Stonington, CT - Night #1

We had a great trip today - a little snotty around Point Judith, but overall a great trip - the sun shined brightly and Paul handled the boat with great expertise as usual.  We are in Stonington, CT this evening - we anchored here and have the generator going.  The boat is nicely heated and we are cooking a pasta dinner and watching the Amazing Race on TV. 

We left East Greenwich at about 1:45 PM and anchored around 7:15 PM.  The weather looks great in the days ahead so we plan to get to Port Washington, NY tomorrow (about 90 miles) and then down the Jersey Coast Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. 

Took some photos today - so enjoy . . . I'll upload the whole set to Snapfish and send out a link soon.

They're a little out of sequence . . .

Pre-launch Lunch on the cockpit

Sunset over Block Island Sound

Under the Jamestown Bridge

Thanks for following our journey - until next time . . .  Jen & Paul

Today is the Day!

Happy Halloween Family and Friends!  Well - this is the day we have been preparing for - Master Plan is packed with all of our STUFF and we will plan to depart early this afternoon.  We spent yesterday handling all the final preparations - cleaning out the apartment, perishable food shopping, putting everything in its place and basically making everything "ship shape."  We were thinking of leaving yesterday, but there were gale warnings in Rhode Island sound and we thought it best to wait it out.  We spent last night on the boat and it was quite comfortable - Paul has done an excellent job getting everything ready to go. 

This entire trip depends on the weather - tides, currents, etc. - and we won't go if there are rough seas.  Our plan today is to get somewhere between Point Judith and Stonington, CT - then tomorrow we will make our way to Port Washington, NY.  We will definitely keep you posted.

Enjoy this beautiful Sunday - Here's to calm seas and happy days ahead - Jen & Paul

Our Planned Route and Itinerary for our trip south

So just so everyone knows here is our planned itinerary.  Our disclaimer here is that this is a rough outline, all of this is weather dependent.  The end of the Atlantic Hurricane season is November first so we don't anticipate any major storms.   But as the fall progresses there are times when the storms do become uncomfortable to travel in.  Hopefully we will find a good anchorage to hold up in if we have to wait out some weather.

We will be stopping for a month in Charleston SC so that Jen and I can take care of some business in Charlotte NC.  We will depart for Stuart Florida sometime around December 9. 

We are planning to depart Halloween Weekend from East Greenwich.  We will head down Narragansett Bay to Long Island Sound.
YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE MAPS FOR A LARGER VIEW 

We will then traverse the east river through NYC and head down the coast of New Jersey.  We will proceed up Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that will take us to the top of the Chesapeake.

At the Bottom of the Chesapeake we will enter the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).  Norfolk VA is the were mile #1 is.
Here is Wikiopedia's description:
 

The Intracoastal Waterway is a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Some lengths consist of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea.
The waterway runs for most of the length of the Eastern Seaboard, from its unofficial northern terminus at the Manasquan River in New Jersey, where it connects with the Atlantic Ocean at the Manasquan Inlet, then around the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas. The waterway is toll-free, but commercial users pay a fuel tax that is used to maintain and improve it. The ICW is a significant portion of the Great Loop, a circumnavigation route encircling the eastern half of the North American continent.

Our stay in Charleston should be a Wonderful experience.

And finally we are planning to make Stuart FL our home base for the winter.  Stuart is on the Okeechobee Waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico across the state of Florida.  It is also only 55 miles across to the west end of Grand Bahama Island.  FUN

Favorite Pictures from this summer

Please Click to enlarge on any of the Pictures
First up, The Boat

 C and K's Wedding, we were the photo boat following like stalkers

Scenes
Edgartown harbor

Newport Bridge and Narragansett Bay

Going South

Jen and I are planning on heading South on Master Plan November 1.  We have been eagerly preparing the boat and our lives for this adventure.  We have just completed an upgrade to the Navigation electronics on the boat.  We upgraded the following items:
New Raymarine C90W Multifunction Displays for GPS and Radar
New Raymarine Radar Scanner
New Standard Horizon VHF Radios with AIS Receiver
New Gyro Heading Sensor
New Fluxgate Compass
New Raymarine Digital Souder Module
New 600 watt Depth Transduser

These were all professionally installed by Joe Fortin at Electro Marine Service in East Greenwich.  I have to say that he did an outstanding job of getting it all installed in a way that it is easy to operate and view.

To install the new depth transducer we had to pull the boat out of the water.  This was a good opportunity to clean the bottom and running gear of growth.

  As we get closer to our departure we will update you on our plans

Welcome to Master Plan

6/8/2010

Greetings dear family and friends!  I am excited to announce that we brought our new home – Master Plan – over from New Bedford, MA to East Greenwich, RI this past Friday and I took lots of photos – link is below.  It was an amazing experience and we really lucked out with the weather and sea conditions.  We were delighted to have an outstanding crew join us – Paul’s Dad Peter and his good friend Paul Kuzia who sold us the Annie Sea!  Peter was an outstanding navigator plotting our course and keeping us on track – you’ll see some “action photos” of him checking the charts to make sure we didn’t end up in Maine!  J

Paul Squeglia handled his new baby with tremendous expertise and skill – I was so impressed and am so proud.  Clearly this boat is much bigger than the Annie Sea, but his role as captain was executed with sheer perfection!  As always, he is so at peace at the helm.  Way to go Paul!

We started the day out of the water – as you’ll see in the first few pictures.  Paul and I were actually on board as the boat went in the water, accompanied by a few mechanics.  It was one of the coolest moments and my heart was pounding with excitement as they expertly guided the boat from the large white storage shed down a huge ramp and into the water.  I just remember thinking – “holy crap – this is it!”  The boat remained on the “lift” until it was enough in the water to start the engines.  Once Paul fired those up, then they slowly pushed us right into the water and Paul immediately docked it perfectly right next to the ramp.  The mechanics double checked everything to make sure we were good to go.

Our first order of business was getting through the swing bridge in New Bedford – took some cool picture of that – we then fueled up and headed on our way.  We were about 20 minutes into the trip when we hit some fog – so Paul went to slow us down and something went wrong with the port engine – it was stuck at 1400 rpm.  We called the mechanic and we worked our way back – we moored just inside the harbor (so we wouldn’t have to deal with the bridge again – it only opens once an hour) and the mechanics came out and quickly fixed the minor problem – a broken cotter pin -  and we were on our way again about a half hour later.  “Master Plan Maiden Voyage . . . Take Two . . .” 

By the time we got back on our way, all of the fog lifted and we had a great trip to Rhode Island.  The trip took about 3½ hours.  As we approached Newport, you could see all the mansions (got a photo of that) and then we rounded the corner and headed into Narragansett Bay and under the amazing Newport Bridge with the wind at our backs.  It was breathtaking!  We settled into our slip at Norton’s Marina in East Greenwich at about 7pm Friday evening and the captain and crew were thirsty and hungry!  We had a great dinner in East Greenwich and headed back to New Bedford to pick up the cars. 

So now the fun begins – we’ve got lots of projects to work on as we make Master Plan our home . . .  We enjoyed a little sunset dinghy ride around Greenwich Cove this evening – life is indeed good.  We will slowly transition from land to sea over the summer as we figure things out day by day where things go and what works well, etc.  It’s all good.

One of the pictures I took was a fishing boat in New Bedford harbor called Friendship – I had to take this, as we are so thankful for our friends and family and your incredible support and enthusiasm of our journey . . . so THANK YOU!  We can’t wait to welcome you aboard!

Love, Jen & Paul  XXOO