Mike was happy for me to pilot through the Pamlico Sound and the Intracoastal Waterway-the first leg of our longest-yet boat trip together-because he'd had quite a week of fun with his fishing buddies in Ocracoke catching dolphin, tuna, wahoo, sailfish and marlin. I decided that the autopilot is a wonderful device! We were traveling through North Carolina's blue crab country, so I had to push "standby" often for crab pots. We went through the Great Bridge lock and spent the first night in Cape Charles, VA. We continued up the eastern shore and docked the next day in Crisfield, MD, the "Crab Capital of the World," where we ate our share of what had been in all those pots.

When we left Crisfield the next morning, a small boat with two men flagged us down. One held up a huge fish and asked us what it was: a cobia, and it could have been a citation. Why did they think we could identify their fish? Because we were in a Grady-White fishing boat!

Next stop after passing Solomons Lump (is that named for crabmeat?) and off the Thomas Point light at Annapolis, via the C&D Canal, was Chesapeake City, MD. We walked toward town and enjoyed a delicious dinner. The next day we were on the Delaware River-wide with lots of big ships-heading to Cape May, NJ. Without a doubt we were officially "Up North."

We left the dock 0530 next morning since we had to go "outside." After a few hours in the ocean waiting for a dense fog to lift, we headed into New York City. What a busy harbor, so wonderful with lots of ferries, water taxis and ships everywhere! The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Manhattan skyline were really neat. We went up the East River through Hells Gate and into Long Island Sound, docking at Port Jefferson, NY. (Just as soon as we'd say "Hey there" there'd be a "You aren't from around here are you?") We'd traveled thirteen hours and over two hundred miles that day.

Due to weather we next went to New London, CT, rather than Block Island, up the Thames River past the Groton naval base and the Coast Guard Academy and spent the night at Crocker's Boat Yard. We had an outstanding dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant (folks "Up North" sure make delicious Italian food!). It was 58 degrees. Our Florida neighbor called and said it had reached 97 degrees down home.

On to Gloucester, MA, the location written about in The Perfect Storm. Our son David and daughter-in-law Jessica met us there for the trip into their homebase of Falmouth, ME. We took another canal behind Cape Anne (well named!) past the Annisquam lighthouse and headed north. We passed Kennebunkport, Cape Elizabeth and the famous Portland, ME, headlight. Dodging a large number of lobster traps was a constant challenge as we made it to our Falmouth Foreside mooring ball. The boat maneuvered expertly, and we'd be sure to enjoy the contents of these pots with as much relish as those of the Pamlico!

Our Grady handled great this trip, and again on our way back south after we'd spent several weeks with our children in Maine. We're sharing some of the things we learned with you.