South to Florida

Our fleet of catamarans waiting in freezing conditions in the Rudee Inlet, just south of Norfolk, for a weather window to head south to warmer climes.

We needed full wet weather gear just to take the rubbish ashore!

Finally in Florida, after 4 days and 3 nights at sea, we had good winds with us most of the time, but had to do a fair amount of motoring too.

Now safely alongside the quay in Scorpion Marina in Cape Canaveral.

Fabulous to be warm again. When we left Norfolk it was 5C and the first day here I saw 30C on the thermometer, what a difference 650 miles make!

Thanksgiving dinner with the full Turkey experience was a first for us, but great fun. A bit like a practice run for Christmas really!

Some generous locals asked us to join them, an offer we could not refuse.

Visiting the local Art Festival was fun.

This is a the largest pot of popcorn I have ever seen cooking though.

A rocket launch to Mars!

What a fantastic sight and all from the marina, well we are in Cape Canaveral after all!

Now we are due to leave here tomorrow, the boat is out of the water and we are working hard to get all the jobs done in time.

I must go and pack..........

Deltaville, Virginia

Heading south is a cold business!

I look at though I am in the Antarctic, we must be getting soft.

Can't wait to head south again.
The leaves are changing colour now and it is a beautiful sight.

We are stuck in the marina, whilst the engineers look at the engines.

There has been rather a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhausts and so we are having new injectors fitted and the pumps have also been serviced. We cross our fingers that this will sort out the problem.

Here in Deltaville marina we are getting lots of jobs ticked off the maintenance list.

Here is Peter up the mast, fitting our new Wifi cable, when this is adjusted, we shall be able to have better internet on the boat.

It is not actually working at the moment, but we hope that tomorrow, he will be back again to check the wiring.

The Tiki Bar:

Here in the marina, the majority of the slips are covered and the locals will come down to their small motor boats for the weekend.

Behind each boat is plenty of space and some of the owners set up their own kitchens and bars, with huge fridges and b'ques. This is one of the most outrageous.

They are very friendly folk and we are always invited to join them for a drink at sunset.

This guy was determined to get his catamaran out of the water and we stopped to see if we could help.

He had a small trailer that was not wide enough and the boat kept falling off! He finally managed it, but we decided to leave him to it, afraid of the thing falling on top of us, him or his wife.

Daryl and I sampling some of the local fare at the Urbanna Oyster Festival. It was a huge event, they close the town for the weekend and the locals and visitors descend on the town to enjoy oysters cooked every way possible.

We decided that raw is best, covered in batter, they really could be anything!

And no festival is complete without a parade. This was a rather retro affair, with lots of old cars and huge bikes, this float was playing 'All you need is love' and other Beatles songs!

There were majorettes, swirling their batons, and several school brass bands.

Good fun to see it all and the weather was cold, but sunny too.

There are some big people here. I think the baddies would have a pretty good chance at running away from these two sheriffs!!

Annapolis Boat Show

We arrived in Annapolis after a good trip south, motoring most of the way, but at least we were not beating against the wind, there wasn't any!

Ashore on the first night for the Ocean Cruising Club get together at the Severn Seas Club. And who was the first face I saw, Fil Frazer, it took us a moment to realize that we had sailed together, on 'Cadillac' with Grant and Iris in the Bay of Islands Regatta two years ago. What a small world!

The dingy dock was always a challenge, getting the garbage, the laundry and ourselves ashore, climbing over all the dinghies on the way to the quay.

A great sail boat show, the sun was out and so were the crowds, flags flew in the breeze and there was a live band playing above the bar, giving the whole experience a holiday feel.

Daryl had a list of all the gear that he wanted to check out and I tagged along for most of the time, and headed to the bar when I'd had enough electronics and engineering!

We looked at all the boats and quite a number of the exhibits are catamarans, and at the end of a long day trailing around we went back to our cat with the knowledge that we would not swap it for any other boat in the show.

And for some, the whole show is just an excuse to sit around in the sun and chill out!

Adios Maine

And so we say goodbye to chilly Maine and head south. There is a noticeable nip in the air and time to head for warmer climes.

We have had a great time here in Belfast, a great town and the shipyard were excellent too.

Martha's Vineyard is full of beautiful houses, originally belonging to the captains of the fishing fleet.

It is now the end of the season, but still plenty of tourists around, it must be manic in high summer.

'Jaws' beach of the town of Edgartown, where the beach scene was filmed. No chance I would get in the water here!

I have always been a fan of Hereshoff yachts and decided to take a bus ride to Bristol, just north of Newport to visit the Hereshoff museum there.

It was great to see all the pictures of the fine yachts that the shipyard had built there.

There were models as well as boats that we could step aboard, beautifully restored. Others that needed more than just a coat of paint!

The Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.

An excellent display of tennis memorabilia, great to see the photos, cups, clothes of the s

tars that made tennis what it is today.

Glad we don't have to wear anything like this these days, how did they even move in it?

A visit to Newport is not complete without a trip to one of the fabulous mansions on Bellevue Avenue.

We took a look around 'The Breakers', summer home of the Vanderbilts.

It is massive, full of hideous gold adornments and furnishings, but you cannot fail to be impressed by the wealth that these people had to spend. We thought one of the most amazing facts, was that the place was built in two years. They could teach modern builders a thing or two.

And finally, there is nothing like sitting down at the end of the day with a Gin and Tonic, with a beautiful sunset to look at!

England and Malta

Sorry blog-readers, this trip away from the boat is all about catching up with friends and relations and so the photos are of people that are important to me, but maybe not so much to you.

Celebrating Daryl's birthday with his son Ben and wife Karin.

Daughter Janine could not be there, but surprised us with a lovely bottle of champagne to start the evening, well done girl!

Delicious!

In England I love to catch up with Val, a best friend from way back when.

There is always a fair bit of wine involved and a lot of chat. The men usually get tired and slide off, but we sit a talk for hours, trying to cram months of news into an evening or two.

Leaving Daryl in England, I headed off to Malta to spend a week with my family. I like to go on my own, so then I can sit and chat for hours, with only short breaks for a swim, or a bit of sun.

The island is still hot and dry in September, but later this month a little rain is expected, which should help to settle the dust and water the parched trees and plants on the island.

Jane, my sister, won a week's holiday to Lake Garda. So her and her daughter Ashley are off to Italy with the compliments of her favourite supermarket.

Glad to here that someone wins these things, and it it worth filling out those annoying pieces of paper, while juggling bags of shopping and handbags.

17.30 is tea time.

Mum and I sit and chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Each evening anyone who was around would meet for a drink and a chat outside Mum's place. It used to be the stables, and so I christened it 'The Stable Bar'.

Always a good laugh, and always rather loud, with several conversations going on simultaneously.

I thought the Greeks were a loud lot, but I think the Maltese outdo them!

Hurricane Warning!

Better safe than sorry!

We decided to lift the boat out of the water as hurricane 'Irene' approached.

South of us, the winds were very destructive and a decision was needed quickly, as the shipyard filled up.

Front Street Shipyard, in Belfast, Maine,has a wide travel lift, perfect for our beam, the staff are great and extremely helpful. We are now checked into a motel for a while. There we watched the weather channel and became expert meteorologists overnight!!

A great opportunity to catch up on all the laundry and here in Belfast, they have the biggest one that I have ever seen!

There are 52 washing machines and 40 dryers, it's amazing.

It is always busy, full of locals who must not have facilities at home.

Relaxing in the shipyard with our good friends from 'Espirito del Stella', they also lifted their cat out of the water for Irene and good company to explore the local bars and restaurants with!

At the end of the week, we plan to go to England for a break, while we see what happens to the next hurricane, which is moving this way across the Atlantic. It is said to be a bad hurricane season this year, so we are better away from the boat, there is nothing to be done in such gale force winds, except keep safe and watch it on the TV!!

Maine

FOG!

As we approach the coast of Maine in thick fog, the vis is about 50 meters and that is not the only hazard - there are lobster pots EVERYWHERE, and dodging them is serious work.

Daryl said that if I ran over one, I would have to get in the water and free it. That certainly kept my attention on the job!

Camden.

Great to visit this busy town again. Met up with an old friend 'Michael',I used to crew with, 'back in the day'!

Had a wonderful lunch at the yacht club with him and his family and enjoyed talking about old times and watching the beautiful boats sail in and out of the harbour.

In Maine most of the yachts are wooden and in kept in perfect condition, we have just been to Southwest Harbour, where the famous 'Hinckleys' are built and it is just wonderful to see such beautifully maintained boats sailing around here.

There are buoys attached to lobster pots are absolutely everywhere.

Each fisherman's license allows him to lay as many as 800 pots, and they will pick up these pots every other day.

One of the locals at Bar Harbour said that they were harvesting between 1100lbs and 1400lbs of lobsters each day!

This is big money, and apparently there is quite a lot of antagonism between the different fisherman gangs, and they carry shotguns on the boats! Mental note: be nice to the lobstermen.

Maine is beautiful, when you can see the coastline! But so much of the time, it is really foggy and all you can see is the bow of the boat!

But so much of the time it is like this, and motoring along feels almost like floating on air.

We headed for Rockland for the Maine Lobster Festival! What a great event, loads of lobster and good seafood, originally started to get rid of all the excess lobster caught in these waters. Even got interviewed by the local TV station and appeared on the local news that night!!

Cape Cod

After a brief stop in Newport, Rhode Island, we head north again.

We took a short cut through the Cape Cod canal, and here we are following our friends in another cat.

The current can be quite scary in some of these places, running at about 4 knots, it is important to get it right!!

Provincetown, Cape Cod is a favourite spot for the gay crowd.

It is a buzzing place and lots of bars and restaurants to choose from. Lots of live music and plenty of colourful characters to watch!!

After leaving Provincetown we headed north, across a bank where the whales spend the summer. Great to see so many, but very hard to get a good photo of one.

Sunsets at sea are always lovely.

We are doing an overnight sail to Maine now, the spinnaker is flying and the forecast is good!

New York

Approaching New York early morning, you can just see the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Great sights all over the place, too many to post here. But have just selected a few things that appealed to me.

We visited lots of Museums and Art Galleries and did a bit of shopping. The weather was very, very hot and so anywhere that had AC was worth a visit!

Motoring up the Hudson River, we saw this huge cage thing. Then realized that it was a net around a football pitch on the shore!

This is part of the 'High Line Park' in Manhattan's Westside. It was previously a train track, built 30ft above the ground to keep the noise level down. When under a demolition order, someone had the bright idea to make it into a park. It is beautiful and popular walk in amongst very naturalistic planting.

Multi-storey car parking here, space is just so expensive!

Times Square is always busy in the evenings, lots of buzz and lots to see. Our favourite restaurant is on one of the corners and we can sit and watch the people go by there.

The last in New York, sitting on the deck with a cool Gin and Tonic in hand against this fabulous backdrop.

It was 43.9C that last day and we shall be glad to move north to some cooler weather.