Baltimore!

Since last blog entry we've been exploring the upper Chesapeake, with stops in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of somewhere. Again, wind and waves have impacted our travels.

 

Last Wednesday we left Chesapeake City in the afternoon and turned west in the C & D Canal which soon widened into the upper Chesapeake Bay. A NW wind came up putting waves on our beam, so we 'tacked' a few times until we reached the mouth of the Sassafras River to port. We traveled 3 miles up the river until we turned into Turner Creek. The entrance there is tight, and keeping green markers to port seems like it'll put you in the woods, but it works. We anchored with about 2' of water below Spray's keel.

 

Turner Creek was beautiful, which is a good thing since windy conditions kept us there for 3 nights when we had planned on 2. A very short row away was Turner Creek County Park, with a grassy area for dog play. You can sort of see the park pavilion below.

On Thursday we hiked (and hiked!) through woods and between corn fields. We tried moving on Friday morning at first light since the NOAA marine forecast called for small craft advisory starting at 9 am so we hoped for a couple hours of relative calm to move 12 miles down the bay. Nope. We were barely into the Sassafras when we hit 3+ ft. waves and knew it would be worse out in the bay, so we executed what Jeff Siegel calls the most difficult maneuver in boating : the U-turn. Easy physically but not psychologically. Back into Turner Creek, dropped our anchor in the same hole it had left, and had pancakes cooking by 8:30. Spent the day in the park and loafing on the boat.

 

It was Saturday morning that we finally resumed travel down the Bay, but not very far. We were planning on making it to Baltimore but after a calm start the wind and waves began building so we bailed out into Fairlee Creek, which also has a challenging entrance. Fairlee is a long and wide 'creek' (what we call coves and harbors in Maine are usually called creeks here) and I foolishly dropped the anchor right in the middle of it so we were exposed to some chop. Not bad for Spray but it made for a bumpy dinghy ride to a protected beach. We walked the area for a few hours (soybeans here) and watched the scene at the local marina as people put their boats to bed for winter.

 

So it was Sunday (yesterday) that let us get out of Fairlee Creek, down the Bay some, then a right turn up the Patapsco River and cruise 10 miles up to Baltimore, aka 'Charm City'. We did a short tour up to the head of the harbor, then back down to the Canton neighborhood where we pulled into Anchorage Marina, which is large and well situated. Hot showers and shopping were quickly accomplished.

 

Today the 4 of us walked Baltimore's impressive shore path up to the inner harbor, had lunch here, then I minded the dogs while Sheila toured this. Quite a different environment from the rural creeks of recent days. The weather was the best we've seen in a few weeks and we all like Baltimore. Tonight we left the dogs guarding Spray (by sleeping apparently) and went restaurant/bar hopping in the neighborhood in an attempt to satisfy some of Sheila's cravings :

- for fried oysters and beer we went here

- for hand-cut French fries and beer we went here

- for apple pie and coffee we went here

 

Tomorrow we head back down the Patapsco, then only a few miles down the Bay to the boaters haven of Annapolis, which we're looking forward to.

 

 

 

 

 

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Entering Chesapeake Bay

While we still have good internet access I'll post our travels since Atlantic City:

Sunday night we had a calm stay at the Brigantine anchorage across the Absecom channel from Atlantic City. The pooches really liked the sandy point at the entrance to our anchorage. Monday was a calm sunny day, perfect for going outside and cruising off the beach for 35 miles down to Cape May NJ. The only downside to that cruise was the tide timing as we had 3 knot opposing (flood) current to fight getting out the Absecom Inlet, then 2 knot opposing (now ebb) current getting into the Cape May inlet.

Monday night we splurged for a marina slip at the South Jersey Marina, which is the closest one in Cape May for a walk downtown, which is what we did after we were settled in. Cape May is a beach resort town and quite nice even though its post season so 2/3 of the stores were closed up. The town must be hopping in Summer. Staying at the marina allowed us to take long hot showers, do laundry (they have cool equipment that emails you when your loads are done), and to depart with full water and empty holding tanks, which are all good things. We also enjoyed great Mexican food at '5 de Mayo' across from the marina.

Yesterday we departed the marina at first light (which is 7 am now), crossed the Cape May peninsula via the canal, and were spit out into lower Delaware Bay, where we turned right and headed up the bay for a long slog in choppy conditions (waves were from abeam which we don't like). Fortunately, and for the first time, the tides timed perfectly for us, giving us a 1-2 knot boost for all of the 48 miles up the bay, plus for the 12 miles in the C & D canal, which connects Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, until at 3:30 we ducked into the lagoon here at Chesapeake City MD.

Four years ago when I anchored here Spray was the only boat but this time we shared the small lagoon with 7 cruising sailboats (5 of which were from Canada), so space was a bit tight. They have 2 dinghy docks here, one at the town and one at a grassy park. After 60+ miles aboard Spray (longest passage of the trip so far) the dogs were most happy to hit that park. After walking the town (at least a dozen gift shops, zero food stores) we, all 4 of us, dined al fresco at the Chesapeake Inn for supper.

This morning we played in the park, walked around more, and generally loafed until the current in the canal becomes favorable to continue on into the Chesapeake. We are aiming for Turner Creek, off the Sassafras River, about 20 miles from here. That is a very rural area so we'll see if we have Internet coverage there.

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Shallow Water

Hello from Atlantic City!

Yesterday we broke free of the NYC area, leaving Atlantic Highlands / Sandy Hook at first light and hugging the NJ shore (1,000 - 2,000 ft. off the beach) as we headed south. We had calm conditions (except for the wakes from a thousand fisherman heading out) until 11 am when we reached the Manasquan inlet. We didn't turn in but continued to the next major inlet at Barnegat. A SSE wind kicked up and added some chop off the port bow, and we were glad to finally turn into the inlet.

While our timing with the winds/waves was OK, our timing with tides was poor as we had to fight 3 knot opposing currents and standing waves as we plowed into the inlet. Eventually we worked our way inside to a protected cove and dropped anchor in time to explore the resort town of Barnegat some, and of course empty the dogs.

Today we awoke to strong NW winds so we took the 'inside route' towards Atlantic City. This serpentine route takes a 30 mile straight line route and stretches it to 40 miles, and snakes us through Barnegat Bay, which is 10 miles wide and 2 feet deep. Since Spray needs 4 ft. of water we need to carefully stay in the channels that comprise the NJICW.

Apparently New Jersey has done some recent dredging, so most of the channels were OK, with 6-7 ft. depths. The problem areas are at inlets, where fast tidal currents redistribute sediments to cause shoal areas faster than any dredging program can keep up. In fact the charts usually don't show channel marker locations at inlets, as the Coast Guard is constantly moving and adding channel markers as needed.

At mid-day today we passed the Little Egg Harbor inlet which exhibited these shoaling issues, and we were following another power boat 'Splendor', which is helpful as you assume they will impact any shoaling first and thus warn you. In one section where we were warned of shoaling, we could see where the Coast Guard had added a couple of extra small channel markers to reroute traffic around shallow sections. One such marker looked squarish shaped, so we assumed it was a green marker which we would keep to the right of, and sure enough, 'Splendor' did just that. But Sheila is looking through the binoculars and announces that the new marker is red, so we veer to the left of it and we find 6+ ft. of depth there.

All seems OK until a few minutes later when 'Splendor' makes a quick U-turn and heads back past us. We exchange some garbled radio communication that leaves us confused as to what happened. Our first guess is that they saw numbers on their depth finder that scared them enough to abort travel, so we slow to a near stop and carefully watch our depth finder, but depths were OK as we crawl ahead.

The mystery was soon solved when we heard 'Splendor' radio the Coast Guard announcing that they had just sheared a propellor shaft and were taking on some seawater. Apparently passing to the right of that red marker was a bad idea and we were lucky not to blindly follow them. Fortunately their leak was small enough for bilge pumps to handle and they were headed to a nearby boatyard for repairs.

So off we snaked through more channels until reaching our present anchorage near Atlantic City. Now that we have had our taste of the NJICW, and the winds are diminished, we're planning on heading outside for tomorrow's run to Cape May. Stay tuned!

 

 

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Trivia

1) The bluffs here at Atlantic Highlands NJ are the highest point on the eastern seaboard south of Maine.

2) The New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway runs 118 miles from Manasquan Inlet (30 miles from here) to Delaware Bay.

3) Tonight has a full moon, which we last saw from Sequin Island.

4) Spray departed Castine one month ago today.

Still trying to break free....

...of the NYC area. Not that it's bad. In fact it's been quite hospitable for the past 11 days :

 

- First at Port Washington, in Manhasset bay on Long Island, from last Monday until this Tuesday.

- Then for a night behind Lady Liberty, at New Jersey's Liberty State Park.

- Now for 2, probably 3 nights at Atlantic Highlands NJ, behind Sandy Hook.

 

The problem is that these stays are keeping us from our main goal - Moving South! Up to now the culprit has been NE winds that make the passage outside of the Jersey shore inadvised. Today the winds finally shifted to the south and are turning to come from the west, and that's just what we want to knock down the ocean swells, but now the problem is gonna be too much west wind, as tomorrow they predict 20-30 knot W winds and have small craft advisories posted. So we'll likely hang here until Saturday.

So we are still in 'make the best of it' mode, and that's been helped by the nice locations we've been. I've already written some about Port Washington NY, and we did enjoy our 8 nights on a transient mooring there. On Tuesday morning we finally untied from that mooring, went to the town dock to pump out our holding tank, next to a marina to fill the water tank and buy 2.5 gallons of gas (for generator and dinghy outboard), then out and under the Throgs Neck Bridge to be flushed down the East River, with 5 knots of current pushing us through the Hell's Gate section.

Around the south tip of Manhatten, past Lady Liberty (which had just reopened thanks to NY State money), and into a small anchorage just behind Liberty Island. We walked the NJ state park there, which is quite large and has great views of LL's butt and Manhatten Island.

Wednesday we left at a leisurely 10 am and rode the tidal current down upper NY Harbor, out through Verrazano Narrows, then across lower NY Harbor to Atlantic Highlands NJ, where we presently swing on our anchor behind their breakwater. This place was creamed by Sandy last October but has made an amazing restoration effort, with all new deluxe marina facilities. Ah, the power of federal money.

 

Today we had lunch with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim, who live in nearby Shrewsbury and drove up to see us. It was great to see them and catch up on family doings.

 

Original plan was to head out tomorrow, 4 miles north to round Sandy Hook, then down the Jersey shore, but as mentioned above strong W winds tomorrow will likely postpone that until Saturday, so here we wait. There's a farmers market here tomorrow so we'll make the best of that.

 

It's all good.

 

 

 

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Juice

We're on our 4th day here in Port Washington NY, waiting for a weather window to transit NYC and then go outside around the Jersey Coast. Weather predictions still say it could be a week before that latter part is possible.

So we're making the best of it, and are fairly comfortable tied to a yellow 'transient mooring' ball. It's an easy dinghy ride to the town dock, where there is a park for the dogs, plus downtown restaurants and stores. Or we can dinghy a little farther to the newer dock which is right opposite a large grocery store and a short walk from a mini-mall with a movie multiplex. Yesterday we saw 'Gravity' in 3D, which was cool, and soon we'll probably see 'The Butler'.

It's good that we have easy access to groceries, so we can buy perishables daily, as we only run our fridge for 2 hrs/day or so, which keeps its contents cool but not cold.

Which brings us to today's topic 'Juice', or electricity. Hanging on this mooring, without access to shore power and without running our main diesel engine, presents some minor challenges to maintaining a supply of electricity aboard Spray.

Let's start with a description of Spray's electrical systems. There are two, a 110 VAC system just like in a typical home, and a 12 VDC system as in a typical car. We can transfer power between the 2 systems, with a battery charger to convert AC power to DC power, and an inverter to convert DC to AC.

The 12 VDC system stores energy in a large 4D marine deep cycle battery, which we call the house battery.

This battery sits in the engine room to starboard of the diesel. Another similar battery sits to port of the diesel. It's the starting battery and is used only to crank over the main diesel. The idea is that if you drain your house battery too much using fridge, lights, etc. you still always have energy in your starting battery to start the diesel. Both batteries can be charged by the main diesel (via an alternator that is belt driven from the diesel, same as in a car) or via the battery charger which pulls power from the AC system. Additionally, the house battery can be charged by 3 solar panels I installed 2 years ago on the front of the flying bridge.

Now for some numbers on the DC system. It's typical to describe power flow using amps. Since its a constant 12 volt system you can easily get proper power units of watts by multiplying amps by 12 (P = I x V = amps x volts).

 

For charging the house battery the diesel's alternator can output about 50 amps, but would only do that much if the house battery was almost fully discharged. It outputs less as the battery charges, typically in the 5-30 amp range. The battery charger can supply 10 amps to the house battery, and the solar panels can output about 10 amps also, under ideal conditions.

 

For draining the house battery we have several devices. The primary one is the fridge, which draws 5 amps (and runs at least 50% of the time we have it on). Next is lights, but we've switched most lighting to LED bulbs which reduces that power draw considerably. For instance our 4 ceiling lights in the salon draw a total of only 0.8 amps. Other power draws are short term and intermittent, and usually through the inverter such as when we plug a small vacuum cleaner into the 110 VAC circuit. The vacuum draws a lot of amps, but usually for a short time.

 

Now let's do some energy calculations on the DC side. Energy is power x time and is usually expressed in amp-hours (multiply by 12 to get watt-hours). The house battery is rated to hold 200 amp-hours of energy, but to extend its life I try not to discharge it by more than half that (even less if I can). So if we arrive at an anchorage with the house battery fully charged (meaning the diesel's alternator did its job), we can then run the fridge full bore for 20 hours (5 amps x 20 hours = 100 amp-hours) before I would freak out, so we're good until we start moving the next day. But since we've been doing some short passages of 3-5 hours I've been being conservative by running the fridge all day and evening, but turning it off while we sleep, so it usually draws the battery down by 40-50 amp-hours between passages.

 

Compared to the fridge, lights and other loads are negligible so I don't worry about those. The fridge is my taskmaster.

 

Now to the 110 VAC side. The AC power sources are the inverter (converts energy from the house battery) and 'shore power'. When we are in a marina slip, shore power is exactly as described, with a cable connecting 110 VAC power from a dock fixture to a socket on Spray. Then we have the luxury of running all the gadgets we want, including a small electric space heater, and simultaneously charging the batteries via the battery charger. When we are at anchor or a mooring for an extended period, we have another source of 'shore power' :

This portable Honda generator converts energy from gasoline into nice 110 VAC, at a rate of up to 2,000 watts. A nice feature of this unit is that it contains an inverter which allows it to run slowly and quietly at low power levels, so its only loud when you need a lot of power. The cable you see connects this to the Spray's shore power socket.

 

The AC power can go to several places, such as anything we plug into an outlet (vacuum, laptop charger, power tools), or that space heater, or to Spray's 6 gallon water heater, or to the battery charger.

 

Now that we are at a mooring for an extended period of time, we adapt in 2 ways. First we restrict the fridge operation to 2-3 hours/day, which keeps things cool but not cold. We try not to open the fridge door too often. Next we run the red Honda for an hour or two each day to recharge the house battery (we run the fridge during this time). The house battery is a bit low now (70 amp-hrs below full) but we've been gaining a little each day.

 

For these battery recharges the Honda is only outputting 120 watts or so, so it runs quietly. That is unless we want to make some hot water. When we are moving, the main diesel heats water for us (its coolant passes through a coil in the hot water heater), but that's not an option now. So it's up to the Honda to electrically heat the water, which takes 1500 watts and makes the Honda roar pretty loudly for the hour it takes to heat 6 gallons of water. This morning we started that process before heading to shore to walk the dogs, and it finished just as we returned to the boat. So today is shower day.

 

As you can see, it takes some planning and effort to manage Spray's juice, especially when moored or at anchor for more than a day, but we have the tools we need and are making out fine.

 

Any questions?

 

 

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Stuck in Queens?

Yesterday's blog entry ended on a note of doubt.  Would conditions allow us to transit NYC today and reach Sandy Hook NJ for a run outside the Jersey shore tomorrow?

Well all doubt was quickly removed today about an hour after we pulled anchor in Northport. By 10 am the 10-15 knot S winds predicted for the morning became 20-30 knot winds, forcing us to really hug Western Long Island's crenelated north shore, making a 20 mile 'as the crow flies' run into a 30+ mile serpentine route.  So we were quite happy when we tied onto one of Port Washington's (in Manhasset Harbor) yellow transient mooring buoys (free for 2 nights, then $25/night, a great deal).  But the wind kept screaming and there were 2+ ft white capped waves training by us.  Launching the dinghy for a trip to shore seemed suicidal.  We lowered Spray's bimini top before the wind did it for us.  If we had attempted crossing NY harbor in that wind it would have been brutal.

Fortunately at around 4 pm the front passed through with a rainstorm followed by somewhat diminished winds and periodic showers.  This allowed us to dinghy to shore at about 6 pm to empty the dogs and explore downtown (an abundance of kebab restaurants).  It's quieting down now and tomorrow promises moderate N winds and clear skies.

But the forecasts for here and for the Jersey shore then show NE winds beginning Wednesday and continuing as far as the predicters can see, into the middle of next week.  If this holds true (maybe it won't) then we will be staying on this mooring for quite awhile since those NE winds make transiting the Jersey shore a no-go.

So we'll just need to keep monitoring the situation and make the best of it.  Kebabs anyone?

Dealing with weather

Our journey between Maine and Florida will involve a mix of narrow, protected waterways (classic ICW),  and more open bays, sounds, even open ocean.  For these open waters we need to look at weather conditions, both forecasts and real-time reports.

Right now we have a good example of how weather can and will impact our travel schedule.  So far on the trip we've been blessed with great weather.  Yes, some days had more wind than we wanted and sometimes wind directions weren't favorable, but in general we've had lots of sun and warm temps, very few cloudy days, very little rain, almost zero thunderstorms.

This fortunate weather allowed us freedom to pretty much go where we wanted, when we wanted.  Instead of bee lining southwards, we visited islands we had never been to (Seguin, Cuttyhunk, Block), and visited with friends and relatives in Portland, Guilford, and here in Northport.

Now things are changing.  Yesterday we had a fairly long (45 miles) run from Guilford CT across Long Island Sound to Northport NY in fairly calm waters, and it was warm and sunny when we arrived. Today was gray and drippy but that's OK as our plans were to stay and visit with old friend Kevin, whom we hadn't seen in 30+ years.   And that was great.

Tomorrow we resume travel, and I would like to get through NYC to land in New Jersey at Sandy Hook, but the weather report advises no.  Tomorrow morning is predicted to have south winds of 10-15 knots which will be OK as we proceed westwards towards NYC, hugging the north shore of Long Island (so no big fetch).  But the afternoon forecast is for S winds 15-20 knots, with gusts to 25 and small craft warnings, and this is what we would hit as we turn south and pass down the East River, across New York Harbor, and through the Verrazano Straights, with that strong south wind opposing the ebbing tide current, which would build a steep chop.  So the afternoon run could be rather uncomfortable.

So we'll probably layover in Manhasset Bay at mid-day tomorrow, just above the Throgs Neck Bridge, and tie to one of their free moorings overnight.  Tuesday's prediction calls for North winds of 10 knots, and we will have those at our backs as we transit NYC, which should make an easy run to Sandy Hook.  We'll make that trip in the afternoon to catch favorable tides in the East River and under the Verrazano bridge.

Sandy Hook is where cruisers like us wait for a good weather window to do the 'outside' portion of New Jersey, which is a 30, 50, or 80 mile run (depending on which inlet you turn inland at) down the Jersey coast in the open Atlantic.  Right now the predictions indicate that we may have to hang at Sandy Hook for several days since moderate to strong NE winds are predicted Wednesday through Friday.  It's the E in NE that I dislike as any eastern component to the wind means large waves on the Jersey Shore.  I'd much prefer W winds.  Bottom line is that we might get stuck at Sandy Hook for 3 or more days.

These scenarios always have much doubt in them, as you expect with weather predictions, plus some temptations.  For example, what if we reach Manhasset tomorrow by noon and all seems OK for us to proceed through NYC and reach Sandy Hook by tomorrow night?  Then Tuesday's N winds are OK to move down the Jersey shore to the first inlet at Manasquan.  Then we are inside the protected NJ ICW and thus pretty much immune from the wind conditions of the rest of the week, and southwards we boogie.  It's tempting but maybe unwise.  What to do, what to do....

Consumption and Production

We are spending our 2nd night on a free mooring in North Cove at Old Saybrook, CT.  Yesterday's 40 mile run from Block Island was tougher than I expected, with 3 ft. confused seas for the first 2 hours then nasty opposing current of 1-2 knots for the rest of the trip.

Old Saybrook is a nice town with a town dock providing fresh water, which we were low on, so this morning we pumped 110 gallons into Spray's nearly empty water tank.  It turns out that water is the consumable we most often need to replenish.  We had last filled up with water as we left Portland so a tankful lasts about 9 days.  We need to find an accommodating town dock, or stop at a marina, at least that often.

Compare that with diesel fuel.  I just dip-sticked our tanks to find we have used 75 gallons of fuel since Rockland, but we hold 240 gallons so we can wait on fuel.  I like to refuel when about half empty so maybe in NJ I'll be checking the web for a good price on a fill up.

Food we buy when it's convenient, mostly for fresh veggies (we hit a farmers market today in Old Saybrook) and other perishables.  But we have enough rice and cans of beans, soup, etc. that we could probably go a month or so without buying food, if we had to.  We hope to not need to confirm that.

Other needs for stopping now and then has to do with production rather than consumption.  We produce trash and recyclables which I put in large bags in the lazarette (Spray's cellar), but we've found that we never need to accumulate for more than a day or two before we find handy dumpsters at a town landing, including recycling bins.

We also produce sewage ('black water') which is stored in a 35 gallon holding tank that definitely wants to be pumped out before its filled.  It looks like this needs to happen every 3 weeks or so but we'll be very careful with that.  For instance it's about half full now but we plan to get it pumped out tomorrow.

That leaves only 'gray water', which drains from sinks and showers.  For better or worse that goes straight overboard.  This is why marinas provide showers since the high density of boats draining showers overboard would be a problem.

Oh yeah, one more consumable : beer.  I've been buying 12 packs of canned beer (used cans can be crushed and store much better than bottles).   These must be replenished regularly.

Tomorrow morning we make a short 20 mile run westwards to Guilford CT, where a slip at Guilford Yacht Club awaits us for the next 2 nights.  We'll be visiting with my brother and sister and their S.O.'s.