Baltimore!

We left Hart-Miller Island State Park (made from material dredged from the Port of Baltimore) at 0900 Tuesday 26 September to sail to Baltimore.  After successfully negotiating a narrow channel south of the island into Chesapeake Bay our hearts sank as we realized that we were in the middle of a maze of crab pot floats.  We got a text from Her Diamond saying that they had hit one and that it had stalled their engine.  Thankfully they were able to restart the engine and reverse to unwind the float off their shaft.  At our crab pot action stations, Karen looked ahead with the binoculars and tried to identify clear lanes while I steered around the floats I could see near the boat.  After about half an hour we made it to the main shipping channel up into Baltimore, heaved a sigh of relief and raised sails for a beautiful beam reach all the way up into the outer harbour.

What a great feeling it was to see the inner harbour that we visited several years ago, from the water! 

Baltimore's skyline from the Inner Harbour

Tuesday afternoon Karen and I found Sal's Seafood in Fells Point where they filleted a fresh Branzino while we waited and, of course, we rewarded ourselves with a beer at the Admirals Cup pub! According to the city's website Named for the Englishmen who founded a ship-building company here in 1726 that would go on to produce the famous "Baltimore Schooners," Fell's Point is a spirited waterfront community in perpetual celebration of Baltimore's British nautical roots. Later Karen cooked the branzino perfectly for dinner.

Wednesday was stinking hot so in the afternoon we went to the air-conditioned Aquarium where I was able to touch a Moon jellyfish, a skate and a ray. We were particularly interested in the jellyfish exhibit since I had noticed one right beside the boat in the marina. Hardy little creatures!

Jellyfish mobile at the National Aquarium

In the evening we took the free Charm City Circulator bus to the Federal Hill neighbourhood and had dinner at SoBo Cafe. It was billed as a "neighbourhood gem" and did not disappoint!

Thursday we took a tour of Camden Yards, the Oriole's baseball park. We're not huge baseball fans but it was very interesting.  At a time when the trend was to build domed stadiums like SkyDome in Toronto, Maryland decided to convert railway lands into an open air stadium and the adjacent warehouses into retail and office space. The ball park was the first of the "retro" stadiums, incorporating the "Green Monster" left field wall of Fenway Park in Boston and the ivy covered outfield wall of Wrigley Field in Chicago.  We got to sit in the press box, walk on the field and sit in the dugout! Very cool!

Camden Yards / Oriole Park

Thursday night Sheila and Bob joined us to share one of their traditions; "Scotch and Greys", during which we watched the two hour season premiere of Grey's Anatomy!

Friday we left the dock at 0700 to catch the ebbing tide and once clear of the inner harbour again raised sails for a leisurely run down to the Magothy River.  George, a Chesapeake Bay resident, who with his wife Bev took their Hanse 415 offshore to the Bahamas last year recommended a couple of spots in the Magothy River, between Baltimore and Annapolis. After touring the bay, and setting the anchor four times in different bays, we ended up across from the "Horse Farm". It was a very scenic spot protected from the forecast northerly winds.

The Horse Farm, Gibson Island, Magothy River

On the way we got up close and personal with Cape Washington, a 778' cargo freighter travelling at 12 knots.

Cape Washington 

Today, Saturday, we're going to hang on the anchor and relax ...

The Chesapeake!

Delaware City turned out to be great fun. We had our usual celebration beer at the local bar "Crabby Dicks" and a quiet night. We weren't sure if we were going to stay another night or move on but decided in the morning that another day in the quiet river (and cheap dockage!) would be nice, and we would have a bit more time to familiarize ourselves with the Bay and where we wanted go.

Sheila and I took on the task of planning the next few days as the boys cleaned the salt off the boats. It's a totally different sailing life, being in salt water, which can rust the stainless and cakes onto the decks ... which is really nasty. So the occasional bath for Trekker is needed.

It's really amazing how much time it takes each time we sit down to plan the next route. Especially when you don't have a clue about the area you are in, or where you want to go. Local knowledge is always welcome, and Hugh has contacted a sister ship of ours (another Hanse 415) who live in the Chesapeake for some guidance. We also have Cruising Guide Books for the area, and of course "The Google"!
So after two hours of researching and discussing, and phone calls, we decided to go across the C and D Canal the next morning (it's very similar to the Erie Canal as it is man made but much shorter and wider to accommodate ships and no locks) and head up to Havre de Grace, Maryland. From there it was decided that a couple of days in Baltimore would be fun before heading for Annapolis.

So with decisions and bookings made, Hugh and I headed off for a walk to explore the small village. We were told that there are live bands in the two (and only) bars on Friday nights so we went to check out times and styles of music. On our way back we noticed that there were a couple of new boats on the dock, a trawler right behind us and another sailboat flying a Canadian flag!! So we quickly went over to the sailboat to say hello, as this is the second Canadian boat we have met since we entered the US. (Zenlatitude is their boat name). They are from Burlington and are also headed south but with plans to go straight to the Caribbean with a rally that goes in a group from Norfolk straight to the BVI's. At this point though, they don't know if it is still a go after the destruction caused by the hurricanes. We had a quick chat and invited them to join us that night at the bar for drinks and music. We also invited the other couple from the trawler to come as well. We all had a great evening, with the girls sitting at one end of the table and the boys at the other end. Lots to talk about and so great hearing other cruisers stories and ideas on living aboard a boat. The night went very quickly and before we knew it, it was midnight!! Wow! Party animals!! Lol!

The next morning before we headed out the girls went to the local farmers market, which turned out to be two small tables from local area farmers.  But we still managed to buy a few fruit and  veggies.

Zenlatitude decided to go with us as well, so we all departed and headed through the C and D Canal. It really was not very exciting, and we did not meet any freighters going through, so all was well. At the end of the canal it turns down the Elk River, and then opens into the Chesapeake!

Entering the C and D canal 

Our first lesson on the Chesapeake was avoiding crab pots. We were warned by our friends who have been here to watch out for them. How hard can it be?  And then, you turn a corner, and all you see is a sea of coloured corks bobbing in the water. It's very intimidating and daunting because if you run over the line from the float to the crab pot it can wrap around your prop, stall the engine and bend things!! So the first time we turned to go across the Bay we quickly turned back into the marked channel ... nope, not that way. We headed down a little further and when it looked "better" we turned, and slowly slalomed our way through the crab pot mine field. I now have a new job, "float look-out", with me standing in the companionway with the binoculars pointing out where it's safe to go. Very stressful!

Our next lesson on the Chesapeake is that it is very shallow, so you really need to follow the marked lanes , which also helps avoid the crab pots. Apparently they don't set them in deeper water. But it's not always possible to stay in the shipping lanes so we are quickly learning.

We arrived at Havre de Grace later than we wanted to, and after talking to the marina on whose mooring ball we were staying, we discovered that the mooring balls had no lines on them to pick up and tie to the boat. What?? I'm not sure if you know what our boat looks like but it is very high up off the water at the bow,  and to try to loop a line through a small ring on a floating ball seemed near impossible. But, as many of you know, my dear captain is very inventive, so after some discussion it was decided that we would back up to the ball, with me lying on the folded down swim platform underneath the dinghy, to grab the ball and loop the line through the eye (just picture it in you mind!). And, of course, it worked!! First try!! Was there ever any doubt?!

The next day we toured the town in the scorching heat.  Its  been very hot here the last few days as I know home has been as well. Summer in autumn! The marina had a courtesy van that we borrowed to go see a couple of sights like the lighthouse, and also enabled us to run to the grocery store for a couple of things. And dinner out, for crab cakes, of course!!

Concord Point Light Station

This morning we headed from Havre de Grace to explore a bit more of the Bay and get closer to Baltimore, which will be our next big destination. We are spending three nights there which I am very excited about.

 So after more research it was decided we would anchor behind an island which is a state park and had some good reviews from other boaters. Everything was going well, (other than no wind so had to motor, again) until we had to turn to go across the Bay and there ahead of us was another mine-field of crab pots. UGH!  We are getting very good at traversing through them.

So right now we are sitting at anchor, the sun is setting, and we should get a beautiful sunset behind us. Hopefully it will cool down once the sun sets. Oh, and we even had a swim!!

Tomorrow, Baltimore! Should be fun!

Stay tuned ... One day at a time!!

The Jersey Coast

Atlantic Highlands just south of Sandy Hook was our first Jersey shore stop. We arrived mid afternoon Thursday September 14 after an uneventful trip down the East River and through New York harbour from Long Island Sound. We all took the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club launch from our moorings to the dock and walked around town, poking our noses into galleries and antique shops.

Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club 

Walking around town Bob and I were checking weather and tide times so that we could time our arrival at Manasquan Inlet at high slack water. Since it looked like there might be a little wind we decided to leave at 9 am so we would only need to average around 4 knots to arrive at 1630, between high tide and slack current and maybe even get a chance to sail. 

After lights out Thursday evening my phone starting chirping with text messages and after the fifth I figured I should probably check them. Turned out they were from my brother Kevin cautioning us that the European weather model had Jose tracking up the U.S. Coast during the next week and that instead of heading south we should retreat up the Hudson River. Hmmmm ... So beginning around 2330 I began checking all the weather apps, and NOAA Hurricane Center and marine forecasts. Yes we were going to be in for a blow on Tuesday, and if we had to we could skip Atlantic City or Cape May and get up into the Delaware.

Friday morning after a long talk with Bob and Sheila we decided to stick with our plan and head to Manasquan and reassess at the end of the day.

We left Atlantic Highlands around 1030 and soon after rounded Sandy Hook into the Atlantic Ocean! There was a 2 - 3 foot swell out of the SE with little wavelets on top and 5 - 10 knots of breeze nearly on the nose. We raised the main hoping for a little push and began our motorsail south. Half way down the coast to Manasquan the shore bends to the SW a bit and it turned out to be just enough that we could pull out the jib, turn off the motor and sail for a while!  We arrived on schedule at 1630 and motored in to the gas dock. There was still some current running but the dockmaster gave great instructions on how to sidle up to the gas dock and then our berth for the night. 

Once docked we had another skippers meeting with Bob and Sheila. We checked all the available info on Jose which seemed consistent with, if not a little better than, the morning and booked a marina in Atlantic City. We agreed to a slack current departure at 0600!

I expect Point Pleasant Beach to the south of the inlet with its boardwalk, food stalls, and arcades is very pleasant, but after a late dinner we were ready for bed.

Saturday we were off the dock at 0600 as planned with a weak ebb current pushing us off. Out in the ocean there was no wind and long lazy swells.  Beach houses line the ocean all the way down the coast. We passed the amusement park at Seaside Park whose roller coaster ended up in the ocean following Hurricane Sandy. Near Barnegat Inlet we ran into some fog where GPS and AIS proved their worth although it did make me question our decision to pass on radar! Karen knitted and I began this post!

Karen "my hair's a mess" knitting underway

We arrived early in the afternoon to the sound of a nearby powerboat blasting out his favorite songs at rock concert volume. Welcome to Atlantic City! Bob and I rinsed the salt off our boats while the girls checked out the Golden Nugget Casino. We had a beer on the deck of the casino that had a great band playing and headed for the boardwalk.

Atlantic City 

I think that if I were to describe Atlantic City in one word it would be "tired". We had dinner at Gordon Ramsey's pub in Ceasar's casino and, predictably, paid a ridiculous price for mediocre pub grub. Karen and I had run out of steam by the end of dinner and headed back to the boat but Sheila did Atlantic City right, hitting the slots for a while.

Since Cape May was a relatively short hop from Atlantic City we decided on a mid morning departure which happened to coincide with maximum ebb tide opposing the ocean swells. Five to six foot waves greeted us at the end of the inlet!  That was exciting. As soon as we cleared the inlet we turned southwest and the waves settled into long ocean swells.  The wind blew lightly out of the northeast, right on the stern. Another motor ... trawler anyone?  The day was certainly not a loss though as a whale surfaced right beside us and we saw dolphins jumping out of the water and rotating on to their backs before splashing back into the water! Based on some Google research humpback whales are the species most frequently sighted near Cape May, so we'll say it was a humpback!

Our entrance to Cape May was a little exciting as there was a strong current running across the inlet meaning that I had to steer at times 20 to 30 degrees off the course that we wanted to hold into the channel. Once inside I had to avoid a dredge that I realized was backing up after I had decided to go behind. My brother Adrian suggested that I should have called the dredge on the VHF radio to coordinate our movements. Lesson learned!

Paul at the Canyon Club Resort Marina had offered us slips deep in the marina close to four story buildings to the north to provide better protection from Jose should he show up. That was great except that it took me two tries to make the turn into our slip without banging the dinghy off the sport fishing boats across the channel. 

We really enjoyed Cape May. We rented a car and took a drive around Cape May discovering the lighthouse and a WWII bunker designed to defend the Delaware on the beach.

Cape May lighthouse

We also saw the "rips", large breaking waves that form over the many shallow shoals off the cape. In town we walked the pedestrian mall and had an ice cream before dinner.  Always eat dessert first!  The Lobster House was recommended by many and did not disappoint for dinner.  Afterwards we met the owner of a scallop boat that had come in to the harbour to avoid Jose. He said that he used to go out but after injuries and a bypass he's ashore now!  He told us that they have quotas based on either a five or seven person crew.  Apparently once the quota is filled they change the gear on the boat and fish.  We also learned that they shell the scallops on board and toss the shells back in the ocean.

Scallop boats docked in Cape May 

Wednesday evening Karen and I went into town and walked the mall again then out to the boardwalk and to Harry's, a popular haunt for Happy Hour. Afterwards we walked back to yb restaurant and had an amazing dinner sharing a beet salad, swordfish tacos, crab cakes and a peanut butter and chocolate bomb! We walked dinner off passing the historic "painted ladies" houses on the way back to the mall where we got a cab back to the marina. 

Boardwalk and painted ladies

O-five hundred came too quickly but we had to leave at first light to round Cape May and carry the current from the incoming tide up Delaware Bay. Away from the dock we cleared the inlet around 0700 and took off with the flood tide at over 8 knots towards the Cape.  Bob and I had picked all the locals' brains to determine if we could go inside the shoals and rips and the consensus was to trust our charts and stay close to the beach. By 0730 we had cleared the cape and headed up the bay into a 13 knot northerly that was kicking up a two foot chop against the flood tide. As Sheila said we're lake sailors ... two foot chop is normal!  Later in the day the wind died and we had a calm run up the rest of the bay. We arrived at Delaware City just before 1600 and Tim the dockmaster talked us in to his docks.  When he asked if we had a bow thruster I said no, but that the stern kicks to starboard in reverse.  He put $10 on my being wrong and when we got close to our designated spot on the dock he offered another $10 discount if I could back the boat against the current to line our aft cleat up with the cleat on the dock.  I'm pleased to report we got a $20 discount on our dockage! Once docked we headed to the old Delaware City hotel and had a beer on the deck to celebrate having cleared Delaware Bay.  

We're keeping an eye on Maria hoping that she stays offshore of the Delmarva peninsula as Jose did.

Next stop the C and D canal and Chesapeake Bay!

In search of Billy Joel

I thought Huntington had a lot of boats in its harbour until we went to Oyster Bay!
We left Huntington after much discussion on what our next move should be. We were still watching Irma closely as she hadn't made up her mind exactly where she was headed, so the decision to stay in Long Island Sound was easy. But where to go?? Captain Hugh really wanted to keep heading east to discover "The Forks" which are at the very east end of Long Island, and had lots of history and towns like Greenport,  Sag Harbour and the Hamptons that he had heard about over the years. But unfortunately he was outvoted by the rest of us, so we decided to stay in the west end of the Sound and explore some more bays. One of the ones we had heard about was Oyster Bay, another big sailing centre, and so it was decided.
There was not much wind as we left Huntington, but we decided to have at least a slow sail as we had plenty of time and it wasn't a long way. One of the things we are learning about very quickly are tides and currents, which I'm sure we will talk about a lot more as we go. We had to leave about 10 am to catch the outgoing tide from the harbour, which had a narrow entrance into the bay.  As it was a Sunday morning, lots of sailors had the same idea, and it was a busy place!
We had a nice sail out of the bay into the Sound but there the wind gods were not in our favour, so after flailing around for awhile we put on the engine and headed into Oyster Bay.
Sunday afternoon races were on, and everywhere you looked there were different classes of boats racing each other. Avoiding them was quite a chore, as was avoiding sticks with little flags on them. We had no idea what they were marking, so we hailed a small sailboat we were passing and asked them what they were. Apparently they mark the oyster beds, and he said you can go around them either side but to not go over them as they will scratch your hull. We did read that it used to be the premiere area for oysters but that it had been over farmed years ago. They are now making a big comeback and we saw many boats gathering oysters.
We had decided we would anchor in the West Harbor beside Centre Island, as it is a designated anchorage, away from all the many, many moored boats. Big boats, little boats, huge boats, antique boats, you get the picture!! So for the first time since we left Georgian Bay (2 months!) we anchored. Ahhhh ... it was so nice. We were surrounded by beautiful big homes, with just a couple of other boats anchored around us. This is a new experience for our boat buddies, as they have never anchored overnight, going from marina to marina during their sailing career on Lake Erie. But they were up for the challenge and managed quite nicely. After settling in we decided to take our dinghies into town and check it out. Plus, Billy Joel lives on Centre Island, and I was quite determined to find him! It was a quick ride into town and we found the town dock easily. After asking for directions we headed into the town, which was mostly closed (Sunday!) and very disappointing. Where is that cutsie little "small town USA" I've been looking for??? Apparently not here. Although we were told the actual town of Oyster Bay was further inland and not walkable. Maybe that's where Billy was. However, we did manage to find a Brew pub that was open!

Oyster Bay Brewing Company

 After a  quiet night on the anchor, we decided to spend another night there, after all it was free and lovely! Bob and Sheila took their kayak to a beach on shore, and Hugh and I did some cleaning, had a quick swim, then decided to dinghy into town, maybe Billy was there today. But alas ... no Billy! But, someone told Sheila what his house looks like. We think we saw it!

Billy Joel's place?

Tuesday we crossed the Sound to the other side, to a town called Stamford, Connecticut. Sheila has a friend who lives close to that town and wanted to meet up with him and go out for dinner, so they kindly invited us too and we all trundled off in an Uber for dinner.
In my quest to find "small town USA" we went to Mamaroneck the next day which is also on the north shore of the Sound. Once again I was disappointed but it was certainly one of the better towns we have been to. Plus it had one of the nicest pubs we've been to, and the marina washrooms were spotless! Hugh was excited to walk by Derecktor Shipyards, the builder of many noteworthy yachts including Stars and Stripes, the 12M America's Cup yacht that repatriated the auld mug from Australia.

We have decided, after much discussion and weather map reading, that we are good to start heading south. Back to "the plan". So this morning, at 6am, we left Mamaroneck  and went back down the East River, by Lady Liberty for the last time, and left New York Harbour.

Manhattan from the harbour

We are in Sandy Hook for the night, which is considered a jump off point to head down the Jersey coast. Tomorrow looks sunny and calm , which is perfect for our first ocean experience, despite the fact that there may not be much sailing. We figure it will take three days to get down to the bottom of the coast at Cape May, stopping in Manasquan Inlet and at Atlantic City. It appears that right now we have a good weather window to do it. Once in Cape May we will head up the Delaware and into the Chesapeake.

We have been watching with horror the devastation that Irma has caused to many Caribbean islands, as well as Florida. We have been to many of the islands affected and are so sorry to see what has happened. With relief, we heard from  Hugh's brother Adrian, in Florida, who was not affected, and from friends whose boats are stored in Florida for the summer which are also, thankfully, fine.  We will continue on our way and take time to make sure we are safe wherever we go, and always keep an eye out for bad weather. I hope Mother Nature is tired now!

One day at a time!

Long Island Sound

Karen left you with our considering heading up into Long Island Sound primarily to keep our distance from hurricane Irma (and developing Jose) and secondly to visit an area renowned for both its affluence and sailing!

We had planned to leave Sunday September 3 and travel to Port Washington, N.Y. but when we contacted the harbour master he advised that it would be unlikely that we would find a mooring ball free, it being the middle of the Labour Day weekend.  The weather didn't look very nice either so we decided to stay put and explore more of Manhattan.

Friday, Karen and I went into town. First we went to Macy's and bought me some deeply discounted shorts and T's and then rode the subway onto Roosevelt Island which sits in the middle of the East River. What an incredibly quiet oasis, so close to the madness of Manhattan! We then took the Roosevelt Tramway (featured in a Spiderman movie) back over the East River for wonderful views of the four bridges crossing the river. 

Roosevelt Tramway

We then went to a third show "The Play that Goes Wrong" described as a cross between Downton Abbey and Monty Python. Hilarious!

Saturday we walked around the Battery at the south end of Manhattan and Sunday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the afternoon, although it would take weeks to cover it all!  After the MET we negotiated the weekend subway and NJ Path schedules and met Bob and Sheila at a pub in Jersey City for dinner.

Monday dawned bright and sunny for our trip up the East River into Long Island Sound. The Waterway Guide suggests starting up the East River one hour after low tide in slow vessels so as to pass through Hell Gate with a favourable, but not too swift current, and to arrive in Long Island Sound as the tide there begins to ebb.  That advice seemed to jive with the currents indicated on my tides app so we left at 1430 to motor up the East River.  Initially we seemed a little early, bucking a 0.7 knot current, so Bob suggested we slow down a bit, and sure enough a few minutes later we had a favourable current of a knot. We breezed through Hell Gate where the East River makes a right angle bend and the Harlem River meets it with barely an eddy in sight!  On the way we saw the Brooklyn Bridge and the United Nations (sadly over shadowed by a couple of new towers). 

Brooklyn Bridge 

Her Diamond passing United Nations

We also saw a couple of crazy towers, one of which seems to have kinked in the middle being supported by the other. 

Architect out of control

We also passed Rikers Island where the bad boys are sent. 

Once in Long Island Sound we had a nice breeze and were able to sail under jib alone to Port Washington ogling the huge mansions on the north shore of Long Island.

Port Washington welcomed us with free mooring balls that have rope penants that need to be picked up and cleated. We are very proud to say that we picked up and secured one on the first try!  What a pleasure it was not to be at a dock for the night!

Tuesday 5 September we walked along Port Washington's waterfront and came across a "historical art park".  Through art and explanatory plaques we learned that frostbiting (racing year-round) began on Manhassett Bay, on which Port Washington sits. I also discovered that the Star class sailboat originated in Port Washington in 1911.  For those interested in yacht design, at the time yacht designers were drawing boats with long keels with their rudders attached to the keel while the Star had a fin keel with the rudder attached to a small skeg, a configuration that proved to be much more efficient but wasn't widely adopted by naval architects until the 1960s.

Wednesday, was a grey day during which I took the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) into Penn Station, rode the subway up to Times Square and the Port Authority bus station and NJ Transit to Secaucus NJ where Sea Safety International is located. The reason for my trip was that we had been encouraged by my brothers to have an EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) which we bought in Jersey City and then discovered that it was preprogrammed to be registered in the U.S. Since we are a Canadian flagged vessel it needed to be registered with the Canadian Beacon Registry, and needed a different unique identification code. Sea Safety is authorized to reprogram our brand of EPIRB. So after a half hour at Sea Safety I reversed my track and was back at the boat at 1400.  In the meantime Karen made muffins, Apple crisp, worked on a blog, read and knitted, I gather fully enjoying a brief respite from my company.  In the evening Bob and Sheila came over to share Karen's pressure cooker beef ragu and the Apple crisp and we again split two Euchre between the boys and girls. I'm amazed that we are still even!

Thursday was a beautiful day with a light breeze during which we actually sailed (no motor) all the way from Port Washington to Huntington. 

On the way I had a nice chat with my oldest brother Adrian who is a licensed captain and had a career driving large motor yachts up to 155' long. He has kindly offered to be our "phone a friend".  He related some of his experience on Long Island Sound and that he set out from Huntington on a leg to Bermuda on a trans Atlantic crossing.

Huntington Harbor is filled with thousands of boats on mooring balls and in slips. We picked up a mooring at the Huntington Yacht Club (first try, and I will let you know when we miss).

Huntington Harbor 

Patrick, who runs the HYC water taxi, gave us a tour of the harbour and told us that nearly all the waterfront is owned by two families!

Friday, Bob's sister-in-law Monica who lives in Huntington, picked Sheila, Karen and I up and gave us a tour of Huntington and left Karen and I to discover it on foot. We had a nice lunch at Coq au Vin Bistro, bought some books at a big independent bookstore and had a coffee. Then Monica picked us up and took us to her beautiful home for dinner. Bob's brother Loren made us margaritas, chicken, burgers and corn in the smoker and together with Loren and Monica's friends Gordy and Charlene we had a wonderful evening.

(L-R) Gordy, Monica, Bob, Sheila, Loren and Charlene

Today we are moving into slips at the yacht club to top up batteries and water tanks. We'll huddle with Bob and Sheila to decide where to go next!

We've been touched by how many people have contacted us to inquire about our location in relation to hurricane Irma and Jose.  We are keeping a close eye on them and don't intend to move south until it looks like they won't impact the Chesapeake. Thanks to all for your concern. 

Stay tuned! 

Welcome to New York

I am shocked that it has been more that a week since we have written a post, and its been a busy one!! So I will try to get caught up!

Since we left Catskill we have gone down the Hudson River and have now docked across from New York City for a whole week. How decadent!

The Hudson Valley is a beautiful sight, with amazing houses along the shore, including quite a few mansions, monasteries and lots of little towns with their church steeples rising up through the hilltops. We even saw West Point Military Academy!

Our first stop down the Hudson was Kingston. We really didn’t have a clue about the town, but found that it had a Marine Museum that had dockage if you became a member. So we are now members of the Hudson River Maritime Museum! This included a tour, which we did right away.  I learned quite a lot about the life of the keepers of lighthouses, of which there are several stately ones that we passed as we went down the river.

Rondout Lighthouse

There was also some information about Henry Hudson the explorer, and the area in general. Very informative! After the museum we walked around the historic lower town which is quite nice.

From Kingston it was a short hop down to Poughkeepsie. We had done some research on this town ahead of time and had discovered that it had the Vanderbilt Mansion, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mansion and Museum, and the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) all very close to the marina. (We have become quite the Uber riders!) So we arrived fairly early at the marina and decided that since we had limited time, and a reservation for a tour of the CIA at 4pm, we could only go to one other venue. So on the advice of the Dockmaster we decided to visit the FDR Mansion and Museum.  Good choice! The mansion has been retained as close to the original as possible, including original furniture and artifacts.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Mansion

The museum was excellent, with a lot of information on FDR’s life and the rise in his political life. We could have spent a lot more time there but had to move on to the CIA. This chef school is one of the most prestigious in the world, with several campuses throughout the States and now overseas as well.  We were taken on the tour by a student, and got to see a few of the hands-on kitchen classes, and even had a freshly baked almond Danish made by the pastry class. After the tour we had dinner in The Tavern, one of the many restaurants on campus, run by, and with cooking by, students. It was a great day.

Culinary Institute of America

The next day was a long one, going from Poughkeepsie to Haverstraw Marina, a huge marina with 850 slips, and not much else. Laundry was done and a quiet night had, as we had to get up bright and early the next day to catch the current/tide to get down to New York City.

We have been learning quickly about tides and currents, and the best way to get downstream is to catch the current running the same way as you are going, which gives you a little push and makes you go faster over the ground than normal.  Once the tide changes then you are running against it and this can slow you down by several knots, not a good thing if you need to get somewhere by a certain time. So that meant leaving the dock at 6 a.m. to ride the current into NYC.

Which was great, except we got there by 10:30, and our slip was not available until noon. So we turned off the motor, and slowly sailed into NYC Harbour, one of the busiest places I have sailed. You have to keep out of the way of all the ferries, which are coming at you from every direction. Of course it didn’t help that we arrived on a Sunday, which I'm sure is the busiest day of the week for boating. But we were able to get very close to the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island, and got some great photos.

Statue of Liberty

We are at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, which is a very nice and quiet marina away from the hustle bustle and waves of the harbour and across the river from Lower Manhattan. It has a ferry right at the end of our dock that takes us right into the World Trade Centre district.  We have been busy exploring the city, including two Broadway shows so far; School of Rock, which was really fun, and Beautiful, The Carol King Story, which was excellent. We have seen the 9/11 Museum, which was heart breaking, and even managed to find a rooftop bar on the 54^th floor of the Hyatt Hotel. Spectacular views!! We are getting very good at negotiating the subway and ferry system and walking, walking, walking!

Yesterday we went  to the Tenement Museum which gives you an intimate look at the lives of the German immigrants living in the lower east side tenement buildings and working in the area. We then walked down through Chinatown, little Italy and Soho, and capped the night off with a visit to Arlene's Grocery, a funky little nightclub in the Lower East Side that Hugh had read about in his guide book, and had a private show by two acoustic guitar singer-songwriters.

We are booked here until Sunday and then must make a decision on where to go next. We have decided that we are a little early to be heading into the Chesapeake, so are looking into going up into Long Island Sound. I think I am almost done with being a New Yorker!

The calendar says we have now been gone two months, and I can tell you its gone by so fast, we have done so much, and gone so far its really hard to believe. I have my moments of homesickness which I'm sure is very normal on a trip of this magnitude. We have become great friends with Bob and Sheila, our "buddy boat", and it is so nice to have someone to share the same emotions, frustrations and joy that come with this trip. We are very much like-minded and share the same vision of this journey. 

Sheila & Bob our cruising companions

So Stage 3 now is officially done ... we made it to NYC!

Stay tuned for the next stage ... one day at a time.