Fun in Spa Creek

We are now sitting on mooring ball #44 and can wave at Amy and Jason when they drive over the Eastport - Annapolis bridge.  The weather has been pretty cool but the days have warmed up enough to get Grey Hound finished up for sailing after we celebrate Amy's birthday on Sunday.  The new dodger is a big help and helps keep the boat warmer.

Last night we had "Italian night" on board with Amy & Jason.....they took the "water taxi" to get over to us so we didn't even have to put "IT" into service! 

Today we dinked into town and they are having a Lord Nelson Tug get-together in Ego Alley.....they looked really neat!

It's official.....Grey Hound is in Chesapeake Bay!

We launched Grey Hound yesterday in the Severn River.  Many thanks to Luann and Al Davis (Jason's parents) for all their help and hospitality.   It was a beautiful day to set up the boat and begin the Chesapeake chapter of our season.  We arrived in Spa Creek about 6 and now we're on mooring ball #33 just in front of Annapolis.

Amy & Jason.....here we come!

Ok, Grey Hound is now sitting in the hotel parking lot somewhere Frackville, PA??!!  We have ordered takeout and tomorrow we'll get a chance to launch our girl in the Chesapeake for the first time.  We have said our good-byes and kissed Teagan Rose one more time for the next month.  We also have our canvas done to keep us a little warmer and Grey Hound is looking forward to seeing some boats on some new water.  Mark & Vicki (sv - Living the Dream) sent us off well fed....thanks you guys!!

Jim & Laurie.......where are you hiding Kismet?  I know you are south of Annapolis so we will try to track you down.

FINALLY.....WE ARE OFF!!

No worries Jon & Arline.....your space is now open!!!

NEW CREW FOR GREY HOUND ARRIVES TODAY!!!!!!!

This morning at 3:36am we need to let everyone know that Teagan Rose O'Connor was born to Stephanie and Bob at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY.  She comes to us at 8lbs 3oz and is 20.5 inches tall.  It was a long night for Steph and Bob but the end result was one BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!

Now that is one way we find crew in this family!!!!!  We have already told the proud parents that she is going to do anchor duty in 10 more years.............

Congratulations to Bob & Steph!!!!!!!!!

We're trying to get out of the cold north!

It's the last day of September and we are trying to finish up the canvass and get out of "Dodge" before the snow flies.  Cooper Canvas is sewing the dodger now and we are about ready to bend the metal for the bimini....more pictures to follow.

We've heard from Kismet and they are almost to Annapolis........we need to fill up GHP and head south!!!

Finishing up at the "Bridge"!!

A pretty nice sunset I'd say!

Towards the end of our week at Binnacle we had this great sunset.  Jim S. thinks his picture is better but I have the password for the blog!

Afterwards we had 5 boats go down the river to anchor near Mulcaster Island and we had a dinghy race down to Smuggler's Run restaurant.  Of course everyone gave "it" (our dinghy) and "nibbles" (Otium's) a head start and we still managed to come in last place.  The food was great and we had a nice night at anchor.

The next day all the monohulls had to go home to work so Dream Chaser and Grey Hound went to Kingston to try to eat our way through the town.........we must have come close because my stomach is larger!!

Right now I'm sitting next to Roxy in Clayton (nice chair in the dockbox Tom & Sue).   Anne, I and Grey Hound are heading west to try to make it to Fair Point in the next day or so.....we will see

Everyone who's "in" is at Binnacle!

Bob & Steph rented Binnacle Island on 8/23 for the week so we're all mostly there.  We miss Amy and Jason but they can only make the trek up north so many times in a season.  Next year you guys!!

So far we have had a whole bunch of folks on the island; Patrice, Kim & we cannot forget Henri (aka: "Super Hank"), Marty, Cathy, Jackson, the Chief) with the latest being Jim, Holly and Max. Since the original post we've also had Jeff, Cathy, Don, Mary, Larry, Carol and a couple of Montreal power squadron guys show up for a good time.

More pictures of the adventures will be posted when we have a few minutes to stay online.  I'm typing from the Gan marina and somehow i got online without a password.

Adios...........

We're Home!!!

We pulled into Fair Point this afternoon around 2:30pm or so.........and it sure feels great to be back home!!  Jerry was there to great us and the marina was a sight for sore eyes.....good 'ol GHP (the truck) did fantastic and all told we put over 2,100 on the vehicle......and Grey Hound put another 732 nm under her!   We had a great time in the North Channel and the race but now we're looking forward to our annual trip to Binnacle Island (in the 1000 Islands) and the coming of our first grandchild!   We don't have any follow up pictures as of yet (still need to charge the camera) but we'll get the "old fashioned" camera downloaded to a disk and have more for you then, Folks............but in the meantime check out our home port at                                                                                                     http://www.fairpointmarina.com/index.html                                                                                                                                           Grey Hound is sitting on the trailer in clear view of the web cam........... just check out the whole site.....these guys have it together!       

Another Great Lakes Light House

Strawberry Island Light House...............established 1881.............a series of Georgian Bay lighthouses...............structure is wood frame and the light is now solar powered.........now owned and maintained by private owners

Raggetty Annie, Raggetty Annie, Reggetty Annie...........

To Innisfree & Otium!

We found Raggety Annie!

To Baie Fine, Beaver Island Harbor and back again....

Well we are back in communication again after a few days in the back country.  We've had some good sailing in good wind and flat seas and made a few mono's unhappy.....oh well.

The camera bit the dust so we're without an easy way to take some pictures.  We had Alley J (a Bruce Roberts  40' steel sloop) give us a disposible camera so we have some pictures of The Pool, Topaz Lake and others places we'll have to post later.....

We found "Lucky Rock" again and we now know it's good for east winds along with west wind.  Otium and Innisfree.....both you guys can get in there as we had 8' of depth where we were.  The Pool was good and we missed a few t-storms over the last couple of days.....man they make big thunder up here!

Beaver Island Harbor was very nice......we saw/heard many Loons, had one eagle fly right over Grey Hound and saw a nice big buck on the island........not to mention 15 Sand Hill Cranes fly right over the boat.  the last time we saw them just happens to be in Utah.....remember Amy?

The pictures show the entrance to Baie Fine.....very cool looking and you have to pay attention or else......

Monday is only a few hours away....

We hope to get up early enough to get to the cruisers radio net up at the Anchor Bar & Grill in the morning.....then we finish off provisioning and head east.

We've had a great time in the town and there were a lot of folks around and the energy level was high......what fun!  We even had " Brian" from "Down Under" come over to the boat as we had the Boxing Kangaroo flying for the day.  He had some good things to say about the boat for sure.  We told him that since Ian and Jill sent us the flag along with being festive.......we just had to fly her in Little Current......and he was thrilled about it, proclaiming us honorary Aussies!!!!

Cheers Mate.....

The final night of Haweater's weekend!

Ok, Haweaters is...... from the fruit of the Hawthorne bush, which has berries on it and the locals of the area make jams and jellies from it and generally enjoy the fruit from the berries.  Haweater's Weekend celebrates the "coming back" to Manitoulin Island for all the people that have moved to other places.  This is essentially a big family reunion for them. 

Tonight we had a beautiful night and before the sunset we tried to get food at the local restaurants and one place was out of food and the other had a waiting line...........so we walked down the street and found a vendor on a cart selling Jamaican jerk chicken and rice so we brought it back to Grey Hound and had a great meal just before sunset......PERFECT!

Next, the boat parade and the fireworks right across the cut from us so we had the best seat in the house.....another very nice night was had!!