Monday, March 10, 2008

Down East Loop

Note: Pictures have been added to the end of our last page, Homeward Bound. Check them out before you read this new page.

Plans are coming together to leave on our next adventure on May 27 to do the "Down East Loop". This trip is about 4,000 miles and takes about 5 months, essentially half the trip we just finished. The loop part of this trip starts and ends in New York City. We again go up the Hudson River, but this time go straight north to Lake Champlain and then up the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence River. We're going to take a little side trip up river to Montreal, then up the Ottawa River to Ottawa, and then south down the Rideau Canal to Kingston, and then down the St. Lawrence River to the Maritime Provinces, around the tip of Nova Scotia, through Bras d' Or Lake, around the south tip of Nova Scotia, accross the Bay of Fundy, down the Maine coast, through the Cape Code Canal, back to New York, and then south back to Beaufort. We plan to be in New York City on our way north about June 13, Ottawa on about June 29, Kingston about July 6, Prince Edward Island about August 11, Halifax about September 5, New York City again about October 5, and back home by the end of October.

As I write this page, it is March 10. We're working on the boat to improve a few things. The old Detroits leak around the exhaust manifolds, most old Detroits do, but I'm replacing the manifold gaskets in hopes that I can stop that leaking. Then we're going to add some Plexiglas doors on either side of the back sun deck to improve that enclosure in rough weather. Then just forward of those doors we're going to cut in deck drains to try to keep water from coming back onto the sun deck floor. She'll be better then new at handling rough weather.

We'll start posting again as we head out. This looks like another exciting trip, an ODYSSEE for sure!