Getting there

Yes, that's the Maine State flag above, just photographed by Sheila at Ft McClary in Kittery Point, MAINE. In the week since the last blog entry we have crossed Long Island Sound, done the CT shore, the RI shore, Buzzards Bay, crossed Cape Cod then Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts Bay, and today up the NH coast to land in Maine!

 

Backing up to last Wednesday, we left Port Jefferson NY after a 2 night stay there and crossed the Sound to Guilford CT, a 30 nm run towards the NE. We stayed the night at Guilford Municipal Marina, which would not have worked if we arrived at low tide or in peak season, but for this stop it was a good fit for us. SIL Connie soon showed up and took all of us to her and brother Steve's house (Steve was working in Providence) on nearby Mulberry Point. The dogs played with their lab Seamus and I grabbed a shower and after we returned the dogs to Spray the 3 of us had a great supper at Whitfields restaurant on the Guilford town green.

 

On Thursday we headed back out into the Sound and turned east. Our goal was Fishers Island but 2 things combined to scrap those plans. First, the wind/wave situation degraded after a few hours and second, brother Steve freed himself from work and was available for a dinner that night, which wouldn't be possible on an island. So after only 22 miles of cruising we bailed up into the CT river and into North Cove at Old Saybrook CT. Connie and Steve both showed up and we 4 dined at Penny Lane Pub.

 

On Friday the wind/waves in the Sound were bigger than we liked so we stayed another day in Old Saybrook. There was on/off rain so we caught up on reading aboard Spray, all though we did get to shore for lunch.

 

So it was Saturday when we actually made it to Fishers Island, which is a unique place. Close to the CT shore, its actually part of NY State. It has many beautiful homes and one of the worlds best golf courses. It was only an 18 mile cruise for us to reach West Harbor there and grab one of many empty moorings.

 

[Let me take a minute to mention that, for the last month or so, we have been traveling parallel to peak springtime, which means that the trees have just leafed out, the flowering trees are in full bloom, and the local boating seasons are not yet underway. Some towns have their docks up and running and some (Old Saybrook) don't. Mooring fields are mostly empty so we often can grab a handy mooring to tie to overnight.]

 

We really enjoyed our visit to Fishers Island. We walked much of its west end and it was really beautiful. The island apparently has about 200 year round residents and in the summer the population must at least triple when the 1%ers show up. A nice place to visit pre-season. Check out the view from the golf course.

On Sunday we continued eastwards, trying to time our travel to avoid fighting the fierce tidal current that fills/empties the Sound. With following wind and waves we crossed the whole of Rhode Island during the 48 mile cruise. The last few miles were hairy as we turned left, taking the waves abeam until we entered the Westport River, pushing against strong outgoing current. We tied onto an available mooring at Westport MA and waited for the current and wind to settle down before we dinghied to the nearby beach for a long walk.

 

Monday was Buzzards Bay day, cruising about 30 miles up the bay, hugging its west side some to minimize wave size. We arrived in Onset MA to the Onset Bay Marina and took on 90 gallons of diesel (@$3.98), filled the water tank, and pumped the holding tank. For our night's stay we rented a mooring from the marina.

 

Tuesday was a big day. We left Onset at 8:30 am to catch the flooding tide through the Cape Cod Canal, then turned north for a 40+ mile straight run across Cape Cod Bay and Massachusetts Bay to Gloucester MA, for a total run of 60 miles. That long run straight shot was a slog, with annoying waves on our bow for a good portion of it. Plus doing 7 hours offshore like that, with glacial progress, gets kind of boring. But finally we made it into Gloucester's inner harbor to tie to a city mooring. It was take out pizza for us that evening.

 

Today (Wednesday) we had perfect conditions for a cruise around Cape Ann, then straight to the entrance of the Picataqua River to Kittery Point MAINE! We are on a town mooring. After a visit to nearby Ft McClary for dog play we returned to Spray just before the fog rolled in to create some traditional Maine scenery.

 

From here we head to Portland, then maybe Boothbay Harbor and then maybe Castine by Saturday. We'll see.

 

 

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Wotta Day!

Sunday was a BIG day for us :

 

80 nm in about 11 1/2 hours. Beats our old record by about 20 nm.

 

Barnegat Light NJ to Port Washington NY. Left Barnegat anchorage just after 8 am.

 

Half the Jersey Coast. First real 'beach day' of spring, especially at Gunnison Beach near the top of Sandy Hook. Saw 3 whales! Finback?

Perfect timing of the tides to enter Verrazano Narrows (2 knot current pushing us), cross upper NY Harbor, up the East River (2 - 4 knot current pushing us), and into Long Island Sound.

 

Several tour boats and towboats on the East River. A couple cruise ships departing NY Harbor.

Hells gate was quite a ride : big standing waves just south of it. Big whirlpools just north of it. Saw 11.2 knots on the GPS when turning rpm for 6.5 knots.

 

As we entered LI Sound we passed NYS Maritime Academy and US Merchant Marine Academy. Looks like NYSMA's cruise ship could use some paint.

Entered Manhasset Bay and tied to free mooring by 7:30 pm and had enough daylight left to walk dogs in Port Washington.

 

Easy 36 nm cruise yesterday (Monday) east to Port Jefferson NY. Amazingly calm except for final hour. Too windy to cross the Sound today so we hang on the rented mooring here and watch the ferries come and go. Guilford CT tomorrow.

 

But Sunday was quite a day.

 

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Jersey Coast

 

We are half way up the coast of New Jersey, doing our travel 'outside' in the big North Atlantic, rather than inside on the windy, shoaly, NJICW. Since leaving St Michaels MD on Tuesday we've been making good time.

 

We had easy travel Tuesday heading straight north from St Michaels and passing through Kent Island Narrows, then out the mouth of the Chesterton River and up the east side of the northern Chesapeake. Our 47 nm of cruising brought us up into the Sassafras River and to Turner Creek, where we had spent a few nights on our southbound trip. We like this anchorage as it is right off a county park that provides good space for dog play.

In the evening we rowed the dinghy up into a shallow cove and were amazed by what we were told are 'mud carp' swimming under the oozy mud. We couldn't really see the fish, which can be quite large, but saw their wakes in the mud as they swam around the boat. We saw other critters there too.

Wednesday had 2 cruise goals : to fill up Spray's fuel tanks and to set ourselves up for attacking Delaware Bay. After we left Turner Creek we first went 5 miles farther up the Sassafras to Georgetown Yacht Basin, where their low $3.50/gal price made the 10 mile round trip worthwhile, and we took on 110 gallons. Plus the Sassafras is beautiful. It was a comfortable day for cruising.

Then we headed back to the Chesapeake and turned northeast. The Bay quickly narrowed to become the C & D Canal, and with nice assisting current we transited through to the Delaware River.

We tucked in behind Reedy Island and pushed south for a few miles to a handy anchorage. Well, sorta handy in that we first dropped the hook near a boat ramp, where it was quite choppy from SE winds coming up the Delaware Bay. We launched the dinghy and took the dogs to shore for draining (our first steps in Delaware), then back to Spray, hoist the dinghy, and cruise a half mile back to the lee of Reedy Island where we re-anchored for a much more comfortable night.

 

So Thursday morning we are at the top of Delaware Bay, and the tide is just starting to ebb, so we repeat the boat ramp / dog draining process and start down the Bay for the 48 mile run to Cape May. Its daunting to note that we still have a long way to travel back to Maine, and that from here on almost all of the travel will be in big waters. No more protected ICW.

Conditions in the Bay were OK, and we had nice assisting current for about 2/3 of the trip. By 3 pm we were turning into the Cape May Canal and soon pulled into South Jersey Marina, where we had reserved dockage. We had time for a quick walk downtown, past many beautiful homes. Spring was in full bloom. That night it was laundry time and supper at a good Mexican restaurant.

 

Friday's goal was Atlantic City. We awoke to thick fog, so we delayed leaving a bit, which gave us time for breakfast at the marina's adjacent restaurant. The fog lifted, at least at the marina, so we headed out the Cape May inlet into the big Atlantic and turned NE up the Jersey Coast. Unfortunately it was still very foggy out there, with maybe 500 ft visibility, so even though it was cool and damp we piloted from the flying bridge as that is where Spray's radar display is.

 

There were east winds and ocean swells on our beam, and we had decided that we would try the outside and if we didn't like it we would pull a u-turn back into the inlet and then feel our way up the NJICW, which would be a much longer route. It was Katie Bopp who made the decision by getting very comfortable in her bed as Spray rocked and rolled. We figured, if its good with her, its good with us, and so it was 6 hours of bouncy travel up the outside for Spray and crew. It was about 4 pm when we turned into the Absecom Inlet and then into the Brigantine Anchorage. It was still foggy enough that we couldn't see the casino towers in A.C.

 

The dogs like this anchorage as there is a nice beach to visit, which we did after their supper. After dog play we had a nice mini adventure using the dinghy's massive 2.5 HP motor to provide a tow to a nice boating family with outboard problems.

 

Today (Saturday) we were up early, played on the beach, and pulled anchor before 8 am to head back out into the ocean to continue up the coast, this time a 30 mile run up to Barnegat Inlet. It was still bouncy and we made the mistake of starting out driving from the salon, which Katie didn't like and made Sheila queasy too. Soon we transferred up to the flying bridge. As we neared Barnegat we had a traveling companion for 5 minutes or so and even though Sheila was driving, she was able to take some photos also.

By 12:30 we bounced into the tricky inlet here and are now in a protected anchorage.

 

So we are a little more than half way up the Jersey coast. Right now Sheila is baking corn bread in our oven to go with some chili. Smells good! Tomorrow the conditions look good to make a long 48 mile run on the outside to the top of Sandy Hook. Once there we will decide whether to cruise 4 more miles south to Atlantic Highlands, or continue 15 miles farther north into NY Harbor to anchor behind Lady Liberty. Stay tuned to find out!

 

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Up the Chesapeake

Last Thursday the weather reports improved enough for us to leave our slip at the Hampton (VA) Public Pier at about 11 am, get our holding tank pumped, and head out Hampton Roads Inlet then hang a left to start up the 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay.

 

Rather than repeat stops made on the southbound trip we tried to hit some new ports. We were partly successful. For example, instead of shooting for Deltaville VA that night we went to nearby Gwynn's Island and passed through Milford Haven Inlet to anchor off the SeaBreeze restaurant. The nearby boat ramp provided the necessary dinghy dock access for dog walks. I had wanted to shorten the trip by coming in from the east via a channel known as 'Hole in the Wall' but it was near low tide and a call to the local Towboats US captain for advice yielded this response :

'You might try it but it'll be tight. Near marker 8 you'll find depths of 3 to 3.5 ft. But if you get stuck I'll be happy to come out and pull you off.'

That decided it....the long way around the island for us, which made the day's run a longish 42 nm.

 

For a bigger deviation from southbound travels on Friday morning we pulled anchor at a leisurely 10 am for a shorter 28 mile run to unique Tangier Island, nearer to the east side of the bay. We had read the very interesting Wikipedia entry on Tangier and were looking forward to a visit. We weren't disappointed, beginning with meeting the owner of Parks Marina, 83 year old Milton Parks. After tying Spray to his face dock he gave us (all 4 of us!) an extended tour of the island in his golf cart. Milton was born there and spent most of his working life fishing the local waters, and he knows everyone and everything about his island. Here he is aboard his beautiful 45' wooden crabbing boat.

The 2 industries on Tangier are fishing (mostly crabbing) and more recently, tourism. The 600 or so occupants are squeezed onto not many acres of buildable land (which are eroding away) so houses and yards are small, roads are sized for golf carts, and many of the small yards are packed with the graves of earlier residents, plus lots of cats.

We had an interesting evening walk, first seeing the town's dozen or so high school prom goers (we hit prom night!) parade in their best dress around town as residents snapped photos, then dodging the locals as they zipped around the island in their carts, which is apparently the thing to do on Friday night. We also had a crabby supper at Lorraine's Restaurant.

 

Saturday morning we headed out into the bay before 8 am. I had hoped to pick another new stop for us for Saturday night but there was no good option within range, other than to head back to the west side of the bay and after 40 miles of cruising, return to Solomons MD, dropping anchor off Zahnisers Marina, just as we had back in early November. Turns out it was a lucky choice as we walked the dogs to the nearby Calvert Marine Museum which happened to be having a festival day and admission was free! Lots of people having fun, live music, and many activities. I got a kick out of the 'build your own toy boat' activity for kids where they apparently assemble the boats with small wooden mallets : tap tap tap tap tap........

Here's the Calvert Museum viewed from Spray's anchorage :

 

Yesterday (Sunday) morning we left early for a long 52 mile run from Solomons to St Michaels MD, again crossing the bay from west to east. Weather predictions included a gale warning for west winds 20-30 knots so we hugged the bay's western shore as we cruised north then turned east and surfed downwind on 3-4 ft waves for 2 hours. Steering Spray under those conditions is tiring as she wants to yaw from side to side. At 3 pm we dropped anchor in Fogg Cove and rowed into the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum dinghy dock. We joined the museum back in October and our membership gives us free dinghy dock access and use of their showers, so we are comfortable in St Michaels.

There's a nice lawn area nearby for dog play, and we've already patronized a couple of restaurants. We'll stay 2 nights here and continue northwards tomorrow.

 

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