oh, and we thought 11.5 hours was long...

We just made an overnighter from Block Island to Cape May --- 30 hours, 200+ miles. That is our longest voyage yet. It's a long time underway. But before I go into that, after we got to Onset, we went into town for a little walk. The beach at Onset is over 2 miles, the longest in New England (I think....). It is beautiful, if not a little cold this time of the year.

While we were headed for the beach, we encountered a young man with 2 of his 8 children, standing waist deep, in the cold waters, digging quahogs (big clams). It looked like cold, hard work. They had long tined rakes, scraping the ocean bottom for the clams. He generously let us buy about 30 of the big boys from him for a very modest price. Here is Luke holding 4 of them...and the finished product, sauteed in garlic and wine (what could go wrong with THAT!)I used the leftover clams to make clam dip, yum. There were a few parts that were a chewing challenge. I could use some recipe ideas..

Anyway, we tried to leave Onset at 6am....not to be. Our anchor windlass labored at bringing up the anchor. When it finally did, we could see why. An old, metal lobster pot had been pierced by one of the anchor flukes and dragged up with it. It took Luke some fancy maneuvering, an extra rope, and a pair of wire clippers, but a mere half hour later, we were on our way, sans lobster pot. I wish I had taken a picture, but honestly, it was cold, blowing drizzle, barely light, and not a fun time. I didn't think about a picture.

From our late departure, we made the 60 mile trip to Block Island. Tired of the rain, drizzle, and fog that accompanied us the entire way, we just stayed on the boat, making it an early evening.

The plan to scoot from Block Island directly to Cape May worked perfectly. It was a completely non-eventful trip (the best kind). We did pass a very large (about 4 ft long ?) sea turtle off the coast of Long Island. By dusk we were crossing the Ambrose Shipping Channel into NYC, at about 45 miles out from Verrazano Narrows. A lot of boats, but nothing of any problem. By the way, when we do an overnighter or a long, offshore voyage, we file a float plan with a fellow cruiser. That gives them our estimated leaving time, arriving time, and route. We also give this information to 2 cruiser SSR (single side band) radio groups for cruisers. If we don't check in with them by an assigned time, they will notify the Coast Guard that we are "overdue" and the process of locating us will begin. Hope to never use it!!!! Our night went well, with us taking first a 2 hour shift sleeping, and then a 3 hour shift. We ate a fourth meal during the middle of the night. That's a big plus for staying awake. While we had motored for most of the first 14 hours out of Block Island, the conditions became perfect for a great sail, around 7 knots on a beam reach (wind perpendicular to our course) the entire night and the rest of the way into Cape May - quiet and great mileage! As we approached New Jersey, we first saw a pre-dawn band of deep pink with a bit of yellow on the eastern horizon --

then dawn --

then Sunrise

always a very welcome ending to an overnighter on the water.

Atlantic City in the early morning sun.

We had a first --- 2 land birds found our boat as a place of refuge off the coast of NJ. These aren't water birds, but land birds that apparently had gotten blown offshore. The pictures aren't so great, as we didn't want to scare them from their safe perches until they felt strong enough to leave on their own. First, what looks like a Flicker, resting on the propeller blades of our dinghy motor. He arrived when we were about 15 miles off the NJ coast, flew off when we were about 8 miles out.
Then a Carolina Wren, sitting in the shelter of our mast.
We arrived in Cape May just as the winds died down, anchoring next to the Coast Guard Training Center. Water temperature is up to 70 and I finally took blanket number 2 off of the bed! Cleaned up the boat (we took showers while under sail), took another 1 hour nap, then into Cape May for a few fresh veggies and a Chinese dinner. We met a nice gentleman who let us tie our dinghy up to his "eel boat". He catches eels for the international (primarily Oriental, apparently) market. Long, 2 footers, fat and round, for gourmet meals. Yuck. Then his eel-buddy gave us a ride into town. We continue to meet the NICEST folks!!!

We learned that we are "shoebee's" in Cape May. Back in the late 1800's, the only way to Cape May was via train. The day visitors all brought their lunches in shoeboxes. Visitors today are still "shoebee's". That would be us!!!