New Jersey to Chesapeake Bay

Back again... not an overly exciting week, just hard cruising. After our last entry, the next day we headed out to Atlantic City on the Atlantic... not a bad motor sail and actually ended up going further to Ocean City. (Ocean City is the site, I believe, where the Amusement Park was that got destroyed by Hurricane Sandy . You will recall the news clips of the roller coaster, just sitting in the ocean, , totally pummeled by the storm. While crossing over the Atlantic City inlet, we saw some whales, not sure the type,.. humpback or "write"? whales . Saw several schools of silver fish about 1-2' in length , just breaking the surface of the water ... hundreds of them following us while we kept motoring on..
Our journey from Ocean City to Cape May was a tough slug, in 4-5 ' following seas, a bit too much for the Admiral to handle the wheel as we were surfing up and down waves for 4 hours. Winds were 15-20 kn with gusts to 25.. with a weather advisory. In hindsight we would have been better to wait the day. Boat and crew were fine, but just an exhausting 30 mile jaunt down the coast.
Got into Cape May and took a slip for the night, did some laundry and provisioned up .
Cape May to Chesapeake City was a 60 odd mile run up the bay. 13 hours... first 8 hours were great as we left on low tide and current pushed us up stream at 6-8 knots, then we had to slug the last bit out at 4-5 knot taking on the outgoing tide. We hit the D &C canal on low tide and we had to fight the last 14 miles up current. Arrived at Chesapeake City at 7:30pm Saturday night and anchored in the harbor. Next day entered into Chesapeake bay and made it to Rock Hall Landing  (40 miles) downstream.  The winds were strong and the 2 knot current made for a noisy and rocky night on the hook, There was a small craft advisory for the next day, so we decided to stay over another day. The rest didn't hurt either. Today we are in the Solomon Islands, about half way down the Chesapeake.
As I mentioned we did a lot of traveling this week, as the weather window was relatively in our favor, but just cold.

Mellowing out after 9 hours motoring

Crabbers on the Chesapeake

Atlantic City

 

Sunset  New Jersey Shore

See you next week. So far about 1250 miles completed, just over half way. Boat and wife still loving it, but it sure is hard work...

NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY

Well , we are now in New Jersey having set sail from NYC , on out going tide this morning. Seas and weather were in our favor, so rather than tucking in at Sandy Hook, we made 61 miles and are now 40 miles from Atlantic City. Should be heading down Delaware Bay on Saturday.  Seas were relatively calm , with 5-6 ' swells, manageable but over time takes it out on you physically. Wind was on our bow most of the day and when it did finally switch to the south east we were too tired to hoist the sails. We averaged 6 knots today over 10 hours.
Since last blog, we spent 2 days in the Catskills ,  one day putting up mast and the other fitting the boat as we decided to stay due to rain.. We then headed downstream on the Hudson and spent 2 nights in NYC. Ventured over to Staten Island, Times Square, World trade Centre. Had to pick up some charts at West Marine as well as provision up the boat. 79West Street Basin at $30 per night was a steal, but the first night the 20 knot winds opposed the stiff currents and tides , so lead to a very rocky night... second night was much more cooperative as the wind died.  Heading out this morning, NYC harbor was busy with ferry and taxi service... fortunately no cruise ships in this day... was a bit of freighter and barge traffic as we headed by Lady Liberty and Ellis Island heading for the 140 odd trip on the North Atlantic.
Here are some , see you in a week.. Forgot to say I am now in jeans, and on occasions toque and gloves as the mornings have dropped down to mid 40's.

Bannerman's Arsenal on the Hudson River

Sunset over Bannerman's

West Point

79 West Street Boat Basin

Lady Liberty

Manhattan Skyfront

World Trade Centre

Times Square

Waterford , NY (Blog while I can ,FREE)

Here are the pics I couldn't upload last time ... Montreal & Freighters

 

Now on to new things

 

 

We have been down the Richelieu River, Chambly Canal, Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal to rest at Waterford New York.  1 more lock and we are FREE on the Hudson and then down to New York City. We will be  putting the mast up in a couple of days.

 

So far we have traveled over 750 miles, 68 or so locks in just over 3 weeks.  Who said this was easy, last few days on the Champlain canal our electronic charts would not zoom in to anything less than 3 miles, at least they gave a general direction of the river course ... the detail on depth was not there. The hard copy charts were not much better... thank goodness the canal is well "buoyed'

Had one soft grounding on one poorly marked channel, at least as Capt'n , I take the prerogative to say the charts failed (LOL)  ... no harm done... several deadhead in these waters so you had to stay alert..

 

I erred on naming the mountains in my previous blog.. these are the Adirondacks and parts of them were breathless.. a bit  overwhelming. Passing areas at 6 kts per hour , you were able to spend time watching them at various angles and vantage points. In a car which we have done before, they are still wonderful but I was usually driving and at 60 miles an hour. This is so basic and I truly am fortunate. I' ll save my "Deliverance"  movie story until I see you in person. I dared not take out my banjo at 1 town we stopped at.

 

Anyway enjoy these few pics of Lake Champlain.

 

Ciao for now.

FINALLY HEADING SOUTH Sept 6-14

Been a rather uneventful week, lots of travel and we are finally at latitude 44N 50.929 ... Barrie is 44.389.29. Get this we went as high as 46N ,022.94 to get to Sorely , QC, before we started heading south.... over 2 weeks to, 450 odd miles to go farther north... what's wrong with this picture?
Coincidentally 46N is the same or close as the entrance to North Channel in Georgian Bay..

To answer my own question, what's wrong with this picture .....absolutely nothing.

Tonight we are sitting on the hook in New York , still on the Richelieu river, about 5 miles north of Lake Champlain... head to Burlington, Vermont tomorrow.. Cleared US Customs with no hitches... need to check in with US Border Patrol, when we essentially go from State to State..

Being September, weather is unpredictable , unbearable yesterday with the high humidity and having to deal with 10 locks as we climbed almost 90' feet from the St Lawrence river to Lake Champlain.
Last night , high winds and T-storms so we took a mooring on the lock at St Jean sur Richelieu.
A few things I'm still fortunate for...
Don't have to deal with the freighter traffic , that we did on the St Lawrence. Secondly, still haven't had to wear a pair of long pants since early June, except the occasional rain gear. I know my days are numbered on this second point as we head into Lake Champlain where the Green Mountains and Adirondack Mountains meet. Going down to 50 on Monday, so  will be a tough one to face in shorts and sandals...
Since  last entry we have been to Montreal, up to Sorely , QC and down the Richelieu. We are still 250-280 miles north of New York City and estimate about 2 weeks to get there. Will put the mast back up in about 10 days as we get south of Troy, NY , in the Catskills.

Here are some pic's of what we have seen/done.

Jo working the locks in St Lawrence.

Montreal