York's Ellis Island, we turned South and following a quick twenty four hour trip in the ocean to avoid some shallows on the inside', we hit the intracoastal waterway for real....

Now, although as I mentioned earlier, some of the waterway is on narrow rivers and canals, some is also on very large rivers and bays.  It was two of these we came across almost immediately in our travels, firstly the Delaware river, on which we took a slight detour following it inland to the city of Philadelphia, both for a visit to this historic city, home of so much of America's independent history and for a visit to Sinead's uncle Hugo and his family, Nancy and Ryan.  Oh and how could I forget, home of the 'Phili Cheese steak', another mouthwatering concoction of bread, thin sliced steak, onions and 'cheeze whizz' and most definitely on my 'list of bad foods to eat' - yum!

As an aside, on the way in, we passed a rusty, decrepit old sea liner, looking as though it had been long long neglected in an abandoned Jetty, but at the same time, having the most amazing lines - looking as if it had stepped from a movie set in the thirties.  Aside from the rust and broken guard rails, this ship looked every inch of what I think a cruise liner should look like, rather than the gleaming white blocks of flats that seem to grace the seas these days.  It wasnt until several days later that I found a bit more information on its history.  It was the SS United States!  If you would like to read more about this amazing ship, then click here .  There is a group trying to preserve the vessel, but as ever, money is hard to come by.  We have since seen some of the preserved items from on board including a pair of women's shoes that were found on top of a chandelier in one of the state rooms..... must have been a rough old night.....

Heading South

As ever, summer only lasts so long, so we joined the steady procession of 'snowbirds' heading south for the winter.  

Our plan for the trip down was to take the 'Intracoastal Waterway', a network of bays, rivers and canals which boats can navigate from the very top of the East coast, right the way down to Florida in the South.  It was designed originally so that boats and barges could transport goods down the coast but wouldnt have to head out into the Atlantic to do so.  Its a fantastic engineering achievement and is a fantastic cruise in its own right.  The scenery, wildlife and anchorages are stunning, but as with most things, it does have its limitations... for one, many of the channels are very narrow and, as such, it is very difficult to sail - much of the trip having to be completed under motor.  Another limiting factor is the depth.  Although much of the trip can be completed in water no less than twelve feet deep, there are occasional spots where the depth drops to less than five - which is a bit of problem as Foxglove needs an absolute minimum of six.....

As you can imagine, this led to an occasional hairy moment.....

So, sadly, we left Rhode Island and headed back along the Sound to New York, stopping only to grab a bag of oysters from Jim, who had caught up with us in a power boat about three miles off shore... a fitting end to our time there.  

As ever, the trip wasnt without its 'excitement'....  On the second day, we had a demonstration of just how windy an rough it can be, even in a confined stretch of water like Long Island Sound. 

A couple of days later on approach to New York, we were boarded by the Coast Guard for an inspection of our safety equipment.  During this, we heard a yacht in distress over the radio.  About five miles ahead - a hundred yards in front of the statue of liberty, a French Canadian yacht had picked up some undefined material in their propellor and were drifting towards the shore.  As we listened, it became clear that they had managed to get their anchor down, but were still stuck and despite police and coastguard vessels attending, no one was prepared to help them out of their predicament.... at least not without a substantial four figure fee.  At the time, there was little we could do - we fully expected the situation to be resolved when we got close enough, an hour later.   Needless to say, that wasnt the case, so following the cruising maxim of at least trying to help others when ever possible, we changed course and went to investigate.

It turned out that the poor bunch had picked up about thirty metres of building 'blast proof' sheeting - the sort that goes on the outside of scaffolding to protect people below from dust etc.  There was just no way it was coming off on its own.  Having loaded what we could into their dinghy - about enough material to make a new set of sails! - it became apparent that the only way forward was to dive under the boat and to cut the rest free.  This is how I ended up scuba diving in New York Harbour, just in front of the Statue of Liberty, with coastguard and police boats watching.... an unusual occurrence, but fortunately a successful one!  Less than five minutes of work and the boat was free.... now what to do with all that material....  "Just chuck it in the water, the newly freed Canadian shouted to the police"

Summer in Rhode Island

Our original plan was to go to Maine, another few hundred miles to the North, however by this time we had fallen in love with some of the places we had visited and were determined not to rush from one spot to the next, so decided to modify our plans and cruise Rhode Island sound instead.  Coupled with this, Maine had some of its worst weather to date, so all in all it was a good decision.  

So thats how we spent the rest of the next month or two.  We visited many great spots around in the area, interspersed with the occasional visit back to base camp Noank for a 'holiday' and to pick up Simon and Jo Littler, who came to join us for a week.

I'll post some photos as they really tell the best story, although the ones of Simon and I with a long blue pipe leads to a rather unpleasant tale, of which any of you that have a boat will be only too aware.......

Connecticut (connect it up)

So, where was I?  Ah yes.  Well, we left NY with a couple of passengers on board, John and Damien, no less, who stayed with us for a couple of weeks for our trip up through Long Island Sound to Mystic in Connecticut. Although we didnt have much wind, we had a lovely sail up through the Sound and had plenty of chances to both swim and fish - take a look at the photos to see the 25lb Bass caught at anchor in Port Jefferson.  I'd left a couple of rods over the side with instructions for John to all if he saw or heard any likely 'action' whilst I popped below to get some drinks.  Even down below I heard the screaming of the fishing reel and as I dived on deck the lightweight rod was bent double with the strain.  I'd like to have been in the world that John was in at the time, as sitting no more than a foot from the rod, he hadn't noticed a thing! It took about twenty minutes to land the fish which provided supper for us and some of the other boats in the anchorage.... tasty!

Now Mystic is worth a mention, as not only is it a great spot in its own right, but it also introduced us to some of the kindest people that we have met during our travels and those who were become good friends ever since.

It all started as we were heading up the river to the Mystic Seaport, a museum of the sea with few equals in the world and as a yacht who had crossed an ocean to visit, we were allowed a free night dockage within the grounds of the museum itself, along with a little sign stating that we were a 'private yacht' and 'please do not board'.  Its a fantastic spot if you ever get the chance to visit - and especially if you do by boat, as you have the entire museum to yourselves after dark and are free to wander at will through the exhibits.  Anyway, I digress, we were heading up the river from Noank towards Mystic, when a sprightly gentleman rowing past in a small dinghy, shouted "Foxglove!!".  Odd, we thought, we haven't been here before.  So we turned around and that was our introduction to Sandy Van Zant and his wife Sydney - just to confuse matters!  They had met Foxglove in Madeira back in the 80s whilst completing their own circumnavigation and, well, to cut a VERY long story short, adopted us as their own; looking after us and introducing us to life and friends in the small town of Noank, Connecticut and to many more besides.  

This was a bit of a turning point for us.  Some of the people we met, notably Jim, the oyster farmer and his wife Sue (who designs the inside of nuclear submarines!) Chip Anderson and his wife Mary, who very kindly lent us a mooring for what, on and off, ended up being for the best part of a month and so many others who made our time in that part of the world, one of the best in all our time cruising.  

All of these people and places really deserve pages of their own, as some of the times we spent with them led to them becoming, what we hope to be, good friends.  We have some lovely memories of the town of Noank too;   Locals going for a swim in the evening, Jim dropping a bag of oysters onto the deck as he passes; breakfast at Carson's diner (the best we have visited), diving some of the moorings to check them out for Chip and Sandy, planting oyster 'seeds', catching fish for dinner on demand, a slice of Mystic Pizza (yes, it was filmed here!), dinner with everyone at Sandy and Sydney's, and so so so much more. 

I should also mention that we joined the Ocean Cruising Club whilst back in the Caribbean.  This is a loose band of sailors who have all sailed across an ocean at some stage in their lives and who look after each other if they are ever in the more position to be able to do so.  Needless to say, Sandy and Sydney are both members and did us proud.  They also introduced us to some more new friends, further on in our travels, but more on those later.......

Catch up! New York onwards

Hello All!

Well, long, long, long time no see... or speak for that matter. You'd be forgiven for thinking we'd disappeared from the face of the earth, but no, we've been here all along and having a fab time on the East coast of the US.  Well where to start?  If we'd been good and kept this up to date, then I'm sure I could give you many tales of what we've been up to and some stories of the wonderful people we've met... but we haven't, so you will have to make do with a potted update, some photos and the promise that we will try much harder to deliver a weekly 'fix' to those who are voyaging with us vicariously.

So, what happened after the big NYC arrival? Well, I'd like to detail every aspect of our time in New York, but in truth, there was so much to see and do.  Our daily routine seemed to be a walk to the nearest subway from our mooring in W79th Street and wandering for hours just looking and experiencing everything on offer.  Those of you who know me well, will know I am partial to a little morsel of food and the experience here was no different.  Before landing, I had a list of the various American 'delights' I wanted to sample; everything from a corn dog to roasted oysters and I'm glad to say I think I have been pretty much 100% successful in my quest.  Suffice to say, I enjoyed ... well, most of what I ate and was cetainly intrigued by the majority!  To a race that can come up with the idea of batter-coated deep fried butter, I raise my hat to you and longingly await the culinary delights you will spring on the world once you discover curry.

So, back to New York.  A little diversion to those who remember the fantastic show, De La Guarda.  Those of you in BBC Studios who managed a good several visits to this spectacular performance will understand my excitement when we booked to  see the sequal, Fueza Bruta!  Now for me, although not a patch on the original, it was still an amazing show.  I wont spoil it for you, but if you get the chance, go and see it and be prepared to be amazed at some of the weird and wonderful tricks, stunts and visual shocks that made De La Guarda one of the 'must sees' of the last decade.

One other highlight of NY was catching up with Sinead's family again.  I've lost count of the amount f trips up and down the river to the statue of liberty, but each one was a load of fun and different in its own way.

The last rip was probably one of the most memorable as it was at night with a thunderstorm overhead and the lights of the city all around.  All this in the company of Sinead's father John. one of his brothers, Damien and a whole fleet of friends led by Damien's sining friend, Eugine Brophy (apologies for the spelling!)  It was a great night.

I'll carry on with what happened next in a separate post, so its a bit easier to read!