Honah Lee 2

We thought we had finally gotten to the next temperature  zone but not so.....last Saturday in Georgetown  South Carolina  we really hit a warm spell, 23 degrees Woohoo!!! Short lived. After getting our provisions at the Piggley Wiggly grocery store (we kid you not with the name)!we took off and anchored about an hour outside the city. Next day, early departure. Water depths were really shallow and we actually slightly touched the mud at the bottom of the river. Luckily we didn’t get stuck and thankfully if we had, we are members of Tow Boat US the equivalent of CAA lol The day before yesterday going through the very narrow  Elliott Cut we didn’t know until the last moment how bad the current was and it was a struggle to keep the boat leveled. Short but intense moment. Mike was on the verge of  requesting fresh underwear and he knows when I’m stressed because I actually shut up for a change lol. Even the boat in front of us called us on the radio after we had ...

Yesterday was a really bad day....after waiting out the gale winds in Morehead, North Carolina we were looking forward to moving again. Wanting to get fuel before getting underway we headed for the local fuel dock at slack water.  Unfortunately the cross current and winds pushed us into the corner of the fuel dock and we were unable to recover from that so it put a nasty scratch on the side of the boat. We absolutely felt sick to our stomachs. All day we had this cloud over our heads. Didn’t help that it was still  pretty cold and rainy all day and we hadn’t seen much of the sun in the last week. So after anchoring for the night, we discussed the day.....would have, could have, should have can sometimes be helpful to avoid making the same mistakes. We had a long conversation about all the ups and downs that we’re experiencing. On a boat you can’t live the same way as on land with unlimited drinking water, electricity, heat, fuel, grocery store etc. The laundromat in itself is...

Since leaving Virginia we've been putting serious miles every day trying to get further south for some heat. Along the way, we've had super anchorage spots with stellar sunset and sunrises. Unfortunately we didn't make it far enough south to avoid the frost. Now we are docked in Morehead North Carolina waiting for some major gale force winds to blow through until Monday. Usually we try to anchor but with predicated winds of 55 knots on the way, we took the chicken but safer way (also very costly) and paid for a dock to tie up to. Added several lines to hold the boat just in case. The added bonus of a dock is  the hot showers, heat in the boat, free toilet paper lol and charged batteries, WiFi and internet. Oh the joys of small luxuries that we normally take for granted. Hopefully by Monday, the storm has passed, we'll have provisioned on food, beer and wine, diesel in the tank, oil changed and clean underwear. All set to do serious miles. Cheers Mi...

For all of you who thought we were nice and warm on our boat heading south....well we are freezing cold. This morning going up on deck there was a layer of frost which made it quite treacherous and dangerous. Tried hard not to take a unwelcome dunk in the water. No thanks.... not craving a bath that much. Last night not to annoy our sailboat neighbors we decided not to run the noisy generator so hence forego the heater. Woke up with frost on our noses. So we are officially in the ICW. We had hoped to do the Dismal Swamp Canal but when we arrived at the lock, the lock master highly recommended that we turn around and do the Virginia Cut due to the heavy duck weeds that can make your engine overheat. Don’t need any engine problems so we and the other sailboat waiting to go through the lock decided to turn around. We docked at the public dock in Chesapeake Virginia for 2 days waiting for the winds to die down. We decided to head for the grocery store to stock up. On our way out with our...

We had thought that our electrical problem had been solved and had celebrated with beer and oysters a little to prematurely. We had fixed one problem but a few more popped up. It took a few days at anchor to resolve the problems. Fingers crossed, we think all is well now. The weather has been quite the yo-yo. One day we are in shorts and T-shirt and the next day we have 3 or 4 layers with hats and gloves. Looking forward to warmer temperatures although we can’t complain if we compare to Canada 🇨🇦 lol. No snow for us this year..... This morning, out by 6h30 with a nice sunrise and coffee to go heading for Norfolk, Virginia. We were escorted into the largest naval base in the world  by a futuristic  frigate lol. Now we’re finally out of the Chesapeake Bay and at the beginning of the Intracoastal Waterway at mile market 0 and we have only 1243 miles to go to Key West. But first, a few days to visit Norfolk, provision and laundry.

After leaving Chesapeake City we had planned to go outside of Annapolis and use the bus to visit the city. When we arrived at our chosen destination there was absolutely nowhere  to dock our dingy.The whole area was littered with no trespassing signs. Since we anchor most of the time we couldn’t get off our boat. Not feeling the love, we decided to bypass Annapolis and head for St Michaels just 4 hours further south. Just as we were arriving in St Michaels, all of our instruments shut down on us. Arriving in a new place with no depth gauge is to say the least unnerving. We did manage to set the anchor for the night. We spent most of the weekend looking for the problem with no success..... So off to the local boat yard who said they couldn’t help us until Tuesday at the earliest and to try a few other places that are more suited for electrical work. At 140.00$/hour plus cost of a dock....that’s why everyone drives Bentleys and Range Rovers here!! For sure it’s an expensive town ...

Now that we are further south, most of the marinas have piles which are basically telephone poles to tie up to. We have no idea how to tie up to a pile and not scratch our boat in the process. Just getting fuel leaving Lewes was an adventure in itself and ended up asking fishermen to help us tie up. We in our defense told them we’re Canadians and don’t have those where we’re from. After leaving Delaware, we came to the perfect anchorage in Cohansey New Jersey after negotiating the minefield of crab pots and with the advise of a local fisherman. The following day with a million dollars sunrise we  head north to pick up the C & D Canal to the Chesapeake Bay. The weather blew up on the way and when we pulled in to the protected anchorage in Chesapeake City it was quite full. As rookies, we probably anchored too close to a few sailboats and they came out to move their boats and wouldn’t look at us. The next morning everyone around us had left....... Another learning curve........

We left Sandy Hook New York Monday morning at 5h00 am for the Atlantic Ocean. It was a bit unnerving in the dark, just using our IPad to navigate. We had over a 117 nautical miles to do in the Atlantic. The first day we did around  80 miles in 13 hours and ended up in Atlantic City.  Wish we had had the energy to get off the boat and visit but we were beat. We pushed on the next day and came into the Delaware Bay to wait out a gale storm. Before the storm arrived, we decided to take out dinghy Freddy into town to buy groceries. On the way back about half a mile to the boat we ran out of gas. Yup, mistake number one, no spare fuel on board. We tried paddling back but after 1 hour we hadn’t moved a foot. Currents, tides and wind were against us. Mistake number 2, we forgot the cellphone on the boat. By now it’s getting dark. Mistake number 3, we didn’t leave an anchor light on the boat and now we can’t even see it. We finally ended up rowing to the beach and Mike went knock...

We had our repairs done in Haverstraw NY and ended up staying there for 5 days due to heavy Nor’Easter winds. Finally we decided to leave even though the winds were still blowing strong. So the morning in question,  I’m trying to hold the bow so that it doesn’t hit an expensive power boat beside us. Holding on to a 1 7 ton boat in heavy winds is to say the least impossible. Mike jumped out of the cockpit to help.avoid the other boat, but to our horror, our boat was being pushed off the dock without us. Mike managed to jump in at the last moment and avoided an expensive sailboat behind us. Moral of the story....stay put in heavy winds. We celebrated Mike’s birthday in NYC with a visit to the Empire State Building and NY pizza. Yesterday motored across NYC and opened the bottle of champagne as we went  by the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately no photos available for this since it was quite choppy and heavy traffic so all we see is the top of our heads lol. Tomorrow.....stay ...

Here’s what’s been happening since we had our mast stepped up: We bought our new dinghy after our old one disintegrated before our departure . He’s a Mercury hence he is now called Freddy. So to celebrate our new family member, we indulged with pints at the Old Savannah restaurant in Kingston NY. We tied up to our first mooring ball in Poughkeepsie and slept like we were stuffed in a washing machine as we were pummeled all night with winds , tides and currents. Now we are in Haverstraw having some repairs done following our mast step up. Other sailboaters are great at the marina, offering their car for errands and slip for dockage. We are waiting for a great weather window to transit to Manhattan. To be continued......

When we left the Erie Canal, we thought we had finished the locks...surprise, surprise, one last lock and it was the federal  lock on the Hudson River. This was a tough lock to handle with no ropes or cables and only pipes spaced at 75 feet to hold on to. The current off the Hudson is fairly strong and we were so happy to leave to leave that lock behind. Well we made it to Catskill in New York where we got our mast up. It’s been a brutal 2 days of hard work getting everything back together turning our boat back into a sailboat. Yesterday while working on our boat, a big Catamaran was passing our boat and someone yelled “my dad built your boat” sure enough he and his dad came by later on....he did build our boat in 1979. What a treat and extraordinary experience to meet the man that put this boat together. What are the odds. A wonderful ending to a long day. Tomorrow we leave for Kingston NY and hopefully buy a new dinghy to replace ours that ended in the garbage befor...