Day 119 - Georgetown, Sassafras River, Maryland 19:29 hrs - September 27th, 2007 119 days ago 119 days ago we moved out of our apartment and into our new home Dream Time, and apart from a short diversion to the i&D office in august, we have been on the boat the whole time.  On day 110 we arrived in Atlantic City, NJ and while to some, this may not immediately appear to be cause for celebration, it did mark some sailing firsts for me.  To get there we sailed overnight from Block Island, just the two of us “the two captains” and that marked (a) our first overnight offshore leg with only two of us to cover the watches (b) the furthest south we have sailed since we started this whole thing and (c) the real beginning of the trip for me.  I have found myself settling into a new and satisfying rhythm that suits me very well, and I am remembering more and more often how extraordinarily fortunate I am to be here (wherever here happens to be) right now.  We spend our days sailing, exploring and occasionally catching a fish. Home sweet home is now our little 41 foot floating apartment and our garden is whatever sea we find ourselves in.  Our neighbors are different almost every day, and a trip to the supermarket is always an adventure.  Who could ask for more?   Roll over images to enlarge Day 114 - Cape May, New Jersey 18:31 hrs - September 22nd, 2007 The little coconut that could 66 days ago I found an old coconut shell washed-up on a pebble beach in Port Jefferson. I like to think the nut came from a little uninhabited tropical island in the Caribbean Sea. Perhaps it fell from a palm tree one afternoon as the warm wind rustled through the islands. Perhaps it rolled down a deserted, golden sandy beach, got swept-up by a wave, bobbed around a little, then traveled thousands of miles, riding the Gulf Stream, all the way up the coast of America for me to find on one of our beach combing expeditions. It doesn't really matter where it came from or how it got there, but it's nice to have the time again to make up the story and spend a few hours whittling without having to rush off somewhere. I've yet to find the balance I am searching for, but I think, like my little coconut, I have begun the journey.   Roll over images to enlarge   Day 112 - Atlantic City, New Jersey 20:33 hrs - September 20th, 2007 Know when to sail away. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that we survived our first night at sea. We sailed, rolled and surfed our way for 31 hours, regularly reaching speeds of over 10 knots while sliding down the face of 8 foot seas. The wind blew at a consistent 18 – 24 knots from the NE – almost dead astern. We covered just over 180 miles, averaging around 6 knots an hour (around 7 mph for you landlubbers). We didn’t quite make it to the Delaware Bay though. In true Dream Time style we took a slight detour and are once again behind schedule. The loom of the Atlantic City lights and the thought of a horizontal bunk were too appealing to sail past. We’re berthed in the Trump Marina, a building that looks more like a correctional facility than a luxury casino. Yesterday we spent the day strolling along the Atlantic City boardwalk and squandering away much of the afternoon marveling at all the wonderful, strange and sometimes disturbing finds of Mr. Ripley in the “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” Museum. Today we watched as our hard earned sailing kitty was being rapidly shoved down a little slot, never to be seen again, on one of the many Borgata casino Black Jack tables. Luckily we left before we blew our entire sailing budget. We’ll continue our adventure south tomorrow, a short 35 mile hop down to Cape May. Dream Time: Installed a new Garmin Chartplotter under the dodger and networked it to our B&G autopilot. Changed oil and filter in Newport. Engine hours 637.   Roll over images to enlarge   Day 109 - Block Island, Rhode Island 11:30 hrs - September 17th, 2007 We're off! Well we made it out of the office and back to Newport on the 10th of September (Tom Jacksons birthday, Happy Birthday Tom!) and after a few days re-supplying the boat we made our way back to Block Island (again) for some quiet time before going south.  Now we're actually ready to go!  We are heading south today for the first offshore leg of the trip so far, so we have been doing all the necessary preparations.  Everything is now ship-shape, stowed away, lashed down and ready for the ever moving sea.  We have life jackets, check. EPIRB, check.  Life raft, check. etc. etc. We will be out of phone and e-mail range for two days till we get to the Delaware Bay, so it’s just going to be us and the sea for a while.  We will be in touch as soon as we get in contact range again, so bye for now see you in Delaware!   Roll over images to enlarge