We stopped at the Barnegett Fuel dock to top of the fuel and I walked Bella.While I was walking the area  I talked to a man who was working on his houseboat and needed help getting granite loaded on his boat for his cabinets. I told him I would ask Carl to help him and went and got Carl. Everyone has been so nice to us, I thought it would be nice of us to help someone else. Carl went down and helped him load all his granite aboard, only thing was the guy wanted him to stay and help some more but we had to leave the dock..Once in the Atlantic the seas were rolling and the skies were very dark. They said it was gonna rain with a possibility of storms , but we got lucky and it never rained all day. We kept an sharp  eye out for sand bars all day, as this was the area we almost lost it in on the way north. Carl took us farther out to sea this time... We traveled all day until we made it to Ocean City, New Jersey, which was about our usual 50 miles. Traversing the entrance was not that easy, the  markers were quite a ways apart and with it being overcast and gray out not that easy to see. We started to head the wrong way where there was shoaling, but saw it before it was to late and turned around. As we cruised down the waterway looking for a place to anchor we tried an area in between streets and docks. Got all tied up and secure when Carl pulls a tide chart and finds out we will be sitting on the bottom in a few hours so we had to move. We head as close to the bridge as we can and drop the hook. We are out of the channel, deep water and not much wind, looks good to us. As I am getting ready  to make dinner, a man pulls up in his boat and tells us he had an empty dock and we are welcome to use it.. We thank him and pull anchor, we love docks... At the dock we tie up and he comes over to talk and we invite him aboard. Bella is going crazy so I take her ashore. Back at the boat I invite Ed for dinner. Ed has a 30 foot Pierson sailboat he took out of the water to get ready to sail south, so we have lots to talk about..Today since we have a dock, we are gonna spend the day in this town. Ed told us of a free music festival and said he will come by and pick us up for it.  Yeah baby, thats' how we like it....We are elated that we have been getting this lucky meeting people. Who says Americans are the best people in the world.!!!! We are a country with kind hearts and welcoming spirits...This morning we will walk the town as I am still looking for a dog store to get Bella a new harness. Bella seems to be feeling better today which I am really happy about.. We are feeling better about getting this far south, so spending a day here sounds good..

The day had us up and moving early. We pulled anchor and were on our way south by 7:30 am. It was decided we would take the New Jersey ICW as the forecast was full of thunderstorms and high winds. Traveling along we missed a turn into a narrow canal and got to a fixed bridge and had to turn around. Once in the small canal the current was wicked.. We approached a bascule bridge and this time the whole bridge rose, we don't see many of those, usually there are for trains. Here on the NJ ICW all the bridges were like that that we passed. I am also adding a picture of the jetty getting into  Mannasquan Inlet, we had never seen pillars like that before. The winds were 20 knots plus and the water was getting rough so we pulled into Toms River where we would remain until the winds died down some.They had a free town dock.  Of course as soon as we got docked the weather cleared up. I said I wanted to go to a post office and asked a man at the dock how close one was. He told me it was to far to walk it was over a mile, I thanked him and went to tell Carl I was gonna go there. Carl secured the boat and we all walked together. I noticed that Bella wasn't feeling very well, so I kept a good eye on her. The walk was about 3 miles round trip plus we stopped to get ice cream on the way back. Back at the boat we headed for the ICW again. Bella really wasn't feeling well so I called the vet and he said keep an eye on her and if see didn't get better in a couple of days to take her to a vet. Bella and I stayed below deck all day, while she slept. She was just like a kid, if I went topside for a minute she was up and looking for me, so below we stayed.. We arrived at Barnaget Inlet where we picked up a mooring ball for the night. I made dinner and we watched a movie. Tomorrow we head back out into the Atlantic. I am a little nervous as this is the area we ran aground in. So I sure hope today goes well....

We woke up to overcast skies and no wind. The water was as smooth as glass. After a check on the weather we decided it was a go. We finished up the two bagels we had left from the day before that Richie had bought us and readied the boat for leaving. We said our thank yous and goodbye's to Richie and headed out. Freeport will always be one of the good stops on our voyage. The seas had light winds and rolling waves about 1 to 2 foot, perfect.  It is still cold outside so Bella and I stayed below until it warmed up. About half way through our day Carl decides to check the fuel line and the prop shaft to see how everything is going. It turns out the a fitting in the fuel line is loose, so he tightens that, and that water is not dripping on the prop shaft so he fixes that. Good thing he decided to check, keeps us up and running. We did very good in mileage today considering that we didn't leave until almost 10 am. we made it to Manasqaun Inlet, New Jersey about 50 plus miles. I think you can say we are officially out of New England. A very phenomenal place to explore but not this late in the year by boat... New England will always hold a special place in our hearts.... We start looking for a place to anchor which is not easy since its a small channel and it has lots of commercial boats. We find a place at the end of the canal where another sailboat is anchored. We get our hooks down and I start to make dinner when we see this guy on shore yelling at nobody and acting really crazy. He is swearing and treating to kick someones butt, but there is no one around. Then he chains his bike to a pole  and gets in the dingy on shore and heads to the sailboat next to us. We took one look at him and chose to move, he looked like big time trouble and crazy......We pulled anchor and moved farther up the canal. We found a place to anchor for the night and it was a much nicer part of town. The other spot had a few strip bars, next to us on shore. And the neighborhood didn't look all that good. I wasn't all that comfortable.. Not the best area..Dinner was made and we settled in for the evening. Later as I went to us the head I noticed that the shore is right outside the port hole. The tide had dropped so 5 or 6 foot and brought the shore within about 8 or 10 feet. Turns out we were on a ledge in 9 feet of water. Carl went topside to check anchors and the swing of the boat. Carl shortened up the anchor rodes and stayed up most until the tide had changed to make sure we didn't swing into the shallow side after the ledge. All was well and we woke up today with the treat of thunderstorms all day so we are gonna head up the New Jersey ICW. We don't want to be on the outside if a storm hits...  Southward we go in Windward Spirit...

Richie the dock owner greeted us when we got up with bagels he  had picked up when he was out having breakfast. They were the biggest bagels I have ever seen, good too..After we had our bagels Richie told us we could use his car to pick up groceries, this was great... We left Bella on the boat and we headed over to the store and picked up everything we will need for the next couple of weeks. Once all the items were stored we went for a walk around the town. There is a boat in the center of town that a man named Grover took across the Atlantic ocean in 1985. This is a 26 foot fishing boat,with a small cabin, not very big, not something you would cross the ocean in..They even hit a hurricane while crossing,and survieved. He had made arrangements for a tanker to meet him out there and give him fuel, but the tanker couldn't find him in the storm and had to wait it out. His two sons went with him one each half way they got on and off the tanker. The man still lives in this town and is 90 years old now. He made history, no one had ever done it before. He must be on brave man or just plain crazy..Seems all in town know him..We stopped at the local gift shop and we found a flag we had been looking for to put on the boat. Our other flag just got to tore up. Carl put some grommets in it and hung it, it was perfect. Next stop was to head over to Victor's as he had invited us to dinner. On the way there we stopped by to see Pat (Richie's girlfriend) and have a drink with her. She bar tends 2 day a week at this nice place. Dinner at Victor's was great he made steak, chicken sausage and tuna for me, what a good cook. He told us his mother taught all of his brothers to cook before he ever left home. He was a merchant marine so he had many stories to tell. We had a wonderful time with him. Before we left he gave Carl the left over steak  and a few DVDs that he had doubles of, we now have enough movies to last us a little while.. We enjoyed our time with him and his friend Jimmy who was from Greece .Back to the boat I watched a movie and Carl went to sleep. We are hopping to move today.. This has been a wonderful stop with fantastic people, if we ever get this way again we will stop by and we hope you get a chance to also..

 As we came up from below we saw Billy working and a few guys hanging around the dock, telling fish stories I'm sure. The sea was so rough fisherman that had stopped to get fuel on their way out were heading back in saying it was to nasty out there..You know if the commerical fisherman are coming in its not a good day at sea.. In talking to them we met a man named Victor, who I asked if they had any showers in town, and he said no, but we could come to his house and take one if we liked. I told him we would love to take him up on that later, and he said just call .How nice is that ..I asked Billy if he knew where I could find a laundromat and he said if I was ready by 8:00 am he would drop me off at one. I got our laundry together, secured Bella on the boat and we hopped in the SUV with Billy. Not only did he take us to the laundromat it was right next door to a Dunkin Donuts so we could have breakfast too. He told us to call when we finished and Cody would come pick us up. These men are so nice we can hardly believe our luck...While doing the laundry Carl sees a car breakdown in the middle of the street and a policeman trying to push it so he goes out to help. He tells the officer that everyone has been so nice to us here that he just wanted to give back. The officer says enjoy your stay in his town and leaves. Then the lady who's car broke down, comes in the laundromat to use Carl's phone to call for a ride. When the wash is done we head for the boat, we decided to walk rather than call for a ride it wasn't that far. The guys on the dock are surprised that we walked back. I go inside and do the blog while Carl hangs with the guys, when it's done I ask if they have ever seen a blog. They say no so I get out the computer and show them what I wrote. They seemed to like it..After a bite to eat we call Victor and Cody gives us a ride down to his house. Victor welcomes us in and I hop in the shower first. During our time with him, we learn his son is going to school to be a doctor and he is from Chile.. He is a great man who loves people and  travel. He invites us for a drink at the bar next store and we meet a couple of his friends. Then he invites us to dinner the next night as he is cooking for some friends and he would like us to join them. We ask what we can bring and say goodbye until tomorrow..Once back on the dock the owner Richie and his girlfriend Pat have returned from there trip and they are just as wonderful as all the other people we have meet here..We invited them to dinner since they have been letting us stay here, but they said they had already eaten.. I got a great deal on fish at a local market and was going to pan fry it.. It was yummy.. Richie owns Woodcleft Fishing Station at,  447 Woodcleft Ave, Freeport N.Y. Anyone that gets in this area has to stop and buy something here, these folks are the best. So if you have family or friends from near here please send them this way, they have treated us like gold... Pat even gave me a bottle of wine.. How awesome is that... All I can say is we are blessed to have met them, they don't even know us and are treating us like friends.. Friends are one of the great things we have gotten on this adventure, all just wonderful...

We headed out into the Atlantic with seas about 1 to 2 foot nice rollers,with light wind on our nose. As most other mornings it was pretty cold so Bella and I stayed below until it warmed up a bit..As usual I made oatmeal for breakfast warm and easy when sailing. By about 2pm the winds had picked up and the wind and waves were on our nose at about 3 ft and slamming on our bow. We slowed down and chose to head in at Jones Beach Long Island, N.Y. This was after we had done 50 miles so it was a good days journey.  We called Sea Tow to ask for local advise on the inlet as it could be shallow and where the fuel stop was. We headed right for it. .As luck would have it we were told that they couldn't sell any fuel as their computers were down and they couldn't turn on the pump. The attendant told us to head under the bridge and we would find fuel up the inlet, heading to Freeport N.Y. We found the fuel dock along with some really great people.. Billy and Cody helped us with fuel then asked where we were gonna stay for the night, and Carl told them we would anchor out somewhere close. Billy says why do that just stay on the dock, it's almost time to close and its not very busy.We say thanks that we will take him up on that.. So we hang around the dock and watch Cody fish and talk.While at the dock the local police marine patrol come in to fuel up and we get to talking to them. What great guys .I was telling  Mike one of the officers how I try to find a used DVD store so I can trade videos.  He goes inside the police vessel and comes out with a box of DVDs and says take what you want.. I couldn't believe it..I tried to give him some of ours but he said they were to old, but thanks anyway.. Meanwhile one of the other officer Rich is talking to Carl about the trip and says he would like to take his son out of school and do this on a power boat. Carl offers to show him the inside and down below they go.. I stay top side  talking to officers Dan and Mike.. After all was said and done they had to get back on the job.. We had the best time talking to them, what cool guys...New York's finest..   Then Cody tells us of a reasonable priced place to get a beer and that he will take us there in his boat, since his dock is right behind it..On the way into his slip, Cody's shifter cable broke and we his another boat. No damage but it was unnerving..The place is called the Bamboo, just like the one back home on Madeira Beach Plus we were able to bring Bella. We offered Cody a beer for all he had done and he came inside with us for one. Next people we met are 2 more of New York's finest, Irene and Mike. We hung out with them trading stories and just having fun. Shawn the bartender joins in with us. It is after season so it's not very busy, but they say this place jumps in the summer. We could see that. This is a cool little beach town.. We walked back to the boat and I put in a movie that Mike had given me, but fell asleep as soon as it started.. The day was full of really great people. To say we were lucky that the other place couldn't sell us fuel is an understatement..So here we sit in this great little town and wait on our weather window again.. If you ever come to Long Island, we suggest you check out the" Nautical Mile"  in Freeport N.Y... AWESOME PEOPLE...

After a night on the beach we woke up not feeling all that well.. Too much fun.. I made coffee and we started the day.. I got all our laundry together and sprayed it with Spray and Wash and packed in a bag to take to shore. After that I got our bathroom bag ready to go. I had everything ready and on deck, the only thing I didn't do was get the food together that I was gonna take. I figured I would do that when Pam called. I made us a couple of bagels and we waited for Pam. And waited and waited.. At about 2pm we figured she would not be coming.. I guess she had other things to do or changed her mind. Another day of no shower, we are getting use to it, at least we are not sweating.... We pulled out the wet jeans we had in the bag and hung them around the cockpit to dry. The wind was blowing pretty good so we didn't want to go ashore until it calmed down. After dinner we took Bella for a run on the beach and we went and looked at the water on the ocean to see if it had calmed down any. NOAA said the waves  were 3 to 5 foot during the day and we were hoping to get going in the morning.. They did seem to have calmed down enough.. We are not  big on waves over 3 foot... Back at the boat we read and watched Capt. Ron one more time, funny movie...Early to bed and early to rise, we are gonna try to make it to New Jersey today, we will see its pretty far...

Up before the crack of dawn we got ready to head out. The fog was hanging in the air but we could still see about a 1/4 mile so it was a go. We waited until 7am hoping the fog would clear up some and it did ,so we took off. We had decided to get as far as we could today since we had good sea's with only a foot or maybe a little more rolling waves and clear skies. It was very cold out so Bella and I stayed below for most of the day wrapped in a blanket. Carl had on a skull cap, gloves and a coat topside.About midday we finally joined Carl in the cockpit.Carl was using the new GPS that my dad got us before we left and boy is it nice.. It doesn't take any time to get up the information... We arrived at our destination of Shinnecock Long Island, NY which is about 50 miles from Block Island. We would have gone further but there was no place that we could get in for the night. Once we arrived Carl saw a Sea Tow guy and wanted to know about going down the channel on the inside to get farther South to Fire Island. He said no it was not a good idea so we set our anchor. Once we were secure Carl got down the dingy and we headed for shore. Carl had a bit of a time starting the outboard motor, but we did make it to shore, which was a beach area called Southampton. We played on the beach for a long time when a girl arrived with her 2 dogs, Pony and Bird. Bella was having a big time then....She was running around in and out of the water and just having a blast. We spent time talking to Pam who was a local girl and very nice. She even watched our dingy while we crossed the street to see the Atlantic side..When we got back she said it was beer time and did we want to go to a local bar. We declined, as we had already spent our months allotment, but we did have beer on the boat and we would be happy to share it she liked one. Pam said no she was gonna go to the store and would be back in 15 minutes and we hang out on the beach some more.. We went to the boat and got our vodka and she came back with ice, mixers, cheese,chips and beer and I mean beer. She bought Carl a 30 pack of Miller lite, which was great as he was running low... Pam you rock....The dogs kept playing and so did we.. A man named Henry stopped by to ask Carl about our wind generator then a Coast Guard guy stopped by with his 2 kids and they played with the dogs and he talked with us We talked about having a fire on the beach and the guy from the Coast Guard said no one would bother us as long as it didn't get to big...Next person to stop by was the George from Sea Tow who we talked to earlier with his dog. He told Carl where some stuff was for a fire, so Carl went and picked up lots of stuff for the fire. Carl hunter/gatherer..  He left and we got the fire started.. Man was this awesome... A fire on the beach at night in Long Island N.Y. Yeah Baby that's how we roll..... We were having a wonderful time...It was getting late and the firewood had run out so we called it a night. We told Pam we would be here tomorrow, as it wasn't a day we could travel, if she wanted to stop by again. She said she would do better than that , that she would take us to do laundry at her house and we could also get showers... Pam is best... I told her that I would bring food and make us dinner.. Shrimp Scampi. We had a deal.. We are so lucky with the people we meet..Carl also found a large turkey bone while he was looking for firewood, so Bella got a special treat when we got back on the boat..Now you know that made her happy, it was her first bone... She hasn't stopped chewing it yet... So today we wait for Pam in winds that are blowing about 20mph with gusts more and rough water.But this is still gonna be a great day.. Thanks to Pam

We never left the harbor on the other side of the island yesterday. When we pulled up to refuel at $120.00, YEPS... we were advised about the heavy currents running along Montauk N.Y. Between the fact that we would have been going against the currents and the rough sea's Carl decided to wait one more day before we left. The seas were about 2 to 3 ft but just like a washing machine, not any fun. So again the day was spent on the boat, reading, studying charts and playing card games. Plus of course we played with Bella. I am beginning to worry about Bella she is not eating that much. I sure hope she starts eating more pretty soon. I hope I am not making my puppy unhappy by living on this boat. Well anyway we are taking off this morning and we have to travel 50 miles. We are not going to Montauk, we have to get farther south... I don't think the weather will improve until we get some miles under us.. Thanks for reading, hope I have something more to say tomorrow..

We didn't do much today, the winds were pretty high and the waves were still high and the sea's were rough. I didn't want to go on shore so we spent the day on the boat.We talked about going surfing but the winds were really on it and that's not fun.. Carl went over charts and I read books and cooked meals. We did watch a movie and played a game of rummy, I won... The winds continued to blow as the night drew near, still blowing quite a bit after dark. We are looking for our weather window but it seems to be getting harder the later in the month it becomes. We may have to move in weather we don't really like..We have to get farther south , or we could end up stuck here, really... So this morning we moved to the other side of the island and are hoping  for the best. The water was really rough coming around. Now we will fuel up and see what happens...

In a couple of the pictures you see me paddling out with Carl on a wave. The picture with Sara I'm getting in the water, Carl is on a wave and Sara is watching Bella.You really have to look.. Plus who doesn't love the picture Sara and Hayly took of themselves while we were in the water..

First of all let me state I wrote the winds wrong yesterday, they were mph not knots. The night brought very strong gusting winds and Windward Spirit was getting pushed around a lot. We were on a mooring ball so it kept blowing us around from side to side, the boat never stopped moving. However thankfully we are in such a small harbor, the waves didn't have enough space to get any height to them so the water was just a little rough. Plus the fact that a huge ferry was parked in front of us for the whole night , helped to keep the winds off us. It was not that bad.. Had we been on the other side of the island it would have been a totally different story. Lucky for us we had engine trouble that brought us over to the leeward side island. Since we wouldn't be  going anywhere today we just hung around the boat for most of the morning. Once we left the boat it was time to return the movies we had rented and walk down the beach to check out the surf. One the way there we meet a couple of girls with surfboards who said they were going surfing, so we followed behind to check it all out. There was surf about knee to thigh but looking pretty good. We told them we were surfers and they said go get your boards and we did. We didn't take my board as I can't surf it anyway, we would just share Carl's. Back at the beach the girls Sara and Hayly were surprised to see us back, in wetsuits and ready to get in. They were out of the water and said I could use one of their boards and they would watch Bella for us... How Cool is that....Bella was somewhat confused with both of us heading into the water, usually one of us is on shore.She tired to follow us in the water. Carl got some good rides right off the bat, not me.. I got out no problem, it's just I haven't surfed much in a while and I couldn't find the sweet spot on that board. Carl had many rides when he headed in so I followed him, I wanted his board. The girls were ready to go, so we returned their board and thanked them, and they were off. Me, I headed back to the water, and I caught my first wave I tried for with Carl's board. Yea baby that's what I'm talking about.... Too bad Sara and Hayly didn't see me... We took turns surfing for a couple of hours and headed back to the boat.  Changed clothes and went back on shore, we noticed the Inn in front of us was having 1/2 price Mohito's  with  a dog patio, so over we went. We meet some people on a tour and they were telling us about the surfers they saw getting on their boat and were surprised to find out it was us. Fun talking to them. Carl knew where there was $2.00 beer so after one drink we headed that way. We had been given a $50 gift card , so we were gonna get Nachos and drinks at the Poor People's Pub... That's the kind of place for us.... Who do we run into there but Sara and Hayly, and more tour people.The girls said my rides didn't happen if they didn't see them.... The weather got pretty cold when the sunset, so I said lets stop by the fire pits we saw at the Inn, we did and all the people  from the tour we had met during the day were all set around it. We joined them and enjoyed at night at fireside with good conversation. Carl had a few people amazed with his stories of our adventures,and Bella had all the rest playing with her.. It was a great day. Now we wait for our weather window . According to the weather reports yesterday, we thought we could move today, but woke up to winds at 19mph with gusts 25mph, and very rough 4 ft seas.. Hopefully tomorrow.... Please we need to head south I'm freezing...

With the morning light we are happy to wake up on a mooring ball in a very small harbor, and I mean small with only 8 boats including ours. Safe and sound from the ocean unknown and the dark of night. Carl got right to work on the engine, glad we had gotten fuel off the Sea Tow driver. There isn't a fuel dock here, and the closest one is 10 miles by sea or a cab ride across the island. Carl had the boat running in no time,and I had my blog done and breakfast. It was time to go explore the island before the storm set in. Today is to bring a large storm late in the day. First stop was the Visitors center so we could find out what was on the island. They have the same thing most places in the Northeast have, lighthouses, beaches and old buildings. Now don't get me wrong we like all of those things and it's hilly so it's good for us to walk. Carl had talked to a cabbie while I was in the visitors center to find out how much to get to the other side of the island, $22.00 round trip.. Guess we all know how that went.. We decided to see how much a moped was or a bike only to find out they cost way more than that and you only get them for a couple of hours, on foot we are.. I don't mind, I actually like it...it gives us a way to exercise, after sitting on the boat for hours and hours..We noticed a nature walk to view the ocean, we could take off Bella's leash so we headed for that.  Heaven knows we don't see enough sea... Carl pumped water for Bella to drink from a antique pump, we played there for a little while then,. Next up the 2 mile hike to the lighthouse. Carl was not to hip on the idea, he said we have seen lots of lighthouses and 2 miles, but I said I was going anyway.We walked a piece when we passed an animal farm. We just walked by, but we did see a Yacc, a Buffalo, a Lima and many different species.. It was a walk down a hill and Carl didn't  want to add to our long walk. As we walked I said why don't we hitchhike, if your foot is bothering you, so out went our thumbs. Right away a surfer chick picked us up and  took us right to the lighthouse. We talked about surfing Rhode Island. Did you know they have a wave on their licence plates, I guess surfing is big here.. Who knew... The lighthouse was great built in 1873 and had to be moved back in the 1980's (I think, I can't remember the exact date) so it wouldn't fall off the cliffs. It was beautiful over looking the cliffs, and the wind was really blowing.. We headed back to town and caught a ride with guy named BJ who turned us on to a local pirate radio station to listen to, he also took us all the way to town. We walked around town and checked out shops for post cards, then we headed to the grocery store, I needed bread. We also found out where they rent DVDs so we would have some new movies to watch during the storm. Back to the boat we headed to get ready for the storm. NOAA said it would be 20 to 30 knots winds gusting up to 50 knots, so we had to batten down the hatches... That's sailor talk...Carl tied down the bimini, to keep it from blowing.We sure were glad we were in such a small harbor since that would keep the waves to a minimum. All the other boaters were out tending to there boats also. Bella pouted that we had returned to the boat , she likes it on shore. When all was ready we had a game of domino's in the cockpit and watched the wind blow, at dark it was time to go in and watch the movies.. Tomorrow you find out how we find out how we fared  during the storm..

The day got started early as we had 50 miles to go to Block Island. It was a beautiful morning with sunny sky's and calm sea's. We hoped to be leaving on the right tide however that did not turn out to be the case. The first current we encountered was 3 knots coming at us, that made the water rough and it was both hands on the wheel. Of course we were running the motor. We did our best to try to get in water that looked a little smoother, but it still had a high current and whirlpools. As we turned the corner of the island the current was less strong but still moving at 2.5 knots. It was strange to see all those buoys laying over the way they were, now that's moving. It was a couple of hours before we broke free of the current. Once we were a good piece past the islands it got better. Now we only had 35 miles to go to our next port. The day was going well, Carl at the helm, Bella laying down while moving and me reading a book and taken the helm during position checks and making food to eat. We had to motor at first part of the day since the wind was coming at us. Just as we talked about putting up the sails the engine stops... Oh my God not that fuel problem again... Really.. This must be a joke... A fitting had come loose and we were very low on diesel. We had burned more fuel than we thought going through those apposing currents. Carl went to check it out , but with very low fuel it was not possible to start the motor going again. No problem we have sails.. Up the sails go as we try to get to our destination. The winds were about 10 knots so we were doing pretty good, but of course they were not the way we needed to get into port and it was already 4:30 pm when they went up. We had to tack back and forth to get in. Carl decided it would be to dangerous to try to get in the harbor we had planned to go to, so we headed for the other side.  Night was upon us before we knew it. Try as we may we couldn't seem to get close enough to get in. Plus there was a green can out there, hard to see in the dark. I was not happy.. I had put Bella and I in our life jackets, because I was not feeling very safe.. I asked Carl to just call Sea Tow, heaven knows we haven't used them enough, and get us in. He did and the guy arrived about an hour later. It's a good thing we didn't try to enter ourselves or it would have been an disaster.. This is a very small harbor, with a break wall jetty and a hard right turn once inside. We were able to hook up to a mooring ball and deal with the problem tomorrow. It was already midnight when we got in. We called it a night and went to bed. If there is one thing we can say about this trip is , it is rarely a dull moment...

It's a chilly morning so I make hot oatmeal to start our day, today we go surfing... The guy at the surf shop told us that it would be waist to chest  and Carl wanted to surf New England so that's what today will bring. I am not any good on the board we brought for me and I don't feel like freezing so I won't bet getting in the water. Once we got all of our things ready to go and breakfast was over, we hopped in the dingy and headed for shore. Carl, Bella and myself hit the shore with surfboard in hand, plus a bag of all our stuff and put out our thumbs and began to hitchhike. Can you imagine what we looked like, but it didn't take long before we got our first ride. A guy named Matt in a pickup truck picked us up, Bella and I climbed in the back with the surfboard and Carl up front. He took us about 8 or 10 miles. Then told Carl we were really going the wrong way, that we were taking the long way around the island. Heck we didn't know, so scenic route it is...He dropped up in a State Park area, and it wasn't long before a cabbie pulled over. Carl told him we didn't have  any money to pay and he gave us a ride anyway. He was in a van and originally from the islands, he was pretty cool. He dropped us off in front of a graveyard and our next ride was a little old lady named Sandra, she was 85 years old. We couldn't believe it,  she was in a little Toyota so we had to hang the board out the window and hold it while she drove us to the beach. Yep, all the way, only it wasn't the right beach. Neither of us knew, so  I talked a girl from St. Pete, Fl with a pickup truck to take us down to the next beach She said we would have to walk about a 1/2 mile or more to get to where the surfing is and we did. The beach was beautiful it had high sand dunes, light brown sand and heavy surf. There were signs that said No Trespassing, that people here own the beach too, of course we didn't pay them any attention, we walked on till we got to the surf. Just as we got there we saw a seal in the water and all we thought about was SHARKS..... Glad I'm not going in... Carl suited up and headed for the water, it was waist to chest and he got some real good rides,not another person on the waves.. A surfers dream, to take any wave he can without having to fight the crowd , I was sorry I didn't go in. After a few hours it was time to try to catch a ride back to town. This was way out in the boneys, not much around. As we are walking off the beach we see another surfer coming to check out the waves. Carl goes over to talk to him while I keep an eye on the surfboard and dog. He comes back to say that he is gonna give us a ride to the next town, only he has to stop and get a trailer to leave in the town for tomorrow. What luck, we didn't even have to put our thumbs out. As we  are riding along , we tell him about the other people who picked us up and it turns out that Sandra was his mother.. That's right, his mom. It's a small island after all..Sandra told us how she bought 69 acres and a house in 1949  for $6,000...on this island . Her son told us how she gave each of the kids some land after her husband died, and 2 of his sisters sold off theirs and are millionaires. Now his mother has people with these new homes so close it is like looking in on her. His sisters moved to Vermont because the island wasn't rural anymore... Aren't they part of the reason it isn't...When we got to the next town we were hungry so we stopped for a piece of pizza , then back on the road. We didn't have to wait long, when a nice lady named Donna picked us up and took us all the way back to where we left the dingy.We thanked her and were off. Back at the boat we put everything back in place, then packed up to head to the free showers by the dock. This was amazing, people come in cars , bicycles, or walk up to this shower. It appears lots of people in this town use it. We had to wait because it was full when we arrived. So we swung on the swings while we waited.. The joy of being kids...Back on the boat we played a game of domino's , which was very close, 3 points apart, Carl still won. We got to bed early as it will be a good day to make it to our next port before the storms head in. Southward we go, getting closer each day of travel.

I am late getting my blog done as we were very busy having todays fun, but first I will fill you in on the blog I should have written this morning. As I awoke it made me start to surrey to get what I needed to done before the harbor master made us leave the dock. I walked to the post office only to find out they didn't open until 9:30 am. I had at least a 1/2 hour to wait so I went to the Black Dog Tavern to pick up a couple of muffins for breakfast. I know what your thinking what kind of tavern has muffins, the kind that is not really a tavern but a bakery.Stranger things have happened, I don't have a clue.. I walk back to the boat to drop the muffins when Carl says you better get going the dock master says $10 per hour every hour after 10am until we reach $90 than we can stay the night again.. Really does he know what kind of sailors we are... Not the $90 kind...Back to the post office I go and I meet a man on the way that says he luck is changing cause he met me.. really dude, are you nuts.. I meet the strangest people so days...I get back to the boat and we shove off, only across the harbor   and we dropped anchor..We had our muffins and get ready to go ashore, theres a festival in the little town of Oak Bluffs and we must go.... On shore Carl had talked to the guy at the surf shop the day before and asked if he wanted to trade a Florida t-shirt for one of his, he says yes.  So that is our first stop of the day.. Carl sports his new shirt and we head off with him looking good..Hop on the bus and next thing you know we are there. This was fun, they had little kids doing Karioke in the middle of the square so cute, but bad.. Plus good music at the end of the street, good blues band. We spent the day walking around saying Bella, no really, BELLA.. People, dogs and food on the ground made for a busy day for us just keeping control with her..I got a new purse and $5.00 sweater , plus an ice cream so big we couldn't have dinner. No really, we asked for one scoop like always only she must of liked us as she went crazy and made it huge.. People on the street even commented on how big they were..Sitting on a bench while eating it, cause you couldn't walk with it , we people watched which is always fun... Oh yeah they had the oldest Carousel in the country in Oak Bluffs , We watched that for a while also..Kids were trying to get the brass ring when it went around,, Pretty neat... We had a full day and it was time to head for the bus. A nice ride back to town, and I wanted a good glass of wine so we stopped at a place we had seen the day before. We tied Bella to a post right outside the patio where we will be right next to her, when we are told it against the law in this town to block the part of the side walk we are at, so we have to leave. We walk farther down the block to another place with a patio. We get Bella secured right next to where we sit and order wine. Only to be told that they just got the liquor law changed 2 years ago, to have beer and wine in this town, you have to buy an appertizer, if we want to drink. The dock master had told us how unhappy he was about the drinking in town, apparently he like prohibition and felt it should stay.. Okay then... After one glass of wine and esgot we headed back to Windward Spirit.. Much fun was had, but it was time to call it a day. Besides we heard surf was up in the morning so we have to get our rest...More on that later..

After all the fun at Plymouth we headed out early in the morning with the sea's real smooth. As we neared the Cape Cod Canal we were reminded of the awful night we spent just outside of it. Once inside the canal all was good, we hit it with the tide in our favor. It has a very strong current so we made sure we checked the tides. The wind however was not in our favor, it was on the nose and it was calling up some pretty big swells. As we turned the corner at the west end of the canal waves were 3 and 4 foot and we were slamming into them. With each wave we hit it was slamming every part of the boat and us. Carl checked to make sure the anchors were secure and I kept wiping the dodger off with a towel so we could see. We were hitting so hard it was throwing water over the bow, glad all the portholes were shut.. We decided to leave the channel and get into shallower water and slow down the boat. This helped but still it was a rough ride.. It continued to be a rough ride the rest of the day. We were against the current in Woods Hole and the current in Martha Vineyards was wicked, it was a struggle to hole the boat on course. We persevered and arrived at Vineyard Haven early afternoon. We stopped at a fuel dock that was closed and were told to go to the next town it was more fun. So we called the bridge tender thinking this is where she meant us to go and he told us to call the harbor master. We did and found out we could get a dock, that's right a dock.. for only $30 with showers. were in..This was off to a good start..While Carl secured the boat Bella and I went ashore. After a while we all went ashore and walked the town, very quaint  just like most New England towns. We were getting hungry so back to the boat we went and I made some hamburgers( of course one was a veggie burger) and cottage cheese while Carl checked the charts for our next destination. The weather didn't look good in the morning so we would have to wait to leave till afternoon or Sunday. We had found out about a bus running to Oak Bluffs so we took it there for an evening out without Bella. We had a good time here, we found a bar with a DJ and we danced the night away. Also talked to a guy about surfing and he says surf will be up tomorrow and there is a small festival in town so we decided to stay another day. Back on the bus we headed for home as it was getting pretty late and it was time for bed. Today we go to a small town festival.

Now we all know I'm a pretty good cook and I can come up with ways to cook on the boat without an oven. So yesterday morning I tired to make muffins on top of the stove. My girlfriend Nancy had given me this cool mix where all I had to do was add water, shake and cook, sounds easy enough. So I do as instructed only I put it in a iron skillet , just like I do cornbread and lets just say what a mess... First it's not a hearty bread like cornbread, I burnt it big time and it wouldn't flip. So what you have is a pan of muffin pieces some of them burnt and stuck to the sides. We ate them by smaching them together and having a larger piece, tasted good ( I took out the burnt pieces) just didn't look to good. My mother would have loved us eating with our hands, not really...Next time I will use less batter and maybe it will work. I know your thinking can't wait till she cooks for me...We arrived at Plymouth, they had a town mooring that you could us to go check out the town. If you wanted to stay the night , they would move you and you could pay later. So we hooked up to the ball ,took a short dingy ride to the dock and we headed to town.The first thing we see at the dingy dock is a little priate boat, really cute but small. Then we headed over to the Mayflower. It had 104 passenagers and 36 crew plus live stock, it wasn't that big of boat it must of stunk in there. They landed in December 1620 and didn't want to get there feet wet so they got ashore by stepping on Plymouth Rock. This is not a big rock....It was cut in half and moved three times, then they put it back because of its historial value, and bulit a moneument around it. Not at all what I thought it would be... I was hoping for a huge rock..Across the street was a statue of a Indian, TheGreat Sachem of the Wampanoag, which is where we found out that Native American's don't celebrate Thanksgiving, as they see it as and end to their nation. It's a day of prayer and morning.. Next we hit the oldest standing court house in the country, that was cool it is now a free museum. Next the old stone chruch, then the graveyard and a walk to the oldest homes in town from the 1600's. Its hard to believe that a wood house could stand that long but it did. Must be some hard wood... Next stop was a Jenny Grist Mill that ground corn and behind it was a place to stop for a drink. While we were there Elaine and Barry ( Dick and Rita's family from New Bedford that we visited on the way north) called us,we were so surprised. Elaine had read that we were going to be in Plymouth and it wasn't far from where they were going to be today so they came to find us, how cool is that...They joined us and we couldn't have been more pleased to see them.. We chatted a while then we headed over to the Momument to the Forefathers, this was awesome.. It was huge, it was built by the same sulptor that built the Statue of Liberty. Elaine and Barry have been here before and had never send it.Elaine played with Bella while we were there.. After that we ran around to a couple of other statues that I wanted to see, Elaine danced in the street with the music from the concert in the park, so I joined her. then we went for dinner. We left Bella in the car and stopped to eat at a little place right on the dock. We ordered at a walk up window inside, and they called your number, the food was great and Elaine insited that they pay for it. Dinner was fun and we had a lovely time.Thanks again. It was time for us to get Bella and for them to head home , that's when we found out Bella had gotten sick in their car... How aweful for Bella and the car.. I felt so bad, its the second time Bella had a accident with Elaine's things, first her house then her car..Elaine and Barry were great about it.. I cleaned it up the best I could and all I could say was how very sorry I was.. We said our goodbye's and we so glad they had come by and surpised us.. Back on the boat we forgot to pay the dockmaster for the mooring, so we called him. Carl told him he had a couple of drinks but he would drive the dingy back over to pay.  The  dockmaster said not to  get in the dingy and not to worry about it, they would wave the fee and have a safe trip home... How wonderful was that... Plymouth let us have a free mooring ball for the night.. That was a perfect ending to a great day...It's a sailors life for me...

We don't rush out of Glouscester Harbor,but we did change our destination to Plymouth Mass. So we can see the rock,check out the little town and get a little more history of where it all began. We had gone about 1/2 to 1 mile from the anchorage when I asked Carl why was the boat smoking so much, he looks and says its getting hot and shuts down the motor. He begins to look for the problem. There is not enough water coming out of the back of the boat, so he thinks maybe the impeller broke. As he opened up the raw water strainer, he found it full of seaweed and kelp. No water could pass through that. He also found the sea water intake sea cock was also packed full of the same matter.  Both of them were plugged big time. First words out of Carl's mouth when he finds the intake sea cock plugged is I hope I don't have to get in the water. Lucky for him he was able to unplug it by using a wire coat hanger to get it cleared.  The water is very cold and we sure don't want to have get in it. I can see my lips turning blue now...With that open water comes in the boat rather quickly, so I maned the bilge pump while he worked. I also mad sure we didn't drift into any rocks. When we got close to land I told Carl and we dropped anchor. While he was in the water system he did check the impeller and found one of the wings cracked so he replaced it.After an hour or so we were back on track. It sure is a good thing Carl knows what to look for and can fix it. It was a gentle day out in the ocean, light winds on the nose and 1 foot seas. As it took a bit of time to clean and repair the water system it didn't look like we could make Plymouth, so back to Scitaute we went. We picked up a $25.00 mooring ball and got a nice hot shower, Bella was happy to since she got one also. If could see the look on her face every time I close that shower door with her inside,  she knows whats coming next and she is not to happy....We walked around town so Bella and us could get some exercise. We didn't have much time though since the launch was going to stop at 7pm and we didn't get out of the shower until 6pm. Back on the boat I made fresh grilled tuna sandwiches for dinner and boy that tuna was good. Plus I had picked up some rolls when I went shopping with Nancy and that was great with the tuna. We were able to get TV here so we watched it until it was time for sleep. Today we go find out about the big rock(like we haven't seen enough of them already) and the Pilgrims...Hopefully this will be the last big rock we see...

After all the fun we had in Boston we slept in late. All we had planned for the day was laundry and provisioning. So at 10am we hopped into the dingy  and made our way to shore. First we went to do the laundry. The Laundromat is pretty close to the dock so it was only a short walk to it. Of course we took Bella with us and she got to play some on the way there and back. Why does laundry cost so much now, it was $3.50 a load to wash and $1.50 to dry. I suppose that's why most people have a washer and dryer of there own.Took the wash back to the boat and hiked over to the grocery. It was a small local store and they let us bring Bella in. When we got back to the boat I then made dinner. Sushi from that wonderful free tuna we got, boy was that good. We went to the  Crows Nest for one last time before we leave , Bella was left on the boat. Not much to report today we move south to Scituate Mass. Yea baby warm showers tonight. The weather looks good for sailing for a couple of days so on we go...

I neglected to tell you about the guy doing the printing press who was a well of knowledge about the Revolution and the War Memorial outside of North Church . It is a tribute to all who gave there lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. It had dog tags for each soldier.