Warmer Weather

Well as we get further into the cruising life we are sure learning a lot. One thing is the tides and how to use them to your favor. When we came down the Hudson River we never really gave it much thought to look when the max current was to be. We just got up at day light and took off. So by the time we got to the Delaware River we were a bit more educated and thanks to others teaching us. Simple Pleasure and Mutual Fun headed out and up the Delaware in a head wind but with the tide we made great time. It was like riding the top of a wave all the way up the Delaware River. It was amazing to look at the speed we were doing on the gps and still having a head wind. We had to wait till just after 10 am to leave so we had max current going in our favor and went all the way up to Reedy island which is just before going into the C&D canal.
That connects the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay to each other. It is 14 miles long and 3/4 of the way down it is a town called Chesapeake City. A quaint little town and one that goes back in time. It is very interesting to see some of the small houses which have been kept up and the whole town was interesting wandering through it. We were lucky enough to get a free space on the city dock along with Simple pleasure for a night. The c&d canal is a main freighter canal that many huge ships pass through. We were very happy not to come into contact with any large ships passing on the canal. But we seen a few go by as we sat on the city dock watching. As we left Chesapeake City headed for Annapolis the weather was not the best. We had rain and winds out of the north which pushed us down the Chesapeake which it did. It was one of those days that your glad it is over but have to give our autopilot a lot of credit. I would look back as Simple Pleasure was following us and we both were wallowing through the waves and running around 9 kts. That did a lot of the work till it got to ruff that it could not handle it. The waves were on our stern most of the way and for the first time ever with this boat we had a wave come up the rear and flooded the cockpit floor. Tis what you wear rubber boots for right! As we got closer to Annapolis the rain had lighten up some. Arriving in Annapolis we had friends Marv and Roni that we were meeting up with as they were staying in a condo and it had a slip available so we rented the slip for 7 days right in spa creek. It made it nice as we had friends also coming to stay aboard Mutual Fun. John and Bev from our old marina stayed 3 nights with us and what a great time we had. The whole week was busy as we had many nights out with Marv,Roni,John,Bev and Mutual Fun going to different restaurants and eating out.
We had some other friends that I had met last year out in Annapolis and over the internet that we had a chance to see as well. Dave and Dona that has been working on a boat and will be cruising next year also. We were doing well on our budget till going to the boat show as we ended up buying a new main sail as ours was 20 years old and lost it shape. The 6 of us and Simple Pleasure ended up going to a cruisers party one night that was put on by a local yacht club while at the show. Their we met many more that were heading south and this time it felt different as we were a part of the cruisers now and had experienced a few things getting there.

After leaving the Annapolis we headed south down the Chesapeake towards Norfolk as it is very interesting seeing all the different places one could spend time here on the Chesapeake just sailing around and anchoring. Oh the other big thing one notices is the presence of the military when out in this part of the country. Jeannie and I do not know how many airshows we had while on the Chesapeake.
But it is was very cool. Ah the high light of this leg of the trip was the day we left Deltaville after seeing some other friends that were from Michigan, Mike and Kathy. We were around the Solomon Island area and on the vhf radio the navy was telling us of boats in the area of the bombing range to divert course towards shore. Well the navy had a patrol boat out making sure we did. About 45 min later we started hearing and seeing a lot of fighter jets and what a show. Then they disappeared but could still hear the roar of them going by and the water started exploding as they were dropping bombs at a target out in the range. Just our tax dollars at work. Getting into Norfolk we had sailed all the way and as we were entering the harbor and with navy ships coming in and as well. I went to start the engine and yikes, nothing, we had lost power to the starter and what it was is had a coolant leak onto some connections which shorted out the wires for the start system. So some quick thinking and a few checks and way it turned over. We knew there was a lot of military in the Norfolk area but did not know it was the largest navel base in the world. As well as many ship building companies. Where the ICW starts is called hospital point in Norfolk. That was one of our places we anchored along with about 15 other boats heading south.


The day we left hospital point and into the ICW, we got stopped by the navy as we were traveling with Simple Pleasure and some how they made it past but a new navy ship was being pushed out by tugs and the boys in the inflatable with big guns came over and told us we had to stop NOW! I asked if we could just slowly get buy and they said stop the boat now, OK OK. So we happened to be right next to a dock with a couple standing there and we got out lines and tossed it to them while we waited about 20 min for the ship to get by. After we got the Ok to proceed we then headed down the ICW and had a choice to make. Weather to take the Virgina cut route or the Dismal swamp route. So hearing so much about the swamp route off we went to it.
It is a long canal that is cut out of the swamp and is about 6 feet deep and has a lock on each end so the depth is controlled all of the time. We have heard stories of thumping logs and so on and it was true, we thumped something but nothing hard. Over half way through the canal there is a welcome center.
On one side it is a rest stop for cars and the other side is the canal. So we had a lot of people coming down and asking questions and wanting to talk. The dock has room for around 4 boats but what you do is raft off of one of the boats on the dock. So we rafted off a Catalina 30 and then we had a catamaran named Polar Pacer from Toronto raft off of us in all I think that night we had like 10 boats there. From there we took off and headed to Elizabeth city NC. Which was a nice stop over for 3 days.
Here we met up with many others that we have met along the way as now we are starting to be in a group as you can see that everyone is heading south. Just a slow progression. It is a nice way to see the east coast at 6 kts.

The night before we got to River Dunes marina we were anchored with polar pacer up a creek and the next morning we went to pull the anchor and it would not come up. Polar Pacer stuck around giving us a hand as they tried to hook on to the anchor and pull it backwards to break it free with now luck. We work over 1 1/2 hours getting it up and even called Tow Boat US for help. Well just before they got to us we got it up. Have no idea what we were stuck on either as it came up clean and no mud. River Dunes marina is one that is very new only 3rd season and it is the nicest we have ever stayed in. It is a treat for us both as the shower had 5 heads in it and only $1.25 per boat foot for cost.

Long Awaited Update

Wow we have so much to cover here. It is not that we did not want to post but getting a good wifi signal has been our issue. This posting Jeannie has things also that she will post as well. We finally finished up the Hudson river and I have to say that it is very breath taking and to see all the different places that we have read about and that you hear about in your lifetime. Just looking back at the whole Hudson River is sometime to really appreciate. There is so much transition one sees going down the Hudson River. Seeing Bannerman Castle and West Point Bannerman was one that was very run down and falling apart but they now have a trust set up to restore it back to how it was built.

Then getting to go down the Hudson in a sailboat is a plus in my book. It is like every turn there is something new and mountains on each side. As we got about half way down the Hudson you start seeing tankers and tugs with barges going up and down the river. Talking to them was interesting on the radio as all were very nice and they told us where they wanted us on the river so they could pass us. The river is very wide and the current runs both ways because of the tide going in and out. When were done for the day we just usually looked for a spot to just pull off to the side as there are not many anchorages with a lot of protection. Some of the places we have stayed were very interesting and some were just oh hum, Jeannie had a niece that we stopped to see for a couple of days and spent time with Linda, her husband, Mark, and their daughter Amanda, in Thiells, NY. We got a slip for 2 nights at Haverstraw Marina. Mark picked us up and took us to their home. What a very nice home, so comfy and cozy and a beautiful big deck off the back. Both nights after Linda got home we would have cocktails on the deck, and Mark and Amanda would come along shortly. They treated us to dinner out the 1st night and then again for pizza the next night! I was able to do laundry and their neighbor, Scott was kind enough to see that we got to the grocery store! Linda cut Randy’s hair and fine tuned mine a little bit. The morning we left, Mark went and got fresh bagels for all of us to have for breakfast. At this point I want to say, Amanda, you are a very sweet young lady and continue to have fun in Volleyball! Just a last comment. Being on the Atlantic ocean has not been my favorite this far in our journey! We were caught in monstrous waves, and 25 kt wind and it was not pretty! I do have to say that the trip on the sea to Cape May was almost enough to forget the bad trip earlier, but not totally. I would never ever have done this without Capt Randy at the helm, as I was not much help during the night we braved the waters!
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Approaching New York is pretty awesome and going past it was something. When we got closer to the down town district the VHF radio was abuzz with coast guard security. As we had heard of a helicopter going down some place around the river. But something else we did not know was of the big UN meeting. As the East river was shut down and only letting certin ships through and then with a coast guard escort. Having neither one of us being to NY it was quite a site for us to see. Especially from the river looking back at it. As one of the things we all think about was the Twin towers, Well we were not sure where it was but long behold we got some pictures of the new tower going up. It was quite a site to see. As we were traveling down the river and trying to see everything you needed to watch the ferries going back and forth and tour boats. Then came the statue of Liberty. Ellis Island and the Battery. Seeing all of that and trying to read up on some of the history of different things was great. Something I hated in school. As we past all of that and our leg of the trip on the Hudson river coming to a end. Our Next leg was the Atlantic Ocean. We had to go down to Sandy Hook NJ and leave from there. That is the opening to the Atlantic in New York harbor, There were tankers and freighter anchored all over the place waiting transit or to be taken up river. Something we noticed was the freighters on the great lakes were bigger then the ones in NY harbor.
The trip on the Atlantic was to be 120 miles which is to Cape May NJ. Then that lets us go up the Delaware bay. Well not having internet to look at the weather we had to rely on our friend Bill back in Mi. We would call him and he would do our leg work for us and give us daily reports. Along with them and listening to NOAA on our VHF. We made the decision to go the next morning after we arrived in Sandy Hook. So Noaa told us that it was to be 5 to 10 Kts winds out of the south then switching east in the early morning. So we thought that is the time to go, and we did. Well we had so much and the wind came up to 15 kts. We pounded into the waves for about 30 miles and decided to pull into a port. That was Manasquan Inlet. There we sat for 2 days awaiting a wind direction change. Once again or weather man in Mi and NOAA, told us that winds were to shift to the north and once again 5 to 10 Kts, Well it ended up we had 25 kts out of the north and what a ride we had. We were both VERY glad to get into the next port as we had left at 2 am that morning. Jeannie was a real trooper as we both hugged each other once we dropped the anchor . As I was in need of much sleep. As our friend Bob that use to be our slip mate back in Mi called NOAA Not overly accurate assumption. Bob is so right. At that inlet which was Barnegat Inlet we met up with Simple Pleasure once again as we had met them in Buffalo when we took our mast down. As the weather pattern was not looking good, for the next few days. MutualFun had agreed to go out and see what the waves were like the next day. Well it was only less then a mile out in the Atlantic that we decided to turn around and come back in and rethink things. Well thanks to simple Pleasure and there idea we took the NJ Inter Coastal Waterway with them the next 2 days traveling the NJ- ICW. That was very interesting also. We draw 5 ft and lots of the depth was 6 feet. When we started out in this leg of the ICW we had to wait for high tide so it gave us a extra 3 feet just so we could make it past a few spots. We just kept thinking oh baby come on do not run aground. Which we never did. Our only night we spent anchoring on the New Jersey ICW we spent the night listening to 30 kt winds howling all night. The next morning once again we had to wait till high tide to make it past a few stretches. Simple Pleasure said why not you go first as you draw more and if you get stuck we can get to you, So off we went twisting and turning through the saw grass and praying for deep water. We made it finally to Atlantic City NJ on our 2nd day. There we got a slip at the aquarium marina which was just inside of the inlet to the Atlantic. The next morning it was a sign to leave as all the sailboats were heading out so Mutualfun followed suit. We pulled out just a little after 8 am to light North winds and gently rolling seas. The waves would pick you up and gently and down you would go. Much different then lake Michigan but it was a very nice ride down to Cape May NJ. We knew that we had a small weather window to get to Cape May so we arrived around 3 pm and anchored off the coast guard station. There you could hear the cadence of the young recruits as they were training. We knew that the weather was going to turn bad the next few days as once we anchored it was not long that many other sailboats were starting to stack up around us as the winds were to be 30 to 40 kts during the night. So between Simple Pleasure and MutualFun we decided to get a slip in a marina just past the first 55 foot bridge in the Cape May channel. Now when you have 53 feet of mast sticking up and a bridge clearance of 55 feet with the tide on the low end of 3 feet. It still gave me an uneasy feeling.

It was the Miss Chris Marina we stayed at, It is where the whale watching boats come out of. People come by the bus loads to board the boats and go out about 12 miles in search for whales. It is here we will leave for the next leg of the trip up the Delaware bay and through the C & D canal which joins the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay to each other.