Days 238 - 249 - The Blues Brothers

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $24, daily high temperature 82°f

The Changing Latitudes crew is back together (just like Jake and Elwood Blues) after a three week separation. CL survived her time alone like a boss. She is floating and ready to cast off the dock lines.

Back in Portsmouth, VA. we can see the navy ships across from the marina.

John and Priscilla visited Boston, Chicago and Stuart and returned to Portsmouth, VA on Saturday. Dale and Andy visited Chicago and returned on Friday. The weather in Virginia has been very wet so we did well to be away and visit family. The closing on the condo in Stuart was completed on Wednesday and we stayed there for three nights. The view from the lanai is magical especially at sunset.

We will visit Stuart again in October after we have completed our Great Loop Adventure and made a business trip to Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia.

Priscilla opening the door to her new condo for the very first time.

John and his son JP went fishing with Jeff and Stacy on Lake Michigan. We limited out with 20 fish in a little over two hours. Stacy put us right on top of the fish and Jeff had the right lures.

JP with a lake trout.

John with a coho salmon.

Jeff and Stacy cleaning our catch.

We are putting our cruise itinerary together for the final leg between Norfolk and Waukegan. There are a few important dates on our calendar. Even though the collective wisdom of cruisers is to never have a firm date for travel, we have found that if you have a boat that cruises at 30 mph you can make just about any itinerary work out. Cruising at 6 – 9 mph, not so much. But as always, travel is weather dependent.

Our slip fee is paid up at the Tidewater Marina through June 6. However we are inclined to start heading up the Chesapeake. The Chesapeake has numerous rivers, anchorages and ports to explore. We will spend a week in Annapolis and several days in Baltimore before heading across the C and D canal and up the New Jersey coast. Pirate Jay’s wife Pat’s 1st cousin (Bill McEleney) and his wife (Bobbie), who live in Hebron, MD will meet us in the Solomons, St. Micheals or Annapolis. My cousin Scott and his friend Selena will meet us near Atlantic City. Alison, Oscar and Jackson will meet us at Half Moon Bay on the Hudson River on July 4. According to Steve Plotkin,the marina manager, there are six different sets of fireworks visible from the Half Moon Bay Marina on July 4.

Dale and Andy will get off the boat for 10 days in Syracuse in mid-July and John and Priscilla will use that time to visit Dick and Candy Smith at their “camp” In Plattsburgh, NY on Lake Champlain. In mid-August the new cousins Eleanor and Jackson will meet for the first time at Niagara Falls. John and Priscilla will get off the boat in Severn, Canada for three days to join them. This is just a snapshot of our schedule. Good times ahead. I posted our rough itinerary at the end of this blog page. Let us know if you can meet up with us along the way and maybe you too will get your photo in the blog.

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t.”
Christopher Paolinit

Christopher James Paolini – (born November 17, 1983, Los Angeles, California) is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr and Inheritance. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book.

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Here is the rough draft of a suggested cruise itinerary. There is lots of flexibility to stay longer or shorter in each port. We can add and delete ports. I have one night on anchor near the Statue of Liberty. We could stay at the Liberty Marina at $3.00 per foot if we want to visit Ellis Island. I am suggesting 7 days in Annapolis and Croton-on-Hudson to take advantage of weekly rates. Alison, Oscar and Jackson will join us for a few days around July 4. I built in the layovers for Country Thunder and Niagara Falls.

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May 27 – Dale and Andy return
May 28 – John and Priscilla return
June 2 – Depart Portsmouth – or depart sooner and anchor out more nights
June 2,3 – Anchor out St Leonards Creek and others
June 4,5,6 – Yorktown – visit Williamsburg and Yorktown battlefield
June 7 – Deltaville – Dozier Marina
Onancock – recommended by John Halter
June 8 – Tangiers – Parks Marina – not on a Sunday – eat at Mrs. Crockett’s before 6:30 pm
June 9,10 – Solomon – Solomons Harbor Marina – Calvert Museum – Laughing Buddha
June 11,12 – Cambridge
June 13,14 – St Michaels – maritime museum
June 15,16,17,18,19,20,21 – Annapolis – Chick and Rick’s deli
June 22,23,24 – Baltimore – inner harbor east marina
June 25 – Still Pond – anchor out
Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor – Foster and Susan Quo Vadimus email QVmarine@gmail.com
June 26 – Chesapeake City – anchor in 10′
Miah Mull Light – turn and head for Cape May Canal – Narrow passages the boat going with the current has right of way.
June 27,28 – Cape May – Utsch Marina – 64 miles
June 29 – Atlantic City – Gardiners Basin
June 30, July 1- Brick Township – George and Pat – Manisquan
July 2 – NYC – turn left at the Statue of Liberty and anchor. Or contact harbor host and stay at Great Kills on Staten Island.
From Dale – Several people have suggested staying at a marina on Staten Island in New York. The harbor host may be able to get a discount at the marina. I looked up the harbor hosts. They are John & Luliet Calascibetta, 917-887-9446, email: GB42780@aol.com
July 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 – Croton on Hudson – Half Moon Bay 44 miles – West Point, NYC
July 10,11 – Kingston – municipal Marina – 55 miles
———-Troy lock – fresh water and no more tides————-
July 12,13 – Waterford – locks 2 – 7, 64 miles – buy 10 day Erie Canal Lock pass
July 14,15 – Scotia – free dock – 22 miles
July 16 – Amsterdam – locks 8 – 10, 15 miles
July 17 – Johnsonville – locks 11 – 15, 31 miles
July 18 – Little Falls – 11 miles
*Country Thunder July 20 – 25 – Dale and Andy get off the boat
July 19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27- Syracuse – go to Dinosaur BBQ
Dale advises I’m looking into travel in July for our Country Thunder trip. It looks like we will need to fly out of Syracuse.
July 28- Sylvan Beach – Free Wall – 29 miles
July 29- Brewerton across Lake Oneida – Winter Harbor Marina – cheap fuel – 90 cents per foot. – 23 miles
July 30, 31 – Oswego Marina
Cross Lake Ontario Lake to Trenton
August 1,2 – Trenton – clear Canadian customs – ships stores
Go to Murray Canal to get to Trent Severn canal – 16 days to transit
*August 19,20,21 – Niagara Falls – John and Priscilla get off the boat.
August 18,19,20,21 – Severn
August 22 – September 19 – Georgian Bay, North Channel and Lake Michigan. Arrive in Waukegan September 19 exactly 365 days after our departure.

George and Pat’s blog
Looperagain.blogspot.com