What an incredible thrill for us to sail (really motor, as proceeding under sail through New York Harbor is prohibited) into New York, along the East River through Hell Gate, and out into Long Island Sound.  Pictures can only give a hint, but here they are:

When we looked at the posts done yesterday, we see 2 missing photos, even though they show up on the edit. Just in case they are missing for you, here they are again.

We have been having problems with Internet, and I wrote and lost this post twice already. So this is in bits and I hope keeping it short will allow it to finish.

Doesn't this look like a UFO? Whatever it is, it was moving down the Delaware River. Yes, we did finally get out of the Chesapeake and across the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal. Just after we anchored at Reedy Island this strange thing appeared.

The next morning we could see why we had such a quiet night. Several miles of dyke, only visible at low tide, run north and south of Reedy Island. Why they were installed we don't know, but they make a good breakwater for us cruisers.

The next night we moved 15 miles across to the Jersey side and anchored in Cohassey Creek--for more storms. The place has a reputation for bad biting flies, but our "screen room" kept the cockpit pleasant. We took it down too early, though, and all the way to New York, offshore, we were swatting flies.

Yes, the map at the end shows we made a big move. Tonight we are at anchor in Gravesend Bay, just outside the Verranzano Narrows Bridge. Tomorrow, the Statue of Liberty and Hell Gate!

These well known lighthouses dot the Chesapeake, and this one marks the entrance to Annapolis. In 1997 we were working 12 hour days getting our boat ready to go. Now we spent 3 nights on a mooring right in the heart of town, walking around the Academy, visiting the Naval Academy museum, and waiting out more rain.

But our wonderful clears keep us dry in the cockpit, even through record rains.

At the end of the last post, we were on our way to the Norfolk area, where we planned to stay a week or so, visit with our friend David Bridges, and look around for possible places to leave CORMORANT next winter.  We had a wonderful time and found a couple of possible places, so on Wednesday, June 5, we continued north.

On Tuesday, Harry remembered that the people we bought CORMORANT from, back in April of 1997, were now living somewhere on the Chesapeake.  So he called to see if they would like for us to visit.  Immediately, Ward invited us to come and stay at their dock.  They sounded excited about it, so off we sailed for Kilmarnock, VA.  The dock and house are beautiful, and the welcome was warm.  Ward and Judy LeHardy were the second owners of CORMORANT and they sailed her around the world from 1991-1996.  They are still giving talks about their experiences and have written--and are now re-writing-- a book, called "Once Around".  Several of their friends came by to see the boat, and Harry and I had a wonderful time showing them around.  Ward and Judy kept finding things we had changed, and thank goodness they thought the boat was even better for the changes!  We talked and talked and talked.  It is such fun to share stories with people who not only have circumnavigated, as we have, but who did it on the very same boat. 

It rained and rained and then rained some more, so we stayed 3 nights on their wonderful dock.  The last night, as we were having drinks in the cockpit before dinner, they offered to let us use their dock for the winter.  For CORMORANT to spend the winter safe at the dock of people who love her as much as we do just seems to be a perfect fit.  If all goes well, we'll be sailing back sometime in October.

Tonight we will be in Annapolis, where we moved aboard the boat on July 7, 1997, almost 16 years ago.  Wow.