Ellis Island took several hours to visit and explore. This site was important to me as it is there that in 1908 my grand-father arrived from Europe on the SS Touraine...it was very touching to actually be in the room where he had stood with thousand other immigrants before finally being admitted to America!

Our next day in New York was of a very different nature: I always had been interested to visit Ellis Island, the landmark of immigration in the New World. Unfortunately, we could not get there on our personal "watercrafts"..and had to go on a ferry to visit Ellis Island ( and the Statue of Liberty). We first got to the Satue of Liberty monument, together with hundreds of people of all races and nationalities! This was more interesting than we thought and we were actually quite impressed by the engineering needed to create and ship this huge monument from France to here!

We made our way to Times Square and by that time, we all felt pretty thirsty. Our friends lured us in the Hard Rock Cafe...they had already been in the Kuala Lumpur one and some others in Asia. It was our first time in this popular hangout and we enjoyed it!

We have been so often here in the Big Apple and we enjoy it every time! This time, Gabi and Lutz came along and we did a mega tour of the city: first an incursion in China Town...those two have lived in Asia for several years and can speak Chinese! It was very enlighening to pass along the market stands and actually be able to get some info on what we were seeing and smelling! They also helped us along ordering our food in a small very local restaurant ! It was excellent and we had a great time!!! Xie xie

Our last passage on the Atlantic went well but shifting winds necessitated several sail adjustments during the night. We made it to Great Kill harbour in the early evening and were soon in bed, after a shower, a light supper and a couple of cold beers! How I (Marleyne) love "arrivals"...Our friends Gabi and Lutz on s/v SuAn were anchored not to far from us and were totally excited to finally having arrived in NY!

On Tuesday morning, we embarqued the Staten Island ferry and went to Manhattan!

Our plan was to settle in Chesapeake City (in the C&D canal) in order to wait for the right currents, requiring us to get up at 5am so we would be at Reedy Point at slack tide...Surprise: as we approach Chesapeake City, we find the anchorage totally full with dredging machinery! So much for planning! No other choice than going with the flow..at this point we were doing 7 knots..and continuing up to Delaware Bay. We anchored just around the corner of the canal at the bay entrance and the next morning, we did not have to leave at 5am but 7am..a more humane alternative!

The crossing of Delaware Bay went fine although the wind was a bit "skinny" for a couple of hours. As we approached Cape May, we listened to the weather forecast for the Atlantic coastline up to New York and decided to keep going...

We had a bit of excitement ahead of us however! Our mast height is 53.5 feet and it had been possible in our past passages to go inside Cape May harbour passing the 2 bridges which have enough clearance (56 ft). That day, however, the tide seemed pretty high and we slowed down a little to give it time to receed AND also to catch a glimpse of the clearance pannel, usually at the foot of the bridge.

It was Saturday afternoon...zillions of power boats zipping at incredible speed be sides us, not a good scenario to attempt a quiet passage under the bridge PLUS there was no indication whatsoever regarding the clearance of the bridge. Calling the US Coast Guard proved useless as no one was willing (liability?) or able to give us the information (their definition of mean high tide was incorrect !).

OK, after waiting 30 minutes, I stood on deck and signaled to power boats to stop...everybody understood the challenge as they saw the very very slim clearance left for us to pass under the bridge! 6 inches!!!! When you stand on deck, 6 inches looks like 0 and we had barely time to breath again when the power boaters resume their mad speed...

We had never seen power boats speeding so much in a harbour...negotiating the inlet in order to get to the ocean was difficult with waves of 3 feet created by boaters and wind against current. When we finally made it, we were exhausted but had another 120 miles to go before reaching New York!

The stretch lying for us after finally leaving Annapolis is to get through the C&D canal leading to the entrance of Delaware Bay...but WHO likes cruising Delaware Bay????? so we decided to stretch our Chesapeake Bay cruising as much as possible and anchored at Worton Point on one night and then, in the Sassafras River for another night. Our friends Gabi and Lutz had not seen very much of the Bay yet and we were happy to show them pretty anchorages...we also managed to swim in the Sassafras as there were no jelly fishes! What a relief from the heat it was!!!

To our readers: unfortunately we get many comments from spam sites (asian sex sites) and we have made it a bit more difficult to send comments...sorry for the inconvenience to you!
A cause des nombreux commentaires provenant de sites asiatiques a contenu sexuel nous avons change le format des commentaires ,,desoles puisque ca ne sera pas aussi facile qu'auparavant!!

Are we staying???? Can we leave?

Last night we were unable to lift our Danforth anchor - it just would not give - and we had to postpone our departure this morning.

But then you have friends with great ideas and with the right equipment: Gabi of s/v SuAn borrowed the tank of s/v Heimkehr and dived into the very murky waters of Spa creek! She had to plunge both her arms into 1 foot of mud to "feel" the anchor which was lodged under a pipe...Now it is back on board! We all went to ..RamsHead of course to celebrate this success!

Thanks guys!!!!

Meeting other cruisers is one thing, traveling closely with some is another one... We met Pam and Bill on s/v Songbird in Antigua (2009) and sailed with them up to Carriacou before they depart for Grenada and we put the boat in a yard in St Vincent. We had really enjoyed traveling with them and tried to keep in touch by e-mail and blogs. To our surprise, we managed to get in touch with them during their stay in NY and they made it here for a couple of days! What fun we had! It was fun to exchange stories - our respective new adventures - and reminisce about our previsou traveling! What's best is that we'll probably see them again somewhere in the world! Songbird is currently docked in Panama.



We had a fun evening with them and Gabi and Lutz...enjoying hummus, white wine and beer and rum!

The Eastern shore of the US has been "heating up" for the last couple of days and despite the heat warning in effect for our region, we decided to go to Washington DC nevertheless..our last visit had been in October 2009, partly pleasure and partly business as we visited the Canadian Embassy for administrative issues...

We left Annapolis at 7h30 with the "commuter's Dillon's bus" and found ourselves on Constitution avenue just in time for a bagel & coffee breakfast before our tour of the Smithsonian's. With such great museums, days are too short...we chose to go the the Air and Space Museum and took the 90 minutes tour... The guide was entertaining and knowledgeable and we left with a better understanding of the expositions.

We ventured outside despite the amazing heat and toured very rapidly (we had been here on a previous visit) the Sculpture gardens...

In addition to be associated with great shopping - we visited Beacon's, West Marine and Sailrite stores - this town is also synonymous of friendship! Throughout the years that we have come to Chesapeake Bay by boat and by car, we have made good friends here or have been joined by friends as it is an easy place to get to.

Our first visitor this year was John who lives in Havre de Grace (top of the bay) who came to spend a day with us on board La Buena Vida. We met John in 1991 in Charleston and sailed together to Florida ...during a gale that remains memorable to all of us ! We went to Ramshead of course, where we met with the German friends Gabi and Lutz (s/v SuAn) and their friends, other cruisers sailing the fishcutter Heimkehr, Bert and Marlene. John celebrated Spain's victory over Germany (FIFA) while the German drowned their sorrow with Fordham's brew! The next day John offered to take me groceries shopping...Thanks John! only cruisers can truly appreciate that gesture !!!!

Independence Day! We had never managed to enjoy July 4th's fireworks because of heavy thunderstorms which usually occur every afternoon ! This year seems to be different...and so, we geared up for the parade in Annapolis as well as for the fireworks scheduled around 9pm.

Hum...the parade was the most boring parade we have EVER seen! There were a couple of drummers, two associations of pet owners promenading their "costumed" dogs, and the rest consisted of candidates presenting for political offices in different upcoming elections (judgem, governor, sheriff and what else..)..People had been lining up with their kids for hours in the heat to see THAT???? Oh! well..we strolled along the streets and went back on board still in disbelief...the fireworks, however, was fun: we took the dinghy close to the Naval Academy anchorage to get a prime view of the light show!

We settled comfortably in our Spa creek anchorage, setting even 2 anchors as we were coming too close to the residents docking area. We don't like setting 2 anchors as our heavy Danforth is difficult to retrieve but it is worth for the peace of mind, also taking into account that when in Annapolis, we are seldom on board and do not wish to find La Buena Vida on a resident's boat or dock! And our new dinghy is still swimming, not leaking and making us very very happy on a daily basis...it is a bit longer than the older one and we are faster reaching our different destinations such as the downtown core in order to eat our daily ice cream, or the Ramshead tavern to enjoy their great Happy hours and delicious Fordham amber and wheat beers, lager, stouts and ales!

Happy Canada day! Happy new dinghy day! We are feeling great...the plan came together! The night was cool...we felt refreshed upon awakening, had great apple pancakes and then, emptied the water from the dinghy, reinflated the tubes and prayed to the dinghy God to be able to make it to the city dock...just one more time. Every time we travel across Spa creek, we are enchanted by its charm...
We knew that FedEx would be coming around noon and we went for a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks, reading the NewYork times and checking for THE FedEx truck. It was another sunny morning and we enjoyed this farniente! At noon, our parcel arrived: we had our heavy duty caddy - gifr from Karen and Lindsay - ready to receive the ca. 100 lbs parcel...Thank God, Annapolis is such a cruiser friendly town that we were able to find a dock large enough to open the huge parcel, and get the new dinghy ready...transfer the outborard engine and then, tear up the old Aquamarine dinghy! We cut up large PVC pieces just in case we need patches...and threw the rest away in nearby dumpsters. It felt good to jus tdig the knife in this Aquamarine piece of ...rubbish. The seams were falling apart, the inflatable keel was not watertight anymore and the water was seeping in madly. This dinghy had not been well assembled...one year after purchase, we had had to re-glue the back to the tubes...and it went downhill from then on...So, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the newly acquired Zoom of Zodiac will be a better purchase!

What a nice sail we had yesterday...West-North West wind between 10-20kn under a cloudy sky and all the way to Annapolis...with the sun coming through upon arrival! We left Solomon's Mill Creek at 5h15 and passed the Spa bridge at 15h30! It is good to be here again and we are looking forward to a week stay with several jobs to do, shopping, and a trip to Washington DC...however, what we are most looking forward to at the moment is GETTING OUR NEW DINGHY! It is supposed to arrive tomorrow...we warned the Harbormaster office that it would be a large parcel! Actually, we will be watching for the FedEx truck and highjack the parcel...our Aquamarine dinghy is now desintegrating at a fast pace: it leaks very badly, the air in both tubes is coming out as fast as the water is coming in..sounds like it could be sinking, right? To be sure it will stay afloat, we attached it to the halyard ! It has to do only one more trip to the city dinghy dock...

The last two days have been a bit frustrating: our cruising has been interrupted by thunderstorms or by lack of wind...we stopped at Deltaville and today, 15 miles further north at Reedsville (see picture of the menhaden fishing fleet)..will we ever get to Annapolis????? Although we have time we seem to have our foot on the gas pedal in the last weeks or so...anyhow, we always try to leave early to be less affected by the heat - today was 35C in the boat despite our large sun protecting canvas - and yes, we are longing for a cold front that should give us cooler temperatures!!!

Back in the Chesapeake bay...it all feels so familiar! Our first stop has been in Hampton and we were happy to find the anchorage almost empty! It is useful to already know where the grocery store is and where to tie up the dinghy..ah!yes, the dinghy: thew sun has been so hat in the last days that the seams of the inflatable keep blew up (we had put the dink upside down on deck)...that's it, the thing is really falling apart and we alresdy put an order for a new Zodiak which should be deliverred by Fedex to Annapolis on July 2nd!

Well..no flies until we get some..about half way, around noon when the heat was at its worst! Ah! by the time we got to the dock before Deep Creek Lock, we were tired and just looked forward to seek shelter at the Food Lion store..as we approached the dock, boom! we hit something, a rock or a tree stump? anyhow, the bridge was opening at the same time and we had to decide quickly: do e take the lock or not???? Hoping that the other side would be more hospitable (i.e. no flies), we did just that...and yes, the flies were gone - is there any state boundaries keeping the "green heads" in North Carolina????? The night was very hot, though, with a temperature hovering around 33C even at midningt! and mosquitoes...oh! living in nature can be tough! This mornig, however, we enjoyed the scenery and had a quick breakfast before heading towards Norfolk!

We had an early rise and slowly meandered along the beautiful Pasquotank river...this is one of the most beautiful stretches of the ICW. And guess what..no flies!