AQUAVIT - on her way to the beauty parlor!

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A wonderful cruise! We travelled nearly 2000 nautical miles from the Gulf up the Atlantic ICW and to NYC for the 4th of July and as far as Norwalk Connecticut. Now it's time to head home.


NYC in the wake!
We left Liberty Landing Marina early on a quiet morning and made the 22 nm run down to Amboy New Jersey to the family-run Lockwood boat yard. It took only an hour and a half - but had to wait for a commuter train to pass before the railroad bridge could open. Lee packed up while Marvin took a Lyft to get the rental car we left in Jersey City. Navigating the roadways is a lot more challenging than the harbor!



Lockwood Boat Works is up the Cheesequake Creek.
What a treat to hear the Jersey accent of the bridge tender;
 "Thanks for opening" ~ "fuggetabowtit!"


Next port is Snead Island Boat Works in Bradenton Florida where she will get new bottom paint and a running gear "pedicure". Maybe even a wax. There are a few details this highly regarded yard will do to spiff up the boat. In a few weeks we will re-launch and head back home, hoping to visit Mike and Linda in Sarasota, Terry and Suzanne in St. Pete and niece Lindsay in Crystal River on the way.


After the boat was carefully loaded on the trailer, we called our trip a success and hit the road (on the New Jersey Turnpike - "counting the cars to look for America".) We will meet up with AQUAVIT in Bradenton to go over the work list with Snead Island Boat Works.

Driving down I-95, it only took us a day to start considering future cruises. We plan to do our annual spring sailing trip in 2019 down the Florida Gulf on Bay Breeze.  But then we started discussing the logistics involved in resuming our travels back in New England. There's a lot we didn't quite get to...more to explore...Long Island Sound and Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Boston, and Gloucester. And, we'd like to see more of Lee's cousins, Carlos in Boston, and get to Pat and Judy's place on the Maine shore. Or, maybe the Bahamas? - so many favorite places to visit from the water side.

We'll see. For now we will bask in the glow of recent memories of this trip. No real drama and great weather all the way. There were people and places we were privelidged to visit.  It will be good to return to the kitties and catch up with our friends.

Yet, while mostly done on the water, the 2018 adventure continues. We have a little more than a month before we are off to Alaska for an ambitious terrestrial cruise from the Kenai to Prudoe Bay with Doug and Ernesto.

Dalton Highway is a 450 mile gravel road up to
Deadhorse and the Arctic Ocean.
That's all folks!

UPDATE: Aquavit is at Snead Island Boat Works - interesting that we both turned off US 41 Tamiami Trail - at the same time after leaving NJ a few days earlier. After a little maintenance, we will be back on the water and on our way back to the home port.


Comments

  1. Formula GuyJuly 17, 2018 at 4:35 AM

    Thanks again for allowing your fans to vicariously participate in the adventure !!

    ReplyDelete

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