Nap'town

We spent this weekend in Annapolis with Amy and Jason before heading back to CNY.......a nice low key weekend.......... It was also great catching up with Mark and Vicky of "Living the Dream".

Here's a picture of the fireplace at Amy and Jason's..........just what the holidays should be!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

A look down the road

Charleston, SC

Another beautiful city with amazing architecture and history. We're wrapping up our northern bound "walk-about". We've had a great time taking in the sites of so many locales that in the past we've just past by as we've traveled north and south on 95....... in Charleston we stayed at the Inn on Meeting Street. A beautiful Inn were the setting exemplifies real "southern hospitality".

Now this is what Christmas decor should be like

Savann-aaah!!!!!

We are once again heading north this morning after spending two nights in this great town. The place is fun to walk around, restaurants are all over the place and the people are friendly to all of us tourists. A few pictures can really tell it all.

and Night Life!!

A visit to this town is not complete without a visit to Seagle's Saloon for cocktails and some tender loving "trash talk" with Miss Cindy Dean. Man, did we peg the fun-meter!!

Night lights....

Remember these?

A walk down the dock and.............

St. Mary's, Ga.

We are now making our way northward and yesterday's stop was St. Mary's. What a great little town! It's out of the way by road but right on the Intercoastal Waterway. It's a little after-season but we stayed at the Riverview Hotel and had a fantastic dinner at the Silver Star Steak House. This is the same town that does Thanksgiving dinner for the cruisers heading south for the winter...........over 56 boats were anchored out just a few weeks ago for the dinner sponsored by the people of S. Mary's and held at the Riverview.

The "White Tornado" at work!

After we left Grey Hound at All American Boat Yard we headed north to Largo to visit Dick's parents the Chief and Millie and had a great time!! We enjoyed lots of laughs and some really good grub!! Here's Millie hard at work poaching some really good eggs!

We are in Florida....at least for a moment!

Grey Hound is now in All American Boat Yard. We have her clean inside and out and she is ready for a winter in warm water. All we have to do is just launch her and hit the road. The yard has been very friendly and we'll post some information on the F-boat chat line. It's nice to feel warm air......

ps....Jeff........here is your next trailer boat!!

A view from the "Shot-gun" seat

That's the starboard side, Sailors!

Things are looking up!

We are southbound and "hammer-down".......pulled out of CNY this morning at 7:15am and made good time and distance in our escape from the soon-to-arrive wintertime blues. We drove through some rain but GHP kept us between the lines and "WOW" this rig (truck & trailer) really handle great! Dick and I both did 2 shifts and we are now spending the night just a little north of Richmond, Va. Tomorrow it's up early and we're hoping to be within a days drive away from Charlotte Harbor, Fl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The day for turkey and all the extras is finally here and we will go up to Mimi & Dave's home for a feed and drink day. Anne has made the taters and squash and I'm certain there will be plenty for everyone.

Only a few more days to go until we head south with Grey Hound to get her out of the cold and snow.

Gobble Gobble!!

Jerry's newest pet......what do you think?

The marina cat, Hobie is MIA lately and I think Jerry is a little lonely but guess who showed up? We haven't figured out what we should name this guy........."T-GULL"? CORRECTION.....JERRY SAYS HE IS JONATHON!!!....Livingston Seagull??? :-0

He likes crackers!!

We're ready to head south!

Grey Hound is now ready to head down the road. Right now we are looking at the end of the month, a day or so after Thanksgiving. We had Cooper Canvas do up a couple of bags for the mainsail and boom and we're going to try to trailer with them on the trailer. Then the cabin is open and accessible.

We sure miss the sun......

We are still in Sewercuse!

Ok, Grey Hound is ready to go south.....the bottom is clean, the hulls are waxed and we have the wine cellar full. Now all we have to do is go south!

For the next post I want to have a good pix of GH, one of the empty bay in Fair Haven and one of Jerry's newest friend.........the "dumb seagull"! I'm trying to convince him (Jerry I mean) to take the bird home for the winter. Can anyone think of a better pet to clean up after a pizza and wing night? No dishes to wash.

I promise.....better graphics next time!!!!!!!

SAVE US FROM BEING ON LAND!!!!

Well, at least we are near boats and water...Nap-town

We all know Syracuse is just about ready to get snow....yes, it sleeted today and it's really lousy here. But......we did get to Annapolis last weekend to harass Amy and Jason and also got a chance to catch up with Kismet and Kasidah, plus a few more friends. A good time was had by all and we got our crab sandwich at Davis's.

Wrapping up our sailing on Lake Ontario

It has been a very short sailing season up here this year and the time at Fair Point is winding down. There are not many folks left at the marina and our dock partners have already headed south so the evenings at the marina are very quiet. Fall is definitely here. Cooper Canvas is doing a little more work for us and we'll have some new sun shades and new solar panel for the winter sailing season. Now all we have to do is get our butts down there!!

Right now we are watching Kismet and Kasidah on their blogs.........we'll be a little quiet until we can catch up!!! Stand by............

Some pictures of the fun at Binnacle.....

Ok, sorry for the delay....Binnacle was GREAT!

It was my fault that the computer was left in GHP so we had no coverage for over 2 weeks. We did however have a super time with all the family and friends that showed up this year. We'll work on some of the stories over the next few days but in summary we had:

- something like 45 people show up

- Pasta night fed 20 nuts for a sit down dinner and was done by the Naptown 4

- Jack-son drove the Chief out of the Murray Suite with his snoring

-Jeff continued his cheating streak in the dinghy races

-someone we know got her hair wet for the first time in a long time

AND:

Teagan made about 45 more friends than ever before!!!!!!!!!!

& no Kim, she cannot date a American/French 15 month old hottie!!!

More updates to come.............

Binnacle Island......Here we all come!

This weekend begins the 2009 version of a "wild and crazy week" up in the 1,000 Islands. The whole fam damly will be there along with Teagan's 1st island trip. I have a feeling that her "island" days will be frequent over the next 50 years.......which island will be the only determination for this little girl.

Stand by for some good pictures of fun on the "rock"!!

Wellington, Ontario

It is always a fine time when we can make it to Wellington. The entrance is always interesting (very narrow with big rocks) but if one can make it into the entrance the town and warm water is great! This year there was 4 feet of water in the channel so no problem with getting in. There was shoaling at the public dock but we made it over the thin water went directly to our favorite sandbar and spent the next two nights swimming and cleaning Grey Hound. Wellington is the town that is closest to Sandbanks Provincial Park which boasts some of the nicest and biggest sand dunes on Lake Ontario. We try to make it there at least once a summer. If you can get in there it's some of the best holding and protected anchorages on the lake!!!!

For the return trip to Fair Haven we had to battle light "on the nose" winds and a big "A" thunderstorm but in the end we wrapped up the day with a nice 10-14kt sail for the last 14 miles. It kind of made up for the uncomfortable, slow first 30 miles!

Summer is here in the Great Lakes!

Over the last few days we have been able to get Grey Hound out on the water again. There wasn't enough time, but then again there never is so we headed north and checked in at Waupoos and met up with our buds, the Merrill's and had a couple of good days swimming and eating. We had a good lunch at the Waupoos Winery and of course the food coming from both Otium and Grey Hound tasted fine. For the second night we went over near Halfmoon Bay (Prince Edward Bay) for a change of pace and got to anchor in 29 feet of water........that anchor was sure a long ways down!

Jeff & Cathy had to head back to Sackets Harbor for work but we had two more days so it was west to Wellington!

Waupoos......finally!

After a great week watching our friends in action it was time to head to a more quiet place so after two nights in Kingston we took off for some anchoring. Because the winds were blowing pretty good right out of the west we decided to go to Sato Bay for a night a wait out the blow. We had a lovely night and we saw our first Bald Eagle of the year on Lake Ontario along with his buddy, the osprey. Oh yea, a small water snake decided it would be "cool" to rest on our transom until we decided he was not our type.

From there we had a great sail all the way down the North Channel and only had one tack to the Upper Gap on the lake. We had two good nights at Waupoos. Nu-it took us to the Black River Cheese Factory and we also met up with an old friend, Les (Cadenza II). He took my begging to heart and made us his famous soda bread for the trip south across the lake. Thanks Les!! You haven't lost your touch!

As part of the Mimico Cruising club's group we also met David & Brenda aboard Wind Rose II and Mike and Allison sailing Soul Healer. It's a small world as David and Brenda know of Jim & Sharon of mv Blue Angel from days past when they too had a Bayfield 36.............

Hobie Cat 16 Continentals

After Sugar Island we came towards Kingston and had a few good nights in the lee of Simcoe Island.  It ended up to be a nice anchorage with sand near shore.  After that we pulled into Olympic Harbor and caught up with a good many of our old Hobie friends while they help the Women's, Youth and Open events.  We had some good laughs and ended up being spectator boat for the week.  Fun time for all.  

Ah.....we're sailing again!

After a nice night in White's Bay (Henderson Harbor) we headed north to meet up with Otium in the islands.  On the way we got our first glimpse of the windmills on Wolfe Island.  While they may be needed today, the cutting down of beautiful trees and wrecking a nice landscape can't help us wonder if we are viewing a short term gain for a long term loss......who knows.

We caught up with Jeff & Cathy a Sugar Island and had a nice night on the hook.

WELL......better later than never!

July 14th and we have just completed the first sail on Lake Ontario for 2009

 - First 49 miles on a cold 61.5 degree lake

 - First sail with our new Mack Sails

 - First sail with a reef in our new Mack Sail main

 - First anchor in White's Bay

The seas were a lot bigger than the forecast but we blasted through them, got a little wet but now we are NOT tied to a dock!!

Life if Good!!!

A little bit of luck....

It is going to be a wet and unsettled week in Fair Haven but we had a good day today so Anne has proclaimed after today's waxing that Grey Hound is officially " de-salted!"  She looks just like she did before we did the 6 months in salt water............which means "lets go back and do it again!"

We had a few storms come through right at dinner but we got the lamb cooked between storms.   Now our mantra is:  Come on Mack Sail.............we need sails.