Catching our breath

Summer 2018 -- Reprise cruise to the North Country:

A shorter cruise planned this time, three months instead of five and a half months, cutting the Erie Canal leg and going straight up through Lake Champlain to Montreal.   New this year is a ten-day visit to Quebec City.  We will spend August on Lake Champlain going to new destinations and revisiting last year’s favorites.  We will be meeting Karl’s family again at Basin Harbor Club and hope to catch up with more friends and family along the way.

June 15: Off to a slow start!  We delayed our June 15 departure date choosing instead to share Docktails with good friends Harvey & Sara, and meeting Sara’s cousin Diane and her husband Duane.  Di and Duane are seasoned boat travelers, currently on Diva Di a PDQ 34 power catamaran with their cat, Bud.  Donna used Duane’s blog for planning our trip last year as more than other blogs, Duane provides excellent detail and insight.  He was also extremely helpful and gracious when contacting him via email with questions.  As expected, we really hit it off and had a delightful evening.   We were glad we had not left the dock that morning for another reason, as the Bay was quite rough that day. 

And, we did not depart on June 16th so we could meet another pair of great friends, Rick & Ellen who are leaving in two weeks to live in Paris for the next one, two, three years – or beyond!  Donna couldn’t let Ellen leave the country without autographing her copy of Ellen’s wonderful novel, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno.  If you have a chance, check it out; Ellen’s last name is Bryson.

And, we did not depart on June 17th, deciding to spend the late afternoon at our Cambridge Yacht Club gazebo and bar that Karl and other member volunteers spent a weekend this spring prepping and getting it ready for the summer season ... and yet, we won't even be there to enjoy it. 

Are they celebrating our departure?

View of Cambridge Lighthouse as seen from the yacht club

June 18-21: Catching our breath!

Whew, this was a long first day for me!

We finally did leave the dock on Monday morning June 18.  The Chesapeake was pretty flat and we made it; 85 miles to the top of the Bay and into the Chesapeake Delaware Canal where we anchored for the night in the Chesapeake City basin along with a sailboat and a trawler.  A nice breeze mitigated the hot day; we showered in the cockpit and turned in early.

After coffee and one of Kapt Karl’s excellent oatmeal-raisin breakfast cookies, we departed with the outgoing tide and rode it down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, a 62 mile run.  After tidying up Santorini, Karl tackled a couple of minor boat issues, and Donna walked to the beach, admiring the architecture and gardens along the way.  The beach and wading in the ocean is always therapeutic.  It was overcast and really didn’t present any photo ops but beautiful none-the-less.

Leaving Cape May on June 20, at 6:30 AM, we made the 120 mile offshore run, an 8-hour cruise to Liberty Landing in Jersey City.  Last year we cruised up the Jersey coast and ran a course between 6-8 miles out.  This time, based on predicted winds, we travelled the Jersey coast only about a mile out; it was fun, close to land, and we enjoyed the view of the small beach towns that brought back a flood of childhood memories for each of us ... Karl and his dad fishing for flounder in the whirlpool at the Townsend Inlet Draw Bridge in a wooden rowboat with a small motor off the back; or fishing under the Avalon Route 601 Swing Bridge where they caught sea bass; or at the tender age of seven, Karl's mom and dad would send him to catch crab off a small bridge over a tidal creek, or to the beach to dig for clams.  He said it was quite the seafood feast, and back in the days when children could be out and about by themselves without fear or a cell phone.  Karl and his dad once rescued a group of Catholic nuns out on a cruise boat that ran aground near the Townsend Inlet bridge ... but that’s a story for another time.

For Donna it was Sea Side Heights, crabbing with her grandparents and being frightened when the bushel basket overturned on the sidewalk at the apartment as the crabs all rushed to one side.  They tried to scramble away to Donna’s shrieks as grandpa picked them up.  Donna didn’t have an issue with feasting on them later that evening.  Donna’s dad spent a fortune playing games of skill on the Boardwalk such as ring toss and knock the pins down so he could win three stuffed animals for Donna, her sister Debra and brother Michael. 

Wow, we actually were able to take advantage of three consecutive "perfect" cruising days to push through to the Hudson River and take a lay-day to rest. 

June 21 we walked into the historic district of Jersey City and had lunch at our favorite chinese restaurant Shanghai Best.  You know its authentic when the restaurant is filled with Asians and nary a word of English spoken.  Our waiter approved of our selection of one of their specialties, fresh chicken in a special sauce redolent with fresh ginger and garlic; not sure we want to know what part(s) of the chicken we ate but it was delicious.  After lunch we walked to a French bakery and bought pastry for tomorrow’s breakfast.  Just in one block we passed a Wurst House, Jamaican, Italian, and Vegan restaurants and a Jewish Deli ... diversity appropriate for a city that grew up in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!  Residential blocks are tree lined with old brownstone town houses reclaimed after years of neglect, complete with window boxes and tiny gardens exploding with a riot of flowers. 

2017/2018 Clipper Race

Leg 8 is the last leg of an around-the-world sail boat race; they are leaving Liberty Landing this weekend headed for Ireland.

Santorini basking in the shadow of Manhattan

Tomorrow we are leaving Jersey City for a short cruise up the Hudson River to another anchorage for a couple of days in Haverstraw, NY.  We will let you know how that turns out.