Thru June 2, 2013
On May 31st we departed Great Kills at 0820, were through New York harbor by 1240 and anchored in Haverstraw Bay (about 35 miles up the Hudson River) at 1540 in the afternoon. Weather was perfect and we spent a quiet night at anchor.
The next day, June 1st – we’ve been underway for a month – we were underway at 0810 and had a fair tide most of the day. We anchored in a shallow area to the west side of the Hudson River just south of the river leading into Kingston, New York. Another quiet night at anchor.
This morning we departed the anchorage at Kingston and had a fair tide pushing us along at up to 8.2 knots most of the way until we got to Albany. When we reached Troy (about 5 miles north of Albany) the skies opened and it rained for about 30 minutes, then cleared off as we were entering the Federal Lock which is the first of many we’ll encounter on this part of our trip. When we exited the Federal Lock I called a friend who lives near Waterford and he met us at the dock to have us tie alongside the canal corporation’s historic tug which is more or less permanently located at the Waterford visitor’s center dock. There was no space at the dock itself due to the number of boats now waiting to go into either the Erie or Champlain Canals. We had an early dinner with Fred and he delivered a cruising guide which we had ordered early last week for delivery at Fred’s house.
Day: 55.1NM – 8H30M
Trip:
Larry Zeitlin’s GUIDE to Hudson River (2015)
May 30, 2013
The biggest problem of the day was trying to find a mooring in the small harbor (the yacht clubs and marinas are too expensive, and we like moorings because our two cats can have the run of the outside of the boat at night). None of the yacht clubs or marinas had moorings available, but with our last telephone call we were directed to an individual who GAVE us his private mooring to stay on for as long as we’d like! What a generous person. We ended up staying just one night, but his willingness to help out a fellow boater can only be repaid with a big “thank you!”
Day: 86.3NM 12H40M Trip:
May 29, 2013
Departed Cape May 15 at 0550 this morning and while the ocean wasn’t a mill pond, it wasn’t a maelstrom either. Seas were 3-4 feet from the south from the time we departed the Cape May Inlet until we reached the Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City). The Simrad/Robertson autopilot handled the quartering seas fairly well, and we only had to hand steer a few times when we were overtaken by larger waves. We kept both cats shut inside initially, worried that if Ernie were outside he may loose his balance and go overboard, but after an hour or so Judy opened the aft companionway hatch so they could come and go as they wished. Ernie tends to stay topside with us when we’re underway; Khepera generally stays inside sleeping on his cat toy or the sofa.
We turned into the Atlantic City inlet channel at 1050, exactly five hours after we got underway, and had lines to an outside dock at Gardner’s Boat Basin Marina (the Atlantic City Aquarium) at 1110. Nice place to stay, inexpensive, and a few restaurants close by. Judy and I did some walking around the local area of town and found some ground espresso coffee at a local store, along with an Italian sub sandwich! Back to Sanderling for a nap while Judy worked, then showers and dinner at a local Ale House which we usually patronize when we’re here – great seafood!
The current forecast for tomorrow (Thursday) looks even better than the forecast for today, so we plan to depart at sunrise (about 0530) on our 14-hour day to Great Kills Harbor 82 nautical miles away.
Stay tuned!
May 28, 2013
Stayed in Baltimore until the morning of May 27th (Monday – Memorial Day) when we were underway at 0700. Had a nice time there, despite the delay, and we were able to have dinner all but one night with my daughter, saw friends Norm & Nancy for lunch and Charlie and Mujgan for dinner (with Jennifer). All in all, a good stop despite the delay.
Monday we ran 63.8NM to Reedy Island at the top of Delaware Bay with a favorable tide until we reached the Elk River (just west of the C&D Canal) then a foul tide the remainder of the way. Averaged 6.3knots for the day, arriving at Reedy Island anchorage at 1700.
This morning we departed the anchorage at 0635 and enjoyed a 2 knot push for three hours and a 1.8 knot drag for another four hours running down Delaware Bay. We arrived at Cape May and had the anchor set at 1355 after 48.6NM and 7H20M.
Next stop: Atlantic City, New Jersey. We’ll give it a try early, early, early tomorrow morning (Wednesday) before the wind picks up. All will depend on the forecast tonight and what we see in the ocean when we peak out tomorrow morning before committing to go north!
More later!
May 24, 2013
We’re still in Baltimore, after arriving on Tuesday the 21st expecting to stay for two nights. If there’s anything you quickly learn when boating it’s that you can’t control Mother Nature! After dinner the first night and Wednesday night with my daughter (who lives in Baltimore) and meeting long-term friends from Northern Virginia for grocery shopping and lunch on Wednesday, the weather forecast did not look favorable for our hoped-for departure on Thursday.
Not only do we have about 45 miles of Chesapeake Bay remaining, there is then about 22 miles of relatively protected waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal connecting the two bays, and another 55 miles of big, open water of Delaware Bay before we get into relatively protected Cape May, New Jersey. So while we might have had a decent trip up the remaining Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay would have been dreadful on Friday, with winds gusting to 30 knots. The winds are forecast to continue through Sunday – so here we sit waiting for decent weather on Delaware Bay (and to some extent, now, on the upper Chesapeake).
Tomorrow (Saturday) we’ll decide whether to head out after noon on Sunday to Veasey Cove, about 40 miles north. Sunday afternoon the winds are forecast to gradually lay down so on Monday and Tuesday (at least) Delaware Bay should be decent. That will at least get us to Cape May, New Jersey. After that we have about a 45 mile stretch of the Atlantic Ocean along the New Jersey coast to Atlantic City – we’d be doing that on Tuesday if we depart Baltimore on Sunday afternoon – and the forecast now looks good on the ocean for Tuesday. After Atlantic City it’s the ocean again to Great Kills on Staten Island where we hope to meet up with a friend from that area for dinner.
We’ll have to see how Mother Nature smiles or frowns in the next couple of days to determine how far we get before we have more weather-induced lay days.
So this isn’t all bad – it’s just another delay in our non-schedule plan!