East Coast Travels

9/15 to 9/29 2007

We're working our way back south. Re-visiting places and exploring areas we bypassed before.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 09/30/2007

9/15/07 - Our guests arrived via water taxi at 10pm last night (Ruth had tipped the driver a twenty to stick around just in case they arrived after 10). After an hour of catching up with each other we all crashed. Around midnight I heard the first rain. I got up at 7am find autumn gray skies and drizzle. The forecast is for an intense front to move through at noon driven by 25-30 knot winds. Looks like we'll stick with the mooring another night. The front moved thru about 2pm and the skies cleared. We didn't get the winds that were forecast though it wouldn't have mattered as the boat was on a mooring and we were touring Salem and the Peabody-Essex Museum. Quite a museum for Asian art and Nautical artifacts from the period when Salem was the major US trading port with Asia. Go figure. They sent out so many ships that many nations thought Salem was a nation. 9/16/07 - Sunny, still and cool. They forecast the high for today at 62. We motored to Misery Island and anchored so Ruth could glass and the guys could explore the island (Lynn, Linda and Ingy created a monster when they introduced Ruth to glassing). Its great having Dennis, Rory and Mitch aboard and getting to know them better. We'd not gotten to know Mitch well before. He's quiet, smart and deep - a very interesting young man. Rory is working his way thru medical school. Over the next 6 years he'll complete school, extra 2 years of study, a residency and a fellowship. Jokingly I noted he'd be about 50 when he enters practice. After a grilled chicken lunch (dinner) we sailed to Gloucester. The wind was perfect for making a few tacks and having Rory on the helm for a couple of hours. Didn't take him long to figure it out. At Gloucester we anchored in the west harbor. One other boat there... summer is winding down. The mooring fields are full of sail and other recreational boats. A sign of the times, the fish processing plant is for sale. While we saw a fleet of a half dozen fishing vessels parade out of the harbor late afternoon it is only a fraction of what it was. Gloucester is the port of the Andrea Gail, immortalized in "The Perfect Storm". The ship and crew are listed on a monument to lost fishermen located in the town. Ruth hit the beach for a half hour and declared it "picked over", being right in town and all. 9/17/07 - Crisp upper 50's morning. Just a few white cotton-ball clouds drifting across the sky. We hoisted anchor and went sailing - just for the fun of it. Mitch helmed as we cleared the mouth of the harbor and headed to sea. We had a great 10 knot wind and used every point of sail known to Barry as the guys took turns on the helm. Eventually we passed Marblehead and took a few runs across and back Salem Sound. finally it was time to make a quick supper and say good bye to our guests. We hope they had as much fun as we did! The weekend was over way too soon as the water taxi picked them up that evening. We were headed south, they were head to destinations... Mitch to NY, Rory to Dartmouth and Dennis to Appleton. 9/18/07 - Off to Provincetown on Cape Cod. We dropped our mooring at 9am and motored out to the sound, raising sail and motor sailing the 40-odd miles to the tip of the Cape Cod finger. Ruth got a glimpse of a whale early in the trip... I was too late to see it. About half way the winds grew strong enough for us to sail without the engine... at 7-7.5 knots (what a ride!). At P-Town we fueled at one of the more unique docks I've dealt with. The hose was dropped to us at a floating dock. After we fueled they lowered a bucket for my credit card, then lowered it again with my card and the receipt. We had to move to another dock for water, finally moving to a mooring for the night. While I was filling the water tanks Ruth ran into town to overnight a letter. Once we were moored and settled we took the dinghy to a dock and went to see the town. P-Town is a tourist town. Key West north, an artists' haven and gay town. Ruth hit it off with Ellie, a transvestite, and we were serenaded with "The Way We Were" - appropriately. I really enjoyed the shops though many were closed as it's after season and not a weekend. Still quite a few tourists though. Provincetown is where the pilgrims first landed with the Mayflower. After about a month they re-boarded and sailed to Plymouth, landing on the rock. I don't remember that being in our history books - must have gotten Cliff's Notes version of American History. 9/19/07 - Grey day, overcast and 51 as we got rolling. Got to cover some miles to catch up with warmer weather. We had a lazy sail to the Cape Cod Canal, arriving at 2:30pm for the 3:30 current change. Our Nobeltec software forecast that the current was only 1 knot against us so we traversed the canal against the current. They had it pegged. Our 6.6 knots got us through with no problems. At 3:30pm we turned into Onset, MA at the western end of the canal and anchored for the night. Onset is beautiful village with white sand beaches surrounding a well protected harbor. There is a small island in the center - for sale. A quiet kind of day under grey autumn skies. The weather sure turns quickly this time of year. We saw very few boats enroute, though 4 joined us in our anchorage. The jeep sold so we need to fax insurance cancellation forms tomorrow morning. We had a great dinner - pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, green beans and a salad. MMMuumm. Then we retired to the cockpit to listen to the  loons calling in the fog. A great end to a grey day. 9/20/07 - Pea soup fog this morning. We kind of figured that would happen with all the moisture in the air last night and a temperature change in the works. Sampatecho is in Annapolis, Chuck Morrell is in Sandy Hook, NJ (south of NY harbor), Miles is in or closing in on NY and we are at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal. Guess who is running late? We went into Onset this morning as the fog lifted and the day turned clear and warm (70's). It is a cute village, definitely tourist driven and about half closed - end of the season. We did some provisioning and visited the hardware store. Ruth went glassing and I did boat chores - both of us enjoying a warm sunny afternoon. Tomorrow we boogie. 9/21/07 - I hoisted anchor at 7:30am and began the 53 mile trek to Block Island. The wind was light and variable so I set our sails and motored. Enroute we encountered 3 tugs with petroleum barges in tow. It is easy to see how someone could sail between them in fog or night, snagging the tow cable and getting run over by the barge. About half way the wind built enough for us to motor sail, thereby making Salt Pond at 3 pm. You could tell the tourist season was over, Friday night at Block Island and 3/4's of the moorings were open. I think we'll save the Island for an in-season visit. 9/22/07 - The days are quickly getting shorter. The sun is getting up later and going to bed earlier. 6:30 and it is just peeking over the thin cloud layer on the eastern horizon. I want to jump to Cape May, a 40 hour offshore run. Ruth wants to run down Long Island Sound and the East River. We departed in light haze with 3+ mile visibility. We sailed on Arabian wind (diesel) as Mother Nature's product wasn't available. Not many lobster pots around us any more... too bad, we wanted to cook a pair of 2.5 pounders.  Still we have hopes. We'll keep our eyes open for a fisherman. We passed through the Long Island Sound Race, a narrow 300+ foot deep channel where the tide rushes out of the sound. The tide was falling and we had a 2 knot current against us. About 15 minutes later a submarine announced it was coming through the race behind us. About 2 hours out of our destination, the Thimble Islands. the wind came up and we could sail at 8 knots. What a great ride! We ran through a group of vessels racing, overtaking most of them. We crossed the finish line second. The lead boat took off after us but could not catch up - hey, cruising does not mean slow. We were soon in the chain of 25 pink granite islands, mostly inhabited. By 4:30 we were anchored in 9' of water. Tomorrow we will rejoin Ariel at Port Washington for the run through New York. Miles is getting concerned that the weather is on verge of changing and we need to get further south quick. He is probably right. The Thimbles turned out to be inhabited miniatures of the Benjamin Islands in the North Channel (Lake Huron). They a little pink bedrock island carved by Glaciers. All are private though the outer most one is property of the Federal Wildlife Department and can be visited as part of a tour. There is plenty of room to anchor, given that you don't snag a utility cable feeding an island. My chart doesn't show them so you guess. 9/23/07 - Our departure was later than normal as we took the dinghy into Stony Creek for breakfast at - where else, the Stony Creek Deli. It was a nice treat! The town is small and definitely tuned to the water and tourists, but not overdone like say Fish Creek. The 54 mile sail to Port Washington, just off Great Neck was fast.  We overtook and passed a couple of barges with tows. Usually we making 7 knots over ground in blustery 10-15 knot winds. Enroute we got a radio call from Ariel, looking for us. New York was on the horizon as we turned into Hempstead Bay and dropped our sails.  Miles brought their dinghy over to pick us up to meet friends they'd made sailing the past couple of weeks. 9/24/07 - We fueled, watered and pumped out while Ariel got their bottom washed. Then we headed for the East River and our run through New York. A quick check with Nobeltec confirmed that the current through Hell's gate was with us so it would be a quick run. In fact we topped 12 knots coming through Hell's Gate. We had a little detour in the East River. The Homeland Security boys had the West channel blocked to create a security zone around the UN and were directing everyone down the east channel. That meant waiting for the Roosevelt bridge in 4-5 knot current. Too quickly we were in New York Harbor, enroute to Sandy Hook, NJ and the town of Atlantic Heights. Passing Sandy Hook we saw a 30' sailboat lying on here side at the high tide line. Whoops, I meant the other starboard Hon. Sure hurts to see someone's dream boat high and dry for scavengers. On arrival Ruth and I went shopping for some groceries. Atlantic Heights is a cute town, about the size of New London, WI's downtown. We walked 8 blocks to the grocery store and fill our 2 backpacks. While we were packing a local boater offered us a ride back to the harbor noting she knew how hard it was to get around on land when you are based off a boat. Sure beat walking back! 9/25/07 - As Miles requested we got up at 06-dark and set off for Barnegat Inlet - about 50 miles. We motor sailed in 5 knot winds under sunny skies. The seas were fairly flat, 1-2' waves and we made good time. By 2pm we were entering Barnegat Inlet. The tide was running out a 3+ knots making for a rough entrance. Fortunately the seas were from the south or we'd have had to wait for slack tide to enter the inlet. We gave Miles and Laureen the walling tour of Barnegat Light. It's basically a quaint seaside bedroom community. A few diners, some shops scattered along the main drag and a USCG station. We stopped for beers at a local restaurant before returning to our boats for dinner and sleep. 9/26/07 - Off again at 06-dark for the run to Atlantic City or beyond - depending on seas. A warm sunny day but with a 10-14 knot wind out of the south, right on our nose. It will be a motorboat ride today. As expected we motored all day, arriving in Cape May, NJ at the mouth of Delaware Bay at 4pm. It was a good trial for Ariel as the seas built all afternoon and we got to surf into the Cape May Inlet - exhilarating. 9/27/07 - We moved in fog to the South Jersey fuel dock, both we and Ariel decided to take slips so we could show them Cape May; a beautiful example of a Victorian some home village.  Before touring the town we took advantage of the slip to fill water tanks and give the topsides the best wash-down they've had in a couple of months. The gal cleans up nice. The four of us rented a 4 place bicycle to tour the Victorian area of town. We looked the the 3 stooges plus one. It was a blast. I just wish we could have charged a buck a head from the folks we entertained. It sure wore the 4 of us out! Time to check the weather. If the last forecasts hold we'll be here until Sunday waiting for favorable winds to run NW up the Delaware. Today would have been the day to go but we'd had several long days and we wanted to show off a beautiful little jewel - Cape May. 9/28/07 - We left again just after dawn. The current was so strong at the dock that I had to leave Ruth behind to help Miles and Laureen off. I retrieved her later in the harbor. We pushed out of Cape May into 75' seas... if you wanted a smooth ride your boat would have to be 75' long. The waves were maybe 6' but spaced fairly close together. While we were traveling Miles confirmed that in addition to having issues with pointing the right direction our wind instrument was reading 30% low. We'd suspected that ever since the lightning damage a year ago June. We replace both readouts but retained the masthead vane... mistake.  By 3 we were entering the C & O canal that connect Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake. Enroute we meet a ship and several seagoing barges. The tidal current were still with us so we ran to the Bohemian River, anchoring on the north side of the channel for shelter from the Northwestern winds. Ruthie was bushed so we lazed about our boat for the evening. As we were eating dinner a sharp red ship eased by prompting Ruth to grab the camera. Weather permitting we'll head to Baltimore tomorrow. That should be cool - we've bypassed it 4 times in order to keep schedules. 9/29/07 - Up at dawn, ready to roll. I heard a few ships or tows pass by in the night... not noisy - just a little wake. It was a great sail to the entrance to Baltimore harbor, about 35 miles. It seemed like another 35 miles motoring to the inner harbor, focus of Baltimore's waterside revitalization. Very nice! Ariel took a slip and we anchored with 8 other boats in the heart of the old inner harbor. We have a WWII sub USS Torsk on our starboard and the square rigger Constellation on our port. The inner harbor is filled with people in pedal boats. All afternoon they'd stop to talk to Buddy and ask "How did you get here from Wisconsin"  or "How about them Packers?" Our neighbors are mostly Canadian. Actually our Canadian friends Bradd & Maeve told us about this anchorage. Tomorrow we go exploring.

Mitch at the helm Dennis and Rory on the weather rail Chart talk Rory and the skipper Crew finally whipped into shape. Ellie sings, Provincetown Taking wind power to the extreme Island 4 sale, Onset Block Island lighthouse Sun sets over Salt Pond, Block Island Lighthouse at the Long Island Sound Race Fall sneaks into Stony Creek Ariel in The Big Apple The Lady, Laureen and Miles Ariel in seas off Atlantic City The 4 Stooges do Cape May Ruth's red ship, C&D Canal Inner harbor, Baltimore Here thar be dragons

Visit earlier portions of our east coast travels...