Sept 29, 2011-Maryland

We had an early morning today, we hauled our anchor up at 5:30am so we could catch the tide heading up the Delaware Bay. We had such a miserable trip down the bay last year that this year we feel as though we cheated somehow. It was actually a nice day. We were motoring at 8.5 knots, and we had the head sail out for a little while until the little bit of wind that we had died. We even got to see one of our friends from home. I got a text from our friend Tom who had heard us on the VHF radio (I guess our boat name is not common). He was doing a boat delivery to Annapolis with some friends and eventually came right by us to say hello! What a small world! You expect to run into people you know at the grocery store, or if you are traveling...maybe see someone you know in the airport. We never expected to see someone we know from home heading up the Delaware Bay! What a pleasant surprise!
The way the tide works in the Bay for a slow boat (like ours) is if you catch it at the beginning you can ride it all the way through the canal to the Chesapeake Bay. It worked out perfectly, the only problem we had was the debris that was in the water, especially in the canal. Deason had to stand watch at the bow of the boat to look for large pieces, there where whole trees in the water, some with huge root balls. We couldn't avoid the small stuff because there was so much of it, so we just tried not to hit the big stuff, we even saw some 50 gallon drums! Apparently, all the debris is still from hurricane Irene, and the rain that has been falling since!
We ended up anchoring in the Bohemia River, it was as far as we could go, the wind picked up out of the W once we were in the canal, and when we got into the Chesapeake it made for standing waves. There is nothing worst than wind against tide, one woman on the radio described it as "the conditions are rubbish". I couldn't have said it better, so we pulled off and found a nice anchorage, and our friends from the Lagoon 440 "Sail On" (who we met in Block Island) anchored next to us. It was a great night exchanging stories and checking out each others boats.

Sept 28, 2011

We were dreading today, the forecast was for SE winds 10-15 with gusts up to 20knots, but since we were heading SW it turned out okay. We left earlier than we had planned and had to fight the flood current out of Atlantic City Inlet, but we wanted to get out before the winds picked up too much in the afternoon. The seas were a little rough, but overall it could have been much worse. We pulled into Cape May just before 4pm after motor sailing the whole way.
The good thing about getting in early was we were able to make it to shore and do some much needed provisioning. It was just over a mile to the market, and we were pleasantly surprised by the walk. It turned out to be all residential, with nice gardens and sidewalks. It is always nice to explore new places, especially when they are nice places to be.
We are scheduled to head out early tomorrow to catch the current up the Delaware Bay. We will be happy to say goodbye to NJ!

Sept 27, 2011

We have made it to Atlantic City! We left Sandy Hook in dense fog yesterday, and we almost ran aground....almost! The fog was lifting in the anchorage, and we hauled anchor and started our way around the hook (it is sort of the shape of Provincetown, but much smaller) and on the far side it showed on the chart plenty of water to head south after rounding the hook. It was so foggy that when we made our turn south we notice about 50ft off our starboard side there was a large clump of birds sitting still, they happened to be sitting on a large sand shoal! What a scare, we were in over 20ft of water, but based on our charts there was not suppose to be a shoal there. Its always unnerving to see something that isn't suppose to be there, especially when the visibility is less that 50ft. Once we were more off shore the fog started to lift a little, and by the time we got to Barnegat Inlet it had lifted considerably.
We experienced the same thing this morning when leaving Barnegat to head for Atlantic city, minus the near grounding. There was dense fog almost the whole way, but even with the fog we were still able to see many different pods of dolphins! I tried to get some pictures, but those mammals are quick....I got lots of pictures of the water though! Plus, the fog didn't make for good pictures either!
The anchorage here in Atlantic city isn't bad, the holding is good (sandy bottom), but the current is pretty strong. The current plays with your mind sometimes. When you stare out the window, if you don't make a couple points of reference it appears as if we are dragging. We have plenty of chain out, but we still keep the anchor alarm on for peace of mind.
Deason, Dahlia and I took a dinghy ride to the Golden Nugget, and got some well deserved candy and ice cream. It was nice to get off the boat and walk around for a bit, even if it was through a casino!

Sept 25, 2011-New Jersey

Note: Our speed overground (SOG) = 10.7 knots




We had the most incredible sunset last night, there were shades of orange and red that I have never seen in the sky before! I find I notice the sunsets so much more when we are traveling, or maybe it is that I appreciate them more, because it means that bed time will be soon!
Before bed we checked the forecast, it was for light winds out of the E during the day changing to SE at night, so we figured...now or never!
It turned out great! In order to get the current right through Hell Gate we left around 8am. It would be a bummer to get that current wrong, we were motoring at 10+ knots down the East River (we were basically getting 5 knots of help).....Yahoo! It always feels so epic to travel by NYC. We are on a boat in our pajamas, and there are so many people right there next to us with busy schedules and agendas, even though they are so close they feel miles away, in terms of goals! Kind of feels like going to the zoo, seeing all the animals in cages, we are in completely different worlds!
We made it to Sandy Hook, NJ around 2pm. It wasn't a long trip today, we just wanted to get through the city so we wouldn't have to try and balance current and weather. It is suppose be light winds tomorrow, so we will head out early and hopefully get as far as we can down the NJ coast.

Sept 24, 2011

Happy Birthday Dahlia! She has been singing "happy birthday" to herself for the past week, and today when it was her actual birthday she clammed all up when we sang to her. She barely cracked a smile, but she was enthusiastic about eating her cup cake! I am glad it was just us, or she would have been too overwhelmed. We like to keep things as low key as possible, which is why we spent the better part of the day in our pajamas! We watched "Singing in the Rain" (even though it wasn't raining), and in the afternoon we finally made a trip to shore. We went to a great park/playground and we got lots of energy out running around!
We are hoping to get a break in the weather soon so we can get moving again, in hind sight we should have left today. It was partly sunny all day and there was barely a hint of wind! We could have at least motored as long as we wanted, but the forecast didn't describe today like it turned out! Even the NOAA guys get it wrong!

Sept 23, 2011

The LG Sea-Lander!!!




We did all our grocery shopping yesterday, and when we got back to the boat it was bright and sunny. Deason was complaining of being hot, so he and Dahlia went on a kayak ride. Then they spent a while manufacturing a swing for Dahlia out of a boat cushion. Overall a pretty laid back day!
We were planning on leaving today, but the forecast for the whole week is winds out of the South, and we can't (won't) travel down the coast of New Jersey beating into the wind. So we figured that we mine as well stay here where we have everything we need so easily accessible. When we can get a forecast for winds out of anywhere but the South we will probably just try and get as far down the coast as we can. There are a few inlets that we can go into down the
NJ coast.
I really wanted to anchor near the Statue of Liberty, but it is not a practical anchorage if we are going to have to wait there for a few days for weather.
We ended up going to shore today to get some more laundry done and get some birthday candles for Dahlia's birthday cake tomorrow! We knew it was going to rain today, but by the time we got back to the dinghy it was really raining, and we got soaked getting back to the boat. Deason thought it was great, and he did a great job driving us back to the boat as fast as he could! I have to mention our great dock cart that we got over the winter, it is the LG Sea-lander, it has a cover that kept all of our laundry dry! It is really light and folds up really easily! Last year we got a typical wire cart that we got at target to haul all our stuff around in, and by the time we got up the coast the thing was being held together by bungee cords and duck tape. I highly recommend the Sea-lander!

Sept 21, 2011

Our second attempt at leaving Port Jeff was more successful. We left with the tide at 12:30 and had winds out of the South, we motor-sailed again, and arrived to Port Washington at 5:30. It was a rather uneventful trip, a little foggy, but we could see the outline of Manhattan as we got close to our anchorage. We will stay a day to get some grocery shopping done, and head through the East River possibly Friday.
Dahlia has gotten too big to take a bath in our sinks, and usually takes showers with us, but today she wanted a bath and we had to improvise with storage ware! She loved it!