NYC to Virginia

As this is written at the Severn River Marina in Gloucester, Virginia, I am in a very different place from the last stop we made – Liberty Landing Park just off the Hudson River and New York City. We left Port Washington on Monday afternoon, a day later than originally planned, due to a problem with our engine's water pump. Fortunately, I had a spare. Although it wasn't quite up to the engine's demands, we'd used it before and I was confident it would get us back to Virginia where I could order a new one.

The next few days of travel point out to non-cruisers some of the challenges we've found traveling in a boat. But first let me tell you that we thoroughly enjoyed our time in NYC. We left Port Washington in the afternoon because of the tide in the East River. There's a spot called Hell Gate (nice name, don't you think) where the Harlem River enters the East River. The tidal current here can run at 5 knots or better. Since we have trouble doing more than 6 knots, we don't want to arrive at this point with the tide running the wrong way. Hence the afternoon travel. Then we had to go down the east channel where a bridge must open for us. We'd prefer the west channel, since there's no bridge to worry about, but Homeland Security was worried about the UN and so closed the west channel. Our timing was good, though, because shortly after we transited the East River, they closed both channels. We'd have been totally blocked from making our anchorage and would have to return to Port Washington against the tide. Not good. However, we had picked a good time and made our way out to the Hudson, still getting a view of the UN and getting our first look at the new building going up at Ground Zero as well as seeing a number of well-known sky scrapers including the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.

Once out in the Hudson, we worked our way past a number of fast moving ferries and many police and Coast Guard boats all on patrol. Then it was across the Hudson past Ellis Island and Liberty herself. Although I'd been to the Statue of Liberty when we were much younger, going by in our boat was a special treat.

We anchored in NJ at Liberty Park with another couple, Dick & Libby, whom we'd met in Marathon. They'd spent the summer on the Erie Canal and then on Lake Champlain before heading south on the Hudson to NYC. We then spent the next morning on Manhattan, taking the ferry over to the financial district. We walked to a point where we could see much of the construction at Ground Zero and then took a bus around Battery Park over to the old seaport and did a little window shopping and lunch. The energy and cultural diversity of this place is really obvious, and it was worth our brief visit.

As we planned our next move, things began to get complicated. This is where the difference of traveling by boat becomes so apparent. We had to travel down the coast of NJ, and we'd hoped we could make the leg a day trip only and anchor somewhere on the Jersey Shore, but there were no safe inlets for us before Atlantic City. We couldn't reach that point until well after dark, and we had no desire to enter an unknown inlet in the dark. That meant our choices were down to two. Either we'd head all the way down to Cape Charles and the lower end of the Chesapeake in three days and two nights (not very attractive) or go overnight down to Cape May and turn up the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that would take us to the Chesapeake Bay. The problem with that scenario is that the tide current would be running against us for several hours, making it nearly impossible to get to the canal in daylight. Even if we did, we'd have no place to stop until after dark. That didn't sound like a safe choice. We could have waited a few days hoping for better weather, but the tides in the Delaware Bay wouldn't be appropriate for another week. In the end, we decided to do the two night trip down in the ocean. The seas wouldn't be too bad, but the wind and waves would be against us, meaning little sailing and slow going. There was a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast as well. Of course this trip would be with an engine that couldn't run at full power due to the water pump issue mentioned earlier. We get little sleep on overnights. Plus our autopilot wasn't working, so we'd have to steer all the time. This makes the trip doubly tiring.

Our friends we'd met up with at Liberty Landing decided to do the same, since they were interested in getting down to North Carolina soon. It went as well as could be expected, but that wasn't good. We were doing less than 4 knots at times and the engine was running hot. By the time we reached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, our oil pressure alarm went off, telling us we'd lost some oil due to the hot engine. We stopped to add more as the first of several large ships and tugs pulling barges went by. We weren't sure we'd make it to the marina, since we were later stopped by a passing thunder storm. We were in Mobjack Bay at the time, so we just pulled off the side and dropped our anchor until it passed. It turned out to be a brief stop, and we were able to continue our travel, but we arrived at the marina in a downpour. We again dropped the anchor and decided we'd deal with getting into the slip in the morning. We were exhausted and the boat was a mess.

Once we were settled, the rain stopped, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset – a gift to help remind us what an unusually beautiful, serene spot this is. I know we appreciated this quiet spot when we lived here year round. After passing through spectacular scenery of a different sort, we can still appreciate this as well.

Once we're back we deal with all this straightening up. We also catch up on laundry, fill the water tanks, take the dinghy off the back of the boat and begin the preparation for the continued travel as we head down to Florida. That travel won't happen for a few weeks. We've got to work through the engine issues, paint the bottom of the boat and reorganize the boat for our southern experience. This will be the last entry for a while. Once we're ready to leave, I'll report back in. Till then best wishes to one and all.

Captain Bob
Carpe Diem

Heading West on Long Island Sound

When we heard people talk about Long Island Sound, there were comments about The Race at the eastern end, but otherwise not much said about tidal currents. Therefore we were a bit surprised to experience the current most of the time for the past three days.

Knowing that The Race had strong currents, we planned to hit it at the appropriate time. Not knowing all about the area, we didn't choose to go through in the channel but rather a slightly shorter route south of the Race itself. This could have been a mistake in bad weather. The water depth where we traveled went from 130 feet to 270 feet in a very short distance. This created a tidal rip with steep, choppy waves crossing our path – this is otherwise calm weather. In windy weather this rip would have been really nasty. We were lucky but won't make the same mistake again.

Then, however, the tidal current helped carry us the remainder of our day to Truman Beach. Then on the next day as we traveled to Port Jefferson, we had a good push for the entire trip, saving us some time as we tried to get anchored before a front hit. Today we traveled again – this time to Port Washington, and again the tide pushed us most of the day. We were glad to have the luck that the tide was running our way, since we didn't know it was an issue and didn't plan for it.

Traveling Long Island Sound is truly a different experience from our NE travel. The coast looks different, offering no evergreens but lots of bluffs and cliffs overlooking the water. Our stop at Truman Beach was interesting, since it was a beach of pebbles rather than sand. Much of it was quartz and had the look of jelly beans. They almost looked good enough to eat.

Port Jefferson was a great stop, given the cold front that came through. We worked to get there early before the front hit and were successful, thanks in part to the tidal current. We had good protection from the strong north winds and also got to enjoy some time at a secluded beach with lots of shells for Sandra to collect.

Today we're on a mooring at Port Washington in Manhasset Bay, thanks to some guidance from other cruisers we met up in Maine. Dan and Kathy, who sail and live on Majiks, are traveling south ahead of us and have shared from their experience as we both travel. We plan to spend the day here tomorrow before sailing down the East River by Manhatten. We're looking forward to seeing the UN from the water as well as perhaps the 9-11 memorial before we pass by Liberty. What a great adventure we are on this year. New spectacular sights and meeting people along the way.

Captain Bob
Carpe Diem

Good-by Onset - Hello Block Island

We've left Onset, MA after just over a week's stay. For us it was an important time in a quaint New England seaport town. We traveled up to New Hampshire to visit Samantha and family to see how they were doing with our newest grandson. While there, we managed to take an afternoon to go apple picking, a family tradition for many years while our girls were growing up.

After a few nights there, we returned to Onset, picking up Sandra's sister Paula for a night's stay on the boat before Scott, Sandra's brother, and family joined us for a final “good-by” to her mother and father. (Sandra's father passed away last September. As Sandra's mother did for her mother and brother, we distributed their ashes into the ocean waters with lots of flower petals and words of good-by. This was an important conclusion to a difficult summer. We know that her mother and father have moved on to better times, and we are thankful for that.

That concluded, it was time to pull up the anchor and move on also. Onset will be an extra special place to stop now as we travel north and south. We left Onset with the tide a bit late, considering the distance to Block Island. We had help from the tide, though, so we moved well and managed to complete the 60 mile trip just as the sun was setting. We were surprised that the anchorage had quite a few boats already, but there was still room for us.

Block Island is a real beautiful island that attracts lots of tourists. They must come by ferry or in the own boat. As we approached the island, we saw a ferry leave and another arrive. Then not more than 30 minutes later, a high speed ferry passed us on the way to the harbor as well. And this is supposed to be after the end of the busy season. We'll go ashore today to see if it's still as busy as the ferries suggest it might be. As we've walked around here in the past, we've wondered, as we did at North Haven earlier this summer, what life must be like living here all year. There is certainly a degree of peace that comes when the tourists leave for the year, but there is also the isolation. All the major support structure is a ferry boat ride away. While you can get some groceries and other supplies on island, the island life is not for those who like to spend time shopping. The winter population drops considerably, and all other friends are at least a boat ride away. In January, that could be an uncomfortable ride at best. Does this mean two cars – one on the island and the other on the mainland? We don't know, but it would be interesting to meet up with an islander and learn more about this life.

We move on to the eastern end of Long Island tomorrow and then continue westward through the Long Island Sound to NYC. New adventures ahead to share in the coming days.

Captain Bob
Carpe Diem

Interesting Contrasts To Consider

We sit here in Onset Bay now having enjoyed a good night's sleep to make up for the overnight sail down from Casco Bay. The weather for the trip couldn't have been much better. We began at dawn with little wind but a tidal current favoring our direction. A light breeze arrived to allow motor sailing and a more stable boat. (Sails help to keep the rolling to a minimum.) The day was a bit cool but beautifully sunny. By nightfall, however, the wind died and the swells increased to from 3 – 6 feet on the beam. The weather was still pleasant, but we rolled quite a bit – pretty uncomfortable till about 1:00 AM when we got protection from the northern end of Cape Cod. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, but we slowed down so we wouldn't have to enter the Canal in the dark. We set the anchor by 7 in the morning and crashed into bed for a bit.

We are now in a very different sort of place from where we'd spent the last couple of weeks. During that time we noticed the birds flying about us, actually quite a variety that I couldn't identify. We did see the usual gulls, terns, osprey and a few bald eagles. In the water we saw seals, porpoises and millions of barnacles clinging to rocks everywhere. We also saw lots of mussels. (I was tempted to try them, but we didn't know if there were local issues related, so I resisted the temptation.) On our trip down from Maine we were greeted by a pod of dolphins and saw at least four whales spouting, one of which came fairly close to the boat before sounding.

Of course we did see other boats – sailboats, fishing boats and lobster boats. And there were homes along the shore and small and medium sized towns as well. The atmosphere down here in Massachusetts is different. The Cape Cod Canal is man made as is the road that runs beside it, the bridges that cross it and the built up areas on either side. Off the boat a short distance, one could be anywhere in Massachusetts and expect to see similar surroundings. The atmosphere appears to be set by civilization rather than Mother Nature. On the coast of Maine, the rocky outcroppings and the common sight of lighthouses reminds us of who is really in charge. On shore in the several areas we visited, we found reminders everywhere that the people on the Maine coast respect the power of the sea and depend on it in one way or another, not totally unlike the seals, birds and whales.

Now that we appear to be back in more modern civilization, we find life less determined by the sea other than as it attracts tourists. The village of Onset is really a quaint coastal community we find to be appealing, but it unfortunately has suffered in recent years, it seems. It's not a big tourist stop, since most tend to pass it up to go onto the Cape just beyond. Walking the side streets, one could easily imagine themselves in an earlier generation when beachside hotels and condos were less visible, and people stayed in cottages at the shore. Traveling a mile or two out of the village and one jumps to the present day. It's an interesting contrast.

I'll probably have more reflections to share as we continue to travel along the coast back to Virginia. We'll be traveling through Long Island Sound, NYC and the coast of New Jersey for the first time. It will be a different kind of trip, I think, with it's own special character. I'll look forward to sharing all that as we leave Onset in a bit more than a week from now.

Captain Bob
Carpe Diem

Survived Irene

Well, since I'm writing this, I must have survived Hurricane Irene. Actually it turned out to be much less than a hurricane for us. We got little rain, and the wind didn't seem to blow much over 35 kts. We enjoyed two nights at the Nebo Lodge on North Haven. We were well cared for and enjoyed our time there. The day before the storm hit, we went for a walk and kayaked some around Seal Cove. What a beautiful spot. We ended up moving the boat twice before leaving it. The first time was because two large barges with tugs anchored too near us for our comfort. Then as we prepared to leave the boat, a local summer resident offered his mooring for our use. He assured us it had been used for a 40 foot sailboat in the past. We took him up on his offer but added our anchor for insurance. Then we took down our canvas and secured the boat as best we could before leaving for the lodge.

Fortunately, the Lodge had Internet service, so we could keep up with the latest reports on the storm,s movements. We were encouraged when it weakened sooner than expected and moved a bit west. Our ability to use our phones was seriously limited. There was a spot on the town pier where we could predictably get service, but everywhere else on the island we tried was pretty iffy. Sometimes we'd get a text message but were unable to respond.

On Monday, we gathered our belongings and filled up the dinghy for the trip back to our home/boat. All was in fine shape. It just took some time to put everything back up for normal use. The next day we headed for Rockland. It's a short trip of just over two hours that got us to a place where we could get fuel and water, dump our trash and get a few staples before heading back down the coast.

Our original plan was to take our time with day trips down along the coast stopping for a day in Boothbay Harbor and Freeport. The weather was supposed to be really calm. However, we've more recently learned that a cold front is due by the weekend and may stall here for a day or two, creating problems for our travel. Hence we make another change in plans. We leave Linekin Bay near Boothbay for Casco Bay today and then head out overnight down to the Cape Cod Canal to arrive in Onset on Saturday morning.

The Maine coast is beautiful, and we aren't anxious to leave so soon, but the season is changing. We can already feel a bit of fall in the air. We head south to new adventures along with a bit of family visiting. Life is good.

Captain Bob
Carpe Diem

Casco Bay to North Haven

While waiting out Irene on North Haven, I thought this would be a good time to bring all up to date on our travel from the Basin in Casco Bay to our present location. A later blog will provide a report on how we managed during this storm.

We spent two nights at the Basin and found it to be a really quiet attractive spot. On the second night there were eleven other boats at anchor, but nobody tried to crowd us. That was in part due to the fact that we had chosen a spot with nearly 30 feet of water at low tide. It seems that people won't anchor with that depth if they can avoid doing so. We had plenty of chain and an electric windless, so it worked for us.

Lobster buoys are everywhere. In some places we've traveled already we've passed through areas where there would be more than 8 buoys floating within a few boat lengths of us. We had good visibility, so working our way through the maize was not difficult, however. There were plenty of traps in the Basin as well. That worked to our advantage when I asked about buying a couple of lobsters from one of the lobstermen. No problem - $10 for the pair. They were delicious, fresh and sweet.

From the Basin, we moved to a nearby resort called Sebasco. For a price they offer moorings to boaters and complete access to the resort. We'd been here several times a number of years ago while we were doing all our sailing in Casco Bay. Once again we enjoyed our stay and met another sailing couple who had recently become full-time liveaboards. They are heading south for the first time, so we could offer a bit of help. They'd done lots of sailing in downeast Maine, so they were helpful to us as well.

On their advice, after two nights we left Casco Bay and sailed up to Port Clyde, a perfect example of a coastal working port with some support for tourists as well. After walking out to the lighthouse which protects the harbor, we enjoyed a great meal in town and then retired to the boat for the night.

The next day we sailed into Penobscot Bay and headed for a well-known anchorage called Pulpit Harbor on the island of North Haven. However upon arrival, we found all the best anchorage areas either full of boats or private moorings. We found this frustrating and sailed back out. It was an interesting harbor, but didn't seem to live up to its reputation. We then sailed around to the Fox Island Thoroughfare, a protected route between North Haven and Vinalhaven. We headed toward Seal Cove about a mile from the docks at North Haven. This turned out to be a beautiful spot. We enjoyed kayaking around some islands while being watched by a seal, and numerous birds. Sandra took lots of photos. We could imagine spending several days kayaking in this area. Our new friends from our Sebasco stay told us of another anchorage not far away that could keep us busy for another several days.

The town of North Haven has only about 300 year round residents, most of whom are working lobstermen or otherwise connected to the water. A few of the summer residents rank among the wealthy elite, however. There is one grocery store and only a two restaurants plus a snack bar. Galleries are more numerous, as the island attracts many artists. In some ways, the community takes you back 50 years. We're told that its important to wave to cars as they go by. Not to do so is just impolite. Everyone appears friendly and helpful. Nobody locks their doors, and many apparently leave their keys in their vehicles. It's that kind of place. Since we had to wait out a storm, we find this to be a really pleasant, beautiful place to do so.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem

Preparing for Irene

Who would suspect that a sailing summer in Maine should include preparing for a hurricane? Of course, we should know that it is possible. Years ago when we had a boat moored in Casco Bay and still lived in New Hampshire, we had to worry about Hurricane Bob. Two years ago we were back up here and another hurricane threatened us. We left the boat on a mooring in Freeport and went to stay with Sam and her family in New Hampshire. That one never materialized, but it appears that Irene will cause some nasty weather up here even if we don't see hurricane force winds.

So what have we done? Well for starters, we knew there was no place we could go to avoid it. We thought we'd look for a harbor and get a mooring to leave the boat on and then seek out a motel for the night or two of the storm. We chose Rockland as the only harbor nearby that has some protection. We tried calling to reserve a mooring, but nobody would bite. The harbormaster in Rockland says that he's getting all boats off moorings, because the harbor doesn't offer enough protection.

We are currently anchored in a cove of Vinalhaven just south of the town of North Haven. For those unfamiliar with Penobscot Bay, North Haven and Vinalhaven are two fairly large islands next to each other. North Haven has a quaint little village that serves summer residents as well as about 300 who live here year round.

This spot is remote in more ways than one. Where we're anchored we get occasional cell phone access, but most of the time we can't get out. We also get no Internet service. When we went in to North Haven, we found one spot by the dock next to a building where we could use our cell phones reliably. That was it. We also get one commercial TV station that drops out regularly. So getting hurricane information is a bit more difficult than we'd like. We actually got some of it from our daughter Jennifer when we called her. The town has a community center with Wifi, so we'll get this blog out in that manner and also get the latest on the storms path. The inn also has Wifi, so we can keep up to date while we're there.

The Harbormaster from Rockland suggested we keep our boat right where it was, since this cove offers some good protection. Not satisfied with that, we took the dinghy over to North Haven to check out possible moorings there. The owner of the moorings wasn't encouraging, since he hadn't checked them in a long while. There is an inn on the island, so we thought we'd at least get off the boat during the worst of the storm. They had some last minute cancellations (no surprise there), so we could get a room for the two nights at a mere $200 each. Well, it's only money, and we're about to celebrate our 43^rd anniversary, so we decided to take the room. In preparation, we'll put down a second anchor with lots of anchor rode for both and close up the boat on Saturday. Then we'll have to find a safe place for the dinghy. Our only issue with the dinghy is that it tends to fill up with water from rain and sink low enough that the outboard gets some salt water where it shouldn't. I'll have to take off the outboard and put it on land somewhere safe. At that point, we'll have done all that we can. We'll just trust that it is enough.

We've got more to share about our recent time along the coast, but I'll add that to a future blog, as I also report on how we fared during Irene.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem