Some final thoughts on Pathfinder's southbound cruise

Dec 7, 2007 - Sarasota, FL

We're settled into Pathfinder's winter port in Sarasota and we've had a week to think about the trip south from Newport, RI -- we wanted to share some summary thoughts.

Highlights:

There were so many wonderful sights and experiences it is difficult to choose to top ten but here are some favorites in no particular order:

• Cruising through New York harbor and the Statue of Liberty


• The gentle ride down the New Jersey coast


• Annapolis -- what a great boating city!


• Coinjock -- a unique overnight stop one can only reach when cruising


• The anchorage at Campbell Creek and visit from our friends on SeaDee


• Starting each morning with a Hail Mary prayer and saying the Rosary together as we cruised

Lowlights

Even in a great trip there'll be some low points:

• The biting bugs in the Everglades!


• Very rough day in the Chesapeake


• Waiting for all the drawbridges near Miami

What we wish we'd known...

We'd been boating most of our adult lives but always short trips of less than a week close to home -- never 6 weeks and 2,000 miles! Over the last few years we read everything we could find on cruising the Intracoastal Waterway... and still we found some surprising gaps in our knowledge.

• When we saw our first "No Wake" sign we slowed down... until we realized that almost every dock had a sign posted. We quickly learned to distinguish between these private ones and the real no wake zones posted by a government organization where we would slow to 5 mph. Of course we would slow down to reduce our wake whenever we saw people on docks or anchored boats fishing but we wouldn't slow down to private "no wake" signs


• We keep our boat on a mooring in Newport harbor so we weren't very experienced in coming into slips. It was a steep learning curve but we were amazed by how much more comfortable we felt in close quarters handling after our 6 week cruise-- we encourage everyone to spend the summer before the big cruise practicing all aspects of boat handling before the depart-- especially how to work together as a couple on the boat when you can't always your spouse and are communicating by walkie-talkie. We found the best division of tasks for for Marianne to handle the helm and for Chris to handle the lines-- this is the opposite of many cruising couples but we found it works well for us. We've seen too many boaters coming into a slip in high winds with lots of shouting and panic because the petite wife is struggling with a heavy line and the strong husband is standing at the wheel.

Nov 27-29 Tied up in Sarasota -- our winter port

Nov 27 - 29 Keys to Everglades to Sarasota

The trip from the Florida Keys to Sarasota is about 200 miles.
The first 40 miles is in very shallow water in the Florida Keys. We were told the "yacht channel" was plenty deep enough for us and the chart showed 7 feet... but we never saw over 5 feet and often close to 4 feet! We had to motor very slowly, prepared to stop quickly if we touched bottom. After about 5 hours of this (never again!) we got into "deep" water of 8 feet and headed for the recommended anchorage within the Everglades National Park on the Little Shark River. Several guides had suggested this anchorage as a unique wilderness area far from any city or town. We would be out of range of cell phone and email with only our Ham radio as our link to civilization (not counting the 200 channels of satellite television). We would be able to see amazing bird life and the occasional alligator. Some of the guides even footnoted that it could be "buggy". What an understatement! We loved the wilderness feel-- but the no-see-ums were deadly! We started the evening only opening windows that had screens not realizing the bugs could squeeze through the screen holes... by the time we closed all the windows and turned on the air conditioning we had thousands of these teeny bugs inside with us. Even though we coated ourselves with bug spray they kept biting us. We only got a few hours sleep and by about 3am we were sipping coffee, killing bugs, and waiting for dawn to be on our way. Definitely the worst anchorage of our trip!

The second leg of the trip was quite different! The water is over 20 feet deep and the course leads about 20 miles offshore to miss the shoals south of Cape Romano. We were no longer on the ICW always in sight of land and following from buoy to buoy. Instead we were out of sight of land and plotting our own course. It felt great!
We cruised along at 10 knots for 9 hours and only saw two other boats in the distance. It was exciting to arrive at South Seas Plantation Resort on Captiva Island and tie up at the marina among the palm trees. This was one of our kids' favorite marinas in the early 90's when we would sail down all night from Sarasota and enjoy the resort's trolley, pools, beach, and restaurants. The resort had been badly damaged a few years ago in the hurricane but has come back nicely. We shared Pina Coladas at the bar then enjoyed a great dinner in one of their restaurants and settled back aboard for a bug-less sleep!

Our last day was quite nostalgic-- we'd done this route many times in our sailboat and we knew this was the final day of our voyage from Newport. The sky was clear and the water was flat. We were about 10 miles offshore and no other boats in sight. We set the autopilot and took turns getting our bags packed and dead bugs cleaned up. Within 5 hours we could see the skyline of Sarasota on the horizon.



We'll put together some of our final thoughts on the trip in a few days when things have settled down... but for now we are happy to be home in Sarasota. We cruised from October 10th to November 29th with 12 days off in the middle for business -- 5-6 weeks of actual cruising traveling almost 2,000 miles! A dream fulfilled!

Nov 24-26 Florida No Wake Zones!

November 24th - Melbourne to Palm Beach

After leaving Melbourne on the morning of the 24th we entered the most built up section of the ICW from Palm Beach through Miami. The homes are lovely-- once again we were amazed by the wealth we'd seen on our trip down the ICW-- mile after mile of homes in the $2-5 million range! Where does all this money come from? We hope not sub-prime mortgages!

However the ICW through this area is called the "concrete canyon" because the concrete seawalls on all the huge waterfront homes reflect the boat wakes and turn the ICW into a choppy mess. The logical solution is to create "no wake zones" and require the boat to move at about 5 mph past these homes. Calm quiet for the homeowners but at that speed it makes for a long day if we're ever going to get to Sarasota! We slowed down and enjoyed the scenery but made up for the speed by cruising from dawn to dusk. Just about at dark we found a pretty anchorage in North Palm Beach and crashed for the evening!

Nov 25th - Palm Beach to Hallandale

Cruising slowly through Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale felt familiar-- we had vacationed in the area over the years. As car drivers we hated waiting at the draw bridges for the boats to pass... but now, as boaters, we had to pass under 26 bridges over a 2 day period. A few opened on request and we could fit under a few of the higher bridges (our "air draft" is 22 feet and it was tense passing under some bridges with a clearance of 23 feet!). But most bridges operate on a schedule and, if you miss an opening you have a 30 minute or more wait until the next opening. Boats don't have a "Park" setting on the transmission-- you need to use forward and reverse and spin the wheel back and forth to compensate for wind and currents while maintaining your spot near the bridge and avoid other boats -- tiring! By the end of the day we were happy to tie up at a marina, get a quick shower, and catch a taxi to Mass!

Nov 26th - Through Miami to the Keys!

We hadn't seen a skyline like this since early October in New York City! The morning was slow with a series of bridges and no wake zones... but Miami seemed to pass quickly and we were soon in Biscayne Bay heading for the Keys. Our dolphin friends joined us riding and jumping in our wake-- at times they almost seemed to be posing for a picture! The water temperature rose into the mid-80's and it turned a light aqua color. As we pulled into the marina at Plantation Key we immediately felt the relaxed culture of the Keys -- the dockhands chit-chatted with us for quite a while before bringing the fuel hose. We tied up tight, washed down the boat, changed clothes, and strolled hand-in-hand to a local restaurant for a great dinner-- fish for Marianne and ribs for Chris! It felt great to be in South Florida again!
Tomorrow we begin the long trip from the Keys to Sarasota past the Everglades and up the West coast...

Nov 23 - Melbourne Florida

Nov 23 -- Anchored in Melbourne Florida

It has been a busy few days! When we last wrote four days ago we had just entered Georgia... but we have traveled about 330 miles in the last 4 days by leaving before 7am and only stopping for the night around 4pm in time to get anchored before dark. Those long days are tiring because the ICW is shallow (often less than 8 feet -- we need 4 feet to float!) and winding back and forth through the salt marshes. We spend most of the day sitting next to each other on the bridge with Chris steering the boat and slowing down in the shallow areas when the depth alarm beeps and Marianne reading the cruising guides describing the sights and hazards in next few miles and planning the night's anchorage or marina. We enjoy anchoring many nights rather than tying up in a marina because we often have the anchorage to ourselves and we can chat, sip wine, watch TV, read, and catch up on email. However every few nights we head for a marina when we need fuel and we'll often go for a long walk and find a local restaurant for dinner.

The dolphins have been swimming along with us-- here you can see them jumping our wake. Some of the islands on the ICW have wild horses and some goats-- like this "goat island" -- makes us miss our Goat Island in Newport!

We've seen some lovely spots-- the anchorage on the Frederica River in Georgia was especially pretty-- and we've had some marina "adventures"-- last night we had to steer down a narrow channel and squeeze Pathfinder in between two huge megayachts next to the Chart House restaurant. As we came down the channel we kept asking the dockhand at the marina if he was sure we would fit-- we slid in with about 4 feet to spare! As we tied up the boat we looked up to see all the people eating their Thanksgiving dinner and clapping! We closed our blinds and sat down on board to a delicious turkey dinner that Marianne had planned.

It was a thrill to cruise through St. Augustine and see the lovely waterfront and the huge cross at the La Leche Shrine Marianne's parents had visited more than 60 years ago.

We traveled a total of 1,463 miles from Newport but we still have about 500 miles to go to get to Sarasota! It looks like the canal across Florida is too shallow due to the drought so we need to go all the way around the bottom of the state and up to Sarasota! We'll keep you posted!

Nov 19 - Back on the Waterway

November 16-19th
Just a quick update -- we're back on the ICW! We had to take a 12 day break while we opened up our Sarasota home and got some business done. We found a great place to tie up the boat -- Osprey Marina near Myrtle Beach, SC. We highly recommend this protected and inexpensive marina if you need to leave your boat for a while on the ICW.


On Friday November 16th we drove a rental car from Sarasota back to Myrtle Beach, SC and arrived at our boat about 9pm with fresh food and clean clothes. As we started down the ICW we saw this sign on someone's lawn-- almost half way!

One of our biggest surprises as we saw the USA at 10 mph was the plethora of waterfront real estate in North and South Carolina. We were amazed by the number of newly built -- and often empty and for sale -- homes along the waterway like these ones. We actually began to worry more about the news of the mortgage crisis and housing bust of 2007!

We were delighted to be welcomed to the warmer southern waters with many dolphin sightings-- they often swam in front of the boat and sometimes they swam along with us for quite a way.




When the dolphins weren't making waves the water was so calm that the sky was perfectly reflected in the water-- what a picture!


What a difference from the bouncy water in Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake. For the last few days the

waterway has been flat calm and winding through flat salt marshes.

We've anchored out for a couple of nights but stayed in Georgetown, SC on Saturday night to celebrate our wedding anniversary-- what a lovely town! The main street was one of the nicest we have seen-- a long street of distinctive shops and restaurants bordered by the harbor and lovely historical homes on canopy streets. Our marina was right downtown and while I was washing off the salt from the boat Marianne walked downtown and discovered the Goat Island Grille on Front Street --- a perfect spot for a romantic dinner since we began our cruise from our own Goat Island in Newport!

Tonight we crossed the state line into Georgia and dropped anchor in the Herb River-- getting closer to Florida!

Waiting out Hurricane Noel

Friday November 2
We tied up tightly at a marina watching the Weather Channel on our Satellite TV. Most of the coverage of Hurricane Noel mentioned winds gusting over 50 mph at Cape Lookout just east of us (we're at the X on the radar image to the right). We'd picked a good location to stay put for a day at the "Friendly City by the Sea"-- Swansboro's downtown was just one mile from our marina. We tied up Pathfinder with multiple spring lines and put out extra fenders with fender boards. Fortunately there wasn't any rain so we had a nice walk to the local post office and Walgreens to pick up a few supplies (and get some exercise).

We've been amazed at how busy we are each day-- it seems that there is always something to do! When we stop for the night we need to adjust the anchor or lines & fenders and wash the salt off the boat. Every few days we need to refuel and pumpout (yes, the "head" flushes into a holding tank that needs to be pumped out about every ten days). We spend the evenings cooking dinner or choosing a restaurant and then talking and planning the stops for the next few days, updating this blog and emailing/calling family and friends.

While the boat has had very few problems there are a few things that needed repair. After our walk downtown, Chris spent several hours adjusting the bilge pump switches, tightening some hatches, and preparing fender boards while Marianne walked downtown to pick up a few more supplies. The wind kept building and by 3pm it was so gusty that Chris told Marianne to wait downtown so he could pick her up in the marina's courtesy car (many marinas have a loaner car one can borrow for an hour). Only a few boats were moving on the ICW including this "pirate ship" we caught up with the next day. The boat was riding the storm well so we had the marina drop us at the Riverside Steakhouse, known for their sweet potato muffins. It was a great meal and the restaurant dropped us back at the marina for a windy night. The owner of the marina stopped by to give us his home number in case of problems-- but we made it through the night without a problem.

Saturday November 3

We started for Wrightsville Beach about 55 miles away at about 9:45 am but it turned out to be easy run thru Camp Lejuene (today they didn't close the ICW for live fire exercises!). We were excited to see porpoises swimming along with the boat-- the first we'd seen on the cruise. One of the challenges of the ICW can be passing under the bridges. We thought we would have a long delay when an upcoming bridge announced on the marine radio that they would be closed from 1-4pm for maintenance-- but we lucked out when, just as we arrived, the bridge needed to open for a test and we were one of the boats to slip through. Our only concern was that the storm delay had filled up the marinas and every one we called was full. Our cruising guides described a nice anchorage but it's always hard to know until you see it. In this case the guides were right-- what a delightful anchorage in a large cove surrounded by expensive homes and separated from the ocean and beach by a narrow barrier island. We settled in for a nice dinner on board.

Sunday November 4

At 7 am we took our dinghy ashore and tied up at the town dinghy dock then snapped this picture as we walked from the beach and ended up at St. Therese church fronting on the beach. After Mass we dinghied back to Pathfinder, up anchor and cruised past marshes, inlets, and endless new "McMansions" built along the ICW. As we crossed into South Carolina we remembered JFK's quote:

... all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean... We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea -- whether it is to sail or to watch it -- we are going back from whence we came." --JFK

North Carolina creeks and rivers

Tuesday October 30
We had a quiet morning in Coinjock because Chris had a conference call so we got a late start about 12:30pm and only went 35 miles to the Alligator River Marina-- a nice stopping place just past the Albemarle Sound. We'd heard scary stories when there was rough weather on the Albemarle but we had a delightful passage with no waves. We continued our routine of starting the day with a Hail Mary to Our Lady of the Sea and saying the Divine Mercy Rosary in the late morning. With the calm seas we were able to read and relax. We arrived 3.5 hours later and Andy from SeaDee was waiting on the dock to help us with our lines. This marina, at mile 85 of the intracoastal waterway, the only convenient marina in the area, is owned by "Miss Wanda" and her husband. They have about 20 slips and a Shell gas station on the main road to the Outer Banks. Rather than eating burgers at the gas station, Marianne cooked a nice dinner on board and we relaxed studying the cruising guides to plan the next few days. We were a bit concerned by the reports of a tropical storm in the Caribbean so we wanted to put some miles under the keel over the next couple of days.

Wednesday October 31

Happy Halloween! -- beginning our fourth week on the boat! We got a 7am start following a sailboat out of the marina just as the sun was rising over the Outer Banks in calm seas. North Carolina is lovely-- a mix of wide rivers and narrow canals like this one on the Pungo River. We cruised along with only occasional boat traffic. The weather was so calm that we went below and steered from there while we grilled hamburgers on the electric frying pan. Quite a change from the rough weather in the Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake!

We decided to take advantage of the great weather and push on to a pretty anchorage at mile 154 called Campbell Creek. This happened to be the same latitude as Cape Hatteras, the farthest south our insurance policy would allow us to go until November. SeaDee was right behind us and, shortly after dropping anchor, Andy and his friends rode their dinghy over to Pathfinder for drinks and conversation. That night Andy took a great picture of Pathfinder at sunset with our lights on--

This little creek was far enough from "civilization" that our cell phones didn't work... but we relaxed watching the bright stars overhead... and HBO on our satellite TV!
Thursday November 1
Waking up in the anchorage was delightful but we wanted to get an early start and run about 75 miles to Swansboro and tie up at a marina in case Hurricane Noel moved up the coast. It was a long but pleasant day-- the weather was beautiful and the seas were calm. It was especially fun to cruise past Beaufort, NC because we had stopped there during our car trip back to Newport last Spring. We arrived at the marina at 3pm and filled the fuel tanks (181 gallons of diesel burned over the last 22 hours since Portsmouth, VA). Swansboro is a great little town -- after being on the boat for two straight days it was nice to take a long walk downtown where we found an Irish pub for a quick dinner. We still had time to take a shower at the marina and still make All Saints Day Mass 7pm where the priest had a relic of the true Cross that he had received in the Vatican.

The real Intracoastal Waterway

Monday October 29
It was a treat to visit Sunday evening with Jim & Fay Mack on Wanderer-- we had talked on the radio but never been aboard their lovely boat. They had a lot of experience to share with us as they've been doing this trip for almost 20 years and they spend each winter aboard in the Abacos, Bahamas. But after spending two days at the Tidewater marina in Portsmouth, VA at Mile Zero of the Intracoastal Waterway the 30 knot winds settled down to 20 knots, and we decided to do the 50 mile run to Coinjock, NC. This can be a slow run because there are 7 bridges and one lock (our first!) The bridges were easy except when we had 26 boats all waiting in a narrow canal for one bridge to open and trying to hold their positions with the wind and current (some bridges only open on the hour). We didn't have to worry too much about depth in the ICW because we were following the yacht Grand Luxe (228 feet long and 63 feet high) so we knew they had deep water and that the bridges would stay open for them. She is a floating art gallery that travels up and down the east coast hosting events. However it was a little scary when that huge ship joined us in our very first lock designed to lower us about 3 feet to the level of the Virginia Cut.

After the bridge traffic settled down we cruised along at 8.5 knots through some pretty salt marshes in a narrow canal. This was so much easier than the rough rides down Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake that we felt we could really relax and enjoy the ICW. We had purchased the "triptik" type book Chartracker that guides boats down the ICW mile-by-mile so we could easily follow how far we'd traveled and how far we still had to go.

SeaDee started out from Portsmouth just behind us but couldn't fit in the lock with us and Grand Luxe so they arrived at Coinjock about an hour after us. We hadn't expected to see our friends on Rosetta since they'd left Portsmouth the day before-- but Coinjock is a narrow canal with a marina on each side so we could only wave to them as we tied up on the long dock on the opposite side. Coinjock Marina is known for its 32 oz. Prime Rib-- delicious with enough left over for a roast beef sandwich tomorrow!

Chesapeake can be rough!

Wednesday Oct 24 - Saturday Oct 27
We arrived in Deltaville on Wednesday afternoon expecting to leave on Thursday morning... but cruising is controlled by the weather so when the forecast for Thursday was small craft warnings and winds gusting to 30 knots we decided to wait an extra day... which turned into waiting three days as the storm front stalled over Deltaville!

So what do you do for 3 days in Deltaville (population 800)? We made good use of the time-- made some new friends, Geoff and Pepper on Rosetta, and talked on the radio with Andy on SeaDee and Jim and Fay on Wanderer who were anchored in a harbor close by. Our boat is comfortable and we have both heat and air conditioning... and our KVH Satellite TV antenna worked perfectly so we had 200 channels of DirecTV to watch in the rain storms. Even though our Sprint cell phones had no signal we had a strong WiFi Internet connection from our marina so we could do email and use our Skype phone to talk to family and friends (this Skype phone is great-- it looks like a cellphone but it searches for WiFi connections and links to Skype where for $3/month you have unlimited calling to any phone in the USA). I started to re-read Chesapeake by Michener and was at the part when he tells how, while exploring the Chesapeake from Jamestown in 1608 , Captain John Smith was stung by a stingray and he had his sailors dig a grave for him and he sat in it waiting to die... then when he got better he ate the stingray! It turns out that our marina was located on Stingray Point and we walked out to where the grave was dug!

Our marina had a "courtesy car" free to use for one hour so we went out to lunch each day to the lunch spot where all the locals dined-- great burgers and onion rings! For dinner the local restaurants will pick you up at your marina and return you after dinner-- a nice way to see some other spots. Our driver was the owner of the restaurant-- he'd lived in Deltaville all his life and tried several different businesses before settling on the restaurant, marina, and selling "aqua homes" -- floating one bedroom cottages.

But the storm continued for 3 days-- heavy rain, high winds-- and everyone in the marina got tired of the wet and the waiting. When the Saturday forecast was for a break in the weather everyone began to get shipshape in preparation for a rough ride-- putting away lamps, clearing counters, and securing chairs so they don't tip. We ended up with a "fleet" of five boats-- BettyB, SeaDee, Rosetta, Wanderer, and Pathfinder all cruising the 55 nautical miles to Portsmouth, VA within 5 miles of each other. We kept in touch on the marine radio with encouragement for each other because it was rough! We were pounding into 4-5 foot seas with winds of 20-25 knots taking spray off our bow all the way to the top of the bimini. We needed to hang on and brace ourselves as the boat pitched and rolled. Fellow "fleet" members who had done this trip many times said it was some of the roughest weather they'd face. Fortunately, about 2 hours into the trip the last of the storm clouds swept past and the seas settled down to 2-3 feet and we were able to pick up speed. Entry into the major naval and commercial port of Norfolk, VA was a nice distraction -- we passed several large aircraft carriers and Andy on SeaDee reported he had 72 commercial vessels tracking on his AIS display.

By the time we reached the marina the sun was out, we broke out the Pusser Painkillers and relaxed in our chairs in the upper deck then had a wonderful dinner at Cafe Europa in the lovely Old Town section of Portsmouth. We loved walking around Portsmouth and enjoyed seeing the maritime museumincluding the old Portsmouth lightship now firmly moored ashore on the river walk.

We found a nice church for Sunday Mass and we walked all around Old Town... knew we were now in the south by the southern hospitality and the confederate statues!

Down the Chesapeake to Virginia

Storm on the radar

Today we crossed into Virginia and tied up in Deltaville just before a storm hit. The picture on the right is from our GPS chartplotter that we use to track our position. The bottom half of the screen is the nautical chart showing depths and you can see the image of our boat in the middle going between red and green buoys. The little box on the left shows the autopilot is steering a course of 198 degrees and we have 10.8 nautical miles to go on this leg for another hour and 15 minutes. The top screen is the radar image of our boat surrounded by a small rain storm 2 miles around us. Cool, huh? Let me recap the last couple of days--

Monday October 22

We left Annapolis after a relaxing 4 day stay for the 6 hour cruise to Solomon's Island-- a real cruising center. SeaDee traveled down with us and we had a wonderful dinner at a local seafood restaurant with a couple Andy knew, Claus & Betty, who happened to be in the same port on Moonbeam. One of the joys of cruising is getting to know other cruisers-- we're really enjoying the social life! And being close to nature is wonderful-- as the sunrise to the right shows! We waited out a day of very windy weather and scrubbed Pathfinder from top to bottom and did three loads of laundry before taking a dip in the marina pool and heading out for a long walk and crabcakes at a local restaurant.

Wednesday October 24

We got an early start for the 6 hour cruise to Deltaville, VA. As we left Solomon's Island we cruised past a naval air base where fighter jets were doing "touch & go". A naval vessel also steamed passed us... on the radio this one's call sign was "Warship 72".

We're just getting settled in Deltaville. As soon as I finish this blog and Marianne finishes her book we're going to head into town for dinner. Next stop-- Portsmouth, VA and the official start of the Intracoastal Waterway and "Mile Zero"

Annapolis MD

Thursday October 18

We awoke in the delightful Bohemia River anchorage at the north end of the Chesapeake surrounded by thick fog. So we relaxed for a few hours and started for Annapolis about 10:30am when the fog cleared. Our new friend, Andy Allen, on SeaDee was anchored close by and led the way out of the anchorage. By 3:30pm we were hanging on a mooring in downtown Annapolis.

Friday October 19 through Sunday October 21

Annapolis has been wonderful! After bouncing around in the outside mooring area near the Naval Academy the first night we moved to the inner harbor up Spa Creek and it was so peaceful we decided to stay another three nights!

We love Annapolis-- they've done a nice job of providing for the transient boater with dinghy docks at the foot of almost every street and moorings only $25/night. We've enjoyed taking long walks through the colonial streets and sampling the many restaurants. The first night we had great crab cakes and ribs at Buddy's (it was so good we went back for lunch on Sunday!) The second day lunch was at Pusser's-- the same restaurant we enjoyed when we chartered in the Virgin Islands. The Painkillers (made from pineapple and orange juice with Pusser's British Navy Rum) were as good as they were in Tortola!

St. Mary's church is a short walk from the dinghy dock closest to our mooring (we took this picture from our dinghy). It is a beautiful structure with rolling lawns down to the harbor built on the property of Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. We'll definitely plan to stay several days in Annapolis when we pass again next Spring!

Through New York to the Chesapeake

How thrilling to cruise down the East River, through the infamous Hell Gate, past Manhattan, to see the Statue of Liberty appear ahead of us! We had stayed two days at City Island NY to wait out some very windy weather then headed under the Throgs Neck Bridge on Saturday morning timing our departure to arrive in Hell Gate at slack water so we wouldn't have to fight the dangerous 5 knot current. It was amazing to cruise past all the well known skyscrapers on Manhattan Island but seeing the Statue of Liberty ahead of us was a highlight of our trip so far! After cruising close to Liberty Island we headed under the Verazzano Narrows bridge to Atlantic Highlands NJ for the night... cheap diesel fuel but difficult slips to back into!

Sunday October 14
Sunday morning we left at 8am for our first "offshore" passage-- about 60 miles down the NJ coast to Atlantic City. The sea was calm but it was the first time we were really in the Atlantic Ocean with water as far as we could see around us except a small strip of the low NJ coast 5 miles off our starboard side. The NJ shore was unexpected —sandy beach and beach homes for hours and hours. Not much to do on the bridge except dodge the occasional fishing boat. We talked, read, prayed the Rosary, and listened to Jimmy & Julie's Wedding CD. About 30 miles from Atlantic City we saw the huge casinos appear on the horizon teasing us for the last 3 hours of the cruise. We pulled into Trump Marina at 4pm and Rosie was sweet enough to call us with the location of a 6:30pm Mass close by at Our Lady Star of the Sea. After Mass we had a “white table cloth” dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in the casino and only lost $20 gambling afterwards!

Monday October 15
Monday we awoke to another calm day so we decided to cruise outside in the Atlantic Ocean south to Cape May at the southern tip of NJ—only a 4 hour cruise. We relaxed at the marina until 11am then had another gentle cruise down the coast arriving in Cape May NJ about 3pm and docking at Utsches Marina for a two-night stay. Utsches has a great reputation among cruisers on the Intracoastal Waterway and we were surrounded by other friendly boaters heading south for the winter—some first-timers like us, others who live aboard and move up and down the coast every year. Boating is a common interest but Chris has also met some ham radio operators to chat with on the way south. The “world famous” Lobster House restaurant is next door to the marina so we walked over for some of the best swordfish we’ve ever tasted.

Tuesday October 16
With a “day off” from cruising we walked 2 miles to the Cape May town center—a lovely old fashioned beach community with numerous Victorian homes painted in classic three-color combinations. As we walked down the boardwalk along the beach we discovered the Congress Hall hotel and tavern and had a delightful lunch in this the oldest beach hotel in the country and a summer retreat to many Presidents before Camp David.

Wednesday October 17

Bohemia River

When you leave Cape May you need to make a sharp right turn and cruise 60 miles up the Delaware Bay to the canal that leads to the Chesapeake. Although the autopilot steers the boat you need to keep a watch to dodge crab pots and floating debris... and sometimes sea life-- we saw a large sea tortoise half way across the bay heading out to sea. This is open water and can be quite rough... but our “weather window” continued and we had a smooth 8 hour cruise up the bay and through the canal to a picturesque anchorage in the Bohemia River.

Pathfinder is underway!

Our plan:
Since this is our first time down the Intracoastal Waterway we don't have rigid plans but we expect the 1,800 mile trip from Newport to Sarasota will take about 5 weeks if we cruise about 50 miles per day (8 knots for 6 hours). This would be like driving to Florida for an hour each day then finding a hotel room for the night!
We'll stop in marinas about half the time and anchor out the rest of the nights. We have plenty of food and water on board but will plan to cruise each day from 8am to 2pm then stop and go ashore for a walk and meal and to see the sites.
Some of the ports we're very interested in visiting along the way are New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, Atlantic City (for some gambling), Annapolis, the Dismal Swamp canal built by George Washington through North Carolina, Charleston, Hilton Head, St. Augustine, the Okeechobee canal across Florida and home to Sarasota. We'll post some pictures on our blog.

The trip so far:
We loaded Pathfinder on Monday and Tuesday October 8th and 9th and slept on board so we could get an early start on Wednesday October 10th. After weeks of perfect weather in Newport the weather had changed to drizzle and cool.
We had a rough start with bouncing waves the first day and were happy to get to Guilford CT to spend our first night at a lovely yacht club just a short walk to the famous Guilford Green in the center of town.
We got another early start on Thursday the 11th in following seas for 7 hours but the rain held off until we tied up at City Island NY with a view of the Manhattan skyline. We decided to stay on board for dinner in heavy thundershowers and stay an extra day until the small craft warnings are cancelled.

The next few days:
We expect to cruise through New York Harbor and past the Statue of Liberty on Saturday Oct 13th, then head down the NJ coast on Sunday and Monday arriving in Cape May NJ on Tuesday before heading up Delaware Bay.

Welcome to Pathfinder

Welcome to the Pathfinder Blog for Trawler Cruising!

After many years of boating and 3 years cruising in the trawler Pathfinder, a Mainship 400, we've decided to share some of our thoughts and experiences as we cruise the east coast of the United States.

Our Route
For several years we researched and studied books and blogs from people cruising the Intracoastal Waterway. As we got more excited about our cruise we decided that we would take a relaxing trip down the coast from New England to Florida, that we would keep our boat in Florida for a year, and then return to Newport RI via the Bahamas.

We would stay close to the coast in protected waters and only cruise when the weather was favorable. We would stop each night at an anchorage or marina and take our time to stay an extra day or two in certain ports to explore and relax. Especially during our time in the Bahamas we wanted to have no schedule or plans-- just find a lovely island, drop anchor, and enjoy life for several days before moving on to the next island.

We would see the entire east coast of the US at 10 miles per hour traveling about 50-60 miles per day (about as far as a car travels in one hour!)


In the first part of our cruise we departed Newport RI the first week of October 2007 and traveled down the Intracoastal waterway to Sarasota FL during October and November. After cruising the west coast of Florida during 2008, we left Sarasota in March 2009 and cruised across Florida to the Bahamas and then back up the ICW to Newport in time for July 4th celebrations with the family.



Our Boat

Pathfinder is the perfect couple's coastal cruising boat. A Mainship 400, she is designed as a safe, comfortable couple's coastal cruiser.

She has an economical single diesel engine that burns less than 4 gallons per hour when cruising at 10 mph. She has covered side decks with high life rails and a large covered aft cockpit (or "back porch") with room for several chairs out of the sun and wind.

Large glass french doors lead into the main salon with a pull out coach and galley with sink, propane stove and oven, microwave, coffee pot, refrigerator and freezer. To the starboard side is a complete lower helm with all instruments where we can operate the boat in bad weather or when we are making lunch while underway. The port side has a dining table that seats four.

Down some stairs to two staterooms and a large bathroom with shower and tub. She has air conditioning and heat and two flat screens with 200 channels of satellite TV.

The upper bridge deck is enclosed for poor weather days and can be opened up in pleasant weather. The bridge gives great visibility and is where we spend most of the day while underway. We alternate time at the wheel sitting in the main chair although we are usually using the autopilot to steer rather than the wheel. There are large settees where the person not "on watch" can stretch out and read a book or take a short nap. A center table easily sits eight people for a meal at anchor.


 At anchor or at a marina we can relax under the bimini or in our folding chairs on the upper back deck. There is a "summer kitchen" with sink and propane grill to barbecue some steaks.

If the weather is raining we move the chairs under the upper deck to our "back porch" and relax sheltered from the wind and rain.

We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!

Marianne & Chris Barlow