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Explorations
Our last week was a fun one. We managed to do a slightly better job at enjoying ourselves but still got more work done on the boat. The tasks are getting smaller on the boat and usually can be completed in one day. The only major task left is the assembly of the solar panels and Kevin has managed to hook up one quarter of the panels that are on our roof. The panels that are now connected are giving us up to 650Watts already, which today was enough to power what little things we had going and even start to recharge our batteries. We are excited to hook up…
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Rocking and Rolling
We have been in Newport, Rhode Island for a week now. The hurricane situation is looking about the same, we still have to wait to see if Franklin is going to follow projections, and we need to see if anything else is going to pop up when we want to leave. We figure at the earliest we will leave this coming weekend, but most likely Sunday. And likely this is our last chance to try crossing before it is just too far into the fall storm season. Meanwhile, we have been trying to make the most of our time here. Rolling with the punches, as they say. We did manage…
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Waiting . . .
A quick update. I am sure that some of you are aware that there is a fair amount of storm activity in the south Atlantic. It cropped up quickly last weekend and has put a wrench in our plans. So far, we are not sure how much. We moved ourselves to Newport, Rhode Island, in preparation to leave the country. Our cruising license expired on the 21st and we were hoping to leave that day. However, one of the storms that came up was tropical storm Emily, and it’s projected path was directly in line with ours. So, of course we couldn’t leave. We thought perhaps we would give it…
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Almost ready. . .
Wow, it has been a busy week and a half. We are so close to leaving. In fact we leave the area tomorrow. We will head out Long Island Sound and stop briefly in Newport, Rhode Island to check out of the country and make sure our fuel tanks are filled up. We are feeling more and more ready for this next leg of the adventure. In the last week we have been trying to put Seasura in ‘ship shape’. In otherwords, we are provisioning and organizing/cleaning up etc. so that she can withstand the longer passage. We have stocked up on spare parts for all the major systems and…
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A rest and starting preparations
Our time on the Kevin’s sister’s farm was enjoyed so much. Not only because we saw family, but also because we, and Kevin especially, got the chance to relax a little and think of something other than the boat. Furthermore, our kids got to finally meet their cousins! They were very excited to have a couple days to play with children other than each other! It turns out they also got to spend those days getting to know, and playing with, their Aunt’s puppies and dogs. Simon has often been intrigued by animals and studies them well. He used to be very eager to meet dogs and puppies when he…
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New York!
Wow, it has been a very busy week! We made it to New York! We started the week traveling through the Delaware/Chesapeake Canal which took us into Delaware Bay. We anchored that night in a quiet spot just behind an island that was made mostly of reeds. The kids thought it was weird because there was no town nearby and there was nobody else around. Of course, there was a thunderstorm that night but otherwise it was very peaceful. Delaware Bay was surprising differently from the Chesapeake. I can see why it is much more popular to visit the Chesapeake. Delaware Bay seems relatively unpopulated, with much fewer towns to…
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Changing the tunes
Random post (and the weekly blog is coming soon) When I was young, my family drove around Europe for a month and many of our mornings started with my Dad singing ‘On the Road Again’. It became the theme song for the trip. I have found that on many of travel trips since, certains songs seem to pop into my head that seem to represent the trip that I am on. The same has happend on this trip. However, at different times, different tunes will pop into either my head or one of the kids starts singing something over and over again. Here are some that have come to us…
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Annapolis and more
We left Solomons with the engines running and electricity coming from our house batteries. However, after only a short 6-hour motor up to Annapolis, we arrived, made dinner and the batteries died. We spent the next day and a half without electricity and running water. It was not very pleasant, mostly because it is was very hot and we really wanted our air-conditioning! The reason that we were without electricity and water was because the house batteries needed to be charged, but at the time, with our electical system still not fully set up, they needed to be charged by the alternator and regulator. However, those required 24-volt power to…
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A week. . . in Solomons
Sorry it has been a little longer since my last post. We have been spending long days working on the boat to get the electronic system upgraded. This meant completely taking out the batteries, the wires and switches for the DC power system all the way up to the distribution chanel (break panel). Kevin is reconfiguring it to add in the new batteries as well as 3 new 5 kW inverter/chargers. This will allow us to have AC power all the time, and lots of it, to support our electric galley, as well as decrease our dependance on our generator. We are also adding in over 3kW of solar panels…
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Into the Chesapeake
We ended up spending a total of 4 days in Beaufort, and left on July 1st. The extra days in Beaufort gave us the chance to stock on food, pick up a package (which contained a bolt to replace the one that fell out of our power winch on our mast, actually, it fell out and we though we had lost it but later found it in the anchor locker when pulling up the anchor), and enjoy the beach. The package was actually in Morehead City, which was just across the water from Beaufort. It was more industrial looking, Kevin and I caught an uber over to the area, and…
