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.
The skyline from the marina
I wonder how these places can afford such nice buildings?
Many empty lots where casinos were planned, but no more.
My memory of Atlantic City.
World famous….locally.
We anchored temporarily…till the greenheads attacked.
At least the sunrise was pretty, as we were leaving the next morning.
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.
Ten knots is awesome.
The last bridge on the C & D Canal
These barges “own” the canal. My job is to say youza boza and stay out of the way.
Power plant near the end of the Delaware Bay.
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.
Our Cape May parking spot.
Beautiful home in downtown
In all humility, we think our boat is pretty.
Downtown Cape May. Much like City Market Savannah.
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.
Chesapeake City Bridge in the distance
Approaching the CCB
A beautiful vineyard that also serves as a venue for weddings.
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.
One cool woman
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.
After getting Abigail on a Lyft early Monday morning, we decided to stay in Baltimore through the 4th of July, though not our original plan. We heard the fireworks show was not only one of the biggest, but it would be presented in the harbor in front of our marina. We enjoyed these “bonus” days wandering the city, touring the National Aquarium and Ft. McHenry, and making friends with the many other cruisers who were staying in the same marina.
The aquarium lived up to its “national” status and was an enjoyable reprieve from the heat that felt just like Savannah.
We never tire of dolphins
Our boat across the harbor
I used to work with this guy. You know, kind of prickly.
The trip to Fort McHenry was especially meaningful. Purposely, we chose July 4 to tour the fort, which made it even more special. And in case you have forgotten your American history, the Baltimore Harbor is the site where Francis Scott Key penned our National Anthem. We arrived about 10:00 am, just in time for the flag changing ceremony. We were allowed the privilege of assisting in the raising of the 30′ x 42′ flag over the fort. As Old Glory began to elevate, one the park rangers, a young man approximately 25 years old broke into the National Anthem, accapela, in an operatic style. Goose bumps as big as pumpkins covered me and I was virtually moved to tears as this giant flag went up the pole.
The harbor where Key wrote the lyrics
Bring it on, you bloody British.
THE powder keg among powder kegs.
July 4, 2019–Amanda, Wes, & Old Glory
What a privilege to live in this country. The price paid for us is hard to comprehend, but this day’s history lesson reminded me again that the sacrifice was great. Oh that we could only remember so that we invest well for the future generations.
Through our friends, Ron and Carole Collins, we connected with his brother Dale, and wife, Sandy. They are doing the Great Loop. They caught up with us in Baltimore. They joined us for hot dogs and fireworks. We look forward to meeting up with them again along the way.
With the winds picking up and the forecast to increase, we rose early Sunday morning in Rock Hall, to ensure a smooth crossing, with Baltimore as our destination. By 8:00 am, we worked our way off the face dock, with the winds pushing against us. With no incidents or close calls with other boats in the marina, we were underway, East/Northeast to Baltimore.
Panaramic of Baltimore, from our boat at the Inner Harbor Marina.
Baltimore is where we came last September to what is known as a Trawlerfest. Five days of seminars ranging from how to buy a boat, how to do The Loop, navigation, basic diesel engine troubleshooting, and boat docking lessons taught us so much. The in-water boat show gave us an opportunity to board many boats. This hands-on experience not only narrowed our search significantly, we were pretty convinced we knew the brand name of boat we would pursue. At the week’s end, we were dangerously informed about the trawler life.
Arriving in the harbor around 11:00 am, we docked at the Inner Harbor Marina. It is virtually brand new and located on the waterfront (I guess most marinas are on the water, now that I think about it) of downtown. The area is like a huge park with lots of activities for kids of all ages, paddle-boats that look like pirate ships, a huge aquarium, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the Hard Rock Cafe, and on and on it goes. Stores and restaurants are in abundance. Places like this are the reason we have to anchor. Anchoring out costs nothing and keeps the credit cards in our pocket. But for now, we are enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city.
Abigail and Amanda led me around town today like a little puppy in training. I enjoyed Areopostle, J. Crew, and MANY other delightful stores. I’ve been trained these 41 years to follow at a safe distance, never complain, and keep a keen eye open for a bench or chair in every store. I give myself an A for today’s effort as mother and daughter used the word “cute” 742 times. I finally suggested switching to “darling” late in the day as an equal substitute for what was being tried on. My comment was acknowledged, but “cute” continued to dominate for everything from tops to stationery.
After a little RNR back at the boat, we dined at the Rusty Scupper, a restaurant located adjacent to the marina. Shrimp jambalaya for me and crab stuffed shrimp for the ladies ended a perfect day with my girls. We sat on the celebrity pad until about 11:00 pm, admiring the gorgeous skyline of Baltimore.
Baltimore at sundown.
Monday morning, Abigail has to rise at 4:00 am to catch a plane back to Nashville. As much as we are enjoying this trip, nothing takes the place of friends and family who can come and visit. We will miss her. We miss so many who have been such a big part of our lives, leading to this point. We hope to share this experience with any who can join us along the way.
We rose early (boat time early), dropped the lines, and headed West to Rock Hill. Rock Hill is on the West side of the bay, but a short ride across. The bay narrows as we go North. Only a 2 hour ride (17 miles @ warp speed). Seas were calm and the wind at our back, so the beautiful day gave Abigail her first on board cruising experience. Her dream was to lie on the bow of the boat and sun bath like the celebrities do. The bow is now known as the celebrity pad.
Rock Hall is another little familiar looking town. Fishing and the marina life seem to be the main boosts in economy. Larger than Tangier Island, the town has made an effort to keep the downtown alive with a handful of eating establishments, shops, an ice cream stand, etc. Met a lady who lived in Savannah for 21 years who has a daughter the same age as one of kids. She knew our neighborhood, so we had a good visit with her playing “do you know”.
Abigail took many pictures with her photographic eye which not only made things a little more interesting, but also put me in a couple of shots. We chilled the day away and then had dinner at the Waterman’s Restaurant.
We spent today touring Annapolis with Abigail. Took a tour of the downtown and enjoyed seeing a couple beautiful churches, learning the Revolutionary and Civil War history of the area. We always enjoy hanging out with our adult children. Still hard to grasp that our baby and only girl is an adult, but she is thriving and making us proud.
Ceiling of the Catholic Church
The legs don’t support the story, but this is not a blue heron looking for food.
Just look at those hydrangeas.
We slipped back over to Davis’ to grab another Crab Pretzel roll and watch the USA Women’s Soccer team defeat France in the Quarterfinals of the World Cup.
We chilled out on the cockpit of the boat and then had dinner at the Boatyard Restaurant that evening. Trying to eat all the crab in Chesapeake Bay, as this is the capitol of crabbing.
I begin this chapter of the trip highlighting the last few weeks. Our plans to be off the boat for 3 weeks turned to 5 weeks. We enjoyed the time off the boat by welcoming William Hughes Dorman into the world, cutting grass at Sweetwater for a few days, Amanda attending her college reunion, celebrating our 41st anniversary, and having a side trip to Williamsburg on the return trip to the boat.
In these days we have learned much, which follows:
B.O.A.T. is an acronym for Bill Out Another Thousand. The end of the first leg of our trip was Deltaville, VA. We were having some electrical issues that were confusing me (doesn’t take much), so we determined a good game plan would be to leave the boat at a boat yard, get the repairs done, and not have to pay for storage (in water or out) while we were home enjoying our newest grandson. We soon learned we had other issues much more critical than electrical. My boat vocabulary now includes: shaft sleeve, cutlass bearings, corroded drive shaft, delaminating fiberglass, alternator temperature sensor failure, intermittent voltage regulator. As I borrowed money from my grandchildren’s college fund, I had to remind myself that any one of these things could have been significantly worse if they had gone undiscovered. So I am working on my thankful attitude and trying to refocus on the reason we undertook this adventure. The last couple weeks have made me think that a pleasure boat could possibly be an oxymoron.
The delay for repairs on the boat yard also changed our trip plan. Though The Loop can be done at different paces, there are certain milestones in the journey that must be acknowledged and obeyed, purely for safety. One rule: be off the Great Lakes by Labor Day, ensures avoiding the big winds and seas, and dropping temperatures of the North. We were no longer comfortable we could make that deadline, unless we skipped every site and did nothing but drive the boat on the route. We started this adventure to enjoy the trip and each other; sitting on a boat, burning diesel everyday for 9 weeks didn’t sound fun to us. So, we modified the game plan and decided to enjoy the East Coast until the weather forecast says “cold is coming”. Then we’ll turn South. It is a little of a disappointment, but a necessary decision for safety and enjoyment. We look forward to our modified plan.
With that said, we headed out from Deltaville, VA. on the morning of June 22, after a successful sea trial the day before, ensuring all issues with the boat had been successfully addressed and resolved.
Our plan was to cross the Southern section of the Chesapeake, going West to East, to Tangier Island. Three to four hours, tops. The forecast was windy and choppy, but we were to arrive before noon, so the worst of the wind would come later in the day. With the winds rocking the boat and stirring the fuel in our tanks, the fuel line got stopped up and we our 1 engine shutdown.
Coast Guard towed us in.
In the marina
This Coast Guard crew was professional and on their game getting us to safe harbor.
I’ll skip the details of the next few hours, but we were successfully towed in to Tangier, where we spent Friday through Monday cleaning out one tank to ensure trash could not possibly cause a problem like this in the future. I’ve learned much about fuel polishing, as it is called, and now have added fuel polishing to the long list of preventive maintenance practices.
Tangier is a unique little island with lots of history going back to the Revolutionary War. Crabbing and tourism are the only industries holding the little place together. The population continues to dwindle as the kids finish school and move on to where they can make a living. Sadly, the bay is slowly eating away at the land. It is projected the island will be gone in 50 years, unless state or federal funding builds a seawall around the whole island. Not much hope for them.
The little marina: old, cheap, and clean.
We enjoyed meeting Mr. Milton Parks, owner of the little marina (a few slips and a couple of bathrooms). He is famous in the boating community in this area and has a sharp wit that brings lots of smiles. He’s at least the 3rd generation of Parks on the island. Eighty eight years young, and almost deaf, but on his game. A crabber and diesel mechanic all his life, the loud engines of his past make a conversation with this man not only interesting and repetitive, but also pretty challenging. He’s a good man and I am fortunate and better for having met him.
We met new friends at Tangier, enjoyed our last evening together sitting on the dock, and then we all went different directions on Tuesday morning. Our destination was Solomon’s Island. An uneventful ride across the bay, with the Honey Queen performing beautifully. Anchoring out, we really did no site seeing here. The winds were calm, sunset was beautiful, and we savored the quiet solitude of being “on the hook” with no boat or people anywhere nearby.
Solomon’s Island
Wednesday morning, 26 June, we traveled 42 miles North to Annapolis. One of the prettiest days we’ve seen. Winds were 3-5 knots, from the South, with flat seas. It was nice to set the auto-pilot and let the boat hold the course, while I enjoyed a stress free day at the wheel. Amanda even took a little nap below deck it was so smooth.
