Solitaire’s New England Cruise 2007

Navigator’s Bulletins

 

14 July 2007 – Setting Sail

Departed:       Herrington Harbour Marina at 0800

Arrived:          Still Pond, Maryland at 1700

Distance:       46.6 nm

Weather:        Fair with light winds

 

We set sail under blue skies, fair winds and calm seas. Having slept-in a bit after our farewell party the night before, we didn’t succeed in our plan to slip away quietly. Many close friends from the Marina were waving goodbye, shouting good wishes, and honking horns. The Chesapeake Bay was very quiet until we passed Annapolis – mostly fishing boats. The seas were oily-calm and what little wind was directly on our bow. We motored most of the day. We read aloud the farewell and retirement cards we’d received from friends as we traveled up the Bay. The pleasure boat traffic and chop picked up as we passed under the Bay Bridge around lunchtime. Neither of us had much appetite – this may be a good thing. We’d only planned to travel half a day, but everything was going so well, we just kept going. Our first night’s anchorage was perfect – just off the bay with good protection from Southerly winds, great holding and a refreshing breeze. We shared the area with 45 other boats – but it didn’t feel that crowded. We’d planned a big dinner to celebrate our first night out – Appetizers, Salad, Porterhouse Steaks, Baked Potatoes, and Champagne – but ended up eating salads and sandwiches with diet coke before falling into bed for nearly nine hours of sleep.

 

15 July 2007 – C&D Canal

Departed:       Still Pond, Maryland at 0815

Arrived:          Chesapeake City, Maryland at 1130

Distance:       20.5 nm         Cumulative:  67.1 nm

Weather:        Fair with light winds

 

As you travel north up the Chesapeake, closer to its source at the Susquehanna River, the character changes – fewer pleasure boats and more working boats – and completely different topography. We saw all sorts of fishing, crab and oyster boats; barges, tugs and freighters (all with seagulls hitching rides up and down the bay). Crab pots were everywhere in the shallower water and there were numerous Trot lines running right across the channel between the Sassafras and Bohemia Rivers. One of us had to keep a lookout ahead while the other was at the helm. The Turkey Point Light House marks the entry to Elk River – with its high banks and densely wooded shoreline. Instead of seagulls, you see bald eagles nesting on a lot of the pilings. We passed camp grounds where old boats where hauled inland for use as summer cabins. The current was strong and favorable giving us an average speed of 7.3 knots and allowing us to enter the C&D Canal and arrive at Chesapeake City earlier than expected. This was fortunate since the anchorage basin is small and crowded with shoaling in the middle. The crowds thinned as Sunday evening approached and many boaters headed out for their home ports. It is fascinating the watch the large commercial boats change pilots here for their eastward journey.

 

Old friends, Pat and Bob from nearby Elkton took the water taxi out to Solitaire and joined us for our celebratory champagne. Nancy and Pat used to fly gliders together years ago and hadn't seen each other for almost two decades. Both agreed that it seemed like yesterday. The four of us wandered around the little town and then had dinner together at the Chesapeake Inn. Nancy and Pat raved about the lobster pizza they shared. There was music everywhere – a jazz concert in the town gardens, a band at the restaurant and one in the adjoining Tiki Bar. Since it was National Ice Cream Day, we all had to have a scoop at the local creamery. We ran into Jay and Deborah Barrett and their daughter Arielle. Jay is our dermatologist from South River. What a small world. After dinner, we joined them on their Carver, “Claudielle” for a glass of wine. They were on their way to Philadelphia to pick up younger daughter, Claudia from summer camp. After another eventful day, we were back on the boat by 9:00.

 

16 July 2007 – The Delaware Bay

Departed:       Chesapeake City, Maryland at 0724

Arrived:          Cape May, NJ at 2015

Distance:       75.9 nm         Cumulative:  143 nm

Weather:        Afternoon and evening Thunderstorms

 

We’d planned to depart an hour or two before high tide in order to take advantage of easterly currents on the canal and favorable current on the Delaware later that day, but over our morning coffee, we decided not to wait.  We were rewarded with a 1 knot current that eventually increased to over 2 knots and no commercial traffic on the C&D Canal. In fact, during our entire trip down the canal we saw a Grand Banks and another sailboat – both passed us, but we were to see the sailboat off and on over the rest of the day. All the bridges on the canal are fixed with clearances of over 130 feet, except a 45 feet railroad bridge that was fortunately up. Before we knew it, we were passed Reedy Point and were traveling down the Delaware Bay.  We had New Jersey to port, Delaware to Starboard, and Pennsylvania astern.

 

The hours passed without event – aside from the other sailboat, we saw just a couple cargo ships. Winds were light, skies overcast, and we could see light fog in the distance. We sailed by the nuclear power plant on Artificial Island, Beach houses on the Jersey Shore, and various light houses. We even saw dolphins swimming alongside the boat on two occasions. We’d originally planned to spend the night halfway down the Bay at the Cohansey River – but were making such great time that we forged ahead. The weather service forecast a 40% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but we kept a careful watch on XM weather and it looked like we’d pass between any weather that developed. We were almost right – except that the two systems converged with us in the middle.

 

In planning our trip, we hadn’t realized how far out to sea we needed to go in order to avoid all the shoaling around the Cape and enter thorough the Cape May Inlet. As a result, instead of arriving at 1730, we finally set anchor at 2015. We spent the last three hours of our day in Atlantic swells, 3 to 4 foot seas, disorganized waves, strong headwinds, and rain showers that were heavy at times. At one point, surfing down a wave, our speed reached 23 knots. Solitaire performed beautifully – she felt solid and easy to control.

We learned that no matter how well you stow and secure things below decks, in a storm, everything is going to shift, clang, clatter and sound like it is breaking. Nancy will try not to worry so much next time. She was nearly beside herself for an hour or so. Both cats got through their initiation to Atlantic sailing quite well – particularly our 19 year old cat – she just crawled under a pillow and slept. As soon as we were in calm water she was nagging us for food. Our younger cat, Tippy got a little queasy and needed more TLC that evening.

 

We were tracking our progress throughout the evening on our charts and on the GPS, so we always knew our exact location – even so, we felt great relief to see the beacon at the Cape May inlet through the rain and to reach the protected waters of the harbor.  The forecast calls for heavy morning fog and afternoon storms for the next few days, so we are going to stay put and wait for some better weather for our transit up the coast to New York. After all, we’re retired and there is absolutely no reason to rush.

 

19 July 2007 – Atlantic City

Departed:       Cape May, NJ at 0630

Arrived:          Atlantic City, NJ at 1230

Distance:       37.3 nm    Cumulative 180.3 nm

Weather:        Winds southerly at 5 – Ocean swells to 6 ft.

 

We sat in our cockpit enjoying an early morning cup of coffee at our anchorage in front of the Cape May Coast Guard Station. There appears to be a constant of 4 to 5 transient boats on any given night – most come in during the late afternoon and depart the following morning.  We were the exception. We were glad for the extra couple days of R&R and sightseeing.

 

We found Utsch’s Marina, a cruiser-friendly family-owned business that was more than happy to provide a dinghy landing and free internet access. We were rewarded for our wait, with ideal sea conditions this morning. Although by the time we secured below and pulled up our anchor, a bit of light fog had formed. It was much easier getting out of the Cape May Inlet than it was arriving during the Thunderstorm last Monday night.

 

We opened our new set of charts for the “North Atlantic Ocean” – does that ever seem strange! The advice we’d received for our trip up the New Jersey coast was to go outside the marks with an onshore breeze and closer to shore with an offshore breeze. The breeze was coming from the ocean toward land, so we settled into our course 2-3 miles offshore and we were greeted by a pod of dolphins. It just thrills us. 

 

I hope we never get blasé about visits from our sea-dwelling friends. We set our course in the auto-pilot and took turns at the helm. During his off-duty time, Jim napped in the cockpit. I spent my free-time reading a new novel. Occasionally, we saw other vessels at a distance, but most of the time, it felt like we had the entire ocean to ourselves. It was a remarkable easy trip and by lunchtime we were anchored southwest of a large highway bridge not far from Harrah’s casino.

 

 

 

21 July 2007 – Sandy Hook, NJ

Departed:       Atlantic City, NJ at 0600

Arrived:          Sandy Hook, NJ 1930

Distance:       79.5 nm    Cumulative 259.8 nm

Weather:        Fair with variable seas and a constant headwind

 

Our two days in Atlantic City were enjoyable. We dinghied to shore and started hiking toward the Famous Atlantic City Boardwalk. Nancy lost $20 at a slot machine at the Showboat in less than a minute and decided not to become a professional gambler. We did score a free map of the City so we headed out to find some landmarks that our friend Syd had told us about. Syd grew up in Atlantic City in the 1920’s. We had hoped to surprise him with a photo of his old family home on Maine Avenue, but had to settle for a picture of a high-rise hotel. One benefit of cruising the East Coast is that we’ve had excellent cell phone and television reception. We were watching the local weather reports and waiting for a cold front to move through Northeast U.S. and out to sea. We’d been dreading the next leg of our trip, nearly 80 miles of open ocean with no suitable ports along the way. Until we gain more experience with this sort of thing, we wanted ideal weather. We got our wish on Saturday morning.

 

Atlantic City stayed in view behind us for hours. We were amazed at the miles and miles of development along the entire Jersey Shore – high-rises, cottages, mansions, boardwalks, amusement parks. We had seas up to about six feet for most of the day but the swells were gentle – like being on a rocking horse. Later in the day, the winds came up and the seas were choppy – more like riding a mechanical bull. An occasional wave would spray over the dodger, making us glad for our fully enclosed cockpit. We took turns at the helm watching for other traffic and letting our autopilot do the work. We saw dolphins a couple times, but never very close to the boat. We got a kick out of the number of beach balls and Mylar balloons that floated by – each having left behind a crying kid somewhere. We must have seen 50 banner towing airplanes along the coast. After twelve hours, it all started to get a bit boring. When we were 15 miles out from Sandy Hook, we could see the Manhattan skyline in our binoculars. That gave us a little motivation and energy to get through the last hour and a half until we were safely at anchor in 25 feet of water near the Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station. It wasn’t a protected anchorage and when the wind came up during the night, we rolled quite a bit with the waves. We still slept like babies.

 

22 July 2007 – Rockaway Point Yacht Club, NY

Departed:       Sandy Hook NJ 0745

Arrived:          Rockaway Point Yacht Club 0930

Distance:       8.8 nm    Cumulative 268.6 nm

Weather:        Windy with moderate chop

 

After our morning coffee, we crossed the entrance to New York Harbor, one of the busiest shipping channels in the world.  Everywhere we’ve traveled, we’ve found birds sitting atop the channel buoys: In Herrington Harbor, they were Ospreys; On the C&D Canal, we saw Eagles; Along the Jersey Seashore, there were seagulls; and sitting atop the New York Harbor Middle Channel Buoy we saw a crow.

 

We were on our way to the Rockaway Point Yacht Club in the Queens Borough of New York, where we had a guest mooring reserved – thanks to our cruising membership with our old club from Lake Texoma, Cedar Mills Yacht Club. The facilities are great. The Club has a small launch operated by teenagers (for tips and minimum wage) who help you moor and give you rides to and from your boat. The club is so popular; there is a ten-year waiting list for membership.

 

Friends, Marty and Nancy, peddled their bicycles over to the Yacht club and then we all walked back to their home. Their community has to be one of the best kept secrets in New York. We felt like we’d slipped back in time to the 1950s. The neighborhoods are designed so that you have to leave your car in one of the community parking lots and walk to your home. No garages with automated doors to isolate you from your neighbors. There are no streets in front of the houses, only sidewalks filled with families on bikes, on foot, pulling wagons. Not surprisingly, everyone seems to know one another. We took a tour of the community – the 911 memorial honoring the 30 local residents who perished at the World Trade Center; the fire department where Marty volunteers; the hangout that is half bar and half ice cream parlor; and finally the ocean-side beach where everyone congregates on weekend afternoons with their families. Two of Nancy and Marty’s sons were visiting, along with their girlfriends. Brendan prepared a delicious Chicken Dish from the Philippines for dinner. It was such great food and company that we hated to leave – but we had to catch the launch back out to our boat by 8 o’clock. What an extraordinary day!

 

The following morning we awoke to rain. It gives us time to catch up on chores around the boat. We’ll stay in the area a couple more days before we venture through New York Harbor, up the East River and into Long Island Sound. We’ve been invited to a Yacht Club dinner Wednesday night and look forward to a chance to get some tips that will help us for the next leg of the journey.

 

26 July 2007 – East River to Long Island Sound

Departed:       Rockaway Point Yacht Club at 0940

Arrived:          Little Neck Bay, NY at 1546

Distance:       30.2 nm    Cumulative 298.2 nm

Weather:        Dense Fog in a.m. – Fair with light winds in p.m.

 

With the Bermuda High temporarily holding off the next low pressure system, we saw a window of opportunity to continue our trip on Wednesday or Thursday. We’d already committed to stay around for a ham dinner at the yacht club on Wednesday – so Thursday was going to be it. We’re so glad we stayed the extra day and got to know a few more of the folks at Rockaway Point. Fellow boaters are great everywhere and always glad to share advice. We got lots of suggestions that will help us as we continue our trip. We did our homework for the passage through New York Harbor and up the East River. We studied the charts, tide tables and cruising guides to calculate the perfect time to pass through Hell Gate. You’d have thought we were getting ready for a final exam. We started our engine precisely at 0930 and left our mooring ten minutes later.

Within a half hour we were engulfed in thick fog and our carefully computed timeframe was down the drain. Reverting back to pilot days, we entered a holding pattern just off Coney Island and far enough from the shipping lanes for safety. After two hours of circling, the fog started to slowly dissipate and we crawled into the Upper Harbor at about 3 knots.

 

New York Harbor was everything we’d imagined it to be and more. Ships, barges, yachts and ferries of all sizes and shapes were coming at us from every angle. It required constant vigilance – not an easy task when the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the eight magnificent bridges of the East River and the Skyscrapers of Manhattan are all competing for your attention. A security zone around Liberty kept us from getting as close as we’d have liked, but she was still an unforgettable sight. I thought of my grandma Isabel and her sister Ethel - both in their late 'teens - entering New York Harbor in the early 1900’s  – and tried to imagine how it must have felt to see the castle-like buildings of Ellis Island from the deck of their ship. It brought tears to my eyes.

 

The transit up East River went very smoothly and we wouldn’t have even known we’d gone through Hell Gate except for the charts and our GPS. After all that worry about currents, choppy water and whirlpools – it was non-event. Maybe some of our planning did pay off! We cruised by LaGuardia Airport and the Prison at Riker’s Island (where we saw a launch named “Correction” – someone has a sense of humor). We settled in for the night in Little Neck Bay – about a mile after the Throgs Neck Bridge - just off Kings Point where the US Merchant Marine Academy is based. Later in the evening three other sailboats joined us in the peaceful anchorage.

 

27 July 2007 – Port Jefferson

Departed:       Little Neck Bay, NY at 0815

Arrived:          Port Jefferson, NY at 1442

Distance:       37.5 nm    Cumulative 335.7 nm

Weather:        Fair winds; glassy seas until early afternoon

 

Our traveling days are starting to get routine for us. We wake up just after sunrise with two cats staring in our faces (they have not yet adjusted to our not being up before dawn to replenish the food dishes.) You don’t dare open an eye unless you are prepared to get out of bed. The loser at playing ‘possum gets to feed the cats, switch on the inverter, grind some beans and get the coffee brewing. (Jim says that it is usually him – I beg to differ, although he may be right). After some fruit or cereal, we stow and secure below – it hardly takes any time now – I just latch the cupboards and put a couple things in the sink in case the seas get rough. Then it is “anchors aweigh”.

 

Anchoring. Other than a temperamental windlass than we will replace at the boat show in October, we work well together as a team anchoring. Nancy takes the helm and Jim goes forward to release the anchor and chain. We have 275 feet of chain, marked with colored cable ties so we can keep track of how much we’ve let out. We generally try for a scope of 7 to 1 (In other words, 7 feet of chain for every foot of water depth plus the height of the boat – so in 20 feet of water and six ft. tall hull, we’d let out about 182 feet of chain ).

You have to allow for tidal range (seven feet where we are anchored right now – and around 15 feet in Maine) and also for the winds and current and the type of sea bottom. When we’ve let out the right amount of chain, Jim uses a hand signal to tell me to put the boat in reverse and set the anchor. We follow a similar routine when it’s time to pull anchor.  When there are thunderstorms in the region, we set the alarm clock every couple of hours to check on things or we take turns on anchor watch. We prefer being at anchor to mooring balls or marinas – aside from the obvious economics (anchoring is free); we also get peace & quiet and the ability to choose where we spend our evenings.

 

Underway. We have been surprised at how few vessels we are seeing on Long Island Sound – we’d expected it to be quite crowded. Six hours of cruising or sailing or some combination is just about right for us. That is about 30 to 40 nautical miles. When we think it’s time to move on, we review the chart – figure out what options we have in that distance range – and then go to the Northern Region Cruising Guide to read up on what is interesting about each place. Once we settle on our destination, we use our GPS with chart kit at the helm; backed up by a paper chart.  We determining our heading to the next fix and then confirm passing by various buoys and landmarks. We use our autopilot to maintain the heading we've selected - and then just keep a look-out for other boats, lobster pots, and other obstacles. On Long Island Sound, the shoreline all looks pretty much the same until you turn into one of the many bays or harbor - and we're usually holding off so far from land that there isn't really much to see.

 

One handy thing we started using while underway is a plastic “cockpit basket” to stow cameras, cell phones, glasses and other odds and ends that accumulate and roll around in rough seas.  Neither of us has much appetite while underway – we usually split a sandwich or have something light around midday. We are drinking a lot of water. Every night we fill up and chill four bottles of water – it’s easy to get dehydrated when we’re out in the wind and sun. 

 

Arrival. It’s nice to do nothing on the day you arrive in a new place – other getting settled, mixing a boat drink and feeding the cats. The next day we search out three important things – a place to land the dinghy; somewhere to dump the garbage; and a free internet connection. After that we sightsee – nearly every place we’ve been has a chamber of commerce that provides brochures and maps. It’s fun to see what’s special about a place.

 

Saturday, July 28, 2007 – It is hard to believe that it's been two weeks already since we left the Chesapeake! The Harbor at Port Jefferson is filled with mooring balls, but there are still quite a few places to anchor. Four other transients joined us last night – one was a 26 foot sailboat from Norway! Tonight we have a mega-yacht anchored next to us – complete with hot tub on the back deck, at least six deckhands, and an armada of recreational watercraft. We’re trying to be discreet with the binoculars to see if it’s someone we recognize. At least two dozen other boats have come by slowly. The boat’s name is “Chantal Ma Vie”. She hails from Kingston, St. Vincent – so if it rings any bells let us know. We took our dinghy into the village today – walked for a couple miles just looking at things and then splurged on a great lunch at a place called “Pasta Pasta”. Port Jefferson is a great place for weekend cruisers – lots of restaurants, boutiques and other shops within walking distance of the harbor.

 

We plan to spend one more day here – internet and errands in the morning and possibly a dinghy trip to the remote 17th-century Puritan town of Setauket. After that it will be off toward the “fishtail” of Long Island. Shelter Island sounds interesting – or we may catch up with friends Marty and Nancy who are camping at Montauk - we'll just have to see. 

 

Wednesday - 01 August 2007 – Shelter Island

Departed:       Port Jefferson, NY at 0630

Arrived:          Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island, NY at 1542

Distance:       51.1 nm in 9:05 hours   Cumulative 386.8 nm

Weather:        Headwinds; favorable currents

 

Someday we’ll have good sailing conditions – just not today. In fact, most of our traveling has been under power. What we are discovering is that around here the mornings tend to be calm; the winds don’t come up until later in the afternoon – about the time we’re looking to anchor. This morning while we motored, I made bread. Then Jim and I gave each other hair cuts. We saw more lost birthday balloons floating by and dodged a whole lot of lobster traps. We’d planned our departure for favorable currents going through Plum Gut – a narrow, deep passage (nearly 300 feet) between Orient Point and Plum Island that is known for strong currents and interesting eddies. We clocked 9.2 knots going through – a current of over 4 knots. The seas were mixed and choppy.

 

Coecles Harbor has some interesting restrictions – there is a designated anchorage area for transients (it keeps the riff-raff quite a distance from the harbor where residents can anchor and moor – also we are restricted to 48 hours). Thursday we dinghied into the harbor and walked about 3 miles to the village at Dering Harbor. We are really enjoying our walks of between 5 and 10 miles per day – it’s such a great way to get to know an area. We found some parts for the boat and then had lunch at the Dory Café (Hamburgers stuffed with gorgonzola cheese). We were surprised to find that none of the restaurants or shops accepted credit cards – fortunately we had cash. It must have something to do with poor telephone connections to the Island.

 

The area is experiencing a heat wave (96 degrees forecast for tomorrow). We are using another boat show purchase – our Breeze Boosters. Installed in our hatches, they help to funnel the breeze into our boat and keep us as cool as air conditioning. If it weren’t for the darned freezer, we wouldn’t need our generator at all.  Although it has been nice to watch a little television and see a movie or two. We’ve watched “The Departed” (a gift from Sam and Sharon - very engrossing), “The Astronaut Farmer” (a feel-good movie about following your dreams), and a couple movies that aren’t worth mentioning.

 

Friday 03 August 2007 – Three Mile Harbor

Departed:       Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island, NY at 0920

Arrived:          Three Mile Harbor, Long Island, NY at 1051

Distance:       7.3 nm   Cumulative 394.1

Weather:        Heat Wave

 

For those of you who don’t know where Three Mile Harbor is – The Harbor gets it name from the fact that it is three miles to the nearest village, East Hampton. We couldn’t resist a visit to “The Hamptons” – although we felt a little bit like the yachting version of the Beverly Hillbillies as we hoofed it into town and back. We have never been passed by so many Mercedes, BMWs, Austin Martins, Lamborghinis, Jags and other high-end vehicles. The utility vehicle of choice appears to be the Range Rover. We had to stop into several of the designer boutiques – but couldn’t quite bring ourselves to purchase a cotton sundress for $1,200.00 (zeros and decimals not misplaced).

 

The anchorage is very nice – protected harbor, good-holding and plenty of swinging room among the widely-spaced mooring balls. Shortly after our arrival, the complimentary Pump-out boat arrived – it’s nice when a no-discharge harbor makes it easy for you. We also found a convenient dinghy dock – very crowded and a little run-down, but free. The Three Mile Harbor ship’s store is like one of those old time general stores – jammed with just about everything you could ever need. Another find on our hike back to the boat was combination produce stand, fresh fish market and bakery – who could ask for more? We picked up some jumbo shrimp to marinate and grill, a loaf of bread and fresh greens for dinner.

 

We met another couple at the dinghy dock who invited us to join them for the walk into town. Charles and Liz, weekend cruisers from Connecticut, were interesting conversationalists who made the walk into town pass quickly. They are building a retirement home in the Bahamas and had lots of recommendations to share. We dinghied over to their boat last night and had an enjoyable visit. Today we are going to do a few boat chores, try to find Wi-Fi access, swim, and read the two new books we found yesterday at the East Hampton Bookstore – I found one about a cruising couple that several people have recommended, called “An Embarrassment of  Mangoes” and Jim got a new bestseller about the “Mayflower”. It will be interesting to read-up on the background, voyage and settlement before we arrive at Plymouth later this month. Tomorrow, we head out for Rhode Island.

 

Monday 06 August 2007 – Block Island

Departed:       Three Mile Harbor, NY at 0720

Arrived:          Block Island, RI at 1315

Distance:       35.8 nm Cumulative 429.9 nm

Weather:        Very confused (and confusing) seas

 

The captain has accused me of having a slight case of “get-there-itis” with respect to this cruise. He may have a point and I really need to watch myself. We got up early this morning to evaluate the conditions for sailing to Block Island.  Our XM satellite weather showed a large thunderstorm cell about 20 miles out to sea – it looked to me like it was both dissipating and moving away from our direction of travel.  Jim felt like we should wait another day but I pushed for going today. We went today and had the rockiest ride yet from the after-effect of the long-past storm. Constant 6-ft. swells from abeam kept us rolling and pitching for six hours straight. Both cats were miserably seasick. Tippy wedged herself between the mattress and the hull in the aft berth; and Blazey hid under the pillows. After we finally arrived in port, I was called some pretty vile names in cat talk; As a tribute to Jim, he refrained from doing the same in human talk.

 

Little did we know that the fun had only just started! Both of our cruising guides said that although Block Island was very crowded on weekends, there was plenty of room during the week. The guides boasted “hundreds of slips, hundreds of mooring balls and room for over 1,000 boats to anchor”. They failed to mention “except for the month of August”. We joined a traffic jam of sail and power boats entering the Great Salt Pond – all looking for a place to drop anchor, since every slip and mooring on the Island was occupied.

 

Instead of wasting our time trying to find a spot close-in to Harbor, Jim immediately headed to the very back of the designated anchoring area, found a great spot and dug in. The rest of the crowd was still looking an hour later – with greater and greater desperation as the wind picked up. By the time we were having our evening cocktails, the show really got interesting. We watched somewhere between ten to fifteen boats drag anchor and go zipping by us – many with their occupants away on shore visits. The harbor master, the launch service, and Towboat US were kept busy for the next couple hours responding to calls on the radio reporting boats breaking loose and careening through the anchorage. The unoccupied vessels were towed to emergency mooring balls. I’d hate to even imagine their towing bill.

 

No sooner had that excitement died down than the fog rolled on – but we were down below watching a movie by that time. Jim was pretty fed-up with Block Island and wanted to move on the next morning; but we awoke to pea-soup fog that hung around all day and all night and well into the following day. After breakfast and morning chores, we took the launch into New Harbor (inside the Great Salt Pond) and walked the mile or so into Old Harbor (outside on the Atlantic). We are glad we stayed to sightsee. The Island is very picturesque – full of Victorian-age seaside charm with lots of shops to browse and lots of crowds to watch. Another delightful feature is Aldo’s Bakery – in spite of dense fog and pouring rain Aldo’s travels throughout the harbor twice a day in a Boston Whaler shouting “Adiamo, Adiamo” and carrying all sorts of wonderful treats. We purchased bread for dinner two nights – one stuffed with eggplant parmesan and the other with spinach and sausage. So far we’ve resisted to morning pastries.

 

So here we are watching the weather for a break from the alternating pattern of dense fog and severe thunderstorms so we can make the 25 mile hop to Newport. Stay tuned for the next installment of “Escape from Block Island”

 

Thursday, 09 August 2007 – Newport, Rhode Island

Departed:       Block Island, RI at 0630

Arrived:          Newport, RI at 1115

Distance:       22.1 nm Cumulative 452.0 nm

Weather:        Fair Skies; Winds 10; Forecast seas 1-2 feet; Actual seas 6 ft.

 

Just after sunrise we joined an exodus of sailboats, sport fishers and cruisers heading out in all directions from Block Island.  For most of our five hour sail, we had “rocking horse swells” – with the bow rising six or more feet in the air and then gently falling down the next wave. These are much easier to take than the swells that hit you broad side, but Tippy still lost her breakfast and gave me reproachful looks all morning from her under chair hiding spot.

 

Newport Harbor is hidden from view until almost the last minute but you can see the magnificent mansions that line the Oceanside cliffs from several miles out. In its heyday, Newport was summer home to many wealthy families such as the Astor’s and Vanderbilt’s. We are moored directly across from New York Yacht Clubs Newport headquarters and just down the road is Hammerhill Farm where JFK and Jackie had their wedding reception. Our hosts for two nights are the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (thanks to reciprocity with Cedar Mills Yacht Club back in Texas and a hefty mooring fee). We had a drink in their lounge last night while using their complimentary Wi-Fi. The Club house is actually part of the old lighthouse. Ida Lewis was the first female lighthouse keeper. A champion swimmer and rower, she saved eighteen people from drowning and was awarded a gold medal of valor by the United States in the late 1800s.

 

Thursday afternoon we walked to the Post Office and picked up our forwarded mail at General Delivery. We were a little apprehensive about how this might come together (mail forwarded from Tracy’s Landing to an address in Florida to wherever we happen to be next), but it worked like a charm.  We had a bite to eat and wandered through various shops. We were really surprised at how few businesses are aimed at cruisers anymore – there was not a single marine chandlery in the harbor area. The closest West Marine was a cab ride away. All we saw were an abundance of boutiques, t-shirt shops and other tourist magnets. We were on our way back to the boat when we spotted a yacht we’d been keeping our eyes out for – “Chevy Toy”. Our friend Bev’s son Brian is a crew member on the mega yacht so we had to stop by and say hello.

 

Friday morning, we awoke to overcast and the chance of drizzle. The Museum of Yachting is less than a mile away and should be a good diversion this afternoon. The Newport Jazz Festival starts this evening at Fort Adams Park and we have a front row seat from our mooring – pure luck. We plan to have a quiet supper onboard, pull a good bottle of Chardonnay from the bilge “wine cellar”, and listen to some great music.

 

We’ll be in Newport until at least Saturday, but our travel schedule is at the mercy of the weather gods. We seem to be in this cycle of one good day followed by two or three stormy days. It doesn’t seem to deter some of the local sailors, but we’re not in any rush; however next time you hear from us, we should be in Massachusetts.

 

Saturday, 11 August 2007, Fairhaven, Massachusetts

Departed:       Newport, RI at 0710

Arrived:          Fairhaven, Mass at 1330

Distance:       34.6 nm Cumulative 486.6 nm

Weather:        Fair with good winds early, calm in late morning and afternoon

 

Our last day and night in Newport was miserable – pouring rain and unseasonably chilly temperatures. We stayed on board and did chores all day. The pump-out boat came by (love the name, “Down-wind”) and that, sad to say, was a highlight of the day. Because the weather was so foul, the first night of the jazz festival was all indoors and out of earshot. We awoke the following day to the proverbial sunny skies, fair winds, favorable currents and calm seas (it may be the first time we’ve hit all elements of that equation so far on this trip).

 

The first thing you notice on approach to the Fairhaven/New Bedford area is the 3-1/2 mile long hurricane barrier that allows the cities to completely close off their harbor in the event of a major storm. We watched it slowly getting larger for the better part of two hours. Once inside the gates, we merely had to turn right and pick up a guest mooring ball, thanks to friends Pete and Chris (and new friend Scott). Another new friend, Ed, helped us pick up the mooring. Later we had Chris, Ed, Scott and his daughter on Solitaire for drinks and appetizers.  It was a treat to have company aboard. Later we joined them at the Morris Backyard Yacht Club for Thai food and refreshments. Sunday and Monday were spent exploring the towns of Fairhaven and New Bedford on foot. The 18th and early 19th century architecture has been well preserved – in some areas you feel as though you’ve stepped back in time, right down to cobblestone streets. We visited memorials to Joshua Slocum (first person to sail solo around the world) and to John Cooke (the last pilgrim from the Mayflower to pass away). We also went to the Whaling Museum and to the Seaman’s Bethel – both were well worth the trip. At the museum shop we bought a DVD of a 1922 movie that was filmed in New Bedford, “Down to the Sea in Ships” and watched it that night. Did I mention that New Bedford is where Hermann Melville wrote Moby Dick?  Chris took us for a tour of nearby towns and harbors one evening - Mattapoisett, Marion, Wareham and Onset – so that we could get some ideas on where to head next. Later, we had fresh local scallops for dinner. This is a great life!

 

Tuesday, 14 August 2007 Cape Cod Canal

Departed:       Fairhaven, MA at 0735

Arrived:          Plymouth, MA at 1715

Distance:       46.7 nm this leg; Cumulative 533.3 nm

Weather:        Excellent; except sea swells approaching Plymouth

 

As of this morning, we’ve been traveling for one month – it seems more like a week. We got up early, took about 30 minutes getting ready to go, including hauling up the motor on its mount and the dinghy on its davits (unlike most of New England, we do not sail with dinghy in tow). We’d planned on a short day – a 20 mile sail to Onset to await favorable currents in the Canal, but changed our minds due to the early start and my misinterpreting our new “Reeds Nautical Almanac”. First of all, everyone should get a copy a “Reeds” – Second, you should really study it before you use it. There are some charts showing currents in several major bays and canals (including Chesapeake, Delaware, Buzzards and Cape Cod) – each references the time from flood or ebb from another location. I used “maximum” flood for my reference time going through Cape Cod Canal instead of the beginning of the flood tide. It made a difference of about 4 knots, but fortunately didn’t hinder us terribly today. Another lesson learned.

 

The Cape Cod Canal was very pretty and not nearly as crowded as we’d been led to believe by the cruising guides (most likely because everyone else was going in the other direction – more on this later). It really feels like you are out in the ocean when you enter Cape Cod Bay – deep sea swells, very few other vessels and looking seaward, no land in sight. As we turned toward the Plymouth Light, the swells began to hit us broadside – it was quite a ride for a while there. We are now comfortably at anchor just off Plymouth beach, looking across the harbor at a replica of the Mayflower presented to the US by England in 1957 and the spot where we think the “rock” is located. Tomorrow we will dinghy in to shore and investigate.

 

It is funny, many of our friends who grew up in this part of the country tried to dissuade us from stopping here. For them, it is something they take for granted. For us, it is a pilgrimage of sorts (pardon the pun) – Jim is related to three of the families who made that long voyage back in 1620 – and we just want to experience a little bit of what they saw and felt. So far, it is pretty awesome.

 

Thursday, 16 August 2007, Plymouth, MA

We arrived in Plymouth late Tuesday afternoon and had planned to go sightseeing the following day.  When we awoke on Wednesday morning, the winds were howling and there were white caps in the harbor. It was too rough to even think about taking the dinghy to shore. We listened to radio reports of one emergency after another out in the Bay – a sailboat that lost its mast coming out of the canal; another that lost its sails. We were glad to be snug at our anchorage – doing laundry and other chores, reading, and napping. It’s wonderful having an occasional Sunday in the middle of the week. We were roused from our relaxation by someone who came alongside the boat – it was another cruiser in his dinghy with our dinghy in tow. Dan and his wife reside in the only other boat anchored near us. He just happened to be looking outside when he saw our dinghy break lose in the wind – and was kind enough to jump into his dinghy and intercept it. What a stroke of good fortune and what kind people!

 

We were finally able to visit Plymouth on Thursday. We saw the Plymouth Rock and toured the Mayflower Replica Ship that the British built and presented to us in 1957. There were tourists from all over the world and we enjoyed being there among them. I know a lot of people think places like this are just tourist traps and while I wouldn't really want to visit a second time, it is still special to see historical sites with your own eyes. We anchored our boat right next to where the pilgrims anchored the Mayflower over 386 years ago. I think that is pretty cool (even though it wasn't the greatest spot to anchor).

 

Friday, 17 August 2007, Scituate, MA

Departed:       Plymouth, MA at 0845

Arrived:          Scituate, MA at 1155

Distance:       18.7 nm this leg; Cumulative 552.0 nm

Weather:        Temperature 68; Dew point 67.4; glassy seas

 

It’s so nice when everything goes smoothly. We took our time this morning having coffee and getting things ready to sail. We even made a last minute change in destination (cut the distance we’d planned to travel by about 40 miles due to weather system that is forecast for this evening). The captain keeps reminding me that this is not a race and that there is no destination. The morning forecast was for less than 1 foot seas, light winds and a very small temperature/dew point spread (which is a likely indicator of fog).  Visibility decreased to about ¼ mile as we left the harbor, so we turned on the radar, kept a sharp look out and motored at a safe speed. The trip was uneventful. We pulled into Scituate (pronounced, “Sit’-u-it”) Harbor just before noon, called the local yacht club and took a guest mooring. It just doesn’t get any easier than that. However, as a reminder that “easy” doesn’t come without planning and good judgment, we listened to a Coast Guard report of a life raft spotted off Cape Cod as we motored along this morning.

 

We had three reasons for selecting today’s destination. The first and most important reason was that Jim’s relatives settled here in 1600s and we were curious about the place. The second reason was the close proximity of a grocery store and liquor store to the harbor. We were running low on fresh vegetables and rum (not necessarily listed in order of importance.) The third reason was that we could arrive here early in enough in the day to miss any bad weather. The storms did arrive, but not until late Friday evening – even so, we were glad to be in a well-protected port on a mooring ball long before the first lightning flash.

 

Friday afternoon we snooped around town, had “the best clam chowder” that Jim has ever tasted and did our shopping. Saturday we walked our legs off.  The Harbor master recommended a small Maritime museum a mile or so out of town. It was over three miles, but well worth the hike. The museum is obviously a labor of love by a small group of talented local residents. A former school teacher gave us a personal tour of the exhibits that focus on ship building, ship wrecks, rescues, and Irish moss harvesting in the local area. If you are like me, you’ve never even heard of Irish moss, but it grows naturally on rocks along the surf and is an ingredient in many diverse products from ice cream to toothpaste (look on the label for Carrageen).

 

We trekked back into town, fortified ourselves with a beer and a lobster roll and then completed the day by hiking out to the Scituate Lighthouse. During the war of 1812, the two young daughters of the lighthouse keeper prevented the British from invading the town. Abigail and Rebecca made such a a racket with a fife and drum that the British thought they were an entire regiment. It is such fun visit these small harbor towns and find out what makes them special.

 

Sunday, 19 August 2007, Little Harbor, New Hampshire

Departed:       Scituate, MA at 05:55

Arrived:          Little Harbor, NH at 15:56

Distance:       55.6 nm this leg; Cumulative 607.6 nm

Weather:        Pleasant day – mid 70’s – 5 to 10 knots of wind – broad reach

 

We decided to try a little different cruising style today – instead of hugging the coastline and navigating from one bay to the next, we headed out directly across Massachusetts Bay – completely bypassing the Boston Harbor area. At one point we were 15 miles offshore in over 300 feet of water. On the plus side – there were hardly any lobster pots; on the down side – it got just a little boring. We took turns at the helm. For some reason Tippy just couldn’t get enough attention. She was up in the cockpit all day long wanting to be held. She perched on my shoulder like a parrot for several hours. At least she seems to be over her sea sickness.

 

The cruising guide told us that Little Harbor was “one of the best anchorages along the New Hampshire coast”. We are learning that the Cruising guides lie and that there are only three harbors in New Hampshire so it isn’t hard to be “one of the best”. The entire harbor is filled with mooring balls, all privately owned and there is no place left to drop an anchor. Fortunately a kind couple offered us the mooring next to them for the night.

 

Monday, 20 August 2007, Falmouth Foreside, Maine

Departed:       Little Harbor, NH at 05:48

Arrived:          Falmouth Foreside, ME at 14:52

Distance:       51.7 nm this leg; Cumulative 659.3 nm

Weather:        Another pretty day, but cooler – smooth seas – calm winds

 

We were up bright and early for another long day of sailing – this time across the Gulf of Maine from Kittery to Cape Elizabeth – without the benefit of the sails. What little wind we had was directly on our nose. There is a definite chill in the air. Even in our enclosed cockpit we were wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts early in the day. We saw several seals and while I was down below deck, Jim saw two whale spouts. The buoys are now occupied by cormorants. This really is a