Atlantic City to NYC and the Hudson River July 6 to July 17, 2013

Nancy, Sandy and Dan

After another early morning departure, we where on our way to the second stop on the Jersey coast, Manasquan.  As we skirted the coast northeast from Atlantic City under sunny skies and fair winds, we began to see the devastation left behind by Hurricane Sandy last year.  The coastline that used to be littered with seaside communities and private homes now had far fewer homes and remnants of multistory structures scarred by the force of Mother Nature.  What we found remarkable was the number of beach-goers still finding a way to have fun near the ocean despite the incredible loss of property and businesses.  We got a closer look at both the loss and regrowth by our friend from Vero Beach Power Squadron, Nancy, a long time resident of the area.  She met us at Hoffman’s Marina and gave us a tour of the area and then shared a wonderful meal at a local restaurant.  It was fun to see a familiar Florida face.  Oh, did I say Nancy, an octogenarian, still sails her own Bristol 29 and was the instructor for our Seamanship Course?

On Sunday we left Manasquan Inlet at 7:30 AM on the final leg of our ocean journey along with our friends on “Headquarters”.  The plan was to pass along Sandy Hook, traverse the Ambrose Channel and enter New York Harbor under the Verrazano Bridge. 

Verranzano Bridge with Manhattan in background

What a rush!!! We’ve been to NYC many times but never arrived by water.  The skyline of the city came into view hours before our arrival and became more distinct as we got closer.  First Brooklyn then Manhattan with Staten Island to the west.  As we approached Battery Park, with Lady Liberty welcoming us into the harbor, we decided to cruise the East River beyond the Brooklyn Bridge before returning to Liberty Park, behind the Statue, and our anchorage for the night.  New York Harbor also exposed us for the first time to the Hudson River, a 155-mile tidal estuary with both tide and current factoring into trip planning.  We were amazed to learn that a 5-foot tide could be felt as far north as Troy, NY with currents running several knots/hour (in both directions – not at the same time silly).  Anchoring behind The Statue of Liberty for

Some R Lovin' at anchor with Lady Liberty in background

our first night in NYC will go down as one of the best experiences of our trip.  Proud to be an American!

Monday morning allowed us a quieter passage, from dodging an abundance of pleasure boats, tour boats, ferries and other commercial traffic, around Lady Liberty.

Statue of Liberty
from NY harbor

Our short trip up the west coast of Manhattan ended at the 79^th Street Basin Marina.  How exciting to be only blocks away from Mark, Natalie and Granddaughter Claire.  After docking shortly after 11:00 AM we took a brief walk up 79^th Street to Broadway, then south a couple blocks to one of New York’s many markets to purchase dinner for the evening.  The fishmonger convinced us to buy fresh cod to add to the fresh veggies, cheese and bread we had already placed in our cart.  On our way back to the boat we stopped at a New York Deli for a pastrami sandwich.  By midafternoon we were back onboard preparing for Mark, Natalie and Claire.  A bit bumpy in the Basin Marina and the floating docks reminded us of a carnival ride while trying to walk on a moving walkway so getting the baby to the boat was somewhat of a challenge; however, once safely aboard we had a wonderful evening eating and being entertained by Claire.

Natalie, Claire,and Mark 

NYC skyline

On Tuesday we left Manhattan to our south and transited to Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton on the Hudson.   This marina is mentioned throughout many cruising guides and Looper publications so naturally it was on our “places to stop” list.  We arrived in the rain but our spirits brightened with the unexpected visit by Heather, Shane and Parker en route from Boston to Winchester (seems they had to pass within a few miles of Croton anyway).  The four of us explored the town which, would have been an excellent stop had we wanted to take a train into NYC, (the station was only a couple blocks away) but naturally found a quaint restaurant and ice cream shop before the evening was over.

Captain, mate and Parker

It was a special night having Parker onboard—what a perfectly well trained dog despite his size and Heather and Shane, of course.  We all wanted to get on the “road” early Wednesday so we bid farewell to the kids, tossed the lines off and headed north on the Hudson.

The tide carried us at 7-8 knots for the 6-hour trip to Poughkeepsie Yacht Club near Hyde Park, NY.  This part of the Hudson River is wide and deep and it was not uncommon to see 85’ on the depth sounder.  As we traveled we also read about the history associated with the area to include the other Academy (at West Point) and the Spring and Fall playground of the rich and famous during the gilded age.  As the Erie Canal was still closed due to flooding on the Mohawk River, we decided to spend an extra day in Hyde Park touring the Vanderbilt mansion as well as the homestead and Presidential Library of FDR.  What an enjoyable day!  While at Poughkeepsie we met Bob who has a house for rent in the Umbria region of central Italy (another adventure for another blog).

United States Military Academy
at West Point

Vanderbilt estate
(Sandy in the foreground)

FDR Presidential Library
(figures in the background are cut from the Berlin wall)

FDR Homestead and garden

Becky, Brenden, Annie and Wes

We had been trying to figure a way for Becky and the Grandkids to come aboard for a few days and decided to find a marina closer to the Erie Canal that would be a fun place to entertain a 9, 7 and 3 year old while allowing Mom a few days respite from summer vacation.  Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore turned out to be the perfect place.  We arrived only minutes after Becky and the kids on Friday and spent five days swimming in the marina pool, cooking out and generally having a great time recharging our batteries and preparing ourselves for the Erie Canal.  Oh yea, we did a short trip up and down the Hudson so Brenden, Annie, Wes and Becky could take turns at the helm.  I see future cruisers…While at Shady Harbor we met a half dozen other Loopers who were waiting for the Canal to reopen.  Each night we met for a cocktail to discuss options and intentions.  Among the new friends we met were

Brenden, Annie, Wes and Papa overseeing Brenden at the helm

the creators of Active Captain, Karen and Jeff.  It's always fun to cross paths with other Loopers from earlier ports and share cruising stories.  It's one of the most enjoyable things associated with a cruising lifestyle.

Cape May to Atlantic City (and July 4th in Canfield) June 25th to July 5th, 2013

After a bit of indecision between Tour de Loop and us whether to head out into the Atlantic Ocean or not, we concluded the seas would be sufficiently favorable for the trip to Atlantic City, NJ.  A side bar—Hurricane Sandy did such devastation last year that the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway is still littered with cars, boats, parts of houses and various other sorts of debris making passage on the “inside” route still questionable.  Other “Loopers” have made the trip but not without incident.  Additionally, the sediment deposited by the storm has made very shallow routes that are impassible during anything but high tide, thus our decision to make our way north via the Ocean route.

Gardner's Basin, the Boardwalk and view of the Golden Nugget from our boat

An early morning departure took us out the Cape May inlet at 6:55 AM and our first experience with off shore passage.  The skies were clear, winds were southwest at 5-10 driving 1-2 foot seas mostly on our stern (a comfortable ride).  We set the autopilot to several points along our northeast route and traveled about 2-3 miles offshore for the entire trip.  We passed along many popular seaside resort communities like Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle City and Ocean City giving us a much different perspective of beach revelers.  The clear skies made visibility up the coast seem nearly endless so we watched the skyline of the Atlantic City Boardwalk with its many casinos for hours before making our way into that inlet 6 ½ hours later.  We chose to moor Some R Lovin’ at Gardner’s Basin just inside the inlet at the city docks in the shadow of the City Aquarium and dozens of quaint shops and restaurants.  We were early enough to take a pass through a few casinos contributing to the economy of Atlantic City (we lost our shirts—no not really).  After dinner we started planning for our next leg to Manasquan, NJ about 40 miles up the coast.  Unfortunately, the weather turned ugly predicting 4-7 foot seas for the next 4-5 days.  So, our plans changed (a regular event in our boating life) and we decided to leave the boat in Atlantic City, rent a car and head home to Canfield for the 4^th holiday.

Breakfast at Neff and the Canfield Parade

The Reay's, Ruth, Sammy and Joey x 2

Traditions are important so Sandy’s pre-parade breakfast went on as usual except all our friends brought various dishes making it much easier on us to “host” the event.  Appetites sated, we all headed to Canfield’s Green to enjoy another hometown parade complete with bands, fire trucks, politicians, twirlers and the ever-present Shriners.  We left with bags full of candy that our grandkids collected and headed to BBQ #1 in Grove City to meet Dan’s Mother, Brother, Sister and their families.  After eating our fill of burgers and dogs and catching up on recent family news we headed back to Canfield to celebrate with the Thomas side of the family.  More burgers and dogs, but this time with fireworks to continue the 4^th’s celebration.  It seems every Mike, Joe and Chris buy more and bigger ways to make loud noises and illuminate the night sky.  What great fun!!  Sadly, our fun had to come to an end, as we needed to depart early on the 5^th to head back to Atlantic City to continue our trip north.  Just outside AC we re-provisioned, turned in our rental car and prepared for a second day on the ocean.  At the dock we were met by our Looper friends Tony and Shirley, on Headquarters, who had just made it into Atlantic City earlier that day. Our plan now included Headquarters and us on the ocean heading north.  It’s always comforting to travel with another boat when on “big water.”

Baltimore, MD to Cape May NJ June 22-25, 2013

Shane at the helm

Having guests onboard who like boating causes problems of who commands the helm.  We were off the City Dock in Baltimore at 7:55 AM with south winds at 5-10 knots and waves less than 1 foot, a delightful 7-hour run to Tidewater Marina in Havre de Grace, one of the two final cities considered for our nation’s capital.  Unfortunately, we had an unfavorable tide so only averaged 5 knots most of the day.  Heather and Shane took turns on the wheel while I navigated the upper Chesapeake.  We took a turn up the Susquehanna River for the 6-mile trip to Havre de Grace, an interesting departure from big water and the Bay.  Something unusual was taking place up river as Heather counted 49 dead fish floating by our boat in only 30 minutes. It’s still a mystery.  Despite this unexplained fishcapade we were anxious to visit the quaint village at the end of the Susquehanna and were not disappointed after arriving.  We walked along the historic section of town and found an excellent hometown restaurant followed by a visit to a local ice cream shop.  We planned to wait for Sandy’s return from Cape May there but decided instead to cruise one more day.  (Sandy and I needed to get closer to Delaware City in order to position ourselves for our Delaware Bay crossing), so off we went to Chesapeake City.

A portion of a container ship on the C&D 

The C&D Canal connects the Chesapeake Bay to the west and Delaware Bay to the east allowing a much shorter passage to Philadelphia and Baltimore for ocean going barge and ship traffic. 

Lunch at Chesapeake City Restaurant

We’ve transited probably hundreds of miles of canals but nothing like the C&D.  With tidal currents that can be several knots and flow both east and west, it’s 450’ wide and 35’ deep to the sides.  It’s wise to plan the 12-mile transit to go with the current.  It took only 3 hours to make the trip across the Chesapeake and into the first three miles of the canal arriving at Chesapeake City Marina and Restaurant during a busy Sunday.  We docked, washed the boat, had a bite to eat and waited for Sandy to meet us.  She made it just in time to grill on the boat and even brought dinner – famous Cape May scallops and shrimp.  What a treat!  We enjoyed live music from the marina-front restaurant for most of the evening and watched the almost continuous boat traffic in and out of the marina of Sunday boaters.  After a restful night we said good-bye to Heather and Shane and made our way east to Delaware City only 10 miles away.

June Super Moon over Chesapeake City

Dockmaster Tim met us at the Delaware City Marina and proved to be one of the most knowledgeable mariners we’ve met along the trip.  At 5:15 PM he offered a weather briefing for those of us planning a Delaware Bay crossing.  The Delaware Bay is a dangerous body of water and can turn ugly in a hurry with no safe havens to duck into.  As it turned out, his predictions were “spot on.”  He suggested leaving Tuesday morning at 5:00 AM to catch the Delaware River outbound tide and assured us favorable winds; tide and current that would allow a safe and comfortable trip into Cape May.  For the first 3 ½ hours our speed never dropped below 10 knots.  Considering we cruise at 6 to 6 ½ knots, 12 mph was amazing!!!!  

Sunrise on the Delaware River

Tour de Loop challenges a barge

Nuclear Power Plant 8 miles into our trip on the Delaware Bay

The 50 mile trip lasted just about 6 ½  hours and we arrived at  Utsch’s Marina (along with our crossing buddies "Tour de Loop") hoping for fair winds and seas for the first day of our Atlantic crossing along the New Jersey coast on Wednesday.  We enjoyed dinner at the Lucky Bones next to Lobster House in Cape May, where Mark and Natalie held their rehearsal dinner prior to their wedding nearly three years ago.  Memories…

Bill, Kathy (Tour de Loop), Sandy and Dan

Soloman’s Island to Baltimore June 15-22, 2013

Dan, Sandy, Marsha and Allen (and Tiki God)

Our trip north and west from Tangier to Soloman’s Island took 6 1/2 hours but proved to be the best yet as far a Chesapeake cruising – sunny skies and less than one foot seas.  Our navigation in open water has improved and our confidence in the boat’s ability to handle more than we could increased as well.  We were anxious to get to Calvert Marina, a couple miles up the Patuxent River, and reunite with Marsha and Al for a couple days.  We had heard about the world famous Tiki Bar at Solomon's IS. during our stay in Oriental, NC and decided that it would be among our stops while in Soloman’s.  The bar proved to be a cross between a tropical Tiki bar and biker bar. Very interesting!

The famous Tiki Bar

After an enjoyable drink, we found a nice restaurant for another seafood dinner.  We bid Marsha and Al good-bye Sunday afternoon (Father’s Day) and joined our cruising friends Tony and Shirley aboard Headquarters to watch the final round of the Master’s.

Annapolis Harbor

Monday we left early on our way to Annapolis, MD.  The Chesapeake turned slightly bumpy with opposing tide and wind for the first half of our run and the final hour was a little wet as we skirted the edge of a passing thundershower.  Up the Severn River to Spa Creek we found the Annapolis Basin where we picked up mooring ball 17.

On the way, Dan remembered that a former Air Force colleague lived in town and managed to track Chuck and Lou down.  That evening they met us at McGarvey’s Pub for dinner where we spent several hours catching up on our lives.  

Maryland State Capital sunset

We also called Sheila, our Sister-In-Law who lives in Silver Springs, MD.  She came for a visit on Tuesday and again on Wednesday (mostly to bring the collection of Downton Abbey and a couple books for us to read).  She also helped us re-provision and do a little sight seeing while in town (Having friends with a car is particularly helpful).  Annapolis is such an interesting city!

Before Crab Dinner...

After Crab Dinner

At this point in our journey we had expected to be further along than we were and hoped to meet Mark, Natalie and Claire in Cape May, NJ.  We also wanted to be somewhere so Shane and Heather could cruise with us for their few days off.  Connecting those dots proved nearly impossible.  However, our next stop was Baltimore, MD where Shane and Heather were gracious enough to offer Sandy their car to drive to Cape May while the three of us moved the boat closer to Delaware Bay. 

Claire at play in Cape May

Natalie, Sandy, Claire and Mark

While in Baltimore inner harbor we were entertained by live bands all weekend (it was the first day of summer).  Baltimore also reminded us of the amazing history we have been experiencing along our trip.  The USS Constellation was moored a few hundred yards from us and we passed Ft McHenry and the bridge named for the composer of our National Anthem during the inbound and outbound trip on the Patapsco River.

Francis Scott Key Bridge
"Oh say can you see..."

Ft McHenry
"By the dawn's early light..."

USS Constellation

Captain Dan's mates Shane and Heather en route to Havre de Grace

Tangier Island (in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay) June 11-13, 2013

Historical Marker

Our visit to Tangier while not a full week deserves its own post.  Captain John Smith stopped here during his 1608 exploration of the Chesapeake and about 80 years later John Crockett settled the island. The Crockett name still exists on the island along with only 53 other surnames, which occur among the approximately 700+ residents.  Five seniors graduated from the only school on the island in a graduation celebration while we were there (the two girls are going to college while the three boys are taking up their father’s trade – fishing or crabbing more specifically).

When entering the channel, that currently divides the one by three mile island, you will see small white crab shanties where crabs are managed until they molt becoming “soft shelled crabs” at which time they are packaged and taken to the “main land” for distribution far and wide.

Crab shanties under a stormy sky

Sandy learning more about soft-shell crabs

The island boasts several gift shops, a few restaurants (Lorraine’s and Matilda Crockett’s Chesapeake House), a couple ice cream parlors and the charm only a community sheltered from much of the “outside” world could offer.  The Tangier History Museum offers a glimpse into the early days of the island, resident culture and a waterman’s way of life.  We walked the streets and dodged golf carts and motor scooters (the preferred mode of transportation for locals) while enjoying the sights food and endless discussions from Tangiermen who still speak in a form of language thought to be directly associated to the original Elizabethan settlers.

Sandy's gift shop

quaint narrow streets and golf carts ready for an Island tour

While we intended only a single overnight, sufficient to take in most of what Tangier has to offer, once again Mother Nature had a different idea.  We stayed two additional days to wait out one of the most severe thunderstorms and the unsettled Bay that followed we had ever seen.  In fact, a sailboat docked next to us clocked winds in excess of 50 mph at the height of the storm.  Mr. Parks, owner of the marina and long-time crabber told us later that one of his friends clocked a gust nearly 70mph. 

Mother Nature about to unleash her wrath

Needless to say, as the stormed howled, we slept uncomfortably, surging into the dock and awaking a couple times through the night to snug lines and reposition fenders.  Fortunately, we were able to chock the experience up to a lesson of watching the weather without damage to the boat or injury to either of us.

watching the storm roll over our neighbor sailboat

After a pleasant three-day visit we were on our way to Solomon’s Island for a reunion with Marsha and Allen.

Sandy and Mr. Milton Parks (82 yrs young with 60 years as a crabber and owner of the  Parks Marina)