Tucked in for the winter

 

Hope everyone (including us :)) has a great winter.  See you in the spring...

Looking back - and some numbers

Today is the one year anniversary of when we cast off the lines and headed out on our little adventure.  Hard to believe it's been a year already.  Time flies, yada, yada, yada... :-)

Finally Home (or, There and Back Again)

After 309 days off the dock, the good ship September Dream and crew have returned home from an amazing trip to the Bahamas and back.

Merrickville (2014-05-18)

N44° 54.992'm W75° 50.283'

Tonight finds us tied up at the blue line above the Merrickville locks, enjoying our last night on the boat before we get home.

Newboro (2014-05-17)

N44° 38.756', W76° 19.326'

Today finds us at the dock at Newboro Lock.

Kingston Mills (2014-05-15)

N44° 17.421', W76° 26.641'

Tonight finds us tied up at the lower dock of the Kingston Mills Lock.  Back on the Rideau!

Some blog changes

Just a quick note to let everyone know about some changes I've made to the blog.

First off, you may have noticed that I've been putting labels on my posts for the last few weeks.  While you could always search for specific info in the blog by using the "search" box (top left column), this will now allow you to find posts grouped by the labels.  There's now a label widget at the bottom of the left column with all of the labels I've used.  I'm going to be going back over older posts and adding labels to them as well.

Next, I've added a couple non blog post pages.  These are listed in the left column.  One is just a bullet list of info about the boat.  The second one, and more interesting one (IMHO :)) is the "How We Do It" page.  There's a few prospective topics listed, as well as a couple I've already written about.  Now that we're almost home and our cruising life will relax for at least a few weeks I hope to find the time to finish these posts while the info is still fresh in my mind.

Cedar Island (2014-05-12)

N44° 13.651', W76° 27.148'

Tonight finds us peacefully tied to the western dock on Cedar Island.  We are very happy to finally be back home in Canada.

Oswego NY (2014-05-09)

N43° 27.181', W76° 30.389'

Today finds us in Oswego NY, tied to the canal wall between locks 7 and 8.  Today is also day 300 since we cast off the lines and headed out on this adventure!

Phoenix NY (2014-05-08)

N43° 13.669', W76° 17.944'

Tonight finds us tied to the free town dock in Phoenix NY.  We're now one travel day away from being done on the Erie Canal, and being ready to cross Lake Ontario back to Canada.

Sylvan Beach NY (2014-05-07)

N43° 11.697', W75° 43.773'

Tonight finds us tied to the city free dock wall in Sylvan Beach NY.

Waterford NY (2014-05-02)

N42° 47.273', W73° 40.810'

Yesterday at just before 1900 we arrived at the Waterford visitor center and tied up to the dock.  The Hudson River is now behind us, and only the Erie Canal lies ahead of us before returning to Canada.

Kingston NY (2014-05-01)

N41° 55.174', W73° 58.759'

Tonight finds us tied to the dock at the Steel House Restaurant in Kingston NY.

New York City NY (2014-04-28)

N40° 41.759', W74° 03.811'

Tonight finds us safely at anchor in the Liberty State Park anchorage in New York City. 

Bay Head NJ (2014-04-27)

N40° 03.929', W74° 02.941'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Bay Head NJ, at the northern end of the Jersey ICW.

Atlantic City NJ (2014-04-25)

N39° 23.239', W74° 24.550'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Brigantine Bay, in Atlantic City NJ.

So, about that weather...

Acceptance.  Some times you just have to step back and accept.

Cape May NJ (2014-04-22)

N38° 58.412', W74° 50.647'

Tonight finds us peacefully at anchor in Sunset Lake, about 3 miles northeast of Cape May.  Another large body of water, the Delaware Bay, is now behind us and checked off the list.

Chesapeake City MD (2014-04-21)

N39° 31.639', W75° 48.669'

Tonight finds us tied to the free city dock in Chesapeake City MD.  Another long day on the water and the Chesapeake Bay is now behind us.

Spring Cove Marina - Solomons MD (2014-04-16)

Today we made the huge passage of about 500 feet, moving from the spot in Back Creek that we were anchored in over to a spot on the dock at Spring Cove Marina.

Reality and Acceptance

This post will be a discussion about the realities of a full time cruising lifestyle, and the understanding and acceptance of these realities.

Solomons MD (2014-04-12)

N38° 20.227', W76° 27.621'

Today finds us peacefully at anchor in Back Creek in Solomons MD, after our longest day on the water, and halfway up the Chesapeake.

Norfolk VA (2014-04-10)

N36° 50.121', W76° 17.803'

Tonight finds us back in Norfolk VA, tied to the southern of the two Portsmouth free docks.  The AICW is now behind us, and the Chesapeake Bay is ahead of us.

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center (2014-04-09)

N36° 30.406', W76° 21.356'

Tonight we are tied to the dock at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center.  We have only one day of travel left on the AICW, which starts (or ends, depending on your point of view) in Norfolk.

The Albemarle Roller Coaster

Here's a video I shot of our crossing of the Albemarle Sound.

Elizabeth City NC (2014-04-05)

N36° 18.189', W76° 12.979'

Tonight we are tied up at one of the free docks in Elizabeth City.

Oriental NC (2014-04-02)

N35° 01.492', W76° 41.736'

Tonight finds us tied to the free town dock in Oriental NC.

Wrightsville Beach NC (2014-03-31)

N34° 12.089', W77° 48.272'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Wrightsville Beach NC.

Little River SC (2014-03-28)

N33° 51.800', W78° 38.306'

Tonight finds us tied to the dock in Lightkeepers marina, our last stop in South Carolina.

Awendaw Creek SC (2014-03-25)

N33° 02.040', W79° 32.229'

Tonight we are at anchor in Awendaw Creek, South Carolina.  The winds are howling tonight, but we are snug and secure in the boat.

Beaufort SC (2014-03-23)

N32° 25.798', W80° 40.557'

Tonight we are at anchor in Beaufort, South Carolina, just west of the city marina, in what will soon be a large mooring field.

Jekyll Island, GA (2014-03-20)

N31° 02.576', W81° 25.533'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Jekyll Creek, Georgia.  The first day of spring and our exodus north has begun in earnest.

St Augustine - an extra day (2014-03-18)

We're still in St Augustine, having extended our stay by one day, so that we could get laundry and a bit more sight-seeing in before we left.

St Augustine FL (2014-03-16)

N29° 53.731', W81° 18.601'

Tonight finds us safely tied to a mooring ball in St Augustine, ready for whatever Mother Nature is going to toss our way tomorrow! :-)

New Smyrna Beach, FL (2014-03-15)

N29° 01.548', W80° 55.161'

Tonight we are tied to the free city dock in New Smyrna Beach.

Cocoa FL (2014-03-12)

N28° 21.063', W80° 43.215'

Tonight we are at anchor in Cocoa FL, just around the corner from Tony Nelson's place in Cocoa Beach.  Wonder if he and Jeannie are still living there... 

Palm Bay FL (2014-03-10)

N27° 59.340', W80° 32.799'

Tonight finds us at anchor near Palm Bay, having managed to escape the grip of Velcro Beach!

Project Update: Composting Toilet

It has been six months now that we've been using our self built composting toilet.  I've had a number of questions about it, so I thought it would be good to do a blog post to update everyone on our experience with it thus far.

Vero Beach - Week 1 (2014-03-02)

Tonight finds us one week into our stay in Vero Beach.  Looks like a second week is in the works.

Vero Beach FL (2014-02-24)

N27° 39.839', W80° 22.372'

Tonight we are securely tied up to a mooring ball, in what is probably one of the most iconic cruiser locations in Florida, Vero Beach, aka Velcro Beach.

Fort Pierce FL (2014-02-23)

N27° 27.933', W80° 17.756'

Tonight finds us peacefully at anchor in one of our favourite spots in Florida, Faber Cove anchorage in Fort Pierce.

Riviera Beach Florida (2014-02-19)

N26° 46.441', W80° 03.037' 

 

We are now back in the US, after having a safe passage crossing the gulf stream from the Bahamas to Florida.

West End Bahamas (2014-02-17)

N26° 42.083', W78° 59.467'

Tonight finds us tied up to the dock in Old Bahama Bay marina, for our last evening in the Bahamas.

Valentine's Day in paradise (2014-02-14)

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day.  We had ours in the Bahamas.  Man, it's going to be tough to top that next year... :-)

Green Turtle Cay - revisit (2014-02-07)

N26° 45.715', W77° 19.463'

Tonight finds us back at the Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay.

Great Guana Cay (2014-02-04)

N26° 40.032', W77° 07.030'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Fishers Bay, at Great Guana Cay.

Hopetown walkabout (2014-02-02)

On Sunday we took the dinghy in to Hopetown for a tour of the town.  Here are some pics from the day.

Hopetown (2014-02-01)

N26° 32.571', W76° 57.992'

Tonight we are anchored outside of Hopetown, with the iconic lighthouse looking over us.

Marsh Harbour (2014-01-28)

N26° 32.939', W77° 03.253' 

 

Tonight finds us safely at anchor in Marsh Harbour.

Treasure Cay (2014-01-26)

N26° 40.420', W77° 16.853'

Tonight we are docked at the Treasure Cay marina.  The Whale was kind to us today! :-)

A Week at Green Turtle Cay (2014-01-25)

Our initial stay of a couple days at Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay ended up extending to a week.  We should be back on the move tomorrow though.

Green Turtle Cay (2014-01-19)

N26° 45.712', W77° 19.467'

Tonight we are on Green Turtle Cay, tied to the dock at the Leeward Yacht Club and Marina.

Spanish Cay (2014-01-17)

N26° 56.296', W77° 31.444'

Tonight we are in Spanish Cay Marina.  Today we completed our transit of the Little Bahama Bank and have now entered the Sea of Abaco!

Great Sale Cay (2014-01-14)

N26° 59.503', W78° 13.100'

Tonight we are anchored in the Northwest Harbour, at Great Sale Cay.  This puts us roughly halfway across the Little Bahama Bank and well on our way to Abaco.

Grand Lucayan Waterway (2014-01-13)

N26° 36.080', W78° 37.472'

Tonight finds us peacefully tied up on the seawall on the northern end of the Grand Lucayan Waterway.  We've finally escaped the south shore of Grand Bahama Island! 

Stuck in paradise (2014-01-10)

It's a good thing we have had lots of practice waiting for weather, because we are once again waiting on the weather to be more cooperative.

Guest Departure (2014-01-07)

The week with our daughter and son-in-law zoomed by, and before we were ready for it, it came to an end and they had to head home.  We had a great time with them here, but it was sad to see them leave.

Junkanoo 2014 - Video

A video that I did of the bands in the Junkanoo.

Grand Bahama Junkanoo, New Years Day 2014 (2014-01-02)

There are many smaller Junkanoo parades held all over the Bahamas, but the two large ones are the Christmas Junkanoo in Nassau, and the New Years Day Junkanoo in Freeport.

Happy New Year from the Bahamas (2014-01-01)

Happy New Year Mr and Mrs blog reader, and to all ships at sea.  I hope everyone had fun in whatever way that you prefer to ring in the new year.