There are two routes going south from Portsmouth, the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) and the Dismal Swamp Canal.  We had already gone up the ICW so we decided to go the Dismal Swamp Canal route.  It is very busy in October as “the Snowbirds” are all heading south for the warmer weather.  Plus one of the bridges was having some issues and it wasn’t being opened so regularly so the Dismal Swamp Canal it was for us. 

Now the name doesn’t make it sound very appealing, but the Dismal Swamp Canal in October with the trees shedding their leaves is stunning.  It is the oldest continuously operating artificial waterway in the United States, connecting the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia with the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina.   Work on the canal was started in 1793 and was dug completely by hand; most of the labour was done by slaves rented from nearby landowners. It took approximately 12 years of construction to complete the 22-mile long waterway, which opened in 1805

The canal is not very deep, just six foot so we went at a slower place as in some places it can be a little shallower.  Luckily we were following two other boats so if it was shallower they found it first and were able to direct us around it. 

At the end of the canal is Elizabeth City.  The city was once a major seaport where four-masted sailing ships carried goods to and from the new world (North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean).   The city is very welcoming to boaters offering free docks. 

We visited the Museum of the Albemarle which gives the history and culture of the 16-county Albemarle region of north eastern North Carolina. 

The Wright Brothers used Elizabeth City as a  supply base and transit between 1900 and 1903 as they travelled to the Outer Banks. The city provided crucial logistics, allowing the brothers to ship materials and travel by boat to Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills for their historic glider tests and first powered flight. 

There are some big barges along the ICW. 

This could be Ian waiting to catch a fish!

Whilst we were in Turkey we met a guy, Bill, who was from Essex, but had lived in the USA for many years.  We were passing by where he lived in the US, so managed to meet up with him.  He introduced us to the biggest tortoise we’d ever seen. 

We meandered along the coast making our way to St Mary’s in Georgia for thanksgiving.  The Town puts on a Thanksgiving Dinner for boaters.  They provide the venue, meat and everyone brings along a dish to share.  There must have been about 60 people who attended.  We also went along to the Submarine Museum where we were given a talk, which I was really looking forward to, NOT.  Well to my surprise it was really interesting.  I thought it was going to be technical but it wasn’t and the guy giving the talk did a great presentation.   The museum is the largest of its kind in the south, and the fifth largest in the USA.  More than 99% of all WW II submarine combat war patrol reports are housed here, and files on nearly every submarine the United States has or has had in service as part of the collection

We finally arrived just south of Jacksonville on the St John’s River where we would leave Cuffysark for our trip home to the UK. 

For our shake down cruise in 2025 we covered 3,811nautical miles from Port Charlotte, Florida up to St Andrews, Canada and back down the coast again to Doctors Lake, Florida.  So after getting to know the boat we are all ready to attempt the Great Loop in 2026 with a pre loop trip to the Bahamas first.

December 2025

After leaving Newport we headed on down to New York, or rather Port Washington, where there was a good anchorage which was good for provisioning and the train station was a short walk which took us directly into New York for our second visit this year.

Our first trip back into New York took us to Times Square.  This cat was in one of the shop windows, taking “Big Cat” to the extreme. 

Maggie had been asked to get a particular Jelly Cat toy.  Now, like me, you may not have heard of Jelly Cat.  Well, it is a worldwide brand and British.  We thought, we’d just go in the store, collect what was needed off the shelf.  OH NO!  You have to make an appointment and luckily they had had a cancellation so we had to come back later in the day. 

Now I thought for the price, it must be “what it says on the tin” a diner and you get real food.  OH NO! It’s an experience at the Jelly Cat Diner.  You go to the diner counter and you and the person serving you, both pretend they are going to make the item, in this case a cheesecake.  Believe me this wasn’t just kids, adults too.  It’s amazing what takes off and how it has become such a craze and it had quite a price tag to go with it.  Great marketing!   You can only get the Cheesecake in New York.  Other countries have certain toys that are exclusive to that country, the Fish and Chips experience is only available in Selfridges in London.  It was certainly an experience watching it. 

We also visited MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, which amongst lots of paintings was the collection of Campbell Soups that Andy Warhol painted.  I had not appreciated that there were in fact 32 of them, all individually painted. Why cans of soup you may ask?  Well apparently, he drank (not ate, his words) Campbells Soup every day for lunch for 20 years. 

One of things you should do while in New York is see a Broadway show.  Recommended to us was The Book of Mormons, which was really good. 

After a week in Port Washington we meandered down the coast stopping at various creeks along the way until we reached Baltimore where the Fells Point Festival was being held.  There were lots of stalls selling crafts, beer (craft beers are a big thing in the US and some of them are falling over strong) and food.  The main stage had bands playing.  As often is the case at these type of events there were some great bands. 

After leaving Baltimore we parted company, for the time being, with our boating buddies, Colin and Maggie on Serafina, as they were heading home earlier than us and plus they had insurance that covered them further south earlier than us.  So, we had to take it slower. Our next stop was Annapolis which is a very yacht friendly town.

There are many very old houses in Annapolis, streets with shiplap houses.  Shiplap House, is one of the oldest buildings, built around 1715, originally a store and tavern.

We visited the Maryland State House which was the first peacetime capital of the United States and is the only state house ever to have served as the nation’s capital. Congress met in the Old Senate Chamber from November 26, 1783 to August 13, 1784. It was during this time that General George Washington came before Congress to resign as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and the Treaty of Paris was ratified, marking the official end of the Revolutionary War. George Washington was elected the first president of the USA in 1789.

We were now headed back to Portsmouth for a couple of nights.  The weather wasn’t great, windy and raining but we were tucked up nicely in the marina.  This was at the time Jamaica was taking a hit with Hurricane Melissa, so we definitely couldn’t complain after the devastation that Jamaica suffered. 

October 2025

After leaving Boston we headed down to Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Plymouth is home to the Pilgrims who departed England on the Mayflower on 6^th September 1620.  The original intention was to arrive further south however storms pushed them north to Cape Code.  They founded the first permanent European settlement in New England.  The first winter was harsh and the settlers’ survival was largely due to the assistance of the local Wampanoag people. 

We visited the Plimoth and Patuxet museums.  The Patuxet Homesite is located on the Eel River and was home to the Native peoples who lived there for over 12,000 years.  They have a Wetu (house) which is where the Wampanoag communities lived. A big fire was lit in the middle of the room, which was a bit smoky, but kept them warm (although it was pretty warm outside whilst we were there).  The seats were all lined with animal furs.  The cooking area was outside of the Wetu.

We next visited the Plimoth site which was a 17^th Century recreated English Village.  There were timber framed houses with people who were dressed as you would have in the 17^th century and they talked to you as though you were really in that century which was a little odd!  There was a woman cooking dinner, a guy building a house.  They also had animals including goats and pigs and they were also growing crops. The woman asked us how we had arrived and she was a bit surprised when we said by boat, after all she thought she was in the 17th century, not your normal mode of travel.

In the autumn of 1621, the colonists marked their first harvest with a three-day celebration. The Wampanoag people joined the English for feasting and entertainment. In the 1800s this celebration became the basis for the story of the First Thanksgiving.

Our next port of call was Martha’s Vineyard which is an island seven miles of the coast.  You can only get there by air or boat.  In the town of Oaks Bluff (what a great name) there are the “Gingerbread Cottages”.  They were built in the second half of the 1800’s.  They are informally known as The Campground and officially as the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association which is a religious non profit organisation. We had a chat with a couple sitting on their veranda who said that most of the cottages were now used as holiday homes or lets.

The Tabernacle sits in the middle of the cottages and is the largest covered outdoor performance space on the island. It was built in 1879 and is an impressive structure

After a few days here we headed back to the mainland to New Bedford which is found behind The New Bedford Hurricane Protection Barrier which lies across New Bedford and Fairhaven Harbor. The project protects about 1,400 acres in New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Acushnet from tidal flooding associated with hurricanes and coastal storms. The barrier extending across the harbor consists of a 4,500-foot-long earthfill dike with stone slope protection. The barrier has a maximum elevation of 20 feet and a 150-foot-wide gated opening to accommodate commercial and recreational navigation.

In the 19^th century New Bedford was the busiest whaling port in the world and the richest city per capita in the USA.  It was also known as the “city that lit the world” as the whale oil was used to create clean-burning, bright, and long-lasting lamp oil. 

This part of the USA is well known for its lobsters, so when we saw one so large on the top of a restaurant we had to go and visit and the lobster was very nice too.  Walking along the street we saw a 20 ft rooster made of stuff that had been thrown away as rubbish (or should I say trash).

We next visited Newport, Rhode Island which is where the Americas Cup was held for 53 years from 1930 – 1983.  Newport is well known as a hub for numerous sailing events and luxurious yachts.  Now when you arrive at places with big nautical links it’s not always so easy to get a place to moor your boat, by which I mean, there are often only expensive marinas or expensive mooring balls.  We were impressed that there was something for everyone, even quite a reasonably sized anchorage, which we used.  Plenty of places to take your dinghy ashore too, which can be a challenge at times.  They have a sailing museum here which we obviously had to visit. 

The other main attractions here are the Newport Mansions which were built during the Gilded Age from 1870-1910.  With the expansion of industry and transportation and the lack of income tax (well there’s a thing) it created a new wealthy class of people including the Vanderbilts, Morgan, Ford, Carnegie and Rockefeller.  They spent their wealth on lavish lifestyles trying to out do each other!  Definitely a case of trying to keep up with the Joneses or should I say the Vanderbilts!  We visited Breaker House which was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, one of the richest men in America, from 1893 – 1895.   It was very opulent. 

There is a drama called “The Gilded Age” and some of it is filmed at Breaker House.  There is a whole room just for the crockery and cutlery. 

We also had a lovely walk, scramble in some parts, along the Cliff Path, which ran along some of the gardens of the Manion houses.

September 2025

The next part of our trip we were “proper” tourists, visiting Salem and Boston. This being 60 lark also has some advantages as some museums class us as senior citizens which gives us a discount!!

We left Canada and headed down the coast dodging the lobster pots again.  We decided to go up to the town of Ellsworth which was along the very narrow Union River.  We visited the local brewery, well you knew we would, but we did go for a purpose they were holding a quiz night.  It was rammed.  There were a few rounds based on American music.  Some of the locals took pity on us and did help with some of the answers.  Ellsworth was very welcoming.  They aren’t used to many visitors by sea, let alone British ones.    On our way out of the river the water was luminous green which can be a result of harmful Algal Blooms.

We were sailing along (yes motoring obviously) and over the VHS radio a lady said if anyone is in the vicinity of “wherever” (can’t remember exactly) there is a hump backed whale.  Well as luck would have it, it was just ahead of us.  We could see six or seven boats all milling about waiting for the whale to surface and it didn’t disappoint us.  Water suddenly sprayed in the air, the whale up and then flipped his tail and down again. 

We mooched along the coast, stopping at various places.  York Harbor was a pretty place.  They had a bridge called Wiggly Bridge, which is exactly what it was!  The bridge took you through woodland where we saw squirrels running around and one very kindly posed for a great photo, spreadeagled on a tree. 

Next stop was Salem.  For those of you who studied English Literature when I did, you will know this is the home of the Salem Witch Trials and is the story of “The Crucible”, the play written by Arthur Miller which we studied at school.  If you didn’t know that Salem was associated with witches you would by the time you left.  Even the police cars mention it.

We, of course, visited the Salem Witch Museum which is housed in an old church.

We took a walk along Chestnut street, constructed between 1796 and 1805, which has lots of old federal houses.  Many of the houses had plaques to say who they were built for.  Some of the houses are enormous.

One house was ready for Halloween.  Although I suspect every day is Halloween in the Witch City.

There is a memorial to the 20 victims of the witch trials of 1692.  Alongside is the Charter Street Cemetery which has the grave of Richard More who arrived on the Mayflower just six years old along with his two brothers and one sister without his parents.    Interesting story is that their mother’s husband, Samuel More, did not believe they were his children, apparently she didn’t deny they weren’t and so he had them shipped off.  Quite an interesting story if you google him. Richard’s tombstone is the only original gravestone still in existence for a Mayflower passenger. 

We next went to Boston.  We’d found a marina in Winthrop which was a train ride into Boston.  Boston is famous for its connection to the American Revolution and of course the Boston Tea Party.  We had to go to the Boston Tea Party Museum.  We all sat down in a meeting room and there were actors playing the parts of people who were involved in the Boston Tea Party.  It was interactive and Maggie took on one of the roles which had a speaking part and Ian was given the identity of a local drunk and a bit of a trouble maker, what can I say!

The Boston Tea Party happened because American colonists were angry about the British Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773, which granted a monopoly on tea sales to the British East India Company and maintained a tea tax.  The colonists had no representation in the British parliament and thought it was unjust  that rising taxes were being thrust on them “No taxation without representation”.  So, on December 16, 1773, American patriots dumped 342 chests of black tea off British boats into Boston Harbor. 

We had a guided tour of the Freedom Trial. Our guide dressed in suitable attire from the 18^th century met us at Boston Common, which is America’s oldest park, established in 1634.  The trail is 2.5 miles long and takes you along 16 historically significant sites in Boston, Massachusetts, that played a key role in the American Revolution and the nation’s early history.

In September 2024 we were in Ermoupoli, on the Island of Syros in lovely hot sunshine and with a group to celebrate Colin’s big birthday.  This year we were in Boston and not quite so warm but weather was ok until late afternoon when the heavens opened.  Luckily we found a cocktail bar and we had an excuse, not that we really needed one, it was Colin’s birthday

September 2025

We stayed in a marina on Lady’s Island for a few days and Maggie and I decided to take advantage of the nice air-conditioned lounge which had room for us to do some Pilates and weights.  I was in the throes of lifting my weights when mum and two cubs appeared, racoons.  We must have watched them for about 10 minutes.  Mum wanted them to go down underneath the pontoon but the two little ones didn’t have long enough legs to be able to reach down to the next rung.  So, in the end mum literally, got them by the scruff of the neck and took them down. 

There are a lot of big cars and trucks here but this was a bit of a surprise when you park up next to this.  It looks like something out of the space age or something one of the kids would draw, all square Tesler !

Beaufort, South Carolina (there’s also one in North Carolina) hold a Dragon boat racing festival every year which is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to assisting cancer patients who live, work, or receive treatment in Beaufort County.

We wanted to be somewhere for the 4^th July, Independence Day, as this is a big celebration.  4^th July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the thirteen American colonies’ separation from Great Britain.  We decided on Southport, North Carolina.  They had a parade and then music, food stalls and of course fireworks. 

We had to start moving north pretty rapidly, as we wanted to get to Canada and arrive before it gets too cold.  We were behind schedule so that meant long days.  Going through the Inter Coastal Waterway has many different views, you go through some areas where it is green, others where it is full of houses and jet skis and pesky speed boats who send you rocking from side to side.

Rather than go outside into the Atlantic we decided we’d go along the New Jersey Inter Coastal Waterway which is very narrow and shallow depths so you have to pay close attention.  We arrived at Margate Bridge and asked for a lift time.  We were told we can open for you but unless you have less than nine feet vertical clearance you won’t get through the next bridge.  The Dorset Bridge was broken and there was no estimated time for repair.  So after very little debate between us and Colin and Maggie on Serafina we turned around, thankfully not too far to go and weather conditions were ok, to the inlet out into the Atlantic.  Someone else had been listening to us on the VHS radio and asked “is that the BBC on here?”  We never thought anyone would think we sounded like the BBC!!

Our next stop was going to be New York.  This is something of a pinch you moment when you see the New York skyline coming into view.  As you would expect marinas in New York require a mortgage, there are no anchorages so we opted for a mooring buoy on Staten Island at a yacht club.  We have a lovely Sunday afternoon with a couple of drinks chatting to the locals.  You know you are near a city as there was public transport, buses, trains and ferries.  We took the bus to the local shopping mall and found none other than Lidl!!

To get into New York we walked to the train station and took the train to the Staten Island Ferry.  We were told by one of the Yacht Club members you must take the ferry,  as it’s the only thing that is free in New York.  The ferry takes you into the financial district of Manhattan which is where the 9-11 Museum is.  The last time we came to New York it was two years after 9/11 and there was nothing at Ground Zero.  The museum was definitely worth visiting and was very well put together. 

We left Staten Island and made our way up the East River which was amazing to be seeing all the iconic buildings along the way.  We had to get our timings right to go through Hells gate which can have currents up to 5 knots. 

We hopped along the coast making our way to the Cape Cod Canal, again a strong current.  The Canal is about seven miles long and took no time at all to get through with a max speed of 11 knots, woohoo!! It was a lovely sunny day at the entrance and thick fog at the end of it.

July 2025

We headed up to St Augustine.   There are many bridges on the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) some are high enough for us to get under and some we have to wait for them to be opened.   I was making a cuppa, one of Ian’s endless cups of tea, and got called up to the fly bridge. “Lo, stand on the storage box at the back and make sure we don’t touch the underneath of the bridge!!”  EEK!  It was about 2ft clearance but we got through.

St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the US and was founded in 1565 by the Spanish.  It is known for its Spanish colonial architecture.  It’s a big tourist attraction.

We needed to get a few things so the bikes got their first outing.  We needed something from the hardware store so Ian thought he’d support the locals. Unfortunately they didn’t have what we wanted. So, we ended up in a big chain store which was a lot further away and it was really hot. Amazingly they have bike lanes in some places so we took that route back to the boat which was a bit un-nerving, well at least it was for me, with three lanes of traffic blasting past, it was like being on a dual carriage way but with three lanes. I had to peddle like the clappers a few times to get through the traffic lights as they turned amber to keep up with Ian. The traffic was heavy and there were quite a few crossroads.

Susan, Ian’s cousin, was coming to visit and she arrived the next day with Daisy the dog.  There was lots of chatting and running us around to collect a new water tank which we couldn’t quite get on a bike. We had a lovely meal in the oldest restaurant in Florida, the Colombia which was Spanish/Cuban cuisine, so tapas it was.

We had to start heading north to get out of the hurricane belt so the next four days we covered just over 210nm arriving in Beaufort, South Carolina.  Here we were meeting up with our friends, Colin and Maggie, who were in the process of buying their boat for the Great Loop.  It so happened that the Music Festival of the Lowcountry was being held that weekend.  They had various acts playing and topping the bill was a Michael Jackson tribute who have been touring since 2003.  They had some fans who it appeared were regulars at their gigs.  It did feel at some stages of the show that some believed MJ was really there.

In the US you have to be 21 to drink alcohol.  To get some drinks at the festival we had to buy tickets and it doesn’t matter how old you are, or how you look, you have to provide ID or no wrist band and no beer.  This is everywhere including the supermarket and the liquor store, you can only buy beer and wine in the supermarket.  Well I suppose if my birthday was 29^th February I would have only been 15!

Friday night is the start of the weekend so Friday night drinks it must be.  Colin and Maggie managed to sniff out a local brewery, Shellring, in Royal Port Landings, well you’d expect nothing less from them.  It became our regular Friday night haunt for a few weeks. It was a very popular place with various ales, which were very strong, to choose from.

Just before you arrive at the brewery there is the “Cypress Wetlands”.  As you drive past, at first glance, you think there are lovely white flowers on the trees.  Only when you get closer do you realise, they are birds.  On the other side of the boardwalk, we spotted an alligator chilling.  This place was stunning.  We watched one bird attempting to balance on a twig, he was wobbling about all over the place and eventually fell off and went for a branch!

As Colin and Maggie had a car, we decided to have a day out at Savannah.  Savannah is just how you imagine the towns of the deep south to be.  Wooden houses with verandas surrounded by trees.  Many of the trees are live oak trees with Spanish moss, which we were reliably informed on a Trolley Tour that they are not Spanish and it is not moss.  They look pretty stunning around the parks and roads.

There are two Brits who made their mark in Savannah, Georgia.  The first was James Edward Oglethorpe, born in Yorkshire, England in 1696.  On June 9, 1732, the crown granted a charter to the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe himself led the first group of 114 colonists on the frigate Anne, landing at the site of today’s Savannah on February 1, 1733. The original charter banned slavery and granted religious freedom.  He returned to England in 1743. 

The other Brit was John Wesley the founder of Methodism.  He was invited by James Oglethorpe to serve as a minister to the early settlers .  He arrived in Savannah in 1736, but only stayed for two years before returning to England.  John Wesley said “The first rise of Methodism was in 1729 when four of us met together at Oxford. The second was in Savannah in 1736 when twenty or thirty persons met at my house”.

Savannah is the birth place of Johnny Mercer, an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, best known for his contributions to the Great American Songbook and his co-founding of Capitol Records.  He wrote over a 1,000 songs, including classics like “Moon River,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “Hooray for Hollywood” 

June 2025