I'm not sure how much I can write before Mom and Dad catch me at the computer but I'll try to let my Mom and Aunt know that I'm O.K. Life on this boat is boring!! My folks keep me cooped up all day while they meander SLOOOWLY along the Erie Canal. I hear the speed limit is 10mph but a lot of the time we can only do 5. I'm really looking forward to getting to Lake Erie. We should be in Buffalo tomorrow and onto Lake Erie on Monday morning. We had hoped to makeBuffalo today but yesterday they were calling for severe thunderstorms and we stopped in Spencerport at about 1PM. Wanted to make sure we were all secure in plenty of time. As it turned out, the storms didn't come until about 7 and weren't that bad, but Mom and Dad don't like to take any chances - especially when I'm aboard! Anyway, we went only 24 miles yesterday which left 80 miles plus 14 lift bridges plus 3 locks left - too much for one day. We will stop in Tonawanda after doing about 65 miles, the bridges and 2 of the locks. Just think we'll be too tired to do that last little bit. When we get to Buffalo tomorrow morning, we'll have all day to put the canvas and mast back up and still relax a litttle.

As for me, besides being bored, I'm doing fine. I have a good supply of bones and toys, and they feel so guilty about me that they give me extra treats. I did have a tick on me way back in Westbrook - but so did Mom, and she screamed WAY louder than I did! I get a pretty good walk before we leave in the morning and again when we dock. During the day, I sit next to Dad on the helm seat and look out the window. We have seen about a million baby geese and they get real scared when the boat comes and start running and swimming all over the place! There's a walking/biking trail that runs all the way alongside the water for more than 60 miles and sometimes I bark at the dogs out there. When we go in the locks, I go in my crate because the doors are opened - in one of the locks, a dog walked up and looked in at me and we barked our heads off!!

I'll look forward to seeing you and Grandma and Grandpa when we get home, somewhere around the 22nd. Thanks for worrying about me!

Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 days since I updated! You wouldn't think you could get so busy just cruising along but we really have very little spare time. We left Fonda early Sunday morning and stopped early afternoon in Ilion, because a storm was headed our way. Ilion is a nice little marina, with a cafe right on site that was having it's grand opening. They had a band and lots of seafood so we enjoyed our afternoon, in spite of the rain that fell for an hour or so. We walked to the grocery store so we are all stocked up. Monday morning was gray and windy but we left about 9 and made our way through several "up" locks and a couple of "down" ones. The up locks are easy to pull into because the water is at it's lowest and you don't get any wind down in the pit. As they fill the lock, though, you get some current and the boat tends to want to swing around a bit. It seems we are most often alone in the locks so we just let it swing. As the water level comes up, it settles down and when they open the lock, off you go! The down locks can be easier, because as they let water out, the ride down is very smooth. If it's windy, though, it can be a challenge to get into the lock and grab the lines, which are quite low for a boat with high freeboard, like ours. We crossed Oneida Lake, the biggest open body of water on the Erie Canal-about 20 miles long. About half way through, the rain started and kept up until we reached Brewerton at about 3:45. By the time we fueled up and pumped out and got in our slip it was almost 5. We met 3 other boats who are doing the "Loop" but we fixed a quick dinner and went to bed. The next day, we borrowed the marina's courtesy car and, with Brian and Laurie, 2 people from the boat next to us, off we went to Wal-Mart. You cannot imagine how exciting a trip like that can be when you're on a boat and typically have no transportation! We totally filled the car with stuff. That evening, the 8 of us Loopers had a potluck dinner on one of the boats and had a wonderful time. Lots of good boating stories shared.

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, the other three boats left for the Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario while we took down the canvas top on our boat so we could get under the low bridges on the western half of the Erie. Few boaters come this way because they can't clear the bridges but we had our top made specifically for this. Our windows are made of a polycarbonate that is used on the space shuttle and does not fold so we have to take each panel down (there are 9, I think) and wash each one and cover with a beach towel or something else soft and find a place to store them-in our case the whole guest stateroom is now used for this purpose. Then we fold the aluminum frame down and voila - we go from 17 feet 6 inches to about 13 feet 7 inches. Now if we can just figure out how it all goes back together!! We left about 10:30 and just did a couple of locks and tied up in Baldwinsville by 1:30. Spent the afternoon moving our spare props around - they each weigh a TON - and then had an excellent dinner at a restaurant right by the lock.

This morning we left very early-before 6:30-as we wanted to make some real progress in case the weather is bad tomorrow. We did 7 locks and 10 hours but are here in Fairport - considered the "Gem of the Erie Canal". It really is a nice little town. We walked around a bit and had a good dinner before watching the tour boat go out. The lift bridge here is in Ripley's Believe It or Not because it is sloped at about 20 degress. Don't now why that's so unique but hey - it's their bridge. Starting tomorrow, we will have 15 lift bridges to contend with, as well as the last 4 locks on the Erie and one Federal Lock on the Black Rock Canal which bypasses a part of the Niagara River that has a very fast current. We hope to be in Buffalo Saturday afternoon, when we will TRY to put all our canvas back up again as well as our radar mast - YAY!!! TV again!! The weather may not cooperate so we may not get very far tomorrow but we'l see what happens.

I'll try to update more frequently so it won't be so boring to read all at once!!!

Thanks for visiting us. Come back!

Tonight we are tied up to a wall in Fonda, NY (yes, those Fondas). To back up a bit, our dinghy was delivered to us in Port Jefferson on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we took a few rides and cleaned up the boat before leaving Port Jef at 7:30AM on Thursday morning. After a trip down the East River - past the U.N. building, under the Brooklyn Bridge, past the Battery and around Governor's Island, we headed up the Hudson River. We had a longer day than we planned - typical for us, it seems - and ended in Kingston, NY at 4:30 PM. On Friday, we left early and stopped in Castleton,NY for fuel and to drop our radar mast. We are about 24' high with the mast up and the bridges are about 23' in places - not a good match. After passing through the Troy Federal Lock, we ended in Waterford, NY, which is the start of the Erie Canal. Turned out our planning was not as good as we thought, as we were having a liquor emergency - never good on a boat, where an adult beverage is necessary after a long day. So off to the store we went - about a mile and a half in 89 degree heat! We all - Oliver ,me and Marina - had to stop at McDonald's for cold drinks on the way home!

This morning we entered the first of the 34 locks on the Erie at 8 AM. We planned to stop at Lock 10 for the night, forgetting that it had been virtually destroyed in last year's floods. It's open but not available for overnights. So on we went to Lock 11 - but it was in a kind of bad part of town and we didn't feel comfortable staying there. Onward to Lock 12 - only to find that it is at the end of a creek that has a tendency to flood when it rains, sending trees and lots of water right into the side of the wall. Since it looked like rain, we asked the lockmaster for advice and he suggested we forge on to the Erie Canal Maintenance Facility wall in Fonda. Definitely not a country club but very safe, as it is surrounded by a wire fence that is locked tight at 4 PM!  So after 11 locks and 9 hours, we were finally secured to a safe wall. We turned on the weather channel on our chartplotter only to find thunderstorms all around us and a tornado watch just north of us! Good thing we didn't realize that while still underway!

Hopefully the next few days will be shorter and easier but we have learned to be very flexible and will end up where we end up!!

Thanks for visiting with us. Come back son!

Finally, after more than a week on the boat, we are underway! Yaaaay!! The last workmen cleared off on Friday and then we had a pleasant and quiet week-end. We shopped on Friday (groceries and West Marine), checked all the systems on Saturday, drove to Mystic Seaport for Lobster Fest on Sunday and cooked out on Monday. We planned to leave at 10AM today but the Kellogg Marine Supplies truck was bringing us some more zincs - we've already bought about 20 but apparently needed 3 more - so we waited - and waited - and waited. By 1:30 we were tired of waiting so we paid up for the zincs they had in stock, slipped the lines and were GONE!

A beautiful day - sunny, 5-10kt winds and no ther boats in sight. We cruised over to Port Jefferson, New York and were tied up by 4:15. This is a very quaint little town and we look forward to spending the day here tomorrow. We are now waiting for our new dinghy to be delivered. This was the ONLY one we could find anywhere before mid-September so it worked out well. After he comes, we will walk into town for dinner and an early dinner. We plan to leave here Thursday morning and should be somewhere on the Hudson River that night.

Thanks for visiting us. Come back often!!

Well, we are finally back on the boat! After 2 loooong days of driving, we made it safely. We rolled into Pilots Point Marina at about 4 PM on Saturday. It would have been sooner, if we had listened to the nice lady on our new GPS navigation system in our car, but she could  not be heard over the "Love" CD we had blaring, so instead of crossing the Hudson River on the Tappan Zee bridge - well north of New York City - we cruised across the George Washington, right into the heart of the Bronx. Traffic was horrendous and it was raining but she was very patient and guided us right in.

The boat looks really good - tomorrow I will try to take a picture and post it. We spent all last night and today unpacking the car and grocery shopping and we are more or less settled. There are a few last minute items the yard has to finish up but they should only take a few days. We will sit tight over the holiday week-end - we've learned from experience that east coast boating is a little hectic on any week-end, much less Memorial Day. Next Tuesday, we will go to Port Jefferson, just across Long Island Sound, to pick up our new dinghy. A couple days there and then we'll start home. We will keep updating this site.

Thanks for visiting us.

Hello All,

We will be leaving on May 18th to drive to Connecticut to pick up the boat. It will take a few days to get settled in and then we plan a couple of short cruises in Long Island Sound. We had hoped to visit Port Washington, NEW YORK last summer but didn't make it so we hope to stop there. We will leave for home the week after Memorial Day. We will go up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal, across the Canal to Buffalo, NY, down Lake Erie to the Detroit River, through Lake St. Clair, up Lake Huron, through the Straits of Mackinac and down Lake Michigan to home. We hope to be home by June 22 but you never know. We will post to this site most every day.

In September, we will leave for the Great Loop. This will take us down to Chicago, through the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Tenn-Tom Rivers, across the Panhandle of Florida, across the Gulf, down the west coast and to the Keys. Then up the east coast of Florida, across to the Bahamas, up the ICW to New York and repeat step 1 above!! We will be gone until June or July. When we get closer to leaving, I will post a guesstimate as to our itinerry and we invite one and all to join us on part of the trip.

Please keep visiting us!

Have heard from a couple of people that they still come to the web site once in a while so thought we would leave an update. Our boat is in Westbrook, CT for some warranty work and for winter storage. Our plan is to pick it up mid-May and bring it home. We still plan to leave in late August for our Great Loop trip. We will likely have a different web site for that trip but will let everyone know.

Happy holidays to all!!

Thanks for visiting our web site.

Well, a lot has happened since my last update, mostly because of a lack of internet service. We awoke to a nice surprise on Wednesday morning. Instead of rain and wind, we had partly cloudy and calm, so we slipped our lines and left Plymouth headed for New Bedford. We had a quick and easy trip through the Cape Cod Canal - passed 2 sailboats going in but never saw another boat.

New Bedford was a fascinating port of call. When we entered the chanell, we could see the opening in the hurricane barrier. It's about 50 feet wide and looks someting like a lock. In case of a hurricane, they close the gates to keep out the surge. Once in the harbor we saw thousands of boats, of all sizes, shapes and types. Many, many fishing boats - lobster, netting, longliners - and commercial ferries, as well as many pleasure craft, sail and power. It was a real working harbor. We tied up at Pope's Island Marina. We were on the face pier, the first time we were not on a floating dock so had to be aware of the tidal fluctuation. Fortunately, the tides are only about 4 feet there, instead of the 11 feet we had up in Maine. We walked over to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and it was really interesting. There were skeletons of whales and an entire whailing ship you could walk through. It was especially interesting since we had seen 3 whales earlier on our trip. We ate on the boat that night-there's nothing really around the marina and we here that it is not the safest area so we just enjoyed the full moon and the beautiful stars.

Thursday morning we left at about 9, since we had a relatively short hop over to Newport. What a difference from New Bedford!! Just a couple of working boats but a million sailboats, tour boats, ferries and HUGE yachts. It is just a beautiful harbor and the weather couldn't have been nicer. We had to wait outside the marina while they brought in a 95 footer and then when we pulled up to our slip, it turned out we were too big. We either needed to take the dinghy off or move into the inner slips, which were crowded and very tight but Oliver thought we would be more secure, so that's what we did. You boaters wll be very interested in the pictures! As soon as we were tied off, I began to worry about how the heck we would ever get out!

We walked all over Newport on Thursday and again on Friday. There are a million shops and restaurants and it is the home of the tennis Hall of Fame. We just grazed on Thursday night while we watched the action at the bar right behind our boat but ate at a really good restaurant on Friday night. We had planned to stay in Newport until tomorrow (Sunday) and then stop at Mystic on our way to Westbrook but the weather radio started sounding rather ominous because of the hurricane out in the Atlantic. They were calling for gusts up to 30 knots by Sunday night so we decided to leave this morning and come straight to Westbrook.

We had a nice trip, certainly better than the fog when we left here last month, and arrived at about 11:30AM. The Yard Manager met us at our slip and invited us up to their Customer Appreciation cook-out. That's right, Port Washington boaters, the marina threw a big cook-out to show their customers how much they appreciate their business!! We had hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream before returning to wash the boat. Kevin, the person at Navesink Marina who commissioned our boat, is stopping here tonight on his way to Newport for the boat show, as we are having a problem with our sattelite TV. We're happy to receive such good service.

We will likely be here until at least Wednesday, if not a little longer. Then we'll rent a car to go to Sea Bright, were we left our van. We'll take 3 days to drive home, as that is a little easier for Marina. Speaking of Marina, I had to buy her a bigger harness in Newport - guess we're all eating a bit to much on our vacation.

Oliver's computer is acting up, so we were unable to post any pictures but maybe we'll put some up when we get home.

We are unbelieveably grateful for having such a wonderful and most importantly, safe, journey. We have enjoyed sharing the trip with all of you. We'll continue to post anything of interest - at least, interesting to us! - on our web site and will definitely post next spring, when we bring the boat ome to Port Washington - finally!!

We look forward to seeing many of you soon. Thanks for visiting our web site!

Well, after a weekend of first wet then windy weather, we were finally able to leave Boston this morning at 7:30 AM. It was a spectacular day - sunny, calm and clear. We were in Plymouth by 10 AM. This is definitely the most confusing harbor we have been in. The channel twists and turns all the way in but we made it with no problem. We are sitting on the face dock pointing towards Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II. Oliver will try to put a picture of the Rock on the site later. The monument which houses it is quite interesting but the rock itself looks like a boulder in someone's yard! This is - of course - a very old town but it is extremely well maintained and a combination of museums and tourist attractions. We have walked all over town and bought the necessities of life - scotch, vodka and sweatshirts! We were planning to leave tomorrow and travel back through the Cape Cod Canal to New Bedford, the whaling capital of North America. We may have to wait until Thursday, as there is a front moving through tonight that may result in 25 knot winds tomorrow. One of the best things about this trip is our lack of a schedule. We only travel when we want to and only when it will be comfortable. Fortunately, our multiple day layovers have been in interesting ports. And, in the case of Boston, there were enough restaurants within easy reach that we didn't have to duplicate.

We still plan to be back in Westbrook next Tuesday or Wednesday and then we will start getting ready to come home. Oliver needs to change the oil - we have 70 hours on the engines already! - and no telling how long it will take me to unload and clean up.

We hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for visiting our web site!

We're here in Boston now. We had a really nice time at Wentworth By The Sea but as we listened to the weather, it became apparent that the only decent travel day would be Friday, so we left yesterday morning at 6:40AM and we were at Marina Bay by 9:30. Along the way we saw the water spout of a whale. We only saw the body once but racked the spout for quite a while. So far on the trip we've seen 3 whales, several porpoises and 3 seals. I also saw one BIG fish, laying on it's side just below the surface. It's very interesting cruising the ocean as opposed to the Great Lakes. We also the Constitution out again yesterday, this time firing her cannons and with full sails up.

It was already fairly windy by the time we got into our slip, so we were very glad to be here. This is a big marina with quite a few restaurants right on site. Last night we ate at a casual seafod restaurant but they have a very nice Italian place that we may try tonight. This morning we took about a 2 hour walk. We were hoping for a grocery store as we are a little low on provisions - not going to starve to death or anything! - but we had to settle for a CVS Pharmacy so I will be enjoying lots of cookies until our next stop!

It appears that we will not get a lot of rain out of Ernesto but it is very windy and there are small craft advisories until Sunday night. They are caling for 8-12 foot waves tomorrow and 4-7 on Monday so we will sit tight until Tuesday and then hopefully make our way to Plymouth, which is only about 30 miles south. We plan short hops for the rest of our trip as we are only about 150 miles from our final destination right now. We still plan to be in Westbrook by about September 15 and home the following week.

We hpe everyone has a wonderful holiday week-end. Thanks for visiting our web site.

Well, the best laid plans!! It rained all night Sunday and on Monday morning it was drizzling but calm in Boothbay Harbor. We listened to the weather and looked at our weather program on our E-120 and decided to make the short run to Portland. We were fine until we got out into the open water and then we were hit by big waves from every direction. We ran for about 30 minutes like that and were discussing turning back when the Coast Guard issued a small craft advisory. Oliver did a fine job timing the waves and we headed back for Boothbay. Once we were protected by the land mass, it calmed down and we found a marina - Brown's was full but Boothbay Harbor Marina was great - right in the middle of town and we were extremely glad to be tied up! The entire adventure took a little less than 2 hours but seemed MUCH longer! We checked our weather rogram and the buoy was reporting average waves of 7.5 feet, way bigger than we care to challenge although we know the boat is up to it. We warmed up with a chowder lunch, arranged for a rental car to get Phyllis to the Portland airport Tuesday morning and Oliver napped while Phyllis and I shopped some more. Tuesday morning we left at about 7 AM and dropped her in Portland. Oliver and I were back in Boothbay by 10 and decided to try for Portland again.

We had a much better run yesterday and we were in Portland by 12:30. The marina - DiMillo's - is very scenic. The centerpiece is an old car ferry that is now a restaurant and they have wonderful food! There are many working lobster boats and lots of ferries that run around the harbor so we rocked most of the time. It wasn't uncomfortable - more like being in a hammock. Portland is self-described as a "funky" city - we would call it almost wierd - but we walked around and bought Marina a few presents. She has been a real trooper through everything so we decided she deserved some surprises!

Today we had an easy 2 1/2 run down to New Castle, NH. This is a lovely marina and we will enjoy our 2 days here. It is right across the river from the Portsmouth Naval Station and there are lots of big freighters we can see from our boat as they go out to sea. We plan to go to Boston on Friday morning but we are watching Ernesto closely and are prepared to stay put if necessary.

We hope you all are well. Thanks for visiting our web site. 

When we visited the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) on Thursday afternoon, we learned that they would be taking her out into Boston Harbor on Friday - one of only 2 times during the entire year that she will leave her slip. We planned to leave our slip just a little before the 10 AM sailing so that we could see her but not get caught behind. It rained all night long but stopped just around 9:30 so we left the dock and worked our way through an armada of Coast Guard, Police and Fire boats. Two tugs pushed her out of her slip right at 10 AM and we had a front row seat! They only put up a few of the sails - there wasn't much wind - but it was a beautiful sight, with the Fire boats shoting their water cannons. We stayed in front of her for about 30 minutes and then took off for Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire.

The weather cleared a little as we turned north and by the time we got to Wentworth By The Sea in New Castle, it was quite nice. We fueled up and got into our nice big wide slip - finally a big slip! - by 2 PM. This is a very fancy marina, attached to a beautiful Marriott, with extremely well trained dock hands. We washed the boat, cleaned up and ate at Latitudes, a very nice restaurant located right adjacent to the docks. We truned in early in preparation for our trip to Boothbay Harbor.

Saturday morning started out clear, turned to fog and cleared again. We left in clear skies but within 15 minutes we were in thick fog, at which point we discovered our radar was not working. While I turned us back toward clear skies, Oliver rebooted the system and the radar came back up. We moved on towards Boothbay Harbor. We spent 5 hours straining to see more than 1/8 a mile, punctuated by the thrill of seeing a whale and then a porpoise. Also, the ever present lobster buoys were always in the way.

Finally, the weather cleared just as we approached Boothbay Harbor. (Picture below). There were several beautiful lighthouses, rock islands and a million boats, from small lobster boats to huge yachts. We found our marina and squeezed into our slip - we're getting used to this now. What a gorgeous location - everywhere we look there are boats, lobster restaurants and quaint little shops. We walked across the foot bridge into the main part of town and back to the restaurant at the marina, where Oliver and Phyllis each ate 2 whole lobsters! We turned in early and took our time over coffee this morning. We then walked into town and did a lot of shopping. We bought antique lobster buoys just to remind us of the area!

Tomorrow morning we will leave for Portland. Phyllis will leave us Tuesday morning - much to all our sadness, especially Marina!. On Wednesday, Oliver, Marina and I will return to Wentworth By the Sea for 3 days, followed by Boston, Plymouth, Newport, Mystic and Westbrook.

Hope everyone is well. Thanks for visiting our web site!

We are now in Constitution Marina in the heart of Boston. I picked up our friend Phyllis at the airport in Warwick, Rhode Island on Monday afternoon and Oliver returned from his visit to North Carolina that night. We sat up late visiting but still we were up and on our way by 7:30 AM Tuesday. We had a lovely cruise through Narragansett Bay, into Rhode Island Sound, through Buzzards Bay and through the Cape Cod Canal. We spent the night in Sandwich - the oldest town on Cape Cod - in a small but nice marina. It is a real "working" marina - lots of lobster boats and off shore fishing boats. The Dockmaster was extremely friendly and helped us with directions to a grocery staor and a hardware store. We stocked up and then cleaned up and went across the street to an excellent restaurant. We turned in a little bit earlier!

Yesterday we left Sandwich at about 8:45 and we were in sight of Boston by 10:00. We made our way through Boston Harbor and up a little of the Charles River to our marina, which is right next to the USS Constitution. This is a smallish marina and we find the marinas are all rather tight here in the northeast but we have a slip right next to the pool. Last night we grilled chicken and ate in.

This morning we walked the 2 1/2 mile Freedom Trail and saw all the important historical sites of Boston-Old North Church were Paul Revere's lantern hung, Boston Common, Ben Franklin's and John Hancock's graves and the waterfront area. We made our way back to the boat, after a stop at the liquor store for reprovisioning, and after a rest we will head out again for a visit to Bunker Hill. We plan to leave in the morning for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

We hope al our friends are well. Thanks for visiting our web site.

Well, after 50 days of commissioning, we finally left Navesink Marina yesterday morning (August 17) at 7:30 AM. It was touch and go to the end - Raymarine sent a technician from Norwalk, Connecticut down to work on our autopilot and after 3 hours, we have the best tuned autopilot in the world! He also spent an hour teaching me all of the features of our E-120. During all of this, our air conditioning went out and after several hours of work by the Service Manager at Sandy Hook Yacht Sales, it turned out there was a plastic bag stuck in the intake. A wire coat hanger was just the perfect tool for rectifying the situation and by 5 PM, we were "released".

We had a perfect trip across New York Harbor and up the East River to Long Island Sound. The Queen Mary 2 was at her berth and we got a good look at a REALLY big boat. After dodging about a million lobster pots, we ran across - literally - the one we didn't see. We now feel better about the $275 we spent on the cutters that protect our props!! We cruised into Westbrook, CT, which will be the winter home of our boat and, after washing the salt water off, we enjoyed a really good meal at the marina restaurant. 

We awoke to fog this morning, which delayed our planned 7:00 AM departure. Finally the sun came out at 10:00 and we left at about 10:30. All was well for the first 30 minutes but then the fog set in big time and we were in pea soup for the next 90 minutes. There's nothing like being in a completely strange body of water and not being able to see your hand in front of your face. Our radar kept us safe but more than once a boat passed within 50 feet of us and we didn't see it until it was RIGHT there. Finally we popped back out into the sunshine and the rest of the trip was a piece of cake.

We are now in Warwick, Rhode Island which is on the west arm of Narragansett Bay. We arrived just as the wind freshened and had an interesting time docking at the face pier. We are about a mile from shore and have used every inch of our power cord but our satellite TV is working and we were able to get 3 days of wireless internet service so I am very content.

A taxi will pick Oliver up at 4:30 AM tomorrow for his trip to Myrtle Beach to see John, who arrived safely from Iraq on Wednesday. Oliver will come back late Monday night and, with our friend Phyllis on board, we'll leave Tuesday morning, weather permitting, for a new port - probably Martha's Vineyard before going on to Boston.

Marina is slowly getting her sea legs back but still is not too crazy about this whole adventure!

Thanks for your patience with our updates. We are hoping to have wirless access in most ofd the rest of our marinas and will update often.

Thanks for visiting our web site. Hope everyone is well!!

We have moved to the Marriott Residence Inn for the next 2 days while they sand and finish our floors. Much work has been done over the past couple of days and our punch list is down to one page! We should be underway next Wednesday. We'll go up the Shrewsbury River, across Sandy Hook Bay, through New York Harbor to the East River, and up the East River to Long Island Sound. Halfway across the Sound, we'll stop at Westbrook, CT. The next day we'll go to Warwick, Rhode Island and stay there for 5 days.

Last week Marina enjoyed a play date with Sarah, our dealer's dog, and River, their mail person's Welshie. They had a wonderful time, especially Marina and River. We finally had to dunk her in the pool to cool her down. Tomorrow night she and Sarah will meet for dinner on the boardwalk, at a restaurant that allows dogs and their people. We try to find something special for her every day to keep the "cabin fever" to a minimum. This morning we visited a nature center that has several hiking trails and gave her a good work-out.

Hope you are all well. Thanks for visiting our web site.

Here's a picture  of One Oliver II. The canvas guy still has to install the polycarbonate windows. The dinghy was put on yesterday and we will go out today for a while. Tomorrrow we will add a picture of the dinghy.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for visiting our web site!!

Thanks for the messages you all have been posting. We enjoy reading them. While we are at Navesink Marina, we have to drive down to a little coffee shop to find wireless service but later, most of the marinas will have it available and we'll post some pictures.

We took a little boat trip down to Brielle, NJ and back on Monday and Tuesday. Now we are having additional canvas work done as well as the little items on our punch list. Looks like we will be here until August 16th, and then start up Long Island Sound bound for Maine.

We're all doing well and enjoying, although it's going to be 105 here today so we'll stay inside mostly. Hope you all are well.

Thanks for visiting our site.

Well, we finally made it to our new boat! We drove for 3 days -kept them relatively short because of Marina - and arrived here on Thursday about noon. At 8 PM we were still learning the boat and finally our brains turned to mush! Friday we took the boat out, with our commissioning person and our after-delivery person from the factory - we have people!! -  and went up to New York City. Circled at the Statue of Liberty and then came back to Navesink Marina. It is a whole different kind of boating out here - tides and currents to contend with, a slip that is 4 feet narrower than ours in Port Washington, bridges that are too low and have to be raised for us, etc. We're enjoying it though and will take it out for docking practice today.

Tomorrow we will take it down to Brielle, NJ, where our dealer lives. Marina is invited to a Terrier fest - they have a Welsh, and their mail carrier does as well, so the  3 dogs will cavort in the back yard. They have a pool and they hope Marina will teach her friend Sarah how to swim!! She has a case of cabin fever so the exercise will do her good.

We will likely be here until around the 14th of August, although we may take a short overniter to New York City. There are a few more things to be tweaked before we leave to start towards Maine. We will download some pictures for this site. We had a little trouble finding a wireless internet site.

Hope everyone is well and thanks for visitng our site!!

Hello To All Our Friends,

We will use this site to keep you updated on our travels - if you care to read about it. Below we have listed our proposed itinerary, which is of course subject to change. I am somewhat of a fanatic about keeping a log, so I will probably write almost every day. Please feel free to leave your comments and let us know how you are doing, as well as any suggestions you may have. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you.

July 25 - August 10       Drive to Sea Bright, New Jersey to take delivery of the boat. We will stay on the boat at Navesink Marina, although we will take a few days to go up to New York City and Port Washington, NY to get a feel for the boat and identify any "bugs".

August 10 - 13    Brewer Pilot's Point Marina   Westbrook, CT   This will be the winter home for the boat.

August 14 - 16    Brewer Yacht Yard    Mystic, CT

August 17 - 21    Greenwich Bay Marinas   Warwick, RI   Oliver will fly to North Carolina to visit with his son who will be home on leave from Iraq. Our dear friend Pylis Ferguson will join us on August 21 to cruise with us for the next week.

August 22              Brewer Plymouth Marina   Plymouth, MA  If the Mayflower could land here, so can we!! We will transit the Cape Cod Canal before arriving in Plymouth.

August 23 - 24     Constitution Marina    Boston, MA

August 25              Wentworth By The Sea   New Castle, NH

August 26 - 27     Brown's Wharf Marina    Boothbay arbor, ME   The northernmost point of our trip.

August 28-29         DiMillo's Old Port Marina  Portland, ME   Phyllis will leave us here to fly home to Charlotte

August 30 - 31     Wentworth By The Sea

September 1 - 3    Bay Marina       Quincy, MA

September 4           Brewer Plymouth

September 5 - 6    Pope's Island Marina    New Bedford, MA

September 7 - 9    West Wind Marina       Newport, RI

September 10 - 11 Brewer Yacht Yard    Mystic, CT

September 12 - 17  Brewer Pilot's Point Marina   Westbrook, CT   We will spend several days unloading the boat before we rent a car, drive back to Sea Bright to pick up our car, and drive home. We expect to arrive around September 22.

We will have our computers with us --- olivermiller@sbcglobal.net or Sally-m@sbcgobal.net

Cel phone numbers ------   Oliver  262-573-6804       Sally  262-573-1300

Thanks for visiting our site!!!