Annapolis, Maryland

We arrived in Annapolis, MD after a lovely motor sail from Baltimore on Friday, September 26th.  We crossed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the Bay Bridge), a dual span bridge crossing the Chesapeake Bay with a length of 4.3 miles.  We are staying at a small marina, Horn Point Marina on Back Creek, about a 1 mile walk to old downtown Annapolis.  We will be here until October 24th when we travel south in the Chesapeake Bay to Hampton, Virginia.  We have a list of almost 40 items that we need to add, repair, maintain, and/or clean on the boat.  The highlight of our stay here will be the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis on October 9-13, 2014 (and we are expecting visitors!).  Check back for updates.

Baltimore, MD

We arrived in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD on Tuesday, September 23rd after a very interesting sail up the river to Baltimore.  This is a very busy shipping port and full of history, marinas, condos, businesses, shopping, and restaurants.  We passed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge which also marks the battle in 1814 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled Banner”.  A ceremonial buoy in red, white, and blue is placed here by the Coast Guard every year from June through November. We stayed at the Baltimore Inner Harbor Marina right in the heart of the Inner Harbor.  We took the water taxi one day and rode all around the harbor visiting many sights and neighborhoods.  We had street tacos at Papi’s Tacos in Fell’s Point, drank a Natty Boh at the Admiral’s Cup, homemade Italian fare at Gia in Little Italy, Irish Beer at Tir Na Nog in Harborplace, food shopping at Cross Street Market, and awesome finds at McCormick World of Flavors!  We went to the top of The World Trade Center of Baltimore where the entire floor is a 360 view of the city.  You probably can’t see it, but our boat is near the Rusty Scupper in the back row. Our next stop is Annapolis, MD where we plan to spend a month to wait out hurricane season.

Delaware Bay and C&D Canal

We left Cape May on Sunday morning, September 21st and headed up the Delaware Bay.  Due to the strong currents, it took us over 11 hours to travel 60 miles, where we anchored behind Reedy Island.  This anchorage is near the entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which needs to be started at three hours after high tide.  The next morning we motor sailed through the C & D Canal and were now in the Chesapeake Bay.  We were told of an anchorage about 21 miles south of the C & D Canal, however, it was a bit shallow and not well protected from the strong waves and wind we encountered that night.  This resulted in a sleepless night and two anchor resets.  The one good thing that evening was the beautiful sky at sunset.  Here are a few pictures from Delaware Bay, C&D Canal, and the sunset in Still Pond.

 

Cape May, New Jersey

On Thursday, September 18^th we motor sailed to Cape May, about 38 nautical miles.  The waves were supposed to be 3-5 feet, but they were not bad and the rollers were far apart, about 15 seconds.  We stayed at Utsch’s Marina for three nights so we could see the sights of Cape May.  This is a great marina with the best service and top facilities.  Our CRCA sailing friend, Steve S. recommended many places for us to visit while we were here as he grew up here in Cape May.  We definitely took his recommendations and rode our bikes all over – Fisherman’s Memorial, fishing boats, Cape May Lighthouse, WWII Lookout Tower, The Lobster House, and the C-View Inn.  We thoroughly enjoyed all of it, even the 15 mile bike ride!  We stayed here for three days and tomorrow we set sail for Delaware Bay.

 

 

 

Atlantic City, New Jersey

After a bit of a rough trip on the Atlantic with 2-4 foot waves with 10-15 knots of wind in the opposite direction of the waves, we arrived in Atlantic City.  There is a large marina at the Golden Nugget Casino.  We decided to stay two nights as the forecast called for 4-5 foot waves with 15 knots of wind in opposite directions.  We took a Jitney Bus to the Boardwalk on Tuesday night.  The Boardwalk sure has changed since the last time I was here when I was 12.  There are lots of casinos and restaurants – we had dinner at Margaritaville (of course).   However, there are a few recently closed casinos as there are fewer tourists.  On Wednesday, September 17th we caught up on all the daily cleaning and laundry, but then spent the afternoon poolside - really nice pool!  Sometimes there are nice perqs at marinas!  See if you can find our boat – in the middle, lower part of the picture.

Jersey Shore

We left Brooklyn on Monday, September 15^th and headed for the North Atlantic Ocean!  Our only way for the next 112 miles is in the Atlantic due to our draft and height.  We passed by Coney Island  - a legend of its own.  We had no idea how many miles of Jersey Shore we would pass – one beautiful home after another. We traveled nine hours until we were able to enter Barnegat Bay to anchor overnight where we spent a very peaceful night.

Little Italy in New York City

We stayed another night in Brooklyn so we could see Robyn – she flew into New York on a business trip on Sunday, September 14^th.  We met her at her hotel in Times Square and then went to a great old Italian restaurant in Little Italy called Pellegrino’s.  We made a quick stop in Chinatown first for a little purse shopping.  How wonderful it was to be able to spend a few hours with Robyn.  We also were able to see Grand Central Station, too!

The Statue of Liberty

Today we left NYC and sailed past the Statue of Liberty.  We wanted to spend the night at a marina so we could charge up, fill up, and get ready for the next 112 miles in the Atlantic Ocean.  Due to our depth and height of our mast, we are not able to enter any of the waterways in the New Jersey stretch until we hit Cape May.  We were able to get a few awesome pictures of the Statue of Liberty even though it was cloudy and also Ellis Island. God Bless America!

 

New York City

We did not plan this, but we arrived in New York City on September 11 th!  We passed the George Washington Bridge and it was decorated with a huge American Flag.  We took a mooring ball at West 79 th Street Boat Basin – cost is $30 a night versus $110-$144 a night in a marina.  This means that we have to dinghy to shore every time we want to leave the boat, but this does give us more money to spend in New York.  Notice the current at the mooring ball we are tied to and then think about winds going the opposite direction at 15 knots.  It was a nightmare trying to sleep and launch the dinghy. We spent two days here and we saw so many sights that we wish we could publish all of our pictures, however, we will try to keep them to the best ones.  The New York subway is the only way to get around New York.  Here is a list of what we saw and where we went while in New York.

1. Times Square – lots of people and many are strange.  Anyone remember the cowboy on The Late Show with David Letterman?
2. Broadway Comedy Club – eight comedians and some have been on Comedy Central and the Tonight Show.
3. New York local pizza at Ray’s Pizza.
4. Walk through Central Park.
5. One World Trade Center, 9/11 Memorial Twin Reflecting Pools, St. Paul’s Chapel with Ground Zero Exhibit.
6. Hot Dog from corner vendor
7. Downtown Liberty Tour Bus – all the sights in Manhattan including Midtown, Times Square, Greenwich Village, Financial District, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, and United Nations.
8. Broadway Play “Cinderella”
9. Irish Pub Fare and Guinness
10. Lots and Lots and Lots of Walking!!