(Continued)
Nellie does that as she was a memorable woman--for many reasons.
After buying Nellie D., and exploring the Long Beach area, she was trucked to Olympia, WA. John and I had a great time gunkholing while cruising her north to Sidney, B.C. From May of '06 through April of '07, based out of Van Isle Marina, she explored the San Juan and Gulf Islands. Finally, in May of 2007, Nellie D. shed her training wheels, gave up the mooring, flew the blue peter and went cruising full time. Nellie logged 4400nm to Glacier Bay and back. A circuitous route to say the least. From Anacortes, in September '07, Nellie was trucked across the continent and splashed in the Chesapeake just south of Annapolis, MD. After a few weeks exploring her new cruising grounds, and bumping several times off the very shallow bottom here, she started down the Intracoastal Waterway towards Florida on November 11th, 2007. 1200nm later, via Lake Okeechobee, she arrived at John's, in Naples, on December 22. From December 2007 to May 2008 Nellie cruised between Everglades City and Boca Grande, FL.
During April and June 2008 Nellie pointed her nose generally northward on the ICW. She left her slip in Naples, FL and 1300nm later tied up in her slip in Church Creek, MD. It was a particularly windy spring. A gale created 9' waves in Charleston Harbor. Another blow saw 30kt winds on-deck as we did a 100nm day between Southport, NC and Morehead City, NC. The Dismal Swamp was interesting. A few days before our transit a Sea Ray hit a submerged Ford expedition (which had just been stolen and 'parked' in the canal). Weather forced us to spend three days in Norfolk before dodging yet more wind in the Chesapeake. Wind or no, the ICW is a delight.
Beginning in early December 2008 and into January 2009 Nellie did a 325nm winter cruise up the Potomac. She anchored within a mile of the White House and served as a great launching point for our many tours of DC. With water temps in the mid 30's, air temps as low as 19F, and occasional 30kt winds, it was, at times difficult to keep Nellie's crew warm while at anchor. Pulling into a dock and and connecting to the electric grid solved the problem. It was great having the Potomac all to ourselves as we saw only one other pleasure boat.
On 5 March 2009 Nellie's frozen dock lines we sawed off, a foot of snow was cleared from her decks and she headed south to warmer climes. At Palm Beach, FL she took a left, crossing the Gulf Stream and the Little Bahama Bank to arrive in paradise—aka the Abacos. It took five weeks but Nellie gunkholed the Abacos from Allans-Pensacola Cay in the north to Little Harbour in the south. After crossing back to the USA on 12 May 2009, Nellie retraced her track north. She made it safely to the Chesapeake on 23 May after covering 2680nm round trip.
After the 2009 Thanksgiving dishes were washed and put away Nellie D. left the Chesapeake and was Florida bound on the ICW. This 1750nm trip was one of the coldest and windiest to date. How cold was it? We got snowed on in Jacksonville and the 20F temperatures turned some tropical plants into green gelatinous mounds. The trip down Florida's St Johns river was like going backwards in time. We could feel the presence of the paddle wheelers as we passed by the historic towns and wharfs. Nellie finally made it to Key West too. But with slips going for $140/night she couldn't afford to stay their long ;-0 She crossed the Gulf and made it to her home port of Naples, Florida by the last week in February. She then cruised back to the keys to do some gunk holing. By June Nellie was put on the hard and spent the hot Florida Summer in air conditioned comfort.
Nellie spent the month of November 2010 in Ft. Myers, FL as Dave and Bicki lived aboard while getting their USCG Masters licenses. In December she cruised north to Clearwater, FL before returning to Naples.
In March 2011 John and Susan took Nellie on a Naples Yacht Club tour of the sites between Lake Okeechobee and Palm Beach. After John discovered oil coming from the turbocharger she was left in Ft. Lauderdale to have it rebuilt. Before escaping the many excellent services available in Ft Lauderdale, Nellie had a new exhaust elbow, new Airsep air filter, reupholstered salon and stateroom cushions, and a new dodger. The plan was then to go to the Exumas but that has been delayed until next year. Nellie went north instead and arrived in Church Creek, MD in May 2011.
In October of 2011 Nellie made a 34 day, 1320nm trip from Church Creek to Naples, Florida via the Keys.
In September of 2019, after 5 years and 12,000 miles, Nellie completed the Great Loop.
*Nellie D's Cruising Slide Shows, Videos and Blogs**
- 2019 (May - September) Cruising Blog Rideau, Chambly, and Champlain canals, Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and NJ.
- 2018 (May - August) Cruising Blog Erie, Chambly and Rideau Canals
- 2017 (May - September) Cruising Blog Lake City, MN to Belleville, Ontario
- 2016 (November 2015 - October 2016) Cruising Blog Naples, FL to Minneapolis, Minnesota
- 2015 (January - April) Key West to Port Charlotte, FL via Lake Okeechobee
- 2014 (October - December) Cruising from the Chesapeake to Naples and then Key West
- 2013 (21 April - 30 June) Cruising Blog the Keys to the Chesapeake
- 2012 (10 April - 24 May) Cruising Blog of the Exumas, Bahamas
- 2011 (9 October - 23 November) Cruising Blog Chesapeake to Miami
- 2010 (29 April - 21 May) Cruising Blog of the Florida Keys
- 2010 (3 December 2009 - 8 February) Cruising Blog Chesapeake to Naples
- 2009 (4 Mar - 23 May) Cruising the Abacos, Bahamas or read the Blog
- 2009 (10 December to 4 January) Cruising the Potomac.
- 2008 (April - May) ICW Cruise Naples to the Chesapeake
- 2007 (April - August) Seattle to Alaska and Back. Cruising Video 31 Days Seattle to Ketchikan
- A Video demonstrating Nellie's Simpson davits in operation.
- Bing Crosby and Mary Martin sing Nellie's theme song.
- Nellie's Cruising Log
- Nellie's Maintenance Log
- Nellie in the news
- Chugging Up the Mississippi, Muscatine Journal, 30 Aug 2016
- Marine Mobile in Style, Solid Copy, Feb 2019