Cartography; mapping out a plan and charting your progress.

LIFE HAS MANY PATHS TO FOLLOW

SAILING TO PORTS AFAR

TO EXPLORE THE WORLD AROUND US

TO LEARN, TO LOVE, TO REGARD

SO ONE ATTEMPTS TO CHART THE FUTURE

AND AVOID THE SANDBARS AND HURRICANES

THAT MIGHT AWAIT

WE PLAN, WE PREPARE, WE STUDY, WE READ

PERCHANCE THE THREATS ABATE

SO WHY DO WE GO

TO PLACES FILLED WITH THE UNKNOWN?

PERCHANCE TO FIND A NEW AND DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE!

TO STAND ON PLACES OF HISTORY AND BEAUTY

TO SEE THROUGH THE LENS OF HISTORY

TO CAPTURE EACH NEW SUNRISE

A DAY FILLED WITH POSSIBILITY

WE HOPE FOR SMOOTH OCEANS

BUT ACCEPT WHATEVER BECOMES REALITY

TO EXPLORE THE HIDDEN BYWAYS TO FIND THE SUBTLE GEMS 

DISOVERING WITH EVERY DAY

A SPECIAL GROVE OR WATERWAY

OUR COMPLEX WORLD TRANSCENDS

TO CEMENT IN PLACE FOR ALL OF TIME

THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR FRIENDS

WHO SHARE WITH US THE THINGS

THAT BRING BEAUTY TO THEIR LIVES

SO THIS IS WHY WE RAISE THE SAILS

ON VESSELS STRONG AND TRUE

TO SURGE AHEAD ON WINDS OF TRUTH

UNDER SKIES OF DEEPEST BLUE

UNTIL THE SUNSET WELCOMES US

BACK HOME TO TAKE A BREAK

THEN OFF AGAIN WE ALL SHALL SAIL

MORE WONDERS TO PARTAKE.

 

THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING THE BLOG RECORD OF OUR TRIP TO THE NORTHEAST.  TWO HURRICANES HAVE GONE OVER OR PAST THE HOUSE SINCE WE GOT BACK LAST WEEK.  THERE ARE TIMES WHEN YOU REALLY APPRECIATE BEING IN A SAFE PLACE WHERE FLOORS DON'T MOVE.......

A PARTICULAR THANKS TO OUR FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORS WHO KEPT TRACK OF OUR LOCATION WHEN WE WERE OUT ON THE OCEAN, MOWED OUR LAWN, GOT OUR MAIL, MOVED OUR TRASH CANS, KEPT THE TREE COMMISSION FUNCTIONAL AND GENERALLY SPENT TIME WORKING ON OUR BEHALF WHILE WE WENT EXPLORING!  (ROBERT, JEAN, BRUCE, DANIELLE, ANGELA - HEARTFELT THANKS!)

"THE PLAN" IS TO BE ON OUR WAY SOUTH DOWN THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY TO FLORIDA DEPARTING OCTOBER 18TH PLUS OR MINUS A FEW DAYS (WEATHER DRIVEN).   WE WILL START A NEW PAGE IN THE EXPLORATION AS WE EXPLORE THE BACKWATERS AND SMALL COASTAL TOWNS OF THE EAST COAST.  WE WILL EVENTUALLY GET TO WEST PALM BEACH FLORIDA, THEN SAIL ACROSS THE GULF STREAM FOR THE ISLANDS OF THE BAHAMAS.  PLEASE JOIN US HERE AGAIN!

MMSI#367492040

No place like home

 

Leaving the Cohansey, started out with barely a breath of wind.

A suitable addition to my crab pot photo collection.

Headed north toward the C&D Canal, then Delaware City

South of the Canal, looking north and left to the DE side, you can see the 2nd and 3rd bridges that cross the canal ( the 2 white things sticking up over the trees) The Roth bridge on left and St. Georges bridge on right (currently under renovation - 2023)

Going north, on our right is the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, NJ

a breeze picked up, on the nose, but the sun was warm, so we put up our double-sheet around the sunny side of the cockpit.

next, above you can see the first bridge to the left of the water tower, the Reedy Point Bridge.

Perfect name "Purple Hays"

Alas, B Dock of Delaware City Marina at very high tide, but it was going out ( from east to west), so we turned around after this for a port tie. (Best to head into the current for best steerage. Don't even try it the other way.)

Now that we're home, we have time to continue our projects! (Oh goody!) What we didn't get done under way, we can do now like:

• Fine tune the shaft alignment
• replace a deck hatch seal
• reseal the v-berth sides with light varnish
• varnish the cockpit combing
• add a mizzen reefing line for ease of setting anchor sail
• make sure the watermaker self-rinses itself by the right time
• replace some halyards and topping lift lines
• make new secure system for the dinghy on the davits
• got the windlass refurbished and put back in.
• assembled and placed our new 65 lb M1 Mantus anchor on the bow.
• bring the GIANT Bahamas charts aboard
• lube all the million zippers on cockpit enclosure, bags and clothes
• adjust chain locker slide so the chain doesn't pile up, though it will always need a little help with a boat hook.
• Oh, then the clothes packing! Is that a project? You bet it is!

Among the Grasses - Cohansey Cove, NJ

 

on the way from Cape May NJ to the Cohansey, going north on the Delaware Bay, lighthouses galore...here are 2

Ship John Shoal Lighthouse on left. 14 Foot Bank Lighthouse on right.

Del Bay Lighthouse info : https://www.delawarebaylightkeeper-friend.org/lights.htm

going north take a right ( east ) toward the green Cohansey Rvr marker

Here is what this view looks like on an electronic chart

inside behind the grasses, ships look like they float on the grassy wetlands/salt marsh

This is one my favorite places. At low tide, you really just see grass all around you. At high tides you can see masts from a nearby marina. The couple times a year we anchor there, there have just been a few fisherman that go up and down the river. Usually no one elses is anchored there.

Information on the New Jersey Conservation Foundation:

https://www.njconservation.org/project/cohansey-river/

Sandy Hook Bay, NJ and beyond

A good morning at Atlantic Hightlands Municipal Harbor. 

 

It was so hot these past 2 days, we spent time below in the shade.

We admired our Patron Saint of Sailing, St. Nicholas, 

received as a special gift for our navigation station, oversees all.

NEXT!

Sat Sept 9 - sailed south to Cape May, NJ overnight. 

Arrived Sunday am, just before dawn so did a few circles till more light arrived, but we wanted to get there early because there was an "unforecast" storm right there. Yes, we saw the "red sky at morning". We got in with some light to anchor just in time for it to start raining. Anchored next to the Coast Guard Station, ( in and to the left ) which is the only place deep enough for us. Last we know, the slips are too shallow. We prefer anchoring anyway, espec for wind to flow through the boat. We joined a couple other sailboats already here. Just enough room for a few boats. There was some dredging activity by entrance.

Sun - staying aboard, to catch up with sleep and enjoy good connectivity as it may not be so good tomorrow and next day. Rain forecast on and off all day, so we'll have to visit Cape May by car sometime instead : )

Mon - motorsailed to Cohanssey River, NJ - beautiful river in the wetlands. Rocky bottom, current is strong and no-see-um bugs plentiful, entrance depths where deeper than our Garmin nav said, even at low tide.

Tues - motorsailed home to Delaware City, DE. Bruce met us. We were assigned the same dock we last had - B Dock. Nice to be home after 4 and a half weeks of living aboard. ( more photos to be posted when i download them )

TRAVERSING THE TREACHEROUS HELL GATE ON THE EAST RIVER WHILE REMOTE ATTENDING A BOARD MEETING and SURVIVING THE EXPERIENCE

The fabled East River access to New York Harbor and Long Island sound is the location for "Hell Gate", a confluence of the East and Harlem Rivers.  In the chart above Long Island Sound entrance is at the upper right corner and Manhattan and New York Harbor is center left. In the 1850's one boat out of 50 that attempted to traverse Hell Gate would either be damaged or sunk.... roughly 1000 "incidents" per year!  In the 1870s following the Civil War the largest explosive event at that point in history was conducted.  7000 holes were drilled in solid rock and 4000 charges were ignited, removing an island and deepening the channel. The explosion was heard as far away as Trenton New Jersey!  Apparently in the 1870's Trenton was a quiet place. Tidal currents of 4 to 5 knots still flow through Hell Gate, changing direction with the tide changes twice each day.  Even large tugs avoid Hell Gate at full tidal flow due to the whirlpools and standing waves that can exist.   Youtube has some "shocking videos" of course.

https://youtu.be/2CFnZnSnzxc?si=vhI_gKxfdt7Qzzcw

or 

https://youtu.be/58jLwiBYI20?si=x45dKGnAhNpiqQm3

We went through at "slack water" when it was relatively calm.  More like the first video than the second.  I took some video and the Go Pro, uh, malfunctioned.  OK I had it set up wrong so it took one second of vid that did not look nearly frightening enough.

City infrastructure, both old and new, span and line the river.

Sorry, the required cat picture of the day.... He says something about a contractual obligation on our part.   Here we are "Thunder Way" (underweigh) southbound from New York Harbor.

AND of course you cannot post a NY harbor event without a shot of the, uh, Oh I can't remember the name of this monument......  The Green Lady or something.....

One standout trait of the east river and NY Harbor in general is a LOT of traffic!  High speed ferries and uber rich person's powerboats and SuperYachts thread their way through the REALLY large traffic, like the "George Holland" six unit barge I will mention later.

I mentioned the George Holland.... so we basically attached ourselves closely behind this HUGE tug pushing six rafted up barges and followed him/her/them through the river, staying pretty close behind.  The idea being that in order to run over US all those high speed vessels would have to run through the barges first!  I would not normally chose to be close to a large ship or flotilla but this ended up working beautifully and we did not have to fend for ourselves with all the other high powered ships!  George H is in front of us in the photo below.  You can see his propwash just to our port side.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I had a Fort Dupont board meeting JUST as we were transiting the most "dangerous part" of Hell Gate.... Claire had the helm and I did my best to disrupt the Webex call with impressive video feed of us charging at high speed through the narrow passages with the massive Hell Gate bridge overhead.

Arriving at Atlantic Highlands, Sand Point, just in time to force our way through a sailing regatta, scattering hapless smaller sailing vessels left and right JUST so Claire could get this obligatory Sunset Shot artistically framed by a surviving race boat.

That's it for today.... 

Dave

Port Jefferson, NY (going south)

Yes we've been here before, but this time we launched the dinghy, walked on the beach, explored town motored among the partygoers in Mount Misery Cove.

We recommend having lunch at Billie's 1890 Saloon. Great food choices, music and service. 

We enjoyed talking with the owner of Elegant Affairs, an Indian clothes, jewelry and gifts and bought a few pretty things.

https://portjeff.com/visitor/

Above, the empty Mount Misery Cove, such a contrast to being filled with family boats, playing music and talking. The Labor Day holiday is over.

Tues, With almost no wind, we motorsailed to Manhasset Bay near Port Washington and Kings Point. 

No waves, only wakes. the water blends into the sky.

Wed, June 6, same hot weather, we'll go through NYC via East River Scheduling Hell Gate at 4 pm, just when Dave has a conference call. Should be uneventful, but we are always curious if we'll see a ripple. This timing will give us a push after Hell G to get to Atlantic Highlands by sunset.

Fishers Island, NY

Thunder watching birds on the rocks.

Sat Sept 2, 2023 - anchored at Fishers Island NY,  for the day.

We enjoyed this slow pace, small town. The first in West Harbor, were happy to be joined by many a pretty boat.

The Fishers Island Yacht Club (FIYC) said we could use their dinghy dock, so we spent a few hours walking to the museum, few shops, and grocery store.

The Henry L. Ferguson Museum director, Pierce Rafferty was a generous with his knowledge in his guided lecture we hopped onto. 

https://fergusonmuseum.org/

Exhibits covered the natural animals, plants and birds of the island, original indian habitants, ownership, population growth from high-time to post-depression. Charlie Ferguson's sketchbook beautifully documented the landscape and wildlife in watercolor. An upstairs gallery and library was the perfect place to read in the turrit. Many a books and wildlife toys in the gift shop.

Photos of exhibit at Henry L. Ferguson Museum:

Each column turns to reveal the other 2 maps. Great idea.

We didn't walk all the way to the Ferry Distrtict to airfield and cafe, but there are 2 gift shops, toys store, a gallery, ice cream shop, liquor store a short walk from West Harbor. a grocery store was a half mile the other direction. We finished at the museum around 1 pm. The 3 shops were closed from 1 to 3 (We think for the perfect nap time), so during that time we walked to the grocery and to the dinghy, where Dave took the groceries to the boat, left me there to wait till 3 pm for the shops to open and pick me up later.

Saturday was the start of the FIYC Round the Island Race, capped by a gathering of the teams at the club. At days end, boatloads of racers were picked up at moorings and milling the docks to get to the awards dinner tent.

https://fishersisland.net/about-fishers-island/

Sun Sept 3, on way to Port Jefferson, Long Island NY. A journey of about 52 miles. The very light winds are on our nose, so we'll motorsail ( motor with a stabilizing sail. A sail up can help with speed as the boat speed creates wind on the sail to fill it when we steer slightly off the wind, and makes a smoother ride.)

Sept 4 - still in Port Jeff. First HOT day with "no" wind. But the port is abuzz with boaters, sailors, ferries and fisherpeople. We discovered that Port Jefferson does not have a public dinghy dock. We asked a Sea Tow tower, who told us for sure there not a designated area. Earlier, we had asked a couple of girls getting their PWC ready to launch in their slip who said if we didn't find a dock, that we could squeeze in theirs, so we went back to them to take them up on their offer. So nice! We brought them a couple of gifts with a thanks note on our way back from town. They were not there, but secured them in a bag on their craft. I hope they find them soon.