And it is now in the 70s and 80s and really quite nice. The yellow pollen is finally ending. If anyone is looking to travel with us to MD early next month, now is the time to sign up for some cruising. Pick your dates; or pick your places (as usual, don't expect to pick both).

I'll be heading to Vegas for work in a few days. Not a bad diversion.

The crowd has made it for our rendezvois here in HHI: Judy, Nic, Jonathan, Debbie, Mike, Balva, Karen, Bruce, JudyMack, Steve... we just need Sandy and Frank to come join their boat, Growler (already here) to have a complete set. Actually, we have not met the folks from Champaign Lulu, so we are ready to add them to the list. Lots of social events.

The weather is mid-sixties and sunny all this week. So, while we are not enjoying the same weather as in Lighthouse Point or Key West, it is still better than Annapolis. We'll be heading to the MD house on Good Friday for a few days, though. Should be greening up by then. Lots of work to do up there.

For some great pictures of the beach walk with the dogs yesterday, check out the Hilton Head 2010 album at the standard pictures link: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri

The underway trip from Cape Canaveral started out just perfectly. All doors were open in the pilot house and a fine night was underway. Check out the photos of the sunset and moonrise. And then... and then... the cruising gods realized that we were tempting fate and actually pointed in that cardinal direction called NORTH. Yes, the same one associated with cold, wet unpleasant weather. By the time Renee's morning watch was only mid-way through (and we had cleared the waters of Florida) the wind pickedup to 35 knots, the temperature dropped almost 20 degrees, the sky clouded over, and the cold rain began. By the time we arrived in Hilton Head in early afternoon, it was so cold and wet (sleeting not raining) that staying on deck for more than a few minutes was impossible.

What ever made us think this was a good idea. Key West was not that too long ago. And we traveled over four hundred nautical miles in three days for this???

Well, not exactly... the REAL reason to be here was to reunite Luca withSasha; and us with Judy and Nic and our other good friends from HHI. And we know that we will enjoy our eight weeks here with them all. Just let it warm a just a little bit more..

By the way, check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri. Pick the "heading North Spring 2010" album.

Well, I must report (skip this paragraph, if you are feeling sorry for yourself or otherwise are mad at the weather gods for a long, wet, sloppy, cold and generally miserable winter in your current location... trust me, you don't want to hear what I haveto say) that we have had some really fantastic weather in Southern Florida. The worst day of all was a perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky day that only got up to about 62 degrees, but really felt much warmer and never got any colder than 60 that night. I biked 13 miles or so and it was great. People were swimming in the pool at dinner time (no swimming for me, as we had dinner that night at the club: "king cut" prime rib that was fantastic and a veal and jumbo lump crab piccata that we shared and baked alaska and german chocolat cake and capaccini--awesome!). Most days were in the high seventies or low eighties, and we didn't have rain the whole time. Quite nice.

John Saucerman and Sherry watched over the boat and kept Luca company for us while weheaded out to Park City/Deer Valley for some business meetings and lots of very seriously great skiiing (and more great eating!). Super company with the AVIcode founders, and two of our employees (the managers of the Russia office--great guys!). What afantastic time, both personally and professionally.

And now Luca is counting the hours until he sees Sasha again. We waited until yesterday to tell him, as to have told him too early would have been pure torture (or at least enhanced interrogation) for him.He is sleeping at my feet as we speak and I can tell from the smile on his face that he is dreaming of the reunion. Ah, puppy love.

We are also looking forward to seeing everyone at K-docks in Shelter Cove. As soon as we find our winter clothes wewillhead out of the slip here in Cape Canaveral for a 28 hour trip almost due NORTH. Before this week is done we will have traveled NORTH over 400 miles. Doesn't that sound like a great idea! You betcha.

As we wait for the davit to be fixed, I thought some of you might want to see some of the best guitar playing that this biased listener has ever seen: Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_aPzMHVds&feature=player_embeddeds

Two great songs on Channel M in London.

On a day when people's concerns about injuries are usually related to tailbacks, we are glad to report that we have none here.

This morning I was raising our 1000 pound dinghy, using our 1250 pound rated davit (crane), the carbon fiber line parted and dropped the boat. Fortunately, it dropped only inches or so, fell into the water, didn't hit anyone or anything and no one was around it or the parting cable to be insured by it. Upon dissassembly, it was seen that there was a faulty assembly of the aft pulley, which had caused the cable to chafe (as well as bound up the sheaves, teflon spacers and housing).

We were very fortunate that no one and nothing was hurt. We have sent an email to the manufacturer with pictures and await instructions. Fortunately, there is room for us here to stay a few more days. We hope to be on our way to meet John and Sherry by Thursday. That will mean a little less "smelling the roses" on the trip up, but that is fine. Luca will be happy to be staying here anyway. He likes it here.

The other mechanical good news is that we have repaired our macerator pump (needed a rebuild) and our watermaker (needed some piping tightened). The boat gods giveth and taketh away.

Just last night we had a very nice party on board for all of our Boca Chica friends celebrating one year of cruising. One year ago we left Solomons and arrived, after our first day of 4-6' seas across the mouth of the Potomac and below freezing temperatures, with 5" icicles on the swim platform staples. But we were heading to Norfolk soon after, where the temperatures were in the 60's and 70's! We were, of course, pretty excited and pretty nervous about our readiness for the adventure; but also very happy and feeling very fortunate to be able to do what we were doing.

One year later, we now know that our expectations were too low, if anything. This year of adventure, new friends, new knowledge, and new heights in our partnership and our love has truly been fantastic. We are so thankful to all of you, our friends and family, who have nurtured us and encouraged us and taught us and watched over us AND stayed with us (literally and figuratively). We are indeed very blessed.

Wow, this place is really nice! It surely is the nicest marina owned by the military! We arrived here by way of Hawk's Channel, with an overnight stay at Rodriguez Key (a small uninhabited island off of the larger Key Largo). I had the fun of finally using the "Hookah" diving system (air without a SCUBA tank; just a long hose from a compressor riding in a floating tube above me) for the first time. It was such a pleasure to find us in water clear enough and warm enough to finally use that thing. I scrubbed off (and inspected) Blue Grotto's "belly." All was well. We didn't even have any barnacles after about 8 months since its last cleaning. That is just one of the benefits of "keeping her moving."

We will stay here for about two weeks. Most likely we will also take BG over to the other island (the actual Key West island) for some sightseeing and adventure. We may try to take the dinghy over to the other naval base where the commissary and exchange are located. Something to do this weekend perhaps. We have a nice beach right here at the marina, a great club (beach bar), and lots of interesting and nice people. We are looking forward to this stay. It is also VERY good weather. High seventies to low eighties. Stay tuned! As always, check out the pictures of the fantastic stay at SoBe (South Beach in Miami) and the very interesting trip to and from there. Florida is an amazing cruising ground.

It is also (as you can see from the pictures) a fantasitic place to buy hearing aids. Lots of competition!!

Check it all out at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri

We are in the thick of things now! Staying at the Miami Beach Marina, adjacent to the famous beaches at South Beach (SoBe, as they say). Weather is great, boats are incredibly large and mostly sleak looking, restaurants are over the top, and the people watching is some of the best.

We left Pompano Beach this morning and made the run through the Hillsboro Inlet and then took the outside route the remainder of the way. The Atlantic was glassy smooth (much to Luca's liking). We also have made arrangements to stay at Lighthouse Point Yacht and Racket Club on the return trip. Sherry and John will really enjoy it there.

I'll be departing for the Baltimore Office for a couple of days starting tomorrow. I hope Renee is able to finish her long list of project for work so that she can catch some of the scenery. As always, you can catch the pictures in the same link noted in the entries below. Note the amazing array of places that one can purchase hearing aids. They are all the rage!!

After a very nice smooth day on the Atlantic, with air and water temps about the same at mid-50's, but lots of sun, smooth/calm seas and accompanying dolphins, we are sitting in New Smyrna Beach's City Marina with the doors all open sun coming in and a very contented Luca hanging out in the cockpit. This is definitely an improvement.

Our long-time readers will recall that we were all the way up in Nova Scotia this last summer-- far, far from the potential for hurricanes (according to our insurance carrier)-- and had to run from not one, but TWO, hurricanes. The first made landfall right in our vicinity in Princess Inlet, and the other then chased us as we headed to Maine where we hunkered down to await its passing. What bad luck!

So, we figured heading to Florida in December and January was a pretty safe bet. After much cooler temps for the last 11 months of cruising than we expected, it was time for warm water and testing the air conditioner. Our first day in St. Augustine fullfilled expectations: 80 degrees and sunny with 70 degrees at 11:00 PM that night. But, then we had to leave by car to go to Baltimore; and low and behold, they just had two feet of snow drop on them! We arrived just behind the snow plow and spent the first two hours at home shoveling our way into the house. At least Luca liked it. After a week of ice andlater slush, it was time to return to the warmth of Florida where we had now made reservations in St. Augustine for two more weeks.

And what a two weeks that has been! The coldest weather on record! Snow in Orlando; the ICW actually iced over near herefrom bank to bank; fish dying, iguanas falling out of trees... And, during this time, first Renee and now I have caught a stomach virus (deadly... I felt like falling out of a tree), and then chest colds (and mine just won't let go of me).

Doesn't thissound like fun??

Of course, it was still fun. We had the parents and brother of Renee's friend Alyson pull up next to us for a couple of days. And, we have had a chance to visit with our former sponsored-midshipman, now LT(jg) Michael Modeer AND his lovely and affible wife, Hannah, and their pretty and very quiet (during the day) new daughter, Vivian--AND Michael's fantastic parents, Vic and Sherri (watched Navy cream Sherri's alma mater, Mizzou, with them). You can see pictures of St. Augustine and thetrip to Baltimore at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri .

Well, all good things must end. Tomorrow we head for the Keys. And, guess what? Unless our arrival jinks the deal for them, the weather there is supposed to be just fine.

After fourteen hours of driving (huge slowdown from Fredricksburg VA through to the Wilson Bridge in DC) we arrived to find four-five foot piles of snow by our driveway and quite a job of snow removal. We definitely had the feeling that we were driving in the wrong direction!! Check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/ReturnFromStAugustineToBaltimore#

Merry Christmas to you all! We hope to see many of you this coming week.

When we heard that Judy and Nic Waterman were going to be visiting HHI for a week, we decided to divert to Shelter Cove from our Charleston location. This was also going to be an opportunity for Sandy and Frank Marinari to meet our Mike, Balva and the Watermans. Things turned out just as we had hoped with "social nights" in the condo the first night and on Blue Grotto the second night. We departed at 3 PM on the third day for a 16 hour trip to St. Mary's inlet via a somewhat rough open ocean trip. We planned on staying at Fernandina Beach, but it turned out to be too rough to make the turn into the entrance (the seas were 5-6' and directly on the beam when we turned; and the run from the outermost sea buoys was long enough to make it very uncomfortable). So, we decided to continue on for a couple of hours to the entrance at Mayport/Jacksonville (where the entrance has a very long/large breakwater and it is safe to turn into the channel just outboard of the breakwater). So, that's what we did and it all worked out just peachy. By the time we turned westward we were almost into the protected waters of the breakwater, so there were only a few moments of significant rolling.

We headed over to the ICW cut-off and then went about an hour South to the first reasonably sized marina. It turned out that this marina (Beach Marine) was the same place that Chris Wells and I used several years ago when I helped him move Koan from Morehead City. We settled in and awaited the torential rains for two days. On the third day it was sunny and warm and we were ready for our move to St. Augustine. Stay tuned...

As you may know, the East Coast has had some blustery weather this week, and it has kept us in at Beaufort NC awaiting seas that are less than 10 feet (they have been much more than that this week, by the way). We are also traveling with Sandy and Frank Mariani and their boat is quite a bit smaller and lighter than ours. So, they are our excuse for being more careful (I am kidding, Mom).

It appears that Friday is the day, though. We will take a somewhat longer route to Charleston SC staying about 15 miles or so off of the coast for most of the trip (we would have been more like 40-50 miles offshore if we went in a straight line). That should make things a little better for both boats. We are also prepared to duck into several different places if things look rougher than expected. There is a system developing offshore that is moving West (somewhat unusual), but we ought to be in Charleston before it makes things uncomfortable. Stay tuned.

You can check out some more pictures on the links previously provided.

After leaving the Hampton Rhodes area, and traversing to Coinjock for the renowned prime rib dinner (where we were fortunate enough to catch up with our friends on Sea Quest and meet our new friends, Frank and Sandy, on Growler) we headed for a reunion with Mary and her crew of long-term "boarders" at Dowry Creek Marina in Belhaven, NC. (as always, you can click on the position location above to see the location of the boat at the time of the entry you are reading).

We have posted pictures of the Thanksgiving dinner, which turned out to be a fantastic spread and a great group of cruisers and Mary's local friends. Everyone chipped in to make it a warm memory, with more than its share of overindulgence symptoms afterwards to ensure that you knew you hadafine Thanksgiving dinner! Really nice folks, too.

This morning is time for planning. We were thinking of braving the winds and seas on the Pamlico and getting to Beaufort NC sooner than later. If we wait, we will definitely not be going out on the ocean before the end of next week. If we go now, we can traverse on Tuesday. Decisions, decisions.

As always, the pictures of the trip are available on http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/WinterJourneyNov2009# and all of the picture albums that are public are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri.

After a fun evening with Phyllis Sale from Richmond, who also stayed on board over night (and "late" into the morning; we told her that after 7:00 was late for us!!), we headed off into the windy Bay for Hampton. We are staying here for six days, to allow for some more visiting (John and Kim Dailey from USNA '73; Billy Pearsall from Richmond; Gary and Donna Claytor also from Richmond; and maybe others), and to allow Mike to travel for a few days for work. We will then enter THE DITCH (the Atlantic Inland Coastal Waterway) with stops in Coinjock and at Dowry Creek for Thanksgiving. Mostly, we are catching up with boat chores and doing LOTS of regular work these days.

Check out the photos of the entrance of Hampton Rhodes. We thought we are going to get run down by a 20 knot LHA-3, the USS Okinawa.

PS: For those of you keeping track of Luca's training (trying to get him to GO on the boat), no progress yet. Though I think he is getting a little PO'd at us for continuing to try.

Our new adventure will take us to warmer climes, as we head for Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Key West FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, and then a lengthy stay with our friends at K-Dock at Shelter Cove in Hilton Head SC. We promise to keep you all advisedof the journey with blog entries and lots of pictures.

Our first night away from Stoney Creek had us visiting ADM Steve Abbot, whom many of you know as the affable CEO of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. We had a wonderful dinner with Steveand Birdie (his dog, not his wife; Marjorie was attending to family matters and will have to join us next time), complimented by great stories and a great bottle of wine, both added by Steve. He also provided a fantastic bottle of port, that will bringback memories of Mess Nights Out of days long past, as well as of our new friendship with a true American Hero and Patriot. I will not go into all of the details here, but if you Google a bit you will find that Steve has served our country in an exemplaryway as CO of a carrier, a battle group, a Fleet, and then was instumental as a civilian in our national defense effort at the highest eschelons in the days, weeks, months and years after 9-11. He continues to play an important leadership role in many matters of national importance. Amazingly, all of that is actually eclipsed by his genuine charm; and (for you actual or airchair passagemakers out there) by his enthusiasm for cruising long distances in comfortable privately owned boats.

What a greatwayfor us to start our Winter journey of adventure and new friends!

By the way, here is the link to the photos for this trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/WinterJourneyNov2009

Our new adventure will take us to warmer climes, as we head for Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Key West FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, and then a lengthy stay with our friends at K-Dock at Shelter Cove in Hilton Head SC. We promise to keep you all advisedof the journey with blog entries and lots of pictures.

Our first night away from Stoney Creek had us visiting ADM Steve Abbot, whom many of you know as the affable CEO of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. We had a wonderful dinner with Steveand Birdie (his dog, not his wife; Marjorie was attending to family matters and will have to join us next time), complimented by great stories and a great bottle of wine, both added by Steve. He also provided a fantastic bottle of port, that will bring back memories of Mess Nights Out of days long past, as well as of our new friendship with a true American Hero and Patriot. I will not go into all of the details here, but if you Google a bit you will find that Steve has served our country in an exemplary way as CO of a carrier, a battle group, a Fleet, and then was instumental as a civilian in our national defense effort at the highest eschelons in the days, weeks, months and years after 9-11. He continues to play an important leadership role in many matters of national importance. Amazingly, all of that is actually eclipsed by his genuine charm; and (for you actual or airchair passagemakers out there) by his enthusiasm for cruising long distances in comfortable privately owned boats.

What a great wayfor us to start our Winter journey of adventure and new friends!

Our new adventure will take us to warmer climes, as we head for Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Key West FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, and then a lengthy stay with our friends at K-Dock at Shelter Cove in Hilton Head SC. We promise to keep you all advisedof the journey with blog entries and lots of pictures.

Our first night away from Stoney Creek had us visiting ADM Steve Abbot, whom many of you know as the affable CEO of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. We had a wonderful dinner with Steveand Birdie (his dog, not his wife; Marjorie was attending to family matters and will have to join us next time), complimented by great stories and a great bottle of wine, both added by Steve. He also provided a fantastic bottle of port, that will bring back memories of Mess Nights Out of days long past, as well as of our new friendship with a true American Hero and Patriot. I will not go into all of the details here, but if you Google a bit you will find that Steve has served our country in an exemplary way as CO of a carrier, a battle group, a Fleet, and then was instumental as a civilian in our national defense effort at the highest eschelons in the days, weeks, months and years after 9-11. He continues to play in important leadership role an many matters of national importance. Amazingly, all of that is actually eclipsed by his genuine charm; and (for you actual or airchair passagemakers out there) by his enthusiasm for cruising long distances in comfortable privately owned boats.

What a great way for us to start our Winter journey of adventure and new friends!

Our new adventure will take us to warmer climes, as we head for Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Key West FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, and then a lengthy stay with our friends at K-Dock at Shelter Cove in Hilton Head SC. We promise to keep you all advised of the journey with blog entries and lots of pictures.

Our first night away from Stoney Creek had us visiting ADM Steve Abbot, whom many of you know as the affable CEO of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. We had a wonderful dinner with Steve and Birdie (his dog, not his wife; Marjorie was attending to family matters and will have to join us next time), complimented by great stories and a great bottle of wine, both added by Steve. He also provided a fantastic bottle of port, that will bring back memories of Mess Nights Out of days long past, as well as of our new friendship with a true American Hero and Patriot. I will not go into all of the details here, but if you Google a bit you will find that Steve has served our country in an exemplary way as CO of a carrier, a battle group, a Fleet, and then was instumental as a civilian in our national defense effort at the highest eschelons in the days, weeks, months and years after 9-11. He continues to play in important leadership role in many matters of national importance. Amazingly, all of that is actually eclipsed by his genuine charm; and (for you actual or airchair passagemakers out there) by his enthusiasm for cruising long distances in comfortable privately owned boats.

What a great way for us to start our Winter journey of adventure and new friends!

Our new adventure will take us to warmer climes, as we head for Charleston SC, St. Augustine FL, Key West FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, and then a lengthy stay with our friends at K-Dock at Shelter Cove in Hilton Head SC. We promise to keep you all advised of the journey with blog entries and lots of pictures.

Our first night away from Stoney Creek had us visiting ADM Steve Abbot, whom many of you know as the affable CEO of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society. We had a wonderful dinner with Steve and Birdie (his dog, not his wife; Marjorie was attending to family matters and will have to join us next time), complimented by great stories and a great bottle of wine, both added by Steve. He also provided a fantastic bottle of Port, that will bring back memories of Mess Night Outs of days long past, as well as of our new friendship with a true American Hero and Patriot. I will not go into all of the details here, but if you Google a bit you will find that Steve has served our country in an exemplary way as CO of a carrier, a battle group, a Fleet, and then was instumental as a civilian in our national defense effort at the highest eschelons in the days, weeks, months and years after 9-11. He continues to play in important leadership role in many matters of national importance. Amazingly, all of that is actually eclipsed by his genuine charm; and (for you actual or airchair passagemakers out there) by his enthusiasm for cruising long distances in comfortable privately owned boats.

What a great way for us to start our Winter journey of adventure and new friends!

After an overnight run from Block Island, RI to Cape May, NJ, we quickly made our way back to the Chesapeake Bay and then realized that we were not yet "done."

So, we made arrangements to anchor together with Jacki and Ted who were out on a two week cruise with S/V Triage; made our way to Canters in Mill Creek for crabs; spent the night at EYC enjoying the local Annapolis scene; and then headed for St. Michaels for some great crabs at The Crab Claw restaurant. Our last day was a lovely warm, sunny September day from St. Michaels to Stony Creek. With our new "local knowledge" about the depth at the entrance to the creek, we breezed in without concerns about grounding at low tide, and smoothly docked BG in her own slip. Luca was ashore in no time findingold toys throughout the yard.

And our journey is finally complete, with over 3500 miles behind us filled with new friends, lasting memories, and promises of return. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support!!

As always, you can check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/home

Renee and Mike

We had a fantastic visit with our very good friends, the Watermans, in their happy surroundings in Amesbury MA. It ended with a bit of an emergency situation when we fried the wiring of the cut-out switch of the forward thruster, filling the forward stateroom with smoke. With Nic's assistance we ended up at a local boat yard and were only delayed by one day in our departure for home. We spent last night anchored in Gloucester (first time to do that in the dark, but no problems). We had to leave quitelate to fit in the very small window when the Merrimac River bar was not closed by the Coast Guard. That river has some serious issues of tide, current, hazards and a wicked bar. We departed, however, with less danger than our arrival (which had been a low tide with rollers). The departure was near high tide, though it was quite rough. Nothing we could not handle. I was just glad to see lots of water under the keel the whole time.

We are now in one or our favorite spots: Cuttyhunk in Buzzards Bay, MA. We took a dock spot to give Luca a break (and because we were 12' too large for any of the moorings-- though we were prepared to work around that with the local guys). Tomorrow we are heading for Block Island and then need to decide how to route the return.

Well, we found a great deal in a land of expensive dockage: $1.50/ft. instead of $4.00 a foot. The South Portland municipality has just built the first part of what will later be a 150 slip marina. No one knows about it, apparently, as we were the only boat there. You pay on the honor system (like those unattended parking lots). Very private, really pretty quiet, and the price was right. If we were staying for any length of time, I guess we would have gone to a slip near the action on the northside. But for an overnight tie-up, this was great. Now we head for Judy and Nic's in Mass.

Portland, by the way, is a very interesting port city. Though industrial and nautical, it remains very much "Maine."

We loved Camden! Though it is another one of those places in Maine that require hours of alertness to dodge the lobster pots to get to (reminds me of navigating through a bowl of water filled with floating jellybeans without hitting a single bean). But, once here on our snug little mooring, this is fantastic. We'll be back. More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/Maine2009# again.

This is where we hid from TS Danny. Had a little rain, but hardly any wind at all, in this very well protected location. We had Blue Grotto very well tied down and had all loose gear stowed. So, we were again a little better prepared than it turned out that we needed to be: Perfect!!

This is a great island, filled with interesting towns, wonderful park facilities (Acadia National Park), free transportation at the expense of LL Bean, fantastic lobster and even better prices, and we got to enjoy it all with our good friends John Saucerman and Sherry Millar. Check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/Maine2009#

We are next heading to Camden, where we will meet with Sherry's mom and send John and Sherry off to catch a plane back to reality-land. Then we are off to Portland for a night's rest and then to the Merrimac River in Mass. to visit with our good Hilton Head cruising friends, Nic and Judy Waterman, and Luca's first puppy-love girlfriend (he now has a girl in every port!!), Sasha.

We are snugged up in a great (and expensive by our Canandian comparisons) marina in Northeast Harbor, Maine. This is on the same island that Bar Harbor is located. It is really quite nice here: free bus service provided by LL Bean, cute towns, Acadia National Park, beautiful gardens to visit, AND $4/lb lobster delivered right to your door (which were caught not more than one hour before!). Sherry and John are still with us. And the hurricane/tropical storm will be here tonight sometime (it slowed yesterday). We'll stay put until conditions improve and then decide where to go. They need to be in Portland (which is more than two days away for us) by Tuesday night. So, there may be a rental car in their future.

I have not posted pictures in a long time. I'll get to it this stop. The connectivity has not been sufficient until now.

As we approached our last Canadian port, Shelburne (the location of the filming of the 1994 movie Scarlotte Letter; and the upcoming film, Moby Dick), we got the news that another hurricane is heading this way in the next two days. The iniitial information was that it would hit in upper Maine, just where we are heading. Today's revised forecast has it hitting just about where we are sitting right now. If that is so, we'll have something less than hurricane winds where we will be in Northeast Harbor (on the same island as Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park). It will still be 60-70 MPH winds with gusts over that as presently forecasted. We will be at a pier this time in a location that should provide good protection (tied up next to a 94' yacht).

Tonight we cross the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy where things will be a little rough, but we shouldn't have any problems. We leave in a couple of hours.

We are back in lovely Lunenburg, where we have joined up with Sherry and John Saucerman, who will spend the next week with us. We are planning a lumpy ride to Shelburne tomorrow (6' waves with occasional waves to 12'). Hang on! We will transit the Gulf of Maine the next day and night with an arrival near Bar Harbor on Friday mid-day. The forecast for the transit is much better than tomorrow, but we'll see.

We were sad to leave all of our good friends back at Summerside community. Great folks!! We had a nice happy hour with them all on board on Tuesday night. We are looking forward to seeing them again next year.

We are, unfortunately, not tied to a pier as expected. I decided that there was too much risk of the storm surge and spring tide at high tide taken together overtaking the wharf with a wind direction that would blow us over the wharf. Not too much one can do in that situation, so avoidance is the order of the day. We are the only boat out here at anchor. All the others are on moorings and are swinging in arcs that are much different than ours. We have warned our neighbors that we have 150 ft. of chain rode out and that we may intersect their arcs. We'll all stand by for issues if they develop. We are hoping that this cove will be adequately protected by the hills and trees on each side. We are actually doing this because Barry K asked us to test the Ultra anchor for his marketing. Anything for a friend.

We are prepared to drop a second anchor if the situation calls for it. We'll hold off on that, though, until the risk of not doing so exceeds the risk of doing so. Untangling anchor rode will be a minor issue, though, if it turns out that it is needed.

We'll take some pictures for you and post a new blog entry after this is all over.

PS: Today is BEAUTIFUL and we started the day with a fantastic neighborhood smoked kipper cookout with many of our new NS friends. We were going to a church dinner tonight, but decided that we didn't want to risk messing with the dinghy in the dark and in high winds. It may turn out that was being overly conservative. It remains lovely and it is amost 6:30 PM.

We are nestled into a very pretty little cove called Princes Inlet and if it were not for the coming hurricane I'd be telling you how wonderful this place is. Unfortunately, we are not at all sure that we have enough room, enough protection, enough rode out or sufficient holding to make this safe for Blue Grotto and its inhabitants. But, what else can we do? We have a reservation at East River Marina (new place) at a fixed pier that is protected by a breakwater, but that seems worse in many ways than a anchorage. Sure wish there were a sufficiently beefy mooring somewhere, but there is not one big enough for our boat. So, we are going to keep looking around tomorrow for the more ideal spot. We'll see.

Well, as we prepare to leave our very safe well protected location and head out to Chester, Lunenburg, Shelburne, and Yarmouth, the satellite imagery and forecast for "Bill" has it coming this way in about five days. We have spoken to locals and looked at the forecasts and charts and are planning on heading out to Chester for Wednesday night and tying up in Lunenburg for Thursday, Friday and the weekend, if we have to stay. Stay tuned!!

Well, the four days of cruising have turned into four days of sitting still and mostly working. Matt advised from the airport that he wasn't going anywhere fast, as his passport--which he so carefully ensured was with him-- had expired. To say that we were all devistated is an understatement! We have all promised to make the stars align as soon as we can again, however. And we will.

So, we have made the most of our evenings in Halifax, including going to good places to eat and seeing the very fascinating buskers of the International Buskers Festival (the English Gents were our favorites so far). We are right in the midst of this seafaring center and all of the carnival atmosphere that you would expect from the best collection of street performers in the world is in its full strength within earshot of Blue Grotto. We are visiting a beautiful sailboat with its Kansas inhabitants (owner is a CEO of a software company and runs it from the boat and his name is Mike--no kidding!) for drinks this evening before our own seafood dinner.

We will be meeting Sherry and John in Yarmouth in a few days for the Gulf of Maine/ Bay of Fundy crossing, and some Maine cruising. Should be lots of fun having them around. We'll end up on Portland, ME where I will fly out for business for a few days on the West Coast. Stay tuned.

We are meeting Matt today to begin our four days of cruising with him. And, fortunately, the weather and sea state is much better than that experienced on the first of the two days coming here. We had 8-10 foot seas and high winds and rain as we exited the Canso Straights and entered the North Atlantic. With several days of southerly heavy winds the seas were really kicking up. We also found out too late that one of our anchors was improperly stowed and was literally flying around. I'll spare you the details, but even our exit from this (into a cove that was protected by a very rocky coastline with waves breaking on our right and our left as we weaved in and out of rocky islands only 500 feet or so from us, was less than relaxing. The next morning was MUCH better, though, and we put in a full 13 hour day at nine knots to arrive here in this foggy harbor. This morning, though, it is bright and sunny. It appears that the northerly winds of August 15th have arrived a day or so early and we are in for a real treat in Halifax area weather!

Remember that you can see the pictures of all of this excitement at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri

Also, check out the article about our Miramichi visit at http://miramichileader.canadaeast.com/news/article/755465

More nice people, more music, more seafood, more ice cream, and fortunately more nice weather!

A quick stop in Charlottetown was the LAST STRAW! We are definintely coming back up to the Maritimes next summer. We'll come directly from Maine/Nova Scotia the next time and focus on the many places that we have had to rush through on this trip. Charlottetown will be among the stops. Very interesting place. We'll be heading to Ballentyne's Cove next (and since as I write this after the fact, I can tell you that we had a great time in that first port in Nova Scotia, grilled swordfish dinner on board listing to a live local performing arts show at the adjacent Tuna Fishing Museum).

Summerside has been a "rewarding" stop for us. We discovered in transit that we were going to need some professional assistance for our apparently overheating exhaust elbow (the thing that is between the turbocharger and the water-cooled portion of the exhaust/muffler system). Amazingly, we found a shop that traveled 90 minutes to get to us, diagnosed the problem, disassembled the unit, trucked it back to the shop, double welded the four inch crack, returned it and installed it. All this was done in less than 24 hours AND on the birthday of the initial tech (hence a separate welder stayed late on Friday night to get the job done and the owner and his son returned to the boat on Saturday morning to finish the job!). Meanwhile, we attended an incredibly entertaining show at the College of Piping and Celtic Arts of Canada (the very famous Celtic Fiddler who had just become the President of the College was the lead attraction), had a great fresh lobster dinner on board BG and continued to socialize with more new friends. Great stop.

What a welcoming town! We may now know more people, and more about the people, in Miramichi than we know in our own home town. The good weather brings them out in droves to the Richie Wharf for food, daily music, and lots of companionship. Blue Grotto andLuca became quick hits and we found ourselves making friends immediately. Captain Azade and his team (Karen, Dave, Terry and Shane) were always around to help, whether it was coffee and donuts in the morning or helping to diagnose a potential engine issue. Karen carted us around for sightseeing; and we had no fewer than four separate offers of loaner cars ("just take the keys, their in the ignition"). We'll likely catch up with Karen this winter in Florida, will definitely make an effort to return in a summer or two, and WILL catch up with Azade and his wife, Jane, as our/his cruising lives move along. We also met so many others that showed great kindness, including Sonny, Wendy, Albert, and many more. This was a real highlight of the trip. Who could have guessed!

Note that there is a new photo album for this port visit as well.

Well, it sounds worse than it really is. We have excellent radar and AIS and generally have pretty good situational awareness regarding other boats or obstacles. We keep a good watch and are also careful to use fog signals when appropriate. I have to admit that I am pretty surprised by the waves, though. There is very little wind (less than 10 knots), but the waves do kick up every few minutes. Fortunately, their period is not so bad, so at least so far (we are only half way there) we are moderately comfortable with the situation.

After trying twice to get dockage, we arrived at Tadoussac and went looking for a suitable spot to anchor among the other boats, whom at first glance all seemed happily and securely anchored. We immediately wondered how they all could have been so lucky to find good spots, though.

Everywhere we looked, we had the same problem: more than 60' of water below us requiring hundreds of feet of anchor chain and very little room between us, the other boats and the shoreline given the fact that there was also an 18' tidal range. Moving further from boats and shore only made the depth issue much worse. We tried a couple of spots (after realizing that the windlass was not broken but had "tripped off" the circuit), which were uncomfortably close to others. Then midway on an attempt the chain doubled up on itself INSIDE the hause pipe leaving the entire system unusable! We quickly held our spot with the other anchor and then assessed things. The anchor was hanging twenty feet from us and was not going up or down. The pipe was a very beefy fiberglass arrangement and I decided that it needed to be out of the way. So, I broke it from the underside of the deck in the hopes that it would give me a way to free up the chain (without thinking what I would do IF I freed it up). We were able to confirm by talking to John Dennison that the pipe was not a critical component (it wasn't even on the first 50 or so Selene 53's which also did not have the nice carpentry in the chain locker to protect). So, we freed up the tangle in the chain and then went about cutting the pipe lengthways to pry it open and "free" the chain. It took a while, but it worked. Now without the pipe or the nice carpentry decking in the locker, all worked just fine. Oh, yeah, we still need to find a place to anchor!

We soon realized that the other boats were not as happy with their spots as we thought. That afternoon as we tried several more places, so did others. I half expected to hear music over some loudspeakers on shore to start and stop, with all of the boats needing to "sit down" at anchor in the spot they found themselves as the music stopped (any boats not finding a spot at that moment would be out of the game, I guess). We finally found ourselves at the extreme end of the group of boats in what we thought was a "this is the best we can do" spot. While we had a little rocking and rolling in that spot, and could hear the 260' of chain dragging along the bottom (at night it reminded me of Marley's ghost as the sound resonated through our hull) as we swung in a wildly unpredictable (but still relatively small) "circle," we fould it to be one of the most secure spots of all. Nevertheless, we were quite elated to pull up anchor and leave for our next stop, where we had confirmed reservations on a nice floating dock.

But, wait, there is more! Upon the very belated arrival of some of the six boats that followed us to the next location (where we had invited all 15 or so of them over for drinks and snacks), we learned that one of the boats had fouled her anchor with a commercial grade (very heavy) chain rode that prevented them from raising the anchor. One of the other American boats which had already departed (WITH the current) went back (AGAINST 5 knots of current) to assist. That boat happened to have a local French Canadian pilot (boat-type) on board who took charge and with the assistance of other boats rafted together using windlasses in combination was able to raise the fouling chain enough to snag it and free the American's anchor. Upon arrival in Rimouski, the homeport of the pilot, all concerned partied on board Blue Grotto. Happy ending.

On the way to this incredible fjord we were not surprised to finally lose both our Internet connection from Rogers and our cell coverage on ATT and Rogers. we are still getting the Saturday morning news programs from CNN, etc., though, as we sit here on a mooring bouy (les bouees d'amarrage). Not exactly like camping out. But the scenery is iincredible (we'll post some pictures) and it was fun taking the dinghy arounda bit. Dogs need not apply, however, as we learned that this is the only park in Quebec Province that does not allow dogs. Luca got a bit of a dispensation from the authorities here based on Renee's pleadings with a couple of friendly park rangers who spoke very little English.

If you have not looked at the pictures of this fabulous city, please do. It is clearly our favorite cruising location to date. Everywhere one looks, you see more wonderful architecture, more beautiful public space, more meticulously renovated buildings, and more fantasticly entertaining events, people and features. We are sorry to be leaving, but it is time to move on. We also have the feeling that we are moving into the wilderness (though I am sure that is inaccurate). This upcoming two or three weeks is the most remote part of the trip, though, going through places that I had never really heard of before in conditions of fog, current, extreme tides, rock ledges, and the like that make me more than a little concerned. Now that we are all on the edge of our seats, it is nearly time to get underway through our marina's lock system. Want to be underway early (before 7) so that we can ALSO go to work (conference calls for work begin at about 9). No rest for the weary.

Pictures are in the Quebec City album (http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri ).

We have made arrangements to stay for a full week now. Too much to see and do here. And that will give us time to get a new hard drive for Renee's computer and allow Mike's pneumonia to improve more.

All of the Quebec photos and video are now listed in the Quebec City album ( http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri ).The St. Lawrence River album was getting too large. Our friends Jim and Marge are ditching the remainder of the Down East Loop and heading back to RI by way of Lake Champlain. They have decided that they don't really have time tocomplete the loop by theend of September. I sure hope that they are wrong as that relates to us. We also want to be done by then; and we are heading to MD, not RI. Looks OK to me so far. We expect to be meeting with Matt in August in Nova Scotia; andperhaps Sherry and Johnafter that. 'Til then it will likely be just the three of us for a while.

Though Mike has pneumonia again, and is mostly staying inside resting, we found time to do some sightseeing around this amazing walled city, going to the summer festival evening event starring Placido Domingo. Today we'll see the "Bodies" exhibition (theplasticized real human bodies that you have probably heard about); and tonight we are off to the Sting concert. The people here have a real sense of community and cultural pride. We'll take more pictures, so that you can see how picture perfect the placeis. As Brian pointed out before leaving on the train today with Anita heading back to Toronto, that's the Canadians' federal tax dollars at work! Again, check out the updated photos (most recent ones are under the St. Lawrence River and Quebec City albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri ).

I am kidding, of course! We are in beautiful Montreal today, getting ready to depart with Brian and Anita for a two day cruise to Quebec City. This is one fabulous city with incredibly friendly French Canadians. We have thoroughly enjoyed its historic beauty and European style and feel. A special treat was the International Jazz Festival here and the International Blues Festival that we visited briefly by car in Mont Treblanc. We also enjoyed finally getting together for a dinner with our fellow Down East Loopers, Marge and Jim Fuller; and going Segway riding with our Selene friends, Dick and Mary VonRoth. Ironically, it was their Selene 53 that we saw on the day that we made the decision to purchase a Selene. The social scene was made even better on this stay with the arrival of Brian and Anita. Great company!

As always, you can check the pictures out at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri. Go to the St. Lawrence River album for the most recent.

Here among such sights as the Royal Military College (West Point, Annapolis and Kings Point all combined; the Canadians have only one armed force), Fort Henry, Queens University, the Maritime Museum, and many buildings recalling its days as the capital of Canada. Now, it is a thriving arts, entertainment and tourism center, and we have the pictures to prove it! [again, all pictures are located at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri as noted in the links to earlier blogs.] We'll be leaving here on Wednesday morning, heading deeper into the Thousand Islands (really it is 1700) area, and then on to Montreal by week's end.

This was to be a 14 hour stop, but as you can see from the photos (same link as other entries below) this "Ontario's Feel Good Town" was another spot too good to pass up. There is a huge festival/carnival going on here celebrating the harbour, the people could not be friendlier and the food is great. So, we are changing all of our reservations (or at least we are trying to) for the next week or so to push things out a bit. One bad thing on this part of the Lake, though, is the bugs. When the wind blows a certain way, you get plenty of little non-biting bugs all over the place; and another way plenty of really dumb flies; then a new way and none at all. Mostly just a messy nuisance. We are heading to Kingston next and then toward Montreal.

What a beautiful and vibrant city! We are realizing our goal of lots of family togetherness (nearly each evening) and are even meeting with some of our AVIcode Team while here. We are in a really choice spot here as you can see from the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/LakeOntario2009# . This is all very reminicent of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, though much bigger with beautiful parks (and even a beach) integrated into the restaurants, concert venues, marinas, shops and condos.

Our new Canadian boat phone number is 647.938.0473, which we will use for another couple of months.

Sodus Bay is really pretty! And the free dockage at the 100 year old, very nicely maintained, Sodus Bay Yacht Club can't be beat! We have decided to stay here through Wednesday and get some work-work done, skip Niagara-on-the-Lake, and head directly for downtown Toronto on Wednesday. That will be a 12 hour day, but the weather is liklely to be good. We'll post pictures tomorrow.

As usual, we are meeting all sorts of great people, from the club, even from Renee's hometown, Paynesville. Amazing!

Here we are on another rainy day in upstate New York! But we are cozy in the protection of the last lock of the Oswego, at another free dock (this time coutesy of the City of Oswego) in a park, overlooking the breakwater at the head of the Oswego River with the horizon of Lake Ontario beyond. We will officially end this second leg of the trip on Monday morning by going through the last lock and stopping at the Oswego Marina to have our mast put back up (Yeah! HDTV again!).

It sure was good seeing Renee's family in Erie--even though the circumstances were very sad. We are looking forward to seeing them (and some of you) again perhaps in the coming weeks on our floating home.

Having finished 22 locks on the Erie, we now await passage across Lake Oneida. We have had two nights in a row of company. First, Renee's high school buddy, Linda, and her daughter, Corina, visited for a long-overdue reunion that was really fun for everyone. Then Doug and Sharon Marshall joined us for some delicious crab cakes, and huge shrimp cocktail that they brought, for a really great dinner. Doug and I were in the same company/class at the Naval Academy. It is always so great to be with one of those "brothers." Really fine people to a man.

We'll be leaving Blue Grotto for a couple of days of land travel to attend a wake and funeral for Uncle Emil in Erie PA. T'hat is giving us a "schedule" of sorts (the one thing one should never carry on board -- for safety reasons). But, we'll check out the weather (which actually does not look that great) before we go to make sure that crossing the lake is safe.

More pictures have been posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/ErieAndOswegoCanals?feat=directlink. We promise to put some captions later today or tomorrow.

We have had quite a week, which is represented in the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri/DELoopJune?feat=directlink . Anniversary dinner in Cape May, foggy departure from there onto the first of two open ocean days, a winning evening in Atlantic City at the Donald's expense, getting caught up by some localized thunderstorms the following day heading for Sandy Hook (a REAL rip-off for dockage there!), exciting transit through the NYC Harbor, and scenic trip up the Hudson ending in our inclusion in the historic flotilla commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the river (failed attempt to find a short-cut to the Pacific). We were really honored to be part of that flotilla, as we were the only private boat so invited to be part of the crowd-pleasing parade through various river-front towns with large, enthusiastic crowds.

Now we are resting up for the Erie Canal. We are really enjoying this!! Especially, the resting part, as it was a busy week "at work" for both of us in addition to all of this aforementioned adventure.

Just one more note: You can click the location link on these notes to see where we are on a map at the time of the note.

Check out the pictures of the trip and celebrations at http://picasaweb.google.com/mcurreri. That is where all of our pictures will be for all of these entries.

We have had a real adventure as we have discovered for ourselves the wonder of NYC by water and the beauty of the Hudson. West Poiint, the Catskills, and some great people and celebrations. But we are also working long hours and making too many miles each day, so it is time to slow down. We'll likely stay in Waterford for a couple of day ofrest starting tomorrow. Also, need to give Luca's pads a rest, as he has injured them again playing ball on a hard surface. When will HE learn ;(

We started the day with very thick fog making the departure from Cape May in the midst of a bunch of other boats quite "interesting." After a couple of hours blowing the fog signal, we were quite happy to see the fog lift (and see what the other boats on the radar actually looked like). Actually, we were quite happy with our textbook fog watch and procedures.

Then it was into Atlantic City, where we found the dock too shallow for us as we hurried to pick out something more suitable so that I could get to a business meeting (GoToMeeting). Best of all, though, was taking money from two for two casinos, which paid for dinner and transportation to and from the boardwalk area. Fun night!!

We had a smooth departure, with Luca pretty concerned that he might not be able to go. After working with Barry on Thursday and Friday, we were able to complete all needed maintenance items, including the repair of the coolant system filter head (stripped) on the Main. After rain nearly all week, we are finally seeing some clearing and have a great forecast for the weekend. Lots of prep work still needs to be done to complete our transition from the house to the boat, but this is the fun part. This afternoon we'll be at Chesapeake Anchorage Marina. Need to add six NM to the trip from the Garmin trip info (reset it 45 minutes late).

A fitting way to begin the last day of our sixth year of marriage!