Preparing for the second leg of our cruise!

As we left Crustacean in storage in Brewerton, New York, both Bill and I inventoried what was left on the boat. This was the basis for resupplying the boat for the second part of our Great Loop cruise. Thus began our planning for the next leg of our trip!

Next we tackled the where we wanted to go. Over the next four months, we reviewed charts and cruising guides and other Great Loop cruising blogs to help determine the places we definitely wanted to stop and explore. At the same time we looked for anchorages, marinas and places to refuel and reprovision.

I then recorded a summary of possible stops all along the way. We cruise about 25-40 miles a day, so we can explore at each stop. Half the fun of cruising is exploring in the dinghy and walking the small towns and hiking the trails in the parks and wilderness.

In the past month, we have stepped up purchasing the spare parts - filters, oil, replacement parts for the engine and plumbing and electrical systems. We also had to consider supplies we needed - food, cleaning supplies, laundry needs, medications and first aid supplies, as well as clothing and personal hygiene items. I wracked my brain to try to think 6 months ahead!!!

While in storage, the boat had a few repairs which were needed - replacing a seacock and checking the propellers and shafts for alignment. Bill tackled revarnishing the upper steering wheel and flag staff.

We try to do most of the routine maintenance ourselves, but some things you just need professionals to do.

As we are now about two days from leaving, we are beginning to close up the house so we can leave it prepared for a hurricane, alerting neighbors of our plans, and renting a car to drive up to New York.

Today we tackled packing the rental car. After much discussion we pieced the puzzle together and it all amazingly fit!!

We are both excited to be this close to beginning our adventure!!

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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