Rainy Day Visit with Sister Sal

No new pictures, unfortunately! We are still in Baltimore, waiting out Tropical storm, Nichole, and having a chance to visit with my sister, Sally, and Manny, who are traveling from New Hampshire to Florida. S and M spent the summer in New London, NH and live in Stuart, FL. Due to the inclement weather, they stayed longer in Baltimore for a visit. In addition, Sally turns 60 tomorrow and it was a year ago today that our mother passed away, so it was doubly special to spend the last 2 days together.

Last night we went to one of the italian restaurants in Little Italy, a few blocks from the marina. Today, Joe and I went out for lunch in the harbor with a gift certificate from our children to the Rusty Scupper; then joined S and M for a movie, Wall Street, with Michael Douglas, very good, and then dinner.

We put our rain gear to good use, as Nichole came right up the east coast, dumping about 5 inches of rain, with winds, and high tides on the Chesapeake. Our boat is pretty dry with an occasional leak, and we put up our new canvas which encloses the cockpit, for additional dry space.

The plan has been to sail to Annapolis tomorrow, where Jen, Mark, and our grandkids will stay overnight. The weather forecast is for drying out, but 30 knot winds, so we may delay our trip again.

Joy

Erin and Adam Day

We are here in Washington, DC, actually Hyattsville where Jen, Mark, Erin and Adam live. Erin is now 3.5 and Adam is 5 months old. We arrived today by taking the commuter train down from Baltimore to College Park. College Park is the town next to Hyattsville. Mark had left their second car( our old Saturn) in the parking lot for us. The train cost $6/person one way and is a nice 50 minute ride. Very crowded even on the 8:15 am train. Saw only one person enter our car wearing a suit and tie. Business casual has taken over the world.

Picked Erin up at nursery school. She was happy to see us and showed me her school. Spent the day washing Jen's pile of laundry, playing with the kids, and Joy ended up taking Adam for a walk after dinner in the hopes that he would fall asleep. No such luck.

Mark, Joy, Erin and Adam went to Erin's music class before dinner, and I got a cupcake from a birthday party at music class to eat after dinner.

The biggest boat related news is that I was unsuccessful in filing one of our CNG tanks. I found the place in Montgomery County that has CNG in a gas station like setting. However the connector from the pump was too big for our tank. Found an oxygen supply house to see if they had any connectors. Good thing I asked some questions. Turns out that our tank is only rated for 2,200 psi, normal load is 1,500 psi. The pump puts out either 3,000 or 3,600 psi. If the connectors had worked, I might have blown out the safety plug and spraying CNG all over the place and it could have gone off in a fireball explosion. Thank goodness it did not fit. We have finally figured out that we need to eiher replace our stove with a propane stove or get it converted over to propane. Most likely when the boat is in Florida and we are back in Cleveland for several days at Christmas

Jen had to go to the college for her job for about 3 hours. She has contracted to work 160 hours per semester. A couple of nights a week and on Saturdays. So we will be doing baby sitting while we are here until Wed afternoon. Taking the train back to Baltimore to have dinner with Sally and Manny who are driving back to Florida starting today.

Joe

The Grandchildren

The highlight on Friday was a visit from Jen and Mark, Erin and Adam. They drove up from DC for supper on the boat and a chance for Erin to explore and get used to the boat for next weekend when they will stay with us in Annapolis.

Erin was very interested in exploring on deck and below, as all the adults watched like hawks, as she maneuvered in and out of the cockpit, on and off the boat, and up and down the ladder. of course, she wanted to do everything by herself! Adam just enjoyed the activity, smiling and looking. Joe and I were amazed to see how much he has grown up, sitting on our laps with minimal support, pushing to a crawl position when Jen put him down on the bunk. If he could he would get his whole hand in his mouth. Three or four fingers get bunched in there easily! We finished the evening with a trip to the ice cream store.

The day was hot, breaking heat records, mid 90's, but cooled off by evening enough to be comfortable with a good breeze. Joe attended the trawler show in a neighboring marina and I found a hairdresser to attend to my needs, as well as a trip to Whole Foods market, a block from the marina.

Joy

Overnight Anchoring

On Wednesday, the 22nd, we left Chestertown, by early afternoon and motored about 2+ hours to Langford Creek, which we were told had a good anchorage in case of thunderstorms from the Northeast, which was forecast. A good anchorage is a sheltered spot from wind and waves with good holding ground, meaning when you put down your anchor, it doesn't drag. The Chesapeake is full of these types of spots.

Our little overnight anchorage was up a smaller creek- 1/4 mile across and behind an island. It was very quiet, with only an occasional small sailboat or fisherman around. We had our own great blue heron, who probably lived on the island. Had supper, played cards, and watched the light show. Thunderstorms did come in, but mostly stayed to the south of us, so we watched the sky light up for about 1 and 1/2 hours as it got dark. A little scary, but impressive to watch. We got the edge of one storm, with not much rain or wind, that evening. We also enjoyed the full moon!

Joy

Baltimore - Inner Harbor East Marina

We arrived in Baltimore after a 6.5 motor ride from Cacaway Island where we anchored. Free night since we anchored. Picture of sunrise at Cacaway Island.

There was a terrific lightening and thunder storm around us, but we had a little rain.

We had spent the day walked around Chestertown, MD. Not too much excitement there in the town.

Last night we went to dinner at Bertha's Mussels, a great place for Joy as she loves them. She must have had about 3 dozen for her main course.

We went to see Ben Affleck's new movie, The Town. A story about bank robbers in the Charlestown section of Boston. Very nicely done. We used our gift card for both the movie and dinner.

Joe

Charlestown, MD

Well it is an odd day, so it is my turn to write.

Today we travelled to Charlestown, MD which is rich in colonial history. They had a Tea Party after Boston's, but it never got the press so hardly anybody knows about it unless you live here.

This is a college town, Washington College. WC is the only school that George Washington lent his name to and he contributed funds to start the school. After we arrived we walked around the downtown and parts of the college campus. There are a lot of 1700 building here, in fact according to Ed Minch, ( he owns a boat here at the marina), it has the second most number of old buildings, only surpassed by Annapolis.

Ed is related to Charlottte Minch, she was principal of Chippewa Elementary for the first couple of years that Josh was there. We noticed that his boat was from Rocky River and he came over when he saw that High Spirits was from Cleveland.

We are going over to his house this evening. Also, his grandfather owned Minch Nursery on Pearl Road in Middleburgh Hts, Gayle, Connie, and Joyce might recall this stellar tidbit of Kubit family trivia.

Pictures today are of a sailing class held out on the river, the Sultana which is an exact replica of the original Sultana back in 1770s. The British Royal Navy had exact drawings of her, and so the drawings were found in 1980s when people decided to build her. She is part of an outdoor education experience for children in Kent County School District.

Joy is still eating her left over crabs from the party on Sat. I had left over dinner from last nights venture to a restaurant.

Tomorrow we are going to work on the outboard engine. Turns out we got water in the gas tank, cracked o ring in the cap let in water when we sailed down the ocean off the coast of New Jersey.

Also going to try and get some boat cards printed at Staples, and find the final fittings for the shower pump in the front head. Leaving after lunch and will anchor out Wed night so we will only have a 5 hour trip to Baltimore on Thursday morning.

Joe

Crabfest!

Joe and I are trying something different, at least for awhile. I will be doing the blog on the even days and Joe on the odd days. This is a compromise as I tried to look over his shoulder yesterday as he was typing and he didn't appreciate my interference. I need to feel that the blog comes from both of us. So.....

This morning we awoke to what appeared to be a blustery day, so considering the weather and the fact that we met Kathy and John last night, a local couple here in Rock Hall who spent last year in the Bahamas, we made the decision to stay in Rock Hall one more day.

The pictures are of a group of us having Chesapeake crabs, which the owners of the marina gave us ( leftovers from the Saturday night party). I had lots of tutoring about how best to find the crab meat, so by the end of our 90 minute lunch, I was able to dissect one in 10 minutes, instead of 20. Delicious! Lots of good crab and fun conversation! Joe, who is allergic to crab meat, had a turkey sandwich.

For supper we joined K and J again, along with another family of liveaboards, for dinner at a local restaurant that offers half price meals on Mondays. Lots of boat conversation and hearing of their experiences in the Bahamas- all information that will be helpful in the long run. Part of what makes this a wonderful experience for us is meeting the other couples who have sold their homes to spend time cruising. Everyone is very friendly and helpful, and all have interesting stories about deciding to do this. We collect boat cards, like business cards from everyone we meet in hopes of coming across them again as we head south.

Tomorrow we are off to Chestertown.....

ROCK HALL,MD

We are spending two nights in Rock Hall, MD which is on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. Had a nice sail over yesterday, kind of long because of shoals. We actually had to go south of Rock Hall, find the correct marker and then come back north about 4 miles to enter a fairly small harbor opening.

Then we got lost in the Harbor, finally found our transient slip and got all tied up. The neatest thing was that Sat night(yesterday) was the owner's appreciation dinner and dancing for all the dock holders. We knew about it in advance. We were not invited to the dinner but were invited to the dancing part which started at 7pm and went to after 10 pm. Had a great time. The owner came over and introduced herself to us towards the end of the evening.

We met several dock holders who all told us how great Rock Hall is for sailing. However, most of them live in Delaware and have an easy drive down the eastern side of the bay from either Wilmington, DE or from eastern Pa.

Today we got out the bikes and rode all over Rock Hall, a very nice town with shops and a good coffee house. Went to the Rock Hall museum which has a lot of oyster/crab gear from the past. The volunteer at the museum was telling about how nice Rock Hall is to live in, one of the points of visiting the Chesapeake is that this is a potential spot for us to life in on a part time basis after we are finished cruising, but still want to keep sailing. The restaurant where we had lunch hosted a Ravens backers party. Kind of noisy. Wish we had known about it in advance as they all got a great price break on the food: $10 per person for a buffet that featured crab, burgers, ribs, etc.

The pictures today were taken by Joy. The colorful buildings are part of an old amusement part that was on the Bay and were relocated to Rock Hall and turned into touristy gift shops.

Tomorrow we are off to Chestertown, MD, 25 miles up the river from the Bay. Should take about 6 hours to get there. May try to anchor before and after we visit the town to save some money. The dock fees are our biggest expense item and hopefully we can do more anchoring after Oct 3.

Joe

Great Day in Georgetown

We had a great day here in Georgetown. The marina here has loaner bikes so we borrowed two bikes to ride a short distance into the town of Galena which has a nice family type of restaurant and a small grocery store plus a bunch of stores for Joy to look through. Even had a hardware store which I needed to have a key made. The window over the navigator's desk has a small leak and some keys got wet and started to rust. It is amazing how fast things rust when you are on the water unless it is made of stainless steel.

Later this afternoon we were sitting on High Spirits watching about 50 American vultures( at least that is what Joy's bird book thinks they are) flying in circles over the trees along the marina. Picture included.

Joy remarked how scenic it was to look at the boats all tied up at moorings so she took the rest of today's pictures. The mooring field was cheap, only $.80/foot and a free water taxi took you back and forth to the fuel dock.

We met a couple who have been living on their boat for three straight years. It is a 43 foot Taswell. It is equipped with a water maker and extra fuel tanks(actually they took out one of the water tanks and replaced it with a reserve fuel tank). They are headed to the Islands.

We also decided that we need Boat Cards as we have been collecting them from people but have no cards to give to them. Now that the Franko's have cards, we had better get with the program and get some printed. Thanks for the tip about Staples.

We are headed down to Rock Hall and then up the river to Chestertown which is very scenic at this time of the year. Then next week over to Baltimore for Josh and Rachel.

Joe

Crabbing in Maryland

No I don't mean that either Joy or I are crabby. I mean that we have seen a lot of crabbers out in their boats pulling in their crab pots. Got a photo of one of them. The boats are long with a small cabin up in front and a large deck in back to store the crab pots and crabs when they are brought aboard.

We left early this morning(sunrise photo at Havre de Grace) as the forecast was for thunderstorms in the early afternoon. We went from Havre de Grace which is on the western shore over to Georgetown, MD which is on the eastern shore up the Sassafras River. A nice four hour trip but was mostly confined to a small deep channel. The Chesapeake is big but very shallow along the edges so there are a lot of places we can not go. The phrase: "Hey diddle diddle, stay in the middle" is rule number 1.

Georgetown has a lot of boats. We are anchored out in the middle of the bay surrounded by some very large boats, a lot of them over 60 feet. We went to the swimming pool but it was pretty cold. Then about 4 pm the weather started to turn bad and we went back to the tender dock and went back to High Spirits. Made it by only 30 seconds, and the rain hit.

Tomorrow we are using the loaner bikes to go into Glena, about a mile from here to do some shopping for groceries, and other essentials. The tender stops at 6 pm, so if we want to eat on shore we have to eat early, other wise we will eat on High Spirits.

Joe

Havre de Grace, MD

We motored over to Havre de Grace this afternoon. We had met Steve Weisbrod at Atlantic City and he mentioned how great his town was to visit. So we got up on a very foggy morning, the picture included was taken while the fog was lifting. It was about a 4 hours trip, but we arrived before dinner time. Picture of Steve helping Joy tie up High Spirits when we arrived.

Went out to dinner with Steve and his wife Judy. They are one of 6 boats who live all year round at Tidewater Marina. Judy is a supervisor in the Service Department and Steve makes his living delivering boats. They have been living on their boat in the marina for 8 years with one more year to go. Then they are thinking of moving to Central America.

We did have some problems with our dinghy engine this morning so now we have to find a Yamaha dealer as the engine is still under warranty. It died out and now the starter cord will not pull at all. The plan is to find a dealer in Baltimore where we will be for a week.

Coming over to Havre de Grace we saw this very large barge, opposite way, so we took its picture. These things are very large, and don't turn. There is a large steam shovel on it that looks like a toy.

Tomorrow plans are to 1) grocery shopping, the marina has a courtesy car, 2) get a haircut, 3) fix the sump pump, and 4) find a Yamaha dealer in Baltimore. Plus ride bikes around Havre de Grace.

Joe

PACKED IN ON THE C and D CANAL

Right now we are parked in the anchorage hole in Chesapeake City on the C and D Canal. We arrived here about 4 pm, and since then there have been five larger boats trying to fit in our little space. Be interesting to see what happens.

So, we are on an anchorage and I have to careful of the use of my computer battery so this note will be short. We got up at 5:30 am, left at 6:30 and motored almost 60 miles in 10 hours. We had the

tide coming in behind us which helped push us up the Delaware Bay.

Here are some photos of today's trip. Notice the white on the light house, that is dried salt from sea spray. Another is the nuclear power plant in NJ that is right on the Bay, plus one of Joy driving, no hands as the autopilot was on.

We will be in the northern part of Chesapeake Bay for the next 8 days, then to Baltimore with Josh and Rachel, Sept 25 & 26, and then the following weekend with Jen, Mark, Erin and Adam at Annapolis. Then into the southern part of the Bay for some more islands/towns to visit before we go to Norfolk, VA for the start of the ICW.

Joe

Cape May - Rain and Cloudy

Today it was raining when we got up. Ended up taking a taxi to church, but then it stopped raining about noon time. After church we had lunch at an old fashioned lunch counter at a store kind of like the old Woolworth's stores that were around when we were kids. Actually there was one in Brecksville that Joy used to take the kids for lunch.

This afternoon we have been getting the boat ready to leave tomorrow at 6 am to ride the tide and current up the Delaware Bay. It should be a smoother ride going with the current than fighting it. Also the winds are supposed to be out of the north, so we will not get much use out of our sails as we will be going almost directly into the wind for about 50 miles.

No pictures today.

Joe

The Trnkas and 9/11

Today we had a great visit with Sue and Wally Trnka. They arrived in Cape May about 11 am having driven down from Philadelphia. They also have a rental condo just north of here in Wildwood, NJ so if anyone wants a nice place to relax at an ocean town, just let me know and I will hook you up with them.

They had a car so we spent part of the day driving around to stores to fill up our refrigerator, get my bike repaired( the one that fell into the ocean), and just drive around this part of New Jersey. Joy got to spend some quality time with Sue alone, no husbands hanging around.

We went to a 9/11 memorial service at sunset tonight. It was very impressive. Every night Cape May Point( a separate political subdivision from Cape May) has a flag lowering ceremony right before sunset. Today was an expanded version and quite moving. Lacey, the rescue dog pictured with Joy, pulled her partner and 22 other people out of the WTC towers right before they collapsed. She must have sensed something was going to happen.

We will be here in Cape May until Tuesday, perhaps Monday, as we wait for the right wind conditions for a 60 plus mile trip out the Delaware River up to the C&D Canal.

Joe

Big PS : Joy's phone is out. New phone arriving in 10 days. If you need to contact us, call my phone 603-748-4404

Cape May, NJ

It is Saturday morning around 10 am and we are waiting for Wally and Sue Trnka to come and stay the day with us and possibly sleep overnight. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a very nice sail/motor ride from Atlantic City. Friday was definitely a much better day on the water than Wed or Thursday.

We are staying in a very nice marina, in a very good location. Just steps away from the dock store and washing facilities. They only charge 50 cents for a load of clothes to wash versus $1.75 to $2.00 at other places. Plus there is a very nice breakfast place, Dock Mikes within 30 feet of the marina. Also The Lobster House restaurant is 3 minute walk. We used our gift certificate for the lobster house last night. The Lobster House does not take reservations, except that Jen , the manager at South Jersey Marina, is allowed to make reservations for her guests. So we got a reservation and only had to wait 10 minutes instead of an hour and a half. That worked out really nicely.

The pictures are of the boats around us, including two Nautor Swans, 46 and 54 feet, and a very large 60+ foot power boat. The 46 foot Swan is owned by a dentist in Maryland who takes 12 to 13 weeks of vacation a year and only works 4 days a week during the weeks he does work.

We had dinner with Steve Weisbrid, a yacht captain who we met in Atlantic City. He is delivering a boat from Rockland, Maine to Harve de Grace, MD where he lives. We plan on visiting him and his wife Judy at Tidewater Marina as we work our way down to Baltimore. He is a wealth of information about sailing, equipment, places to visit, tide and currents.

My bike is going to the repair shop today, hopefully it will be finished on Monday. It fell off the dock at Atlantic City. It was on the dock, and we were below. The wind pushed it over and it bounced into the water. Fortunately a scuba diver was just finishing up a boat down the pier and he dove down and pulled it out for $20. However, all of the non stainless steel, which includes that cables, gear, gear shifting mechanism, need to be replaced. We learn lessons in life the hard way. I should have protected it better from the salt spray and been more respectful of the wind.

Well, we are off to the local marine store to check out prices.

Joe

ATLANTIC CITY - First Day

We left Brielle about 8 am, here is a picture of the sunrise there along with pictures of the commercial fishing fleet. It was a 48 miles motor/sail to Atlantic city. We arrived at 5 pm, so it was 9 hours on the ocean. Waves started out at 2 to 4 feet, but grew to 5 to 7 feet at the end. Needless to say, we were covered with salt after our clothes dried out. It was an exciting ride, High Spirits handled the seas well so we just toughed it out.

We stayed at Hoffman's Marina in Brielle before the railroad bridge that does not open straight up. The boat anchored in the middle of the river had only a small outboard engine and they were having trouble with the 6 knot current.

Atlantic City is an interested place. They have $1 blackjack tables at Trump Marina Casino along with $5 craps table. At the $1 blackjack table, they make their money by charging $.25 per hand commission fee. Which really boast the house's winnings.

Gambling results as of 8:58 am Sept 9, 2010

Craps: Break even - Joe

Blackjack: Lost $10 - Joe

Slots/Poker: Lost $20 - Joy

Joy threw the dice at the craps table, at first she threw with both hands and they said you can not do that. Then she threw a couple off the table, but so did the next guy later on.

Today we have a lot of activities: In the water boat show to visit, walk on the Boardwalk, swim in the pool, have dinner at the restaurant at the Marina, and go gamble some more.

Today is the anniversary of the day we met, September 9, 1967. As most of you know, we met at a fraternity party at MIT.

I asked her to dance. She said yes, and that was the start of our life together.

Joe

Safe in Brielle, NJ

We are safe and drying out at Hoffman's Marina on their gas dock in a small town called Brielle, NJ. We left Rockaway about 9:30 am. The water was kind of choppy and the waves were about 2 feet. Had a nice current leaving Rockaway for about the first 45 minutes.

Then we got into the Harbor and had some cross currents, tidal movement and wind that kicked up some 2-4 footers. That happened for an hour and then the waves got consistent, 3-5 feet.

However as things went along the waves increased to 7 to 8 foot waves and the wind picked up to 23 knots or more. Of course, we had to be going almost right into the wind so we just trashed through the waves. Not unsafe, but not that pleasant as we had the dodger down so we could see. Dodger down means water flying into the cockpit. We were pretty soaked.

Arrived here at the gas dock and Bruce helped land the boat. We took showers to get rid of the salt water on our bodies. This marina has the best showers of the entire trip. Just renovated two years ago, spacious with lots of hot water.

Went to a seafood restaurant and Joy had Maine lobster tail with a crab, shrimp and scallop stuffing on top of that. They brought my swordfish with lobster on top of that, so she ended up with my lobster also.

Enough of food. We hopefully will stay tomorrow unless the weather gets better.
Since we are on the gas dock we are supposed to leave at 7 am weather permitting.

More from Atlantic City where we expect to take Donald Trump to the cleaners!!!

Joe

ps anybody want us to place bet for them in one of the Casinos?

Last Day in NYC

Today was our last day in NYC, spending it at the Rockaway Point Yacht Club with Jill and Matt. They stayed overnight last night. Today we went on a 4 hour sail and parking off the Breezy Point Beach. Had a nice time with them. They got a ride from one of the Rockaway members to the bus station and left before dinner.

This was a great place for us to visit, meet some new friends and just swap sailing stories. A lot of the members are retired and have spent many years sailing up and down the coast.

Tomorrow is our trip to Mannasquam. I think I am a little anxious about it after reading some people's account of dealing with a 6+ knot current when your boat only does 6 knots. One guy got pinned against the bridge and had to be towed off by Boats US towing. Hopefully that will not happen to us.

Pictures today are of some of the folks we met at Rockaway and a very nice sunset over Coney Island

Joe

Left Jersey - Jill and Matt Again

Left Jersey City today after church. Had a kind of wild sail out of New York Harbor and hit 8.5 knots, speed over ground. Of course we were helped by the tide going out which contributed 1+ knot. After we cleared the Verazzano Bridge, the water calmed down a little and at least was running in a consistent direction. In the harbor the waves were bouncing all over the place due to the large boat traffic.

So we spent 11 nights in Jersey City, glad we stopped there.

Now we are at Rockaway Point Yacht Club or as Jim( one of the members who still has to work) Rockaway Point Used Boat Club. Nobody owns a "yacht", they all own "used boats". Jim is the Fire Chief in charge of maritime service. He is in charge of all the fire boats and everything that fights fires on the water. He was injured in 9/11 and transferred to Maritime service. I asked him why he became a fireman. Said math was his favorite subject, he took it every summer.

Anyway, there is a great group of people here and everybody has been helpful on some ideas about our trip. Many of the members live next door at Breezy Point which is a coop community, where people own shares in the coop and that entitles them to live in a certain house. It is like Jill & Matti's coop building but on a much bigger scale. Smallest house is $500,000. Many of the members are retired public service workers: policeman, fireman, sanitation, teachers, etc. Recently they see an influx of Wall Street people moving into Breezy Point. One of the guys we met today, Jerry, is a 4th generation Breezy Point person. His great grandfather started by pitching a tent there in the summer time. We are talking back to 1880 to 1900 as Jerry is older than we are. So in terms of our family we are talking about the equivalent of Skip's Uncle Walter Huggins.

Jill and Matt came over tonight, and are staying until tomorrow evening. We plan on leaving on Tuesday morning and sailing down the coast of New Jersey unless the winds are totally head on.

Pictures are from Rockaway. One is a shot of sunset here, one is the Verazzano Bridge, one is of the Club here at Rockawy and one is of the Parachute Drop at Coney Island. I went on the Parachute Ride when I was 10 years old with my father. They haul you up to the top of the ride. You are sitting in a canvas seat attached to the parachute. When you hit the top, 250 feet up, you are released and drop about 30 feet. Then the parachute fills up and you float down. The chute has guide wires so you do not drift out of your vertical column. It was the first thrill ride I ever went on as a kid. Better than the roller coasters that had back in 1958.


Joe

POST EARL - FIZZLED OUT

Well Earl was a bust here in NYC. Our dock people went all over the marina, putting in new bolts for cleats that were loose, fastening down boards, tie up lines on boats , and doing everything possible for a strong storm.

Except nothing happened here in Jersey City. I don't think it even rained as we went to a Broadway show with Mike and Sweta Wexler, and I could see no sign of rain after we got back to the boat. We went to the Carnegie Deli for dinner, a cupcake shop for desert, and the show Promises, Promises which was great. Sean Hayes from Will and Grace as the male lead, and Kristen Chenoweth has the female lead. Kristen had the lead in Wicked, and also has been on tv in West Wing and Glee.

There are strong winds here so we will stay in Jersey City and leave tomorrow for Rocky Point, across from Coney Island on the western tip of Long Island. Should be there only two days and then head south to Sandy Hook, NJ for the sail down the Jersey Coast.

We will be stopping in Mannasqaum Inlet at the town of Brielle, also at Atlantic City for two/three nights, and then to Cape May. Have to wait for the right wind/seas conditions.

Waiting for our jib sail to show up, it had a small tear and is being repaired. Afterwards going to the local Farmers Market to stock up on food for the trip south.

That is it for now. More pictures later

Joe

Still Waiting for EARL

We are getting ready to go to sleep. The wind has pickup up a little and it is cooler.

We put out more lines to the metal pilings. Put the bikes away, tied everything down. Tomorrow, Friday, we are supposed to go to a Broadway play with Mike and Sweta, still planning on doing it.

We check Earl's progress twice a day.

We did go to MOMA today, Joy loved the place, I thought it was okay. I did take a break and walked over to the location of my first full time job which was with
ARCO, Atlantic Richfield Company. I started with them in June 1972 as a Financial Analyst making $14,700 per year having just graduated from Boston University with my MBA. Our office was at 717 Fifth Avenue, which is 56th St and Fifth Avenue. Currently Merrill Lynch is using the building. In front is a very high end restaurant, entries start at $32 and up.

Will let you know more about EARL tomorrow.

Joe

Waiting for EARL

Just sitting around waiting for Earl to make his presence known in NYC. We are in a good spot, off the Morris Canal which is off the Hudson River. Looks like we will just get rain and wind most likely on Friday/Saturday. We are going to stay here at the Marina until the ocean calms back down. Down the coast, they are forecasting 12 to 15 foot waves. A little high for us.

Spent the evening with cousin, Karen Stone, at here condo in Brooklyn and went to a very nice restaurant called Superfine with Karen and Jill. Karen is one of my younger cousins, or course now she is over 50 but still younger. She is the Director of Design for Knoll, Inc. and also teaches at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

It has been so hot here in Jersey City that we have taken to visiting places that have AC, such as the Jersey City Public Library, and also to the Liberty Science Center across the Marina. One nice thing about libraries is that you can catch up on your reading at no cost. The staff is very helpful and there is no rush to get you out of the place. The LSC is a great kid place for science exploration, it is about 6times bigger than the Great Lakes Science Center and everything at LSC works. They also have a IMAX theater and we saw an interesting film called Mystic India.

Heading over to the Museum of Modern Art after breakfast today. Will have more later about MOMA and Earl preparations.

Joe