Wednesday, May 10th (Day 39)
Cool and hazy but sunny after noon. 56 degrees. Water temp 62. Light E-SE winds
80nm today (1,204 total trip miles)
One of the most difficult parts (for us) of this trip from the Florida Keys to the Hudson River is the 170 nautical mile run across open water from the north end of Delaware Bay, around Cape May, and up the coast to Sandy Hook, NJ. We look for a weather window of decent sailing and light seas (less then 4' if the waves are less than 6 seconds apart) or, more likely, calm winds and seas. As we get older, we shoot for more comfort if possible. In the past, we have waited up to 2 weeks for the right winds and seas to appear. Don't forget, our deadline for getting to Catskill was before Laura's flight to her grandson's graduation on May 23rd so we couldn't wait too long this trip.
I'd been watching a possible window for this weekend which now started on Friday morning. We would have to hustle to make that from Reedville. We had about 150 miles from Reedville to the top of Delaware Bay which is a lot for us in just two days.
I wanted to make somewhere around Annapolis today if possible. When I checked the tides yesterday, it showed we would have helping tidal currents for only a couple hours. Bummer. We needed to get an early start again.
The alarm was set for 5:45am and we got up quickly (for that early) to get going. We had said our good-byes to Walter and Mary last night after we got back to the house from going out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. They told us they would NOT be out waving good-bye this early. I didn't blame them...
It was a calm morning as we untied our dock lines and motored the 5 miles from Cockrell Creek back to Chesapeake Bay. Here we are motoring out onto a calm Chesapeake with the Sun peeking through the haze.
An hour later we crossed the Potomac River. It was so calm you could see our tiny sailboat wake.
You have to keep diligent for big ships traveling up and down the bay. Around noon, this large freighter passed us doing 18 knots.
I thought this was an interesting vessel. It looked like 1/2 container ship (the front) and 1/2 car-carrier (the back). I looked it up on-line - it was the Grande Senegal - a "Ro-Ro / Container ship" Ro-Ro means roll-on, roll-off - like cars, trucks, etc. I was pretty close!
Winds all day were light and from the NE to E. I liked this sailboat heading south with a huge, red spinnaker catching the light winds. You can't miss this boat on the water!
It was a beautiful day on the water as we motored up a calm Chesapeake Bay with the current against us for several hours.
I wanted to anchor somewhere that was only a short distance back to the channel since we had a long way to go tomorrow too. After searching the charts on my iPad, I found a new-to-us place in Mill Creek that looked protected and only about 2 miles (in and out) from the channel. We would get there just before dark.
We decided to eat dinner before anchoring and I grilled burgers on the back deck around 6:30pm. We ate in the cockpit just before crossing the Annapolis harbor.
Mill Creek turned out to be a beautiful anchorage but a little tricky getting in. We had to follow a well-marked but narrow and twisty channel to get into the deeper creek. It all worked out well and we anchored just at 8pm. Phew! A 14 hour day to cover 80 miles
Weather still showed Friday and Saturday were good days for running up the coast. Tomorrow (Thursday) was also a calm day and night so I planned on anchoring near Reedy Island at the northern end of Delaware Bay. That anchorage is very open to winds and seas but should be nice with the calm night tomorrow.
Thursday, May 11th (Day 40)
Cool, calm and sunny. 60 degrees at 7am rising to 70s in the afternoon. Water temp 62.
66 nautical miles today (1,270 total trip miles)
Yesterday I checked the tides and we should have helping current all day today for the run up Chesapeake Bay to the C&D canal. This meant we could sleep in another hour in the morning. Yea!
We pulled anchor at 7am and follow our incoming track from yesterday on the chart plotter to get back out of the creek through the narrow channel. I took a picture of the pretty anchorage as we were leaving.
Less than 1/2 hour later we were able to turn north toward the Bay Bridge.
It was another beautiful day on the water and it seems like we zoomed up the bay - over 7 knots. Lots of other cruisers were out and we were passed by probably 10 motorboats / trawlers before getting to the C&D Canal.
The Chesapeake / Delaware Canal (C&D) is a 14 mile long, 450 feet wide and 35 foot deep man-made canal between the north end of Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. It saves 300 miles for ships passing between Baltimore and Philadelphia / Wilmington. For us, it saves a full day and night of off-shore sailing from Norfolk to New York City by letting us cruise up Chesapeake Bay then down Delaware Bay before entering the Atlantic Ocean at Cape May, NJ. For small boats (like us), it is an easy trip although sometimes you have helping current and sometime the 1-2 knot current is against you.
This day it was helping us and we ran through the 14 miles in 1.5 hours averaging over 8 knots. When we came out of the canal into Delaware Bay and turned south, the current was against us but we only had a couple miles to our anchorage.
There is a stone breakwater along the western side of Delaware Bay here to protect the Delaware shore (and our anchorage) from the big ship wakes. We arrived at the narrow entrance through the breakwater near high-tide so the entire breakwater was under water. If someone didn't know better, they could just drive a boat right onto it.
It was a little difficult to keep the boat moving in the right direction through the narrow entrance with 2-3 knots of current pushing you sideways. As an experienced Captain, I understand the physics behind this but it's still a little concerning aiming your boat right at the stone channel marker so it gets pushed sideways through the middle of the channel.
Once through the breakwater, we motored north about 1/2 mile into shallower water (12-15 feet) and anchored near the Delaware shore at 4:45pm. This time we had a chance to relax and have a little happy-hour before dinner and TV.
I took this video of a 360 degree view around us at the anchorage just before sunset.
In the video I said the shore was Maryland. It was actually Delaware.
The ebb (outgoing) tide at this area would start around 7am tomorrow. That was almost perfect for us to get going a little before that and we would have helping current almost all the day down Delaware Bay. The currents in the narrow, upper end of the Bay can run 3-4 knots so you barely go anywhere if you don't time them correctly.
I was not sure if or where we would stop tomorrow night. We typically do this whole 170 mile section (from here to Sandy Hook, NJ) in one run because the nice weather for traveling by sailboat usually doesn't last more than a couple days. For example, if you stop in Cape May or Atlantic City, you might be there 5 or 6 days waiting for another weather window to start moving again. Tomorrow and tomorrow night looked fairly good so we just might keep going.
Yesterday we only averaged 5.4 knots all day because we had the tidal current against us most of the time. Today we averaged 7+ knots because they were helping us. If you are traveling these waters, it helps a lot to time the tides right.
Neither of us enjoys these overnight sails up or down the coast because it wipes you out. The boat is usually moving around enough that you can't get any meaningful sleep so, when you finish the trip, you feel sleep deprived for a couple days.
I can say from experience that if you do longer overnight sails, typically you sleep much better on the 2nd and 3rd nights - mostly because you are so tired from not sleeping the 1st night.
We hit the sack early after two fairly long days from Reedville and both slept well.
Friday, May 12th (Day 41)
Warmer (until the ocean), sunny and calm (again until the ocean). Winds light in the morning and S in the afternoon.
88.5 nautical miles today (1,358.5 total trip miles)
We were up early and pulled the anchor at 6:20am. As we motored back through the narrow channel in the breakwater back to Delaware Bay, the ebb current had already started and we zoomed south on another calm morning. We and 2 other sailboats passed the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Plant a few minutes later.
We had coffee and breakfast underway as we listened to the engine drone. A few hours later we motored into the more open area of the bay. It was just about the calmest I had ever seen Delaware Bay. Notice how glassy the water was. I think it’s neat when you have a hard time telling where the water ends the the sky starts.
The winds were calm almost all the way down the bay until about 10 miles from Cape May. Then the predicted south winds started and I hoped we would be around the cape and running NE instead of S like now before they picked up.
It worked out great and we motored around Cape May a few hours later. Our course though the Prissywick Shoals saves us over 10 miles of following the big ship channel out into the deeper Atlantic before turning around the cape. But, it does bring us within 1/4 mile of the beach which is not nice on days when winds are pushing you that way. Laura took this picture of the lighthouse. This was not zoomed in.
The south winds were building but only about 8-10 knots now. We had the mainsail out to help push us against the current and get around the cape.
It's always interesting to me how the currents churn up the water here. Because we always come down the bay with helping currents at the north end, by time we get to Cape May they are 1-2 knots against us. This creates current waves in the water when the incoming ocean water gets pushed though this (somewhat) narrow channel. Laura took a great video showing us going though one of these churning spots. Imagine going through here on the dark and hearing the water roiling around the boat but can’t see it. We’ve done that several times when the tides are not as timely as today.
A short time later we turned east then northeast as we rounded the cape. This put the winds on our starboard beam then a little behind us. We were able to roll out the jib and get a lot of speed help from the two big sails. An hour later we sailed passed the Cape May inlet and were out of most of the current pushing against us so our speed picked up to over 6 knots.
From Cape May inlet to Atlantic City inlet was 33 nautical miles. I really didn't want to stay in Cape May because we would have to leave at something like 4am to make it to Sandy Hook (110 miles away) in the daylight tomorrow. And, we only had 1 more day of nice travel weather. Sunday morning was bringing north winds in the 15-20 range for several hours.
We continued up the coast as I tried to work farther off-shore which might calm down the SE swell a bit. Even with the big sails up, that short (4 second?) swell was rolling us around pretty good. My plan was to see what the ride was like when we got to Atlantic City (now 5 hours away) then decide to either keep going and be in Sandy Hook early tomorrow, or pull in and anchor for the night.
By time we motor-sailed passed the boardwalk in Atlantic City, both Laura and I had had enough of the SE swell bouncing us around. Plus, the travel forecast for tomorrow looked pretty good now with only a 50% chance of rain in the morning.
We pulled in the jib and used the mainsail and motor to push against the ebb current at Atlantic City inlet. The anchorage here is about 2.5 miles from the outer marker so it took about 1/2 hour to run in, turn up-wind to pull in the mainsail, then motor NW toward the anchorage.
I had been in this inlet many times in the past but just remembered I had never anchored here before - we’ve always gone into the marina. I could see where the anchorage was behind a shallow area and there was a small powerboat anchored right where I had planned on going. I motored passed him and we dropped anchor a short distance away. Dang. The winds push our sailboat around a lot compared to a small powerboat. They were pushing us towards the anchored boat and not pushing him away.
Oh well... back up and regroup....
We pulled up the anchor and motored about another 100 feet away before dropping again at 7:30pm. This seemed to me like a nice distance between us that I wouldn't have to worry about. I set our anchor alarm, shut down the boat and we relaxed below with a late dinner.
This has happened to me so many times in the past that I shouldn't be surprised. I seem to like a lot more space between anchored boats than most folks.... 1/2 hour after we anchored, a 40+ foot Kady Krogen powerboat slowly motors passed us and anchors right between us and the other anchored powerboat. Now, it seems to me that all three of us are too close. Plus, we're the only sailboat so we will react differently than the other two boats to the winds and currents. By now I was pretty tired and there was really no anchoring room left for us to move. C'est la vie. I went back downstairs to relax before hitting the sack. For some reason, I didn't even lose any sleep over this.
I took this picture before the tide changed an hour later. After we both turned around with the changing tide, we were only about 50 feet from the Kady.
Tomorrow we have 80+ nautical miles to the anchorage at Atlantic Highlands. Gonna be an early start again to try and make it there before dark.
Saturday, May 14th (Day 42)
Cool (on the ocean) - 60s. Winds light south in the morning going to SW in the afternoon. Sea temp 60.
Last evening, I decided to try and get a mooring in Atlantic Highlands for tonight instead of fighting the other cruisers for the best anchoring spots. Winds were supposed to go north on Sunday morning and there were only a few anchoring spots behind the breakwater with protection from north winds. The rest would be open to the north wind and waves coming down the 10 mile bay. I used the DockWa app on my phone to request a mooring. Geez. They had raised the price another $5 from last Fall. Now they were $65 / night.
This morning I saw that there were a couple chances of north winds Sunday and Monday morning. Plus, Laura and I had been putting in some long days so it would be nice to relax a bit on a mooring where I wouldn't have to worry about some hoople-head "snuggling up" by anchoring right next to us. I sent a message on DockWa requesting a second night. They sent me a confirmation later in the morning. We had a place to stay for the next two nights!
We pulled up anchor at 6:15am onto another hazy morning. Winds were light out of the south but still kicking up steep, short waves in the inlet that were bouncing us around. This is typical in NJ inlets and you just have to tell yourself things will get much better once away from here.
By the time we motor-sailed back into the open ocean (with several large powerboats), the seas had calmed and we were able to motor-sail at 6-7 knots up the coast.
I took this picture of Atlantic City behind us.
About an hour later the Sun peeked through the haze. We just had the mainsail up and sheeted in tight for roll-control. I was starting to hate that SE swell....
Running up this section of the NJ coast you start NE then gradually turn N during the day. That put the SE swell more behind us which made for a better ride. Plus, a SW wind built in during the afternoon and we were actually able to sail for a couple hours with Jib and Main - no engine drone! The ride was so nice that both Laura and I were able to get naps in the salon. That doesn't happen often on the ocean.
Just passed Manasquan Inlet, the boat seemed to slow down for no reason. We had 12-14 knots of wind on the beam and, with the two big sails out, we should have been doing 7+ knots. Our speed-over-ground was only showing 5.5 - 6 knots.
I'm the type of person that notices this kind of stuff right away plus I don't just let it go. Something was wrong. I thought maybe we had picked up a lobster trap or other marker with a line and we were dragging it behind us. Usually you can see this in the water right behind the boat but there was nothing there. One thing I did see was the boat seemed to be really moving fast through the water (like it should with these winds pushing us) when I looked at the water going by the side. Maybe this was just some kind of contrary current? We don't have a pickup for measuring the boat speed through the water which would have shown if we had some crazy current against us. It lasted for a couple hours and I racked my brain trying to figure out what it was. I even started the engine and put it in reverse to see if there was a line caught on the prop. Eventually, the boat picked up speed back to "normal" so I guess it was a southbound ocean current right next to the coast. In 35 trips I’ve never seen this before along this coast.
About 5 miles from Sandy Hook, Laura looked up and said, "A Whale!" I slowed the boat down and we watched for several minutes as a small humpback whale spouted and surfaced off our starboard and behind us. Unfortunately, we never got close enough to get a good picture or movie. Laura's first whale! She was so excited.
We scraped and blew-up this picture from a long-range movie she took. Not too impressive, is it.
Around 5pm we could start seeing the New York City skyline and had a great view when we motored around Sandy Hook at 5:30pm. The Varrazano Bridge is on the left with NYC skyline to the right.
With the sails in and the boat steady, Laura went down to make chili for dinner as I motored us south to the highlands. We found our assigned mooring and tied up at 7pm. Yea! We had completed another NJ coast transit and didn't even have to run overnight.
Dinner was in the cockpit as the winds calmed and we watched a pretty sunset.
Oh. We could have anchored behind the breakwater because there were only a couple anchored boats but they were just along the southern shore. Oh well. We won't get any of the ferry wakes here either because we are way down near the middle of the breakwater. We're here for a couple nights and can relax now.
Sunday, May 15th (Day 43) - Happy Mothers Day to all the great Moms out there!
57 degrees in the morning going to mid 70s today. Windy but calming later on. Water temp 58.
Not moving the boat today.
Ahh. Sleep in and relax. No getting underway at 6am today. But, wouldn't you know that I woke up and looked at the clock - 5:30am. I could hear something banging with the high winds up on the deck so had to get dressed and fix a solar panel that was a little loose. I came back to bed and slept great for another couple hours.
Laura and I spent a quiet morning enjoying the warm Sun in the cockpit. We watched as the water-taxi from the marina brought lots of sailors and their families out to their boats for a fine Sunday sail on the bay. Our mooring fee includes the water-taxi for free. I don't think we're going to use it because we probably would have a hard time finding a restaurant on Mothers Day.
We definitely could have left today for our trip north but I was happy to just sit back and relax enjoying our day off. Now there was little to keep us from making Catskill several days before Laura's flight except for maybe the boat breaking down (KNOCK ON WOOD!).
Since the flood tide in New York City doesn't start until the early afternoon tomorrow, we will take our time in the morning and sleep in again. Plans are to leave the mooring around 11am, motor over to the fuel dock for diesel, then head north again to start the 100 mile trip to the Catskill Creek. We'll anchor somewhere around Haverstraw Bay tomorrow night then probably be in Catskill Tuesday evening.
I'm looking forward to having and driving a car again after 4+ months without one!
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