Red Pearl

In my last post, I mentioned we were concerned about getting one of our engines started. Somehow, God blessed us with the right circumstances and we were able to get it fixed. I was walking and I saw an boat service shop and I walked in to see if they could help. I was told, there was a 4 week wait. The next day, Larry saw a service truck with a name and number on it in our Marina and I called it and they said it was a 4-6 week wait. Somehow there was a miscommunication and he thought we were at a marina across the harbor and that made it even harder to work us in. He ended up calling us back and said he had a project there (not our marina!) and could fit us in. In the course of our call we figured out his shop was around the corner from us and since we were on a schedule he squeezed us in! The technician diagnosed the problem and they even had the part in stock! Funny thing is, it turns out the folks who fixed our problem were the same people that I walked into there shop and they told us they couldn’t get us in!

Before we left Annapolis, I had an opportunity to go sailing with my neighbor boater. She is part of a racing team and she invited me to join her in a “race”. It turned out to be a very calm evening and our race averaged about 3.75 MPH! I still had a great time and would do it again!

With our boat fixed and some really good weather windows we left Annapolis a little ahead of schedule and headed to Delaware City, Delaware and then to Atlantic City. We had some beautiful cruising days! Most of our Loop travels have been in the protection of the Intracoastal Waterways. This stretch was out in the open Atlantic and we were blessed with “fair winds and following seas”.

Atlantic City was an interesting stop! The people watching was quite entertaining. We took a shuttle from our marina to the Boardwalk. We thought a passenger and our driver were going to come to blows and a VERY LARGE passenger almost fell on top of me! We did get to enjoy a little pool time and listen to some live music from our boat while we watched the sunset.

We have been settled in a marina in Highlands, NJ just across the Bay from NYC. We had a massive downpour of rain and discovered one of our drains was not working correctly and water was flooding the boat. We also discovered one of our bilge pumps automatic switch was not working and a second pump was not working at all. We had a bit of a stressful afternoon unclogging the drain and bailing out the boat.

In the midst of all the hard work Larry did catch dinner!

Our marina is a 5 minute walk from a ferry that will take us to downtown Manhattan. This weekend we are planning on heading into the city to see some shows, eat some NY Cheesecake, and explore the city! Next week my Mom, sister and bother-in-law are coming to cruise New York Harbor with us!. Then for the next 2 weeks, we will continue our travels North and West until we get to Brewerton, NY where we plan to store the boat for the winter. Thank you all for following along with us!