The past week flew by with preparation to get underway by the 4th of October. We still had oodles of tasks to check off our lists before we could pull in our lines. We had last visits with friends, a dentist appointment for Clark rescheduled due to the hygienist being sick for the original appointment, and lots of last minute tasks to complete. No matter how much we plan ahead, there are certain tasks that cannot be done until the final hours before departure, e.g. empty the refrigerator.
28 September 2026
The week started with dinner out with our long-time friends the Nicis and the DeMaios. Janet got elected to select a restaurant, and she picked MJs in Matawan. (It used to be Buttonwood Manor in the olden days.) The restaurant sits beside a lake, so it is a very pretty location.
 |
| Football Season at MJs |
 |
| Scenery at the entrance |
 |
| Fall colors inside |
 |
| View of the lake out the back of the restaurant |
After studying the menu, Clark and I both came up with the same idea -- share an eggplant and green pepper pizza, so that is what the two of us did.
30 September 2026
The place where Clark takes our car for oil changes, etc. is, fortunately, located in nearby Fair Haven. He put one of our folding bikes in the trunk, took the car over for service, and peddled back home afterwards. He always does an oil change and puts stabilizer in the gas tank before putting the car up for the winter. The last thing he does with the car before we get underway is to put the battery on trickle charge to keep it happy while we are away.
1 October 2026
In New Jersey, older cars such as ours require an inspection every two years. Since we bought the car in October, that is our renewal month. Clark checked the busy hours for the inspections and decided that going late afternoon was the better choice. Given that, we took a last run out to one of our favorite food places - Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, New Jersey. They make great pies and other baked goods as well as having very fresh fruits and vegetables.
Delicious Orchards was busy even though it was mid-week. The place was decked out for fall / Halloween season.
 |
| Delicious Orchards Entrance |
As we exited the store, we noticed some rather large pumpkins off to one side. The sign next to them read "Prize Winners; $100 each; Please do not sit on." Sitting on them would not have been my first thought, but then again, I am not 2 years old. I had to wonder who would spend $100 for a pumpkin!? Not I!
 |
| Prize-winning Pumpkins |
Later in the day, after dropping me off at home, Clark took the car over for the inspection. Fortunately, the car passed with no issues. The inspector told Clark she approved of his radio station that plays oldies based in Eatontown, New Jersey.
2 October 2026
After the past weekend's storm, we had a lot of cleanup to do in our yard from the oak tree we planted there many years ago. It is now quite tall, and given the acorns, a favorite spot for a squirrel. No matter how many times we pick up branches of oak leaves and acorns, more appear moments later.
My theory is that the squirrel is preparing for winter. Most of the acorns are missing their "meat". Once the meat has been removed, I think the squirrel throws the "garbage" shell on the ground. The deer appear to be loving the acorn and oak leaf diet as well. Our backyard is quite popular with messy eaters!
When not doing the thousand-and-one chores associated with prepping the house and boat for departure, I have been playing quite a bit of "Mah Jongg with Friends" online. I am practicing with hopes of playing more with real live friends when we get to Marathon.
3 October 2026
Today, our neighborhood held our third annual block party - open to anyone who currently lives on our street or lived on our street in the past. We were able to attend the first annual two years ago, but last year, the organizers scheduled the event for the end of October making it impossible for us to attend. As soon as I saw the announcement for the party, I knew that we would not be leaving our dock before the 4th of October!
The invite said the party started at 1:00, but I had a number of tasks I was juggling at that time. We left our house at 1:30 to get to the party, and Clark was concerned we were missing the fun. It's about a 1/2 mile to the end of our street and the location of the event. When we arrived, we were some of the first to arrive. I correctly guessed that most folks would be "fashionably late" to the party. The homeowner where the party was held said that the only person there at 1:00 was the food truck they hired to serve up a barbeque.
Ultimately, we had a good turnout. Attendees ranged in age from the elderly who had lived on the street for many years (like us) to new residents with very young children many of whom were less than one year old. I talked to one of the long-term residents on the street that talked about the difference now to the 1990s when we had children on the street. She said, at Halloween, there are so many children looking for candy, it is like the neighborhood has been invaded. I remember many years where having 8 kids come to the door was a lot.
As we enjoyed getting to know or to reconnect with our neighbors, Clark ran around throughout the party taking pictures.
Bicycles appeared to be a popular transportation choice for the neighborhood children. I saw at least one scooter as well.
We had two food trucks come in for the event.
Portable Barbeque ...
If ice cream was not of interest, we also had a very nice cake on a balloon-decorated table!
 |
| Cake anyone? |
 |
| Neighbors: Clark, Bonnie, Jeff, Ev, and Regina |
Of course the face-paint station was extremely popular with a line down the street for artwork.
 |
| Butterfly wings around eyes (I think) |
A bounce house was also provided for the children.
A dock wagon appeared to be a favorite "toy" as well.
Towards the end of the party, one of our neighbor's, Garner, pulled everyone together for a "Kumbaya"-type moment to express what a wonderful street we live on.
The party had no defined end time, but with work to do for departure on the next day, Clark and I headed our around 5:00 and got back to work on the house / boat.
4 October 2026
Depart: Home, Rumson, NJ 12:15
Arrive: Horseshoe Cove, Sandy Hook, NJ anchorage 2:30
Distance: 11.0 nm
Conditions: foggy, rainy, and chilly
Even though we have been preparing since mid-September for this day, we both still had a bunch of tasks to complete before the boat could leave the dock. Over the last few days, I did last laundry, last garbage collection throughout the house, last cleaning / running the vacuum cleaner, etc. I like to thoroughly clean the kitchen so that ants or other insects don't move in while we are away.
The major task this morning, however, was emptying and cleaning the fridge. I loaded bag after bag from the fridge and freezer, and Clark carried everyone of them down to the boat! I am so glad that I makes lists upon lists to help remember everything to be done. Otherwise, today, I likely would have forgotten to empty the ice cube compartment. I would have no ice and the fridge would have a giant puddle!
Unfortunately, by the time we were bringing the last bags down to the boat, it started to rain -- moderately heavy at times. On one of my trips to the boat, I noticed we had a "farewell committee" wading by the dock.
 |
| Came by to say bye-bye! |
We don't feed the swans that come to visit, but they haven't figured that out in all the years they have been checking us out.
Normally, when we are starting a voyage and motoring along the Shrewsbury River towards Sandy Hook, I am busy down below stowing all the "stuff" we have brought on board for our trip. Today, however, I had sentry duty. Our neighbor, as well as the US Coast Guard on Ch. 22, advised caution traveling the river as a 6x6 20' piling had been seen sticking up 2-foot out of the water in the middle of the channel.
With the drizzle and fog, visibility was extremely poor. I stood with my face as close to the front panel of the full enclosure as possible trying to peek between the rain drops to look for a hunk of wood we never saw. Living by the motto "better safe than sorry", it made sense to stand guard duty for the duration of the trip. However, we did see quite a few boards, pilings, etc. that had washed up on shore over the past week. Perhaps the advertised piling was one of those.
Recently, we had dinner with our friends, Diane and Joe, who told us they had gone to a Yankees game via Seastreak. We saw the boat they traveled on as we passed by the commuter boat station.
 |
| "Home Run" Commuter boat to baseball games |
Though it is hard to tell from the photos, the normal commuter boats are considerably larger. In fact the conditions for crossing from NY to NJ the day they attended the game were such that they had to change from "Home Run" to a larger Seastreak vessel to get back home to NJ.
Given the weather and their location, I wondered what they were doing. As I studied the dinghy, I noted that one guy was busy with the outboard motor while two others were using paddles to move the boat. It became quite clear quite quickly that the outboard would not start no matter how many times he yanked on the pull cord.
I was standing on the bow getting ready to drop anchor, so given the rainy conditions, I had a better view of the action than Clark. I told him what was going on, and as suspected, he said we should offer them a tow. As we approached them, they said, "We're heading to the docks." They seemed pleasantly surprised and readily agreeable when I yelled to them, "Do you want us to tow you?" I got an enthusiastic, "YES!" from at least most, if not all, of the folks in the dinghy.
I ran to the cockpit to set up the tow. For convenience, so that I could talk to my captain as I worked with the folks in the dinghy to set up a tow, I suggested Clark and I don our headsets. I had no idea if the batteries were charged or dead. Fortunately, they were sufficiently charged to do the job.
By the time I was ready to start work, the folks in the dinghy had paddled themselves over to be resting next to our boat. I easily dropped a line down into the dinghy for them to hold onto. After Clark rotated our boat to port, I told them to hold on tight as we got headed in the right direction.
 |
| Towing the dinghy to Atlantic Highlands Marina |
It took a while to get them to the drop off point. Clark said we were at idle speed and traveling about 4 knots. He asked if he should / could speed up. I recommended against it as they seemed to be working hard to hold the line at the current speed. I can only imagine how long it would have taken them to get to their desired destination by rowing the dinghy.
By the time we got to the docks at the Atlantic Highlands marina, I was quite wet. My jeans were pretty well soaked, and even my shoes and socks were wet. The folks in the dinghy had on better rain gear than I did, but what a miserable day to get caught with an outboard that refused to start. They offered lots of smiles and friendly waves as we pulled in our line and they made their way the final few feet to the dock.
With that excitement over, it was now just after 2:00, and neither Clark nor I had had any food since breakfast. I was hungry and ready to get the anchor down and food in my stomach. However, looking at the AH anchorage, Clark decided we would have to anchor in a more exposed position than he would prefer. He was somewhat surprised by the number of boats in the anchorage. I reminded him that, being October, lots of folks will be heading south on the water.
He decided to choose option two and drop anchor at the Horseshoe Cove anchorage instead. At that point, I said I was going for a snack, but he said he would wait. We found a place to drop anchor. I went below and changed my pants, shoes, and socks, and we finally ate lunch around 3:00.
I took a few cloudy / foggy-day pictures at the anchorage. It was near impossible to see the shoreline, and NYC was nowhere in the picture.
After lunch, I continued to stow the various items brought on board. Instead of taking a nap, which I needed, I decided to update the blog with today's excitement.
