2018 Travel Stats

Click here to go to The Pearl's travel map.

(expand the drop downs on the right side of the map for more information)

This blog post is best viewed on a computer.

Stan and I both keep logs of information about our travels. Mine are more about the places we've been and the places we've stayed, his are more technical (engine hours, maintenance etc.). For information on where we've docked and anchored, please refer to my Travel Logs. This year we took two short trips from Ithaca. We spent two weeks traveling west on the Erie Canal and almost three weeks in the the Thousand Islands. Not as many miles as we use to put under the keel...but an adventure just the same. The totals below are from the time we left home in 2011 till the end of 2018. See other years stats here.

     166   Different anchorages

     120   Different marinas

     349   Different towns visited

       23   State & providences visited

         3   Countries visited

      223   Most miles traveled in one day
18,993   Total miles traveled

2018 Travel Stats
     914 Miles traveled
     287 Gallons of diesel purchased
     165 Engine hours
       18 Generator hours
     168 Days on board
       32 Days of travel
         3 States/providences visited
       24 New Towns visited
       50 Locks traversed
     133 Days at a marina
       21 Nights at a dock
         7 Nights at anchor
         0 Nights on a mooring ball
         7 Days on the hard (hauled out)

2017 Travel Stats

Click here to go to The Pearl's travel map.

(expand the drop downs on the right side of the map for more information)

This blog post is best viewed on a computer.

Stan and I both keep logs of information about our travels. Mine are more about the places we've been and the places we've stayed, his are more technical. For information on where we've docked and anchored please refer to my Travel Logs. We didn't put a lot of miles under our keel this year, so the stat's haven't changed too much from last year. These totals are from the time we left home in 2011 till the end of 2017.

     161   Different anchorages

     107   Different marinas

     324   Different towns visited

       23   State & providences visited

        3    Countries visited

     223    Most miles traveled in one day
18,070   Total miles traveled

  2017 Travel Stats
     981 Miles traveled
     358 Gallons of diesel purchased
     131 Engine hours
         2 Generator hours
     167 Days on board
       15 Days of travel
         4 States visited
       23 New Towns visited
       25 Locks traversed
     149 Days at a marina
       12 Nights at a dock
         5 Nights at anchor
         0 Nights on a mooring ball
         0 Days on the hard (hauled out)
         1    Night at Sea

2016 Travel Stats

Click here to go to The Pearl's travel map.

(expand the drop downs on the right side of the map for more information)

This blog post is best viewed in web version.

Stan and I both keep logs of information about our travels. Mine are more about the places we've been and stayed, his are more technical...sorry to the guys who read this blog that would enjoy more technical info, but that's just not my thing. For information on where we've docked and anchored please refer to my Travel Logs. 

These totals are from the time we left home in 2011 till the end of 2016.

     157   Different anchorages

     101   Different marinas

     301   Different towns visited

       23   State & providences visited

        3    Countries visited

     143   Most miles traveled in one day

17,091   Total miles traveled

2011 Travel Stats			2012 Travel Stats			2013 Travel Stats
3987		Miles traveled	2678		Miles traveled	3112		Miles traveled
1085		Gallons of diesel	808		Gallons of diesel	1014		Gallons of diesel
566		Engine hours	379		Engine hours	425		Engine hours
211		Days on board	209		Days on board	248		Days on board
96		Days of travel	68		Days of travel	70		Days of travel
13		States visited	10		States or providences	11		States visited
71		Towns visited	55		Towns visited	62		Towns visited
8		Locks traversed	106		Locks traversed	2		Locks traversed
146		Days at a marina	121		Days at a marina	170		Days at a marina
11		Nights at a dock	46		Nights at a dock	3		Nights at a dock
48		Nights at anchor	30		Nights at anchor	50		Nights at anchor
4		Nights on a mooring ball	10		Nights on a mooring ball	25		Nights on a mooring ball
2		Days on the hard	2		Days on the hard	0		Days on the hard
2014 Travel Stats			2014 Texas Pearl Stats			2015 Travel Stats
1143		Miles traveled	1708		Miles traveled	1027		Miles traveled
279		Gallons of diesel	1054		Gallons of diesel	340		Gallons of diesel
163		Engine hours	196		Engine hours	112		Engine hours
141		Days on board	32		Days on board	123		Days on board
34		Days of travel	25		Days of travel	33		Days of travel
3		States visited	5		States visited	2		States visited
23		Towns visited	16		Towns visited	15		Towns visited
0		Locks traversed	11		Locks traversed	2		Locks traversed
115		Days at a marina	18		Days at a marina	67		Days at a marina
13		Nights at a dock	5		Nights at a dock	2		Nights at a dock
12		Nights at anchor	9		Nights at anchor	23		Nights at anchor
1		Nights on a mooring ball	0		Nights on a mooring ball	21		Nights on a mooring ball
0		Days on the hard	0		Days on the hard	10		Days on the hard
2016 Travel Stats
3434		Miles traveled
1037		Gallons of diesel
453		Engine hours
208		Generator hours
208		Days on board
75		Days of travel
12		States visited
59		Towns visited
1		Locks traversed
107		Days at a marina
6		Nights at a dock
35		Nights at anchor
60		Nights on a mooring ball
0		Days on the hard

May 13 - Deltaville, VA

Dozier's Regatta Point Marina

“Then, one day, when you least expect it, the great adventure finds you.” – Ewan McGregor

As we moved north this year I've been looking back at old post to remember what we did and how we felt about a place the first time we visited. It's been five years since we've been in Deltaville. The temperature is definitely different than it was the first time we arrived in July during a heat wave. My post on July 26, 2011 was about how far we had traveled since we left on this great adventure in March of that year. So I thought in this post I'd do a little comparing…just to see just how far we've come.

When we arrived in Deltaville in 2011 we had spent 130 days on the boat, traveled 3013 miles, visited 9 states, we had spent 88 nights at marinas, anchored out 28, 2 nights on a morning, 10 nights at some type of dock and 2 days on the hard.

We have now spent 964 days on the boat, traveled 13,655 miles, visited 19 states, 2 Canadian provinces, Washington DC and the Bahamas, we have spent 637 nights at marinas, anchored out 172 nights, spent 61 nights on a morning, 80 nights at some type of dock and 14 days on the hard. Five years from now who knows how many more miles we'll have logged on the boat or the wonderful places we might have seen. The adventure continues to unfold one day at a time.

Abaco Map

Click on here to go to our Abaco travel map. It contains mileage and info on all our Bahamian stops. Hopefully we will have more places to add to it during the 2016 cruising season.

Oct. 21 - Panama City, FL

Panama City Marina

“A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and unknown.” —Denis Whitley

We moved further west today and made good time through a rural part of Florida. We had a push from the tide and we changed time zones so our day was shorter than we expected. Fuel prices are considerably lower here than anywhere else we've been, so it made an ideal stop for the day. After fueling up and getting docked we had time to get the boat cleaned up. After 13 days of travel it was covered in salt. Stan cleaned the outside and I did the inside…we look much better now.

Panama City is another stop we made in 2011, but that time we had bikes, so getting around was easier…I really wouldn’t want to travel for long without them. The grocery store is about a mile away and we had almost decided not to go, until one of the marina staff offered to give us a ride. The people in the panhandle of Florida are wonderful. It was nice getting to the store since this may be the last chance we have before we get home. The weather is great and we plan to anchor a lot after night.

This evening we spent time visiting with other cruisers on the dock. It's been awhile since we've been docked by other transient boaters and it was fun getting to know them. Of course everyone else is heading east..we've never been ones to follow the crowd. One couple is from Houston heading to Florida for the winter and the other is finishing the Loop. Both are planning to spend time in the Keys this winter so we may see them again.

Our view today

The Pearl & Texas Pearl's Trip Map

2013 Season Wrap Up

I usually do a wrap up blog when we get home after a wonderful cruising year. Thoughts about our feelings of the places we've seen and how it feels to be home. This year I'm having more trouble with that. My thoughts and feelings at the end of our third cruising season are the same as the past two years. Our favorite places for the year are different, but our passion for what we are doing is the same. Maybe this year I'll just give highlights of the year instead. 

The first 3 1/2 months of our cruising season were spent in Charleston, which we thoroughly loved. Most of our days were spent on boat projects, although we did find plenty of time to enjoy the company of good friends and had fun exploring the city. The second part of our year was spent moving up the coast from South Carolina to Cape May, NJ. Except for a side trip to Manteo on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and a few weather delays, it was pretty uneventful. 

Our first real adventure of the year came when we decided to take the inside route up the New Jersey coast through the ICW instead of waiting on high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean. We don't regret making the trip and we got to see a little more of New Jersey, but I'm pretty sure it was a once in a lifetime event. After our long, very slow trip up the coast we spent a wonderful day in New York City. We had a lot of wet cool days this spring, but we got an absolutely amazing day to ride bikes around NYC and Central Park…definitely a highlight of the year. 

I felt our real cruising season began when we went up the East River into Long Island Sound and headed towards New England. What a great place to spend the summer and our friends on Amici made it even better. Their gracious hospitality while we were in their homeport of Branford, CT made us feel like we were home and we really enjoyed spending time with them on Block Island and in Martha’s Vineyard. The highlights of our visit to New England were Newport, Mystic, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and Boston. As wonderful as New England was and despite the wonderful time we were having with our friends, our true destination for the summer was Maine. Luckily by this time the weather was finally giving us a break and we got to spend four wonderful weeks exploring this amazing state. We enjoyed the beautiful coastline, small towns like Camden, hiking on Mount Desert, picking blueberries, seeing the wildlife, eating lobsters and visiting with the local people. Four weeks were definitely not long enough to absorb all that Maine has to offer…we will be back.

As we departed Maine we made our way back down the coast and visited places we missed on our way up. The one true highlight of the summer was having Kyle and Brytanie join us for Labor Day weekend in New York City. We had a great time having them onboard and getting to show them NYC from the deck of The Pearl. An added bonus during their visit was having the Pianas (Bryt’s family) join us for a day of cruising and exploring the city. We truly enjoyed having family onboard and sharing our cruising life with them.

After Labor Day we made our way down the east coast and back to the Chesapeake, where we enjoyed three weeks in Baltimore. It was a great place to transition back into life on land…we had time to relax, do a little work on the boat, explore the city and catch up with friends before we headed back to Texas. It was another wonderful year on the boat and now that we are home we can see how blessed we are to have the opportunity to see so many unbelievable places, meet so many great people and spend so much time on the water. For now we will spend time catching up with family and friends at home…but we look forward to more adventures on The Pearl next spring!

2013 Travel Stats 2012 Travel Stats 2011 Travel Stats 3112 Miles traveled 2678 Miles traveled  3987 Miles traveled 1014 Gallons of diesel  808 Gallons of diesel 1085 Gallons of diesel 425 Engine hours 379 Engine hours 566 Engine hours 248 Days on board 209 Days on board 211 Days on board 70 Days of travel 68 Days of travel 96 Days of travel 11 States visited 10 States or providences 13 States visited 62 Towns visited 55 Towns visited 71 Towns visited 2 Locks traversed 106 Locks traversed 8 Locks traversed 170 Days at a marina 121 Days at a marina 146 Days at a marina 3 Nights at a dock 46 Nights at a dock 11 Nights at a dock 50 Nights at anchor 30 Nights at anchor 48 Nights at anchor 25 Nights on a mooring ball 10 Nights on a mooring ball 4 Nights on a mooring ball 0 Days on the hard 2 Days on the hard 2 Days on the hard

This is a map of our New England and Maine stops

This map shows the travels of The Pearl since we bought her in March 2010. To see more details of the places we've been click here. 

Oct. 16 - Charleston, SC

The Harborage at Ashley Marina

It's this time of year, as we pack up and get the boat ready for our absence, that we begin to reflect on all the wonderful places we've been during our cruising year. This year has been a great year, not only in our cruising life, but our family life as well. We've celebrated two wonderful milestones...Kyle and Brytanie graduated from Medical School and Eric and Courtney becoming parents to the newest member of our family. Although we've seen amazing places and done some incredible things while we've been cruising, they can never measure up to the great feeling of accomplishment we have in knowing our sons are doing so well and are so happy in their lives. These events were the true highlight of our year.

We've covered a lot of coastline in the last two summers.You can go to this map to find more information about each marina and anchorage we've been to.

May 19 - Somewhere Between Boat & Home

Chesapeake Facts

Henderson's Wharf Marina

We spent twelve hours today heading south and west...only 1585 miles between our Pearl and our great state of Texas. All that time in the car gave me a chance to learn a little more about the Chesapeake Bay. We've spent over 80 days so far exploring this great body of water. We've anchored in 18 areas and have visited 16 cities and towns, and there are so many more we'd like to see. I can definitely see how people can spend a lifetime boating and never leave this area. It is truly my favorite place we have visited in our 4000 miles of cruising.

Geography:

• The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary: a body of water where fresh and saltwater mix. It is the largest of more than 100 estuaries in the United States.
• The Bay is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
• The Bay's width ranges from 4 miles near Aberdeen, Maryland, to 30 miles near Cape Charles, Virginia.
• The average depth of the Bay is about 21 feet, but is 174 feet at it’s deepest.
• The Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline – more than the entire U.S. west coast.
• The surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 4,480 square miles.

Water and Watershed:

• The Chesapeake Bay holds more than 18 trillion gallons of water.
• The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers 64,000 square miles.
• The Chesapeake Bay watershed includes parts of six states – Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia – and the entire District of Columbia.
• Approximately 51 billion gallons of water flow into the Bay each day from its freshwater tributaries.
• The Susquehanna River is the Bay’s largest river. It provides nearly 50 percent of the fresh water coming into the Bay – an average of 19 million gallons of water per minute.
• The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 17 million people. About 150,000 new people move into the Bay watershed each year.
• More than 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
• Approximately 7.3 million acres of land in the Bay watershed portions of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia are permanently preserved from development.
• There are more than 700 public access points on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Flora and Fauna:

• The Bay supports more than 2,700 species of plants and animals, including 348 species of finfish and 173 species of shellfish.
• The Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year.
• The Chesapeake region is home to at least 29 species of waterfowl.
• Nearly 80,000 acres of bay grasses grow in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Young and molting blue crabs rely on bay grass beds for protection from predators.
• Approximately 284,000 acres of tidal wetlands grow in the Chesapeake Bay region. Wetlands provide critical habitat for fish, birds, crabs and many other species.
• Forests cover 58 percent of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The region loses about 100 acres of forest each day to development.