Author: admin

Today was a big day in our complicated world of decision-making. As you have read, after our delay due to boat repairs, we had abandoned the idea of doing the Great Loop. The rule of thumb says you should be off the Great Lakes by Labor Day to ensure you don’t encounter rougher weather. And we felt we would be too rushed if we pushed the Loop idea. However, we have talked to so many people who are still doing the loop, and are in the proximity of where we are. Some are slightly ahead of us and some behind. After much deliberation, and the assurance of having friends nearby on the same route, we decided this morning to revert to Plan A, The Great Loop. A new sense of relief and excitement builds as we are looking forward again to the journey.

So we pulled out of Liberty Landing into the Hudson River and turned North.

• 

• 

• 

How quickly the landscape changed as we left the city. A short distance North revealed high banks on the Hudson, covered in forestation. No more high rises. The structures turned to an industrial look, reflecting the history and culture of the working class from that of the busy city life. The boat traffic all but disappeared, providing a wandering, relaxed navigation on the river. With plenty of deep water and a relatively calm current most of the day, we soaked up the rays from the flybridge and mellowed out till we found our anchorage at Stony Point.

• 

• 

• 

We arranged for a walking tour of the 911 Memorial for 9:30 am. We boarded the water taxi at 8:30 and had a short walk to St Paul’s Church, the starting point for the tour. If you ever make the trip to NYC, please tour the memorial. The day that changed all our lives won’t be forgotten. No question. But to relive here is a reminder that the freedom we enjoy, and the evil we endure is not to be taken lightly. I appreciated watching the people from every political view, every nationality, every belief (or lack thereof) system, walking together, and sharing the experience. The museum has done an excellent job of re-communicating the events of that day. What has happened to us since then? Why aren’t our government leaders standing on the steps of the National Capitol now and praying and calling on our God to lead us and protect us, like they did then? I fear that the only time we will do that will be in the aftermath of another ruthless evil attack on the greatest place in the world to work and live and raise a family.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

An hour and half walking tour and then 3 plus hours in the museum weighed heavily on us, physically and emotionally. This sobering tour is worth the time and effort.

After leaving the 911 Memorial, we hopped in a Lyft and went to DUMBO.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Don’t ask what this stands for, but it means something. Not very good marketing if you ask me. We inhaled a pizza at Juliana’s, walked around another neighborhood, got Amanda a chocolate fix, and then caught a cab back to the other side to meet Haley, our daughter’s friend from high school, who lives in NYC. We caught up with her life and then she showed us how to buy a subway ticket and put us on the right train, so we could find “home” before morning. It’s tough being a senior citizen in the city.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We made it back fine and even caught the water taxi before they closed down for the night. We packed in all we had energy for today and slept real well.

After a lazy Sunday morning start, we drove just over a mile to the Liberty Landing Marina, our home for the next couple nights. It’s on the Jersey side of the Harbor and though a nice marina, it’s terribly overpriced. We have since learned there are other places that are more reasonable in the area. But we splurged, because after all, we’re in New York City.

After getting all lines and power connected to the dock, we jumped on the water taxi and headed to the city. We wandered the streets looking like 2 people from the south, taking a few pictures and trying to make a game plan for tomorrow. We looked up Redeemer Church, a Tim Keller established church, and headed that way for their 5 pm service. Tim is a renowned teacher/pastor.. With 4 campuses, Tim Keller is obviously not the lead pastor for each campus. But we heard solid encouraging teaching from God’s Word and the music was awesome. The 6-piece band consisted of fiddle, guitar, upright bass, mandolin, and banjo. We sang contemporary and traditional songs. These guys were gifted musicians, and the arrangements were very nontraditional. I loved every beat of every song.

After the service, we walked just over 2 miles back to the water taxi station, in time to see the last taxi of the day pull out (without us on it). We caught an Uber across the river and crashed for the night.

Saturday morning, we toured Sandy Hook resort community with Ce Ce, our daughter-in-law’s mom’s step mom, who lives in Rumson, one of the Sandy Hook communities. She took us to the highest point on the East Coast, south of Maine. From here, you can see the skyline of New York City.

• 

• 

Saturday afternoon, we were anxious to get out of the marina and equally excited about getting close to New York Harbor. The ride, about 18 miles across the huge channel, took us to the harbor. The worn out cliche, “country come to town” has never been more applicable. Here we were, trying to remember navigation signs, dodging mega yachts, cruise liners, barges, and ferries that run 30 knots, hoping I would not make a mistake. Interestingly, anything seems to go here. The ultimate in defensive driving, we saw jet skis circling cruise ships and barges like sand gnats at a Little League baseball game in Savannah. These people are crazy.

• 

• 

• 

As some of you may remember, when I introduced how this trip was conceived, a picture of the Statue of Liberty, taken from the boat by the author of the article inspired and terrified me at the same time. The idea of being in the middle of that harbor on MY boat, and having the opportunity to be in front of Lady Liberty, was overwhelming. This moment has certainly been the pinnacle of the trip thus far.

We anchored out tonight in front of the Liberty National Golf Club. I think some major tournament has been played here, but I could be wrong. A beautiful night, nice breeze, and a well protected anchorage provided safe .

Today was another pretty long day….for a slow boat, especially. Fifty four miles and almost 8 hours of cruise time. The ride from Barnegat Light, NJ to Sandy Hook was split, half “inside” on the intercoastal, and then outside, beginning at the Manasquan Inlet.

We passed under 3 road bridges, 1 railroad bridge, and through 1 very swift canal. We crossed the Toms River and enjoyed the pass through Bay Head, NJ. It was a beautiful setting with houses right on the intercoastal. The houses all were traditional beach homes and looked brand new because they were so well maintained. We learned later than many probably were brand new, because Hurricane Sandy hit this area 4-5 years ago and caused major damage to many of the homes.

• 

• 

• 

We traversed the intercoastal for approximately 4 hours before arriving at the Manasquan Inlet (which in this case for us was technically an outlet). I wish the pictures were videos so you could appreciate the wave height and action of an inlet. It’s like a roller coaster, except if something goes wrong, it’s my fault.

• 

• 

The second half of our day was uneventful. No whale or porpoise sightings. Just a beautiful view of the Jersey coast as eased into Sandy Hook. The fishing must be great in the bay, as fishermen are everywhere, fishing for fluke, a fish that neither Amanda or I had ever heard of.

Our parking spot for the night was Atlantic Highlands Marina. By far, the worst customer service and lazy staff we have yet to encounter. We will not consider this an option if and when we pass this way again. The docks are fixed, so extra care must be taken when tying lines to the pilings and cleats. With an almost 5′ swing in the tide, our dock lines got way too tight before I realized what was going on. A little input from the marina hands would have been nice, but we were lucky to get them to tell us where our slip was located. Too bad because it could have been a nice experience.

Left Atlantic City with Barnegat Light as our destination. We chose to go “outside” again, as the seas and weather were promising. Also, the intercoastal is notoriously shallow in New Jersey. Apparently, dredging is not a priority for the legislators here. Our 5′ deep draft makes us nervous when the charts tell us the low tide water is the same depth.

The highlight of this leg was our whale sighting. It happened so quickly that we did not get a picture. Amanda spotted a water spray one second, thinking she was imagining things. Then within a minute, the humpback surfaced just off our port side. Up and down and then he was gone. What a thrill for us to get to witness this. Wish we had a picture, but we definitely have another memory added to our list.

Inlets along the coast can be treacherous. Getting caught with the wrong tide, wrong current, and wrong wind can have serious consequences. The Barnegat Light Inlet, so I am told, is one of the toughest to negotiate. Today would have been a great day to have a captain with a little more experience, if nothing else to confirm that my timing for the entrance into the inlet was good. But that captain wasn’t available. Winds on our stern and a mid tide going to high made sense it would be safe, so we went for it. The current has a tendency to turn our round bottomed boat from side to side, it can be scarier feeling than it really is. We bounced and twisted a good bit, but managed to keep it in the middle and we got through fine.

We twisted through all the nav-aids and found a great anchorage. Protected on 3 sides, we felt secure for the storm due tonight. It was perfect. The storm came and went and we never felt threatened. A good night’s sleep prepared us for the long trip to Sandy Hook.

• 

• 

With buddy boats in tandem, the JAKL III, Camelot, and the Honey Queen pulled out of the Cape May Canal into the Atlantic Ocean. We turned NE with fair skies, 73 degrees, and favorable winds out of the West. The day, as forecasted, resulted in flat seas and a pleasant day on the flybridge. We arrived in Atlantic City at 12:45 pm, logging another 4.75 hours of experience to this rookie captain.

We had planned to anchor out this night. Our waterway guide showed a promising spot, so we navigated to the location, dropped the hook, and shut down the engine. I noticed a couple horseflies buzzing around (and biting) while I was setting the anchor. By the time I was finished, I was being attacked by hundreds of what are locally known as greenheads. When we are underway, we have the doors and windows open to keep the boat cool, since A/C is not a wise option. We didn’t realize we had been scooping them as we were traveling. We killed no less than 60 of these flying piranhas inside. Had to quickly close the doors and windows to keep from being carried away. We felt like Pharoah facing one of the 10 plagues. Not a great first impression of the area.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After learning that “greenheads” don’t typically go beyond the bridge, I called a marina where our friends were staying. We checked in to Gardner’s Basin Marina and embarked on our exploration of Atlantic City. An hour and a half of walking the “world famous” boardwalk, mostly made of concrete, gave us all we needed. We did ride an escalator up to the 6th floor of a building and walked into a casino. We were provided immediate opportunities to give away money but declined. These places wreak with evil. We quickly departed, caught a Lyft back to the marina and called it a day. By far, Atlantic City was the least interesting and least appealing place of all our stops. Our future travels promise to skip this city.

We ended up staying at Summit North Marina an extra day (Day 43), as the weather once again, dictates all plans. Exciting things like washing the boat and a couple of little fix-its were the agenda, since we were not moving.

Tuesday morning, (Day 44) the alarm awoke us before 5 am, as we had to take advantage of the current in the C & D Canal, and especially the Delaware Bay. The right tide can make our boat feel like a high performance speed boat and a wrong tide feels exactly like we are still tied to the dock like when we tried to leave Elizabeth City, NC. Bear in mind, we cruise, on a good day just over 7 knots.

• 

• 

• 

The trip through the Delaware Bay could have been a little intimidating, because of how vast it is. Had the visibility not been so good today, we would not have been able to see land at the widest point. Having land in site is like having my mom’s chicken and spaghetti at Christmas time….very comforting.

We arrived early afternoon in Cape May. The little marina, Utsch’s, was pretty weathered, with mostly fishing boats, but they welcomed us with open arms…once they verified our credit card was good. The little town, a huge tourist spot, was packed with hundreds of people. We met a couple who had been at the previous marina and asked them to join us for a trip into the town. The marina manager told us the best restaurants to try, so we caught the free (tips only ) on the electric car and took off. We walked around town and then settled on Louisa’s, a little restaurant that holds about 20 people. The service was great, the staff friendly, and the food outstanding. We enjoyed the time with our new friends Steve and Debbie, who live in Baltimore. The good things we have heard about this area are true.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We soon figured out that Steve and Debbie, as well as, friends we caught up with again, Joe and Sue, were all going to Atlantic City the next morning. We decided we would go “outside”, meaning out of the intercoastal waterway because the weather forecast was perfect. Fair winds from the West and following seas made our day delightful. I was quite impressed by the infamous Jersey shore. As a bonus, we learned why folks enjoy doing the buddy-boat thing. It’s nice having friends in site, just in case you need assistance.

We tried to get out of bed this beautiful Saturday morning at 5:30 for a 6:00 am departure this morning. Our goal was to reach our destination of Summit North Marina in Bear, Delaware to watch the Women’s World Cup Soccer championship. The good news was we made it in time…bad news, we were a day early. We learned as we sat in front of the TV in the restaurant that the USA plays Sunday, not today. Getting old is so hard, as best I can remember. I think I can fit it into my Sunday schedule, which at the moment is pretty open. 🙂

Today’s trip took us from the Sassafras River, back into the bay, then NE into the Elk River, then to the Back Creek and through Chesapeake City. Chesapeake City marks the beginning of the C & D (Chesapeake-Delaware) Canal. Pretty and peaceful, it provides some of the most relaxed cruising. Boat traffic is minimal, surprisingly, and the man-made canal is protected from the winds, so generally, the water is smooth as glass. As a bonus, we had a 3 knot current in our favor. That means our normal cruising speed of 7-7.5 knots bumped up to 9-9.5 knots, at lower RPM’s. For cheapskates like me, I get to save fuel by running at lower RPM’s and make better-than-expected times.

• 

• 

• 

I just love bridges. Crossed a few and burned a few in my life, but the perspective from the water is always a high for me along the way.

The Summit North Marina is far from the nicest of marinas where we have sought refuge. Most of the boats are permanent residents. Many, it appears, live aboard. As a result, not many dock hands available for transients like us. However, kind management, friendly neighbors, a pretty good restaurant, and no current (a nice feature for a rookie captain fitting into/out of a tight slip) makes for a nice stay. Looks like we will stay here until early Tuesday morning to get a good weather window. Our next leg of the journey into the Delaware Bay will be a long one, as there are few opportunities to “tuck-in” if the weather gets ugly.

Sunday: We are enjoying “attending” our home church of Compassion Christian by logging in on Sunday mornings to compassionchristian.com at 9:00 am. I encourage you to check us out. The services are streamed live at 9 and 11, and archived shortly thereafter, to be watched anytime. The music and teaching are always encouraging; watching always makes us feel connected to our home church.

As you already know, our women’s soccer team defeated the Netherlands by a score of 2-1. How fun to see them win, especially with our very close connection to the team. Our daughter is good friends with the sister of the goalie. We practically have one of our own children playing. It has been a nice quiet day.

Pulled out of the Baltimore Harbor and turned the Honey Queen North. Our destination, 42 miles away was the Sassafras River. With the wind in our nose most of the day, and current against us, 6 hours later we reached our anchorage. This far north in the Chesapeake, and in a river, too, we found the water was as fresh as the lakes back home in Louisiana and Arkansas. The landscape was similar folks enjoy the water skiing and tubing just like we do in the South.

In the July heat, the temps and humidity were sweltering, so when we got the anchor set, we bailed off the swim platform and enjoyed the cool water.

Amanda pulled together a fabulous pasta dinner in the middle of the basin and then we called it a night. By far the hottest night of our trip, we ran the generator and A/C for awhile, trying to get some relief. We are so spoiled by the air conditioning.