The first six months of 2024 were full of the blue skies and even bluer water of the Bahamas. But we were looking forward to exploring the northeast coast of the United States.

After leaving Norfolk, we pointed the bow north and made our way toward Block Island, an island just south of mainland Rhode Island. Three days after leaving Norfolk, we sailed into the Great Salt Pond in Block Island — a harbor we'd never been in — around midnight in the fog. Thankfully, we were able to find a spot to drop anchor until morning, when we could reassess and anchor properly.

Block Island has consistently ranked among one of our favorite places we have ever been. We arrived just in time to celebrate July 4th and spent the entire day enjoying the festivities: a parade, a wonderful vaudeville-style group named the Catnip Junkies, and of course, fireworks!

Catnip Junkies performing at the 4th of July Parade in Block Island

Block Island is full of activities and sites to see. There are 28 miles of hiking trails where you can scavenge for glass-blown floats made by a local artist named Eben Horton, as well as a quaint, walkable downtown area. Each year, Eben makes several hundred numbered floats and hides them all over the island. We searched fervently every time we went out, but unfortunately, the glass floats eluded us.

We rented bikes and rode from the north end of the island to the North Lighthouse, then on to the South Lighthouse. While the South Lighthouse was beautiful, arriving at the North Lighthouse in the fog was magical. It is, to this day, my favorite lighthouse on the East Coast.

Mystic, Connecticut, is another quintessential New England town we visited. It is known for its rich maritime history, the Mystic Seaport Museum, and the pizza parlor made famous by the 1988 Julia Roberts film Mystic Pizza. It features a charming downtown, several ice cream parlors (which we, of course, had to try), and the iconic Mystic River Bascule Bridge.

Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts, was next on our list. Cuttyhunk, the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands, is a mile and a half long and three-quarters of a mile wide. While there are a few restaurants and shops on the island, half of the main area is set apart as a nature preserve.

Not far from there is Hadley Harbor — one of our favorite spots! It is a quiet, secluded anchorage nestled near a private island owned by the Forbes family, who graciously placed around 20 free mooring balls for visitors to use on a first-come, first-served basis. We tucked in there to wait out some weather for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful, peaceful surroundings. Even though the anchorage was often full, everyone seemed eager to preserve the quiet appeal of the place. We watched a gull methodically fly up and drop oysters onto the rocks to crack them open for dinner. We even saw two puffins fly by! Hadley Harbor is a little slice of New England heaven.

After a few weeks exploring Massachusetts, we returned to Block Island, where my sister, brother-in-law, and three nieces (ages 10, 7, and 4) joined us for five days. It was the longest I had ever been away from them, so I was blubbering like a baby when they stepped off the ferry! Having seven of us living in 250 square feet for five days was an adventure, to say the least, but we loved getting to share our world with all of them. We took them for rides in the "ding-dong boat" (our dinghy), showed them around the island, toured the lighthouses, and enjoyed a swim in the Great Salt Pond.

Me with my sister and three nieces, anchored in the Great Salt Pond in Block Island

After my family left, we ventured over to Martha's Vineyard. Martha's is quaint, and we enjoyed our time there. When describing the difference between Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, a Block Island native told us, "Block Island is beer, Martha's is wine, and Nantucket is champagne." We didn't visit Nantucket, so we can't confirm that — but Martha's was definitely more upscale.

One highlight from our time on Martha's Vineyard came one Sunday after church, when we decided to visit the iconic Aquinnah Cliffs. The picturesque red-clay cliffs rising from the blue waters of the Atlantic were a beautiful sight. At Ken's suggestion, we ventured down to the beach to see the cliffs from below. It was a beautiful day, and the beach was full of people: children splashing in the water or playing in the sand, families enjoying picnics, and young people playing volleyball.

As we walked along taking in our surroundings, my eyes landed on a topless woman. Then I realized she wasn't wearing anything at all. I mentioned it to Ken, and we kept walking — and then we saw another, and another. Before long, everyone was naked. Except us. We had unknowingly worn our Sunday best for a field trip to a nude beach. Needless to say, we have shared many laughs over that. For anyone who has watched Friends, the line that consistently comes to mind is Phoebe Buffay blurting out, "My eyes! My eyes!"

Eventually, we began making our way south again, spending four weeks in Bristol, Rhode Island, where we addressed an issue with our starter, upgraded our AGM batteries to lithium, and upgraded our energy management system to a Victron system. All of this would give us greater energy independence.

Port Washington, New York, was our next big stop. From there, we took a short train ride into New York City and spent the day exploring. Anchoring beneath the Statue of Liberty had long been a bucket-list item, so after pulling anchor in Port Washington, we made our way there — motoring up the East River through Hell's Gate, straight through the middle of the city between Manhattan and Long Island. We arrived on a Friday around 5 p.m., and the ferry traffic was intense — ferries zooming all around us, rocking the boat back and forth. But what an experience!

As Lady Liberty came into view, I stood mesmerized on the foredeck. Most boats anchor on the back side of the Statue of Liberty, but we wanted to see her from the front, so we dropped anchor there instead. It is not the most comfortable spot due to the rolling water from all the boat traffic, but it was absolutely worth it. We spent the night anchored beneath Lady Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, and the next morning, we watched the sun rise over the Statue before pulling anchor and continuing on our way.

Motoring down the East River in New York

At anchor next to the Statue of Liberty.

Simah’s cameo as Simba from the Lion King

Continuing south, we entered the Delaware Bay, passed through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and made our way into the Chesapeake Bay, eventually arriving in Annapolis, Maryland — one of my favorite places we have ever been. We spent one month on a mooring ball in the heart of downtown Annapolis, right beside the United States Naval Academy. Every morning, we awoke to Reveille, which signals the start of the duty day and cues service members to assemble for morning roll call. Sometimes, we could even hear them counting off during their morning exercises.

As we do in every town we visit, we found a local church within walking distance. This was the first time since leaving on our adventure that we had found an Anglican church in the States that we could walk to. Walking into Redeemer Anglican that first Sunday felt like finding a little piece of home. Over the next four weeks, we became fast friends with several people there, including the pastor and his wife. The hospitality shown to us was incredible — two couples invited us for dinner and to spend the night, and another couple offered to let us stay in their home for a few weeks while they were out of town.

Annapolis also gave us our first (and only so far) experience of seeing the Northern Lights. Seeing the pink glow over the glow of the sailboats in the bay was one of those magical moments. One of the biggest highlights of Annapolis was seeing The Lone Bellow perform at Rams Head, an intimate venue in the heart of downtown. They are easily one of our favorite musical groups ever. We have seen them upwards of five times over the last ten years. And we can’t wait to catch them somewhere again soon.

The Lone Bellow performing at Ram’s Head in Annapolis, Maryland

Our time there was full of joy, but eventually it was time to move on. We hopped across the bay to the eastern shore, landing in Rock Hall, Maryland, where we planned to haul the boat out of the water and get some much-needed work done. We spent six weeks there. We replaced all of our chainplates and backing plates — the core rigging connections that keep our mast upright — as well as our steering cable. We also reinforced the platform for our autopilot, which had begun to rot.

It wasn't all work, though. Rock Hall is a sleepy little town with not much around; the nearest town is a 25-minute drive. Thankfully, the marina had a courtesy vehicle we could use whenever we needed to run errands. Most evenings, we passed the time walking through fields to see how many deer we could spot. We even discovered the gorgeous piebald deer — something we hadn't known existed until we spotted two on one of our nightly walks.

12 feet up in the air, where we lived for several weeks while replacing our chainplates

The view on one of our nightly walks in Rock Hall, Maryland

Stunning views from our slip in Lankford Bay Marina in Rock Hall

Chestertown is the nearest town, and it is precious. We made frequent trips there whenever we could. Their Saturday farmers’ market is one of the best we have found on the East Coast. A standout discovery was McGlynn's Cottage Pies — homemade pot pies that sell out fast. She offers a wonderful range of options, from Vegetable Curry Shepherd's Pie to Bangers and Mash Pot Pies. Before departing Maryland, we loaded up on them for our journey back to North Carolina.

During our six weeks in Rock Hall, we attended the Sultana Downrigger Festival in Chestertown, one of North America's largest annual tall ship and maritime festivals. We continued driving into Annapolis for Sunday mornings at Redeemer Anglican, and we attended Chestertown's Dickensian Christmas Festival, where the town transforms into a Victorian-era winter wonderland filled with carolers, holiday markets, carriage rides, and locals gathered on haystacks around fire pits with cups of hot cider.

One of the tall ships from the Sultana Downrigger Festival in Chestertown, Maryland

Carollers in Chestertown, Maryland during the Dickensian Christmas festival.

All in all, our journey up the East Coast was everything we had imagined and more. We did a lot of work on the boat. Ken continued working his full-time job; I continued writing. We saw amazing sites. And we had a great time making new friends and reconnecting with old ones! But with Christmas right around the corner, we pulled out of Rock Hall on December 19th in 22-degree weather, making a beeline for Beaufort, NC, so we could get to Greenville in time to celebrate the holidays with our friends and family. From the fog-wrapped lighthouses of Block Island to the glow of Lady Liberty to the warmth of a Chestertown Christmas, the Northeast Coast gave us memories we will carry for a lifetime.