Marion, MA - Sandy Hook, NJ

 Hello friends and family,

It's October 2021.

Thanks for taking interest in our travels from Massachusetts south to Florida and hopefully beyond. We are excited to be able to move about again and to resume some normalcy after 18 months of upheaval brought on by COVID-19. Fully vaccinated and with Harry's retirement from 22 years at Akamai this past June, we took the summer to prep our boat for our next adventure.  This time around, major repairs included adding an inspection port to our front water tank and working to make the new inspection port water tight (three attempts proved to be the charm), front head sanitation hose replacement, radar pole replacement, steering cable replacement, and cleaning of the diesel fuel tank.  There was much more updating that occurred earlier this spring as now Juno is 16 years old and showing her age.

Plans for this cruise were developed with a few things in mind, including, Katie and James' engagement celebration in September, Katie's postponed graduation from BU in early October, Covid travel restrictions, and Sally and Luis'  first child (our first grandchild) expected in November. Balancing all of this, we set off from Winchester, MA Oct. 5, 2021 for the start of our second extended sailing adventure.  This time around, our general plan includes sailing south by way of the Chesapeake Bay to Florida October through December, returning by plane to Boston for several weeks at the end of year, and then if all goes well, flying back to Florida in early January 2022 to continue sailing to Exuma and Abacos in the Bahamas during the winter, with an eventual return sail to Boston in June 2022.

Because we are a bit behind in blogging, here's a quick summary of our first week.

Week 1:  Oct 6 - Oct 13th

After the last of the provisions including thirteen 12-packs of beer were stashed away in the bilges and every cupboard, and after we spent a few hours adjusting the rigging, and a last shower, we got off our mooring about 4 pm on Oct. 6th only to sail about 5 miles to Mattapoisett before the sun went down along with our anchor. Dead calm weather Oct. 7th delayed our departure but around 10:30am a NW wind began to blow and we sailed straight for Block Island, arriving well after dark around 8:30 pm. Having visited Block before, we felt we knew the entrance well. However, we narrowly missed an unlit buoy outside the entrance to the harbor but thankfully heard the buoy in the nick of time to alter course.  We spent Friday through Sunday on Block Island, a favorite of ours, hiking trails and connecting with Katie and James who took the ferry over Saturday morning and who stayed with us until Sunday. The weather was very windy, overcast and cool, but Sunday morning we all enjoyed watching the little planes arrive and take off while eating breakfast just steps away from the planes at the diner at the island's airport. Katie and James took the ferry back on Sunday and we left Block Island at 6 am in the dark Monday Oct. 11th with a strong NE wind blowing 15-20 knots and covered 35 miles to New Haven, CT. Aside from one or two hours of sailing, no wind was forecast for Oct. 12, so we motored almost 10 hours west towards New York City and because currents were in our favor, we continued down the East River at about 4 pm, passing alongside the rush hour traffic in Manhattan, dodged the many Staten Island Ferries, past the statue of Liberty as the sun was setting around 6:15 pm, and finally on to Sandy Hook, NJ for the night. We took then next day, Oct 13th to shower, gas up, visit a grocery store, liquor store and the laundromat (had a Pac Man game), and to plan our next leg down the New Jersey coast so as to optimize time spent sailing in favorable winds and currents.

 

 

 Harry making some last minute rig adjustments

A little chaos as a place for the last of the supplies is found

Nearing Block Island as the sun sets

 

James, Katie, Sarah, and Harry on a windy Block Island
 

Through the East River and on our way to Sandy Hook

Vintage video game at the laundromat in Sandy Hook, NJ