Our trip south into Norfolk went much smoother than for this ship HONG DAI. Somehow, they went hard aground outside of this major, wide, deep & well marked channel into Norfolk (they should have been on the other side of that green buoy).  We later heard that it was pulled off after a few days by 8 tugs (4 on each side) on a high tide.

Prior to arriving in Norfolk, we enjoyed a nice week in the Chesapeake making a few stops, including Annapolis.  Normally at this time, Annapolis would have been crazy preparing for the 51st annual Sailboat Show, one of the largest on the east coast which pretty much takes over the town & harbor (they build a huge marina for hundreds of boats from scratch every year, then remove it weeks later), but cancelled due to COVID.  We have attended many times since 2006 when we began getting serious planning our crazy dream of taking off cruising, so it was strange to see town semi-deserted.

Back in Norfolk, after passing the aground ship, there are several miles of the Elizabeth River lined with shipyards, container ports, railroad depots & the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  Here is the USNS Comfort hospital ship which had sailed into NYC earlier this year for the COVID effort.

Magically, about 15 miles past the industrial areas of Norfolk & Portsmouth, several railroad bridges & a lock (The Great Bridge Lock), you enter a more serene portion of the ICW, which continues in various forms all the way to Miami.  We were all by ourselves on this free park dock, but in a week or two it will be full with some of the hundreds of boats coming down behind us.

You never know what you’ll see along the way – a few days later traveling the Alligator Pungo Canal in North Carolina I slowed down to avoid hitting something crossing the canal in front of me – ducks?  I was more than surprised when these “ducks” got to the edge & became deer, as only their ears & mouths had been above the water!

It must seem that we travel for & have donuts daily – not quite, but we do try!  These are favorites from Wake & Bake Donuts in Carolina Beach, NC.

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.