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53 mile trip today to make NY.  Easy and relaxing trip down the Hudson Valley.  We'd made reservations at a marina in Brooklyn on Mill Creek.  Got there and  no one was home and the one empty slip available was not large or safe enough for Apolonia.  We enjoyed the trip up Mill Creek, seeing the homes crowded on the water, but turned around and stayed at Gateway marina just east of Coney Island.  During the trip we passed Coney Island and also passed several large ships inbound to New York.

Friends Chuck and Eleanor Frohnhoefer came down to the boat for the evening.  We enjoyed swapping stories over drinks, then went out to La Nora restaurant, in Ozone Park, for dinner.  A great Italian meal that all five of us enjoyed.  After dinner they drove us around the area, showing us the neighborhoods where they and Jack and Ann are from as well as some reported Mafia homes.  

Today was Bill's last day with us.  He found a person in the marina that took him to the AMTRAK station, where he boarded a 1:20 pm train to Fredericksburg.  Friends were picking him up to take him to Colonial Beach.  We've enjoyed Bill's time with us, a great 5 weeks.

Carey and I moved 13 miles down to Sandy Hook at noon to fuel for the Atlantic Ocean portion of the trip.  Diesel was down to $4.39, the least we've paid on the trip.  It still hurt to fill it up though.  We took a slip for the night as the USCG issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area throughout the afternoon.  The first of two thunderstorms hit the area while we were tied to the fuel dock.  It was good to be tied up.   We're listening closely to the NOAA weather to see if we will be able to make the trip down the New Jersey coast tomorrow.

No pictures today.  We were underway at 6:30 from Sandy Hook in 15 knot winds and 2 foot choppy waves in the Sandy Hook harbor, thinking we'd not make the trip down the Atlantic Ocean outside of New Jersey.  But we decided to see what the Ocean was like.  Passed out of NY Harbor in 3 foot waves from the stern, then traveled a bit as the waves settled down.  By 10 am the waves became nice rolling seas and the ride was good.  Later in the day the Ocean became almost flat, a fantastic ride.  We passed Atlantic City, our original destination at 2:30 pm.  We knew that we had to make the Delaware Bay run tomorrow and predictions were for winds less than 10 knots.  We kept going, arriving at Cape May at 6 pm.  We were ready for the Manhattans and a lobster dinner.  We had both.  This was our longest day, 111 miles.  We made it in 11.5 hours.  Carey and I traded off driving every hour so it was not tiring.  Overall a great day. 

Fueled and underway by 9 am for the 61 mile trip to the C&D canal.  The trip up the Delaware Bay is always just one of those days that must be done.  It's generally a rough trip, as it was today for 1/2 of the trip.  We anchored in Chesapeake City at 4:30 pm having run with the tide the entire trip.  Sophie has been taken ashore and the generator and AC are on and we're relaxing after two long days on the water.  Tomorrow we'll start the trip down the Chesapeake and head for Colonial Beach.  We should be there by this weekend or with bad weather early next week. 

Pleasant 23 mile trip to Georgetown, MD, up the Sassafras River, after leaving Chesapeake City.  We walked Sophie in the Chesapeake City park, looked out over the water to the high elevation bridge over the C&D Canal and then got underway at 10 am.  Once in Georgetown, a major boating city in the upper Chesapeake, we relaxed at the Georgetown Yacht Center, had dinner at a near by restaurant, then returned to the boat.  A great day; time for reading and relaxing.  

The only negative today is that we saw another 43 foot Vista in the marina, almost identical to Apolonia.  It did not have a hard top but the boat was immaculate ... waxed, clean, and without blemishes on the hull or in the woodwork.  Absolutely gorgeous!  I'll bet it has not completed 13,000 miles in the last 4 years, but it definitely instilled in me a goal to really clean and detail Apolonia when we return.    I did not take a picture as I don't want to be reminded how much work I have to do when we return!

Still here.  Winds were over 20 knots and waves on Bay at 3+ feet so we decided to do laundry, change main engine oil, and clean mustache from the bow of the boat.  Good day relaxing and doing chores.  Carey cleaned and cleaned.  She stayed busy.  After the oil change I took a bike to town (1.5 miles) to get a few items.  I won't show me sweating on the bike, just a picture of the shadow of the wheel in the hot sunshine.  We realized how lucky we have been.  The weather on the trip was beautiful and not above 75 degrees.  Now we're on the Chesapeake and the temperatures are in the 90s.  Ouch.  Tonight is first night we had cocktails in the air conditioned comfort of the boat's salon instead of on the back deck.  Tomorrow the winds are predicted to be low so we'll head for Galesville and meet Lauren and Cynthia for dinner. 

Underway at 8:30 for easy 40 mile trip to Galesville.  Just 4 miles from Bay Bridge near Annapolis major thunderstorms in area caused us to turn north for an hour.  The miles today totaled 60 after our turn around to the north to stay clear of the storms. Finally the area cleared and we landed at Galesville, only to be hit by another thunderstorm with hail and high winds.   Luckily, we were tied up to the town dock.  Lauren and Cynthia came for a visit and we enjoyed a great dinner and time to visit. 

Underway at 7:30 for an 8 hour trip to Port Kinsale on the Potomac.  NOAA predicted small craft warnings and winds over 15 knots.  We experienced 10+ most of the morning but they were from the stern with a favorable current so the ride was not too bad.  It was rough enough that the auto pilot would not handle the course we needed even though we moved close to the western shore as we moved down the Bay.  We did the manual drive most of the day.  About 2 pm we turned into the Potomac and we drove into 4 footers for the 10 miles to Port Kinsale, with salt spray on the windows.  All in all not a bad day.  We were on the water.  Kathy and Ross, friends from past trips helped us tie up after we refueled and moved around the nice yacht parked near the fuel docks.  Later we all went to dinner at the local restaurant.  Tomorrow we'll finish the trip.  We're just 35 miles from Colonial Beach. 

We're home, after 2100 miles, 99 locks, and a great 12 weeks.  We did a lot more time in paid slips then we planned.  Part of that was that the Canadian lock walls charged for overnight stays so we recorded those as Marinas; the numbers worked out to 12 nights anchoring, 19 at free docks or lock walls, and 51 nights in Marinas or on the lock walls in Canada that charged for our stay (although it was inexpensive). 

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