Our First Post

O God, thy Sea is so great and my boat so small

 

May 27, 2023, 15 Wyndegate Drive Kennebunk Maine.

Well, we arrived home last Saturday at 12:30 PM and were greeted by several friends who were waiting for us on the breakwater at the mouth of n the Kennebunk River. They then came down to The Arundel Yacht Club (AYC) were we had a proper celebration with a champagne toast. What a welcome home, thanks for making our arrival special. As you know we crossed our wake at the Statue of Liberty on May 12, 2023, and spent that evening at Liberty Landing overlooking Manhattan. What a great feeling of accomplishment. We had dinner at a lovely restaurant with a beautiful view of NYC. Overall, an excellent day on The Great Loop.

 

Dinner Picture  

This is going to be a shorter version of my blog posts as I have already written about this New England section of the trip when we came south last June. However, I wanted to document the entire voyage and so I am finishing up with a quick synopsis of the last 6 days bringing Her Idea back to her home port. So, below is a recap of our last week on Our Great Loop Adventure.

Saturday May 13, 2023, Travel Day 136 we began our voyage to Kennebunk which was going to take us a total of 6 travel days from New York City. We had to plan our departure in concert with the tide at Hells Gate on the East River. Hell’s Gate is the junction of the East River and Harlem River, and it is very turbulent at certain tides / currents. Additionally, if you chose to ride the current you get a 4-5 MPH push which is really nice. Therefore, we did not depart Manhattan until noontime on Saturday, so we had a leisurely morning hanging around. We were able to ride the current upriver and enjoyed cruising by The Empire State Building, The United Nations, LaGuardia Airport, as well as The Roosevelt, Brooklyn, and Manhattan Bridges, just a spectacular afternoon cruise. Due to the late start, we only went 25 miles to Port Washington NY.  We arrived around 3 PM and got settled in and walked to Mass which was at 5 PM. WE came back and had a nice dinner on the boat and a relaxing evening playing cribbage.

 

Track

Flying the Gold Burgee

 

Sunday May 14,2023 Travel Day 137, we departed Port Washington at 6:30 AM as we had a long day traveling to Cedar Island Marina in Clinton CT. We had 71 miles to travel, and it took us 7.5 hours to get to Clinton CT, therefore a full day for us.  It was a great travel day with very little wind and what we had was southerly, so it was on our stern and very little wave activity. There was no other boats on the water, and it sure did seem spooky to be in Long Island Sound all alone. Long Island Sound is a large body of water and it’s always nice to see other boaters. We had never been to Clinton and the area we were in was very nice. The marina was very busy, and we had a nice Mother’s Day meal at a restaurant overlooking the harbor. Poor Meredith didn’t get much for her special day but luckily I found a 2-year old’s birthday card that she had lying around so with a little creative artwork, she at least got a card and dinner! Not a Mother’s Day that will go down in the history books, or maybe it will! You have to be creative when you’re on a boat.

 

Track

 

 

Monday May 15,2023, Travel Day 138, We had 60 miles to get to Newport R.I. from Clinton CT. on Monday, so we actually left about 6:15 AM as the wind was expected to pick up in the afternoon and the weather was not looking good for the next few days. We were able to secure dock space at The Newport Yacht Club which is located right downtown  in the middle of the harbor.  We arrived around 1 PM and got secured in a slip just as the wind was picking up. Timing is everything as by 2 PM we had gusts over 30 MPH which are tough conditions to dock Her Idea in. Unfortunately, the weather, winds, and waves were predicted to be very strong on Tuesday and Wednesday so we knew we would be here for two days. Newport R.I. is about as good a spot to have to find shelter. We had a great two and ½ days exploring the town and playing tourist. Newport is a very easy city to walk around, we didn’t take any pictures as many of us have spent plenty of time in this fine city.

Track

 

Thursday May 18, 2023, Travel Day 139 as promised the winds had subsided Wednesday night and it was actually calm when we departed Newport R.I. for Sandwich Massachusetts. Our goal was to get to the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal that afternoon, which we were able to do. The journey up Narragansett Sound past Fishers Island, New London CT, Orient Point (Shout out to The Keller’s) and Block Island was very smooth. This is an area that we have travel through three different times, so it was nice being in familiar water. The only unfortunate thing was when we got to Buzzards Bay we had a 5 MPH current against us going through the Cape Cod Canal. We were cruising at 10 MPH when we entered the canal and by the time we got to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, which is less than a mile from the western entrance, we were doing 5 MPH. Therefore, the normal half-hour transit took us almost an hour, which was fine. Once again we saw very little traffic and only had one commercial ship pass us in the canal. Overall, a very enjoyable day and now we are positioned to depart Sandwich Marina and be in Massachusetts Bay in less than a mile. We put the last bit of fuel on the boat when we arrived at the dock.  I’m sure glad to not be filling these tanks (330 gallons) up every week or two, that’s been painful.

Track

Cape Cod Canal

Friday May 19, 2023, Travel Day 140: Our Friday destination was the mooring field in Gloucester Mass which was 60 miles north. Pretty much it is a straight line departing the Canal right to Gloucester. We could see Boston fairly well city as we cruised north. We were 20 miles off shore when we cruised past Beantown (GO CELTICS TONIGHT!)  ..  There were a lot of lobster pots and some gill nets that we had to keep an eye out for but overall, we had a pleasant trip. The wind and sea were both from the south, so it was a relatively comfortable ride. We departed Sandwich at 6:30 AM and arrive in Gloucester around 12:30 PM. We spent the afternoon on the boat and just hung out. Normally they have a town ferry service in Gloucester Harbor, but it is only operating on weekends in May. We had dinner on the boat and went to bed early as we wanted another early start. Tomorrow is GO HOME DAY, very exciting!

 

Track

Saturday May 20, 2023, Travel Day 141: The forecast for Saturday was not great. The winds were going to be over 15 MPH and that is normally a “no go day “for us and the seas were building to 4 feet in the afternoon. We had another 60-mile day to get to Kennebunkport and we were VERY excited to get home. When we departed at 6:15 the winds were pretty aggressive as Gloucester Harbor is very open to the South and that was the direction the wind was coming from. Our first 10 miles was a very tough slog, the swells were on our beam and pushing us around a lot. We actually almost turned back as this was not a comfortable tack. Our hope was that once we rounded Cape Ann the winds and swells would be behind us, which would be much more comfortable.  Fortunately, that is exactly what happened, it was a much smoother ride to the Kennebunk River. Our bail out, Plan B, was to go into Newburyport and ride out the big wind Saturday afternoon through and Sunday was another bad travel day. Once again we had unlimited visibility and sure were happy that we stayed the course. By the time we got to The Ilse of Shoals and Boone Island the winds was still stiff, but the swells had spaced out, so it was a more comfortable ride. Upon arrival at the mouth of the Kennebunk River we were greeted by a wonderful reception of good friends cheering us home as we cruised up the Kennebunk River to AYC.  

 

Track

 

Almost Home off Boone Island

Welcoming Party at the Mouth of the Kennebunk River

Her Idea at AYC 

The Happy Couple

 Home again Home again!

So, this will be my last post and I tried to include a spreadsheet showing all 141 travel days but was unable to upload. So here are the highlights of the trip. If anyone is interested in the spreadsheet send me an e mail and I will forward it to you. Probably more information than you want anyway. 

Travel Days                         141

Calendar Days                   345

Started The Loop             June 11, 2022

Ended the Loop                May 20, 2023

Total Miles Traveled                       6,064

Hours Underway                              817

Diesel Fuel Consumed                   2868

States Visited                                    23

Country’s Visited                             2

                  Great Lakes Crossed                   (Ontario, Huron & Michigan)

 

It was certainly a once in a life time adventure, thanks for joining us on this amazing trip.

 Fair Winds and Cheers to you all

 Enjoy the Summer of 2023

Mission Accomplished!