Reset search
Our Epic Adventure....or bust!Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
SatelliteEdit route

Our Epic Adventure....or bust!

August 2023 - March 2024
Here we go! After 6 years of painstaking rehabbing, planning, testing and re-doing, we are FINALLY doing it; Taking a trip down the Intercoastal Water Way (ICW) to the Bahamas in What Could Go Wrong. Seriously, what could? Read more
  • 85footprints
  • 2countries
  • 205days
  • 475photos
  • 9videos
  • 5.2kkilometers
  • 2.0kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    2
    Day 6

    Manasquan Inlet

    August 26, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Glimmer glass is a well protected and beautiful little bay, however Amtrak runs trains by here every hour, it seems like....hope they stop after dark.

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 7

    Day 7 Barnegat Bay

    August 27, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Traveling from Glimmer Glass to Barnegat was quite the adventure. We learned some things, to say the least. Again, those waves in the Atlantic Ocean are running from 3 to 5 feet. They are a bit like a roller coaster. We travel at about 16knts, and our boat is built to travel through pretty decent conditions. On this day, with 10 to 15 knts at our back in this 3 to 5 roll, we decided to make a stop and test a system that needed testing. Within minutes we learned why you never never never stop in these conditions. Our boat started swinging around wildly and from side to side. Things went flying. Dogs went running. Where do you go for safety in these conditions? Dave quickly ran back upstairs and started the engines. Well, he started one engine. The other was taking a break apparently. After cleaning up, I joined him upstairs a little freaked out about one engine. Dave was flummoxed, shrugged and tried starting it again. It just started. The boat has a mind of it's own. Maybe it was telling us it was mad at us for stopping at all.

    We had smooth cruising after that until we hit Barnegat Bay. And by "hit" I mean literally hit. Sure enough, the warnings of shallow NJ ICW came back to haunt us and we ran aground. We do feel like it was bit unfair, in that our depth gauge was telling us we had clearance, but I think both Dave and I can admit there were some other things we might have missed and could have avoided this little delay in our day as we waited for the tide to rise and release our landed boat.

    So, lessons learned this day. At the end of the day no one was hurt, nothing got broken (except maybe some pride) and we hopefully learned things for future.

    What Could Go Right? The day ended with a visit from Kristi and Briese. They are really an amazing couple. We could talk to them for days. They are so interesting and lead such interesting lives. They drove an hour and a half to have dinner and see What Could Go Wrong?. It was a pleasure.

    What Could Go Wrong? Well, I think I covered enough there today.

    Favorite part of the day: For sure hearing Kristi and Briese's stories.

    We apologize for the pictures. We were a little distracted!    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 8

    Atlantic City Day 8

    August 28, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    Our trip to Atlantic City was pretty uneventful compared to the last couple of days. We stayed at a dock for our first time and that was a pleasant experience. We won $400, and that was pleasant! We even got to hot tub as part of our docking! Very nice.
    What Could Go Right? It was fun being out on the town for the night.
    What Could Go Wrong? We need lots and lots more docking practice. That's all I'm going to say. :)    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    1
    Day 9

    Cape May Day 9

    August 29, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F

    Well, getting from Atlantic City to Cape May was another adventure. This time it was more an adventure in planning than anything. As we were planning our departures and checking all of our charts (wind, waves, weather, etc.) we were alerted that the Coast Guard had issued a "Small Craft Advisory". Dave, being Dave, wanted to know exactly what that meant because what he was reading did not scare him off of cruising. I see! So despite this pesky little Coast Guard warning, we are going to do this anyway? This came up in therapy, (Yes, we do a little marital tuning up with an online therapist to keep communication running and everyone safe and sound!) and we discussed what best way for me to feel safe under Dave's decision making. It actually was quite helpful and involved me learning a great deal about waves vs swell, wind directions, etc. Finally we agreed that moving on would work for us and interestingly, it was a beautiful ride that was much smoother than the day before. Go figure!

    Cape May is a very pretty little town. If you are ever in the area, it is a nice getaway. I think I have told friends and family that before.

    What Could Go Right? I love when we work together on things and feel as if we are in a partnership.

    What Could Go Wrong? We got some things fixed due to a very convenient boats store today. Head problems, shower drainage issues, gas intake issues. Not too bad overall.    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    1
    Day 10

    Cohansey River Day 10

    August 30, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    Moving from Cape May to the Cohansey River was fairly uneventful. It's windy out there. We have been asked by a few people how the hurricane is affecting us. So far, it isn't. Man do our hearts go out to boaters in Florida though. Holy moly the water and wind those guys are facing. And it's just coming up the coast. We are keeping our eyes on it, but so far it doesn't look like we will move into this hurricane. We did look at each other yesterday and say, "Hey, lets go to Florida during hurricane season. Everyone does it!" :)

    The Cohansey river itself was a gem. Beautiful, quiet little fisherman's village.

    What Could Go Right? There was great shore access to get the doggies their potty break and we have great screens on our windows to keep out the horrible biting flies that love to live in the marsh grass we were surrounded by. Beautiful sunset to photo play in!

    What Could Go Wrong? We had some issues anchoring and floated down river a bit. We caught it pretty quick and after a couple of tries were able to set where we were comfortable. Dave set our anchor alarm and just after midnight, 2 hours after tide change and river direction change, the alarm blasted us awake. It was alerting us that we had moved out of position. It was due to the changes though and not anchor issues. Dave had to reassure me quite few times we were fine. Then the wind kicked up (it was estimated at about 20kts) intermittently and I laid awake worrying about our dinghy coming undone and listened to the pounding water of the river. Not my best night of sleep! But Dave was right, all was fine, and I finally did sleep for a few hours.    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 11

    Bohemia Bay Day 11-15

    August 31, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F

    Ok, I am not going to lie, New Jersey felt like the longest state in the world there for a minute. :) We thought it would never end. Then in one day we were in Delaware for lunch and Maryland for dinner. Just like that.

    It was a bit of an intense day. We learned another never never never going to do that again thing. We crossed the rest of the Delaware bay knowing full well we were heading into 20knt winds against a 6knt tidal flow. It made for a very intense ride. The worst hour and a half of our ride yet. So, we will never never never do that again! We will always look for wind at our back or no wind at all and never a wind against a tide.

    After all that intensity, however, we were rewarded with a beautiful day and the tide of the C&D Canal pushing us right on through. It was like two different days jammed into one. The canal is not all that scenic, but looks like a great place to hang out if you are in the area. There is a 14 mile long bike / walking trail along the canal.

    We have decided that moving every day is not really for us and we have plenty of time. We also decided that boating on what looks to be a beautiful labor day weekend in the Chesapeake Bay may be a bit too crowded for us. So, we docked up at a cute marina until Monday. We can hike here, kayak, they have a pool and a little beach. The dogs have a friend next door and Dave and I are only a $20 uber ride to the store. (Dave is not too happy about that cost.) We are planning to take it easy, enjoy the holiday from the phones and paperwork, get some non anxious sleep and get back to our journey on Monday. Wish us luck! Happy Labor Day to everyone!    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 12

    More of Bohemia Bay

    September 1, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    What Could Go Right? This was a very nice dock where we floated in the river, hiked a local public park, got our laundry done, got some groceries and enjoyed a full day of doing nothing. It was much needed down time.

    What Could Go Wrong? On our way back via dinghy from the park we hiked, we got stopped by the local police and got ticketed for not having life preservers in our dinghy. In our dinghy! Who knew? Dave also thinks he has the leaking figured out, but it required ordering supplies that took a week to get delivered so we are bound for another 5 day stay at another marina.    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 15

    Fairlee Creek Day 16/17

    September 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    The Chesapeake Bay is really quite beautiful. We made a very easy transition with one little hiccup. Originally we had planned to stay the night at a place called Turner Creek, but when we got there we saw depths that were very iffy and the entire anchorage would have once again been in a bunch of people's front yard. Because we are headed to another marina on Wednesday, we don't have far to go and were really just cruising around looking for a good anchorage. Dave had read about Fairlee Creek, which was just another hour away. What a find! It's got this crazy 20 foot wide entry into this little basin of a bay. There are great depths and plenty of beach front. Bonus - there was a little beach bar open for labor day (closed the rest of the week) that we enjoyed.

    What Could Go Right? Again, it's a lovely spot. We are going to stay two days while we wait for supplies to be delivered to the marina. The sunset was beautiful, the anchorage is snug and deep enough and it is very quiet at night.

    What Could Go Wrong? The dogs seem to have gotten sick. Hopefully, it is just them drinking the river water and they will stop that. We are watching them closely. Dave has a few projects to work on like a choke on an engine, black water monitor, spot lights and a few little fixes here and there.

    We plan to enjoy our little find for two days and head over Wednesday to the marina. We have rain coming this weekend and will stay put while Dave works on the leaks in the rain. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? :)    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 16

    Rock Hall, MD Days 18-23

    September 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 91 °F

    We finished up our time in Fairlee Creek. Let me just start by saying it is HOT! We don't have air conditioning on the boat, but we do have two lovely fans (one of which Tyler gave to Dave as a parting gift - thank you thank you thank you) and some heavy black out curtains. While it is only about 92 in full sun at 100% humidity, you can imagine it is HOT. While beautiful, it made Fairlee Creek very difficult to work at, so we floated some more and made an early morning exit on Wednesday to escape that blazing sun.

    Our trip to Rock Hall was, once again, uneventful, thank goodness! We did stop to make water in deeper water than where we have been making water (at anchorage or dock). We have been getting a weird taste in our water when we shouldn't be and we wanted to try this out to see if it made a difference. The jury is out on taste, but Dave thinks it was much kinder to our water maker. Thank God stopping in the Chesapeake Bay when there is no wind is nothing like stopping in the Atlantic ocean!

    We got to our new mooring home and picked up the supplies Dave needs. Or thought he needed. Once he opened up the windows he figured out he didn't need the supplies and already had what he needed. But, it is a nice marina with another pool and bikes to use to get around. They also have an air conditioned club house that I can work from while Dave works on the windows. I am comfortably ensconced in that location as I write this post!

    What Could Go Right? Rock Hall is a cute convenient town and despite the heat we were able to walk to groceries and bike to a nice dinner. Dave and I enjoyed an evening dip in the pool as well. The dogs' illness turned out to be nothing. They both are happy, if not very hot, little puppies. (I feel bad they can't be in the air conditioned room with me.) We have all the things we need for a comfortable glamping situation. Sleeping is easy on a mooring (no stress of the boat moving) and we have a safe place to ride out the oncoming thunderstorms.

    What Could Go Wrong? Beyond it's really hot? Some know, I have some allergic skin reaction that can not be pinpointed exactly and covers my entire body with a rash that I get every year. Something triggered it recently and it is moving about my arms and thighs. The good part is I have a magic cream a dermatologist has prescribed. The bad is it is running low! Thank you thank you thank you Aimee for shipping the next batch my way.

    The window leaking remains a mystery to be solved and Dave is working hard at it as we expect this rain. He also has a running list of things that need his attention, but he says it doesn't feel overwhelming and he is enjoying it. It looks like a lot of work to me. I tried helping him today by taking the dinghy and the dogs out on their morning walk. Only to get stuck at the dock because I couldn't restart the dinghy on my own! Not very helpful.

    As we finish up three weeks of travel, we have talked a lot about what we think so far. So far, we are very glad we are doing it. It is different than we expected, but enjoyable, peaceful, adventurous and new.    Read more

  • Our Epic Adventure....or bust!
    Day 18

    Rock Hall to Deale, MD Day 19/20

    September 7, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    This was a pretty good transition to a horrible night. We spent fewer days at Rock Hall than we thought we would because the weather was really turning and we saw opportunity to move down the Chesapeake. However, when we got to Deale, what we thought was just a lunch stop, became our overnight stop in not so ideal conditions. The weather and wind against the tide picked up and we decided to stay the night on the shore of the Chesapeake in Deale, MD. We spent the entire night rocking and rolling and hoping that our anchor held. FitBit did not pick up my sleep accurately, so I have no idea what my sleep was, but I know that for both Dave and I it was rated - NOT GOOD! In the morning we saw a window of good weather and decided to grab it to get ourselves to a protected cove and a mooring ball. We had serious need of laundry and the dogs too needed their beauty sleep. That is where we will spend tonight, in Solomons Island.

    What Could Go Right? We have so many canned goods on the boat that when we woke up at 5am and knew we weren't going back to sleep and thought we would be spending the day in the rock and roll of the rain pounded surf, we pulled on our canned goods to make a creative breakfast. It was comforting and fun to know we could be resourceful in not ideal situations. Also, despite the heavy rains and anti tide winds, we were able to take the dogs to shore at regular intervals and they never suffered.

    What Could Go Wrong? The leaks still aren't fixed. Dave tries and tries and he's got many ideas he is working through, alas the drips they still come. As mentioned, we did not enjoy our night of non-sleep. It DID help us whittle down what we do and don't want from our oncoming adventures, but it was a very uncomfortable night. Finally, the water is still tasting funny. We are working with some hydrogen peroxide to see what works, but for now we are left drinking water that, at the very least, smells like pond water.

    Tomorrow we move again because there is a 2 day break of bad weather after that again. So we have plans of visiting the best crab cakes in Maryland (quite a boast) and getting ourselves to VA for a new dock and space to do a little work and get a little rest.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English