It got down to nearly 55 degrees the other night, so that’s our sign to start heading south!  We packed in a lot during our final 2 weeks.  Final boat prep, several $150 grocery trips, propane tank fills, drove up to visit Benj in Vermont for a fun birthday celebration, visits with friends & yet another birthday to celebrate with our nephew Matt.  Of course, we couldn’t leave without stocking up on donuts!

A trip to Mystic to visit Connecticut’s newest donut shop Young Buns …  or at $3.75 each … Doughnuts!  They were beautiful & very good, but almost too gourmet for breakfast as well as too expensive to fill our freezer with. So we then ventured up to Dixie Donuts in Norwich – an old fashioned, no-frills donut shop with excellent “everyday” donuts.  Not wanting to run out, we got a few more at our local standby Beach Donuts in Clinton.

Is this a good time to head offshore from NYC to Cape May, NJ?

Actually, it was fine.  This was what was left from Hurricane Paulette, but being so far offshore, we only encountered slightly larger than normal swells, but overall was one of our best offshore journeys from NYC to Cape May.  We sighted a few dolphins, but unfortunately no whales this time.

Speaking of whales, we were docked in front of this 94‘ sportfish at our marina in Cape May – we felt pretty tiny & old…

With good weather, we continued up the Delaware River, across the C&D Canal & down the Chesapeake to Annapolis.  So far, a pretty easy trip.  We’re now a bit ahead of schedule & as it’s still very much hurricane season, we’ll be slowing down & enjoying the Chesapeake for a week or so.

After our unscheduled (but successful!) haul-out & repairs, it was finally time to shove off & have some fun!  While we knew we’d be constantly running away from Covid-19, little did we know that there would be more!

Our first reward after our hard work hauled-out (we saved one for the photo)!

This is the path to the only grocery market on quaint Cuttyhunk Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands south of Cape Cod. With only 20 year-round & 200 summer residents it seemed like a safe stop, however, 2 days after we left testing found 20 Covid-19 cases – the highest per-capita in Massachusetts!

Running away to the north – thru the foggy Cape Cod Canal

The rugged coast of Rockport, Massachusetts (along with lobster boats & lots of pots) lets you know you’re getting close to Maine. Near this spot we noticed a seal popping his head up, followed by a shark fin! Further offshore we saw a few whales, but unlike the whale watching boats, didn’t want to nearly run down the whales for a closeup photo.

With Covid-19 travel restrictions in Maine, we decided to only go as far north as Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Hey – we can’t help it if they have 2 great donuts shops plus a bakery right near the waterfront! These are brioche donuts from Angry Donuts.

Donuts weren’t the only reason – Benj was able to drive out from Vermont to visit for a long weekend!

This is beautiful Hadley Harbor (at the other end of the Elizabeth Islands from Cuttyhunk). Owned by the Forbes Family who provide great scenery & free moorings for visiting boats (just don’t try to go ashore).

Sunset off our mooring in Hadley Harbor

As you may have guessed, our next running-away decision was Tropical Storm Isaias on it’s way north.  We almost kept to our plan for a marina stay in New Bedford, Massachusetts as they have a hurricane barrier they close to protect their harbor from large storms.  However, with possible 40 – 50 knot winds, we decided not to take the chance as the harbor is fairly wide so waves can still build-up within the harbor.

Since we had planned on returning to our slip in Deep River, CT in a week anyway, we just headed right back.  Did we make the right decision?

Well …. no.  Tropical Storm Isiasis veered west, missing New Bedford by 100 miles, but passing just west of Deep River giving us the higher winds.  With gusts to only 55 knots & well secured in our slip, it wasn’t that bad at all … until we listened to the news & walked out from the marina.  Trees down everywhere with the 2nd largest loss of power in recent CT history!

We were originally going to wait it out at the marina, but it gets hot without A/C & we don’t want to run our generator constantly.  Plus, the docks were without water & we couldn’t exactly use our watermaker to make our own, as further north on the Connecticut River there was a massive raw sewage discharge (thanks Holyoke, MA).   So off to Greenport, NY for water, groceries & laundry.  Be back in a few days when the power is restored??