2006-01-12T06:02:00.001-08:00

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THROUGH NEW YORK CITY TO SANDY HOOK

The disaster at the World Trade Centre on September 11th had us wait five days at Nyak before we were allowed to proceed through New York City . There was a window of time allowed daily between: 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in which small craft could transit the Hudson past the World Trade Centre. Looking at smoke still rising from the rubble made us feel truly terrible – invoking a helpless, sick feeling knowing that 3000 bodies were under that pile. U.S. coast guard, state police boats as well as naval vessels monitored the movement of sailboats and powerboats. From Sandy Hook we first tasted the Atlantic Ocean, venturing into the Chesapeake Bay and the start of the Intracoastal Waterway.

We waited three days for favourable winds at Sandy Hook while anchored off Atlantic Highlands. After several rowing marathons lto shore, we decided that it was time for an outboard for the dinghy, and purchased one from the West Marine store in Sandy Hook. Debby’s theory was that the outboard motor would actually save us money as we could now anchor more as we would not feel the need to go to costly marinas (able to go to shore easily). Brian (the rower – whose pecs were actually increasing), just had to agree with that reasoning.

THE ATLANTIC AT LAST: SANDY HOOK TO CAPE MAY

The first of three ocean “hops” of 30 miles to Mannasquan Inlet was our first experience in sailing in the Atlantic. And it was enjoyable – a beautiful day with good winds. We pulled into the Shrimp Box Restaurant and tied up for another three days as the weather again began to deteriorate. We were right in the harbour where the shrimp boats came in to unload their catches and the smell was just too much for Debby’s nose. But there was nowhere else we could go. Other boats rafted up beside us, and we became friendly with a Quebec foursome on Imagine, and Pierre, also from Quebec, who was delivering a boat to Florida. It was his eighth trip down the ICW. The tales of his experiences made us feel like real novices.

Mannasquan to Atlantic City was an uneventful daytime sail of about 30 nautical miles. Once again, strong winds and rough seas kept us for three nights at Atlantic City – or was it the famous boardwalk and casinos – OK, we only lost a total of $1.35 at the three casinos we just had to visit! On the second morning we did dare out of the inlet to the sea, but the strong wind and waves were on the nose and were only allowing us 2.5 knots. Turning back to re-anchor we were accompanied and comforted by a pod of harbour porpoises.

The third leg from Atlantic City to Cape May gave us great sailing for much of the day, but it became very windy later in the afternoon. The northerly wind was preceding a cold front, and this kept us in Cape May Harbour for three cold wet windy days anchored by the coast guard station. However, Cape May is a picturesque town, and we enjoyed the dry day there.

UP THE DELAWARE AND INTO THE CHESAPEAKE

We were up and mumbling, making a thermos of tea at 4:00 a.m. to catch the tides flowing up the Delaware Leaving at 5:00 a.m. Motoring slowly in the dark through the Cape May Canal behind two other sailboats searching for unlit markers was unforgettable. There was an obliging southerly breeze to begin with, and the tidal current literally whisked us all the way up the 50 mile river, through the C&D canal and then twenty miles down the Chesapeake dodging crab pots to the Sassafrass River – quite a great daily distance for us. Timing is everything! With a beautiful anchorage in the Sassafrass that night, we had now arrived in the famed historical Chesapeake.

By Thursday night we were in Annapolis with the hundreds of other sailboaters all set to visit the Annapolis Boat Show due to open the next day. We probably got one of the last “legal” anchorage spots - off the Naval Academy wall and spent a very rolly few nights with strong winds and many wakes of passing boats. Hot showers for $1.00 at the Harbourmaster’s building did make the stay more pleasant.

The boat show was fabulous, and Annapolis town (city?) is a party place and certainly the "Mecca" of the sailing religious sect.. Buddy’s Crab and Ribs restaurant had $2 beers and decently-priced oysters and wings (the crab was quite expensive). We hardly ever eat out, but, Annapolis was a place to splurge a little. We saw a couple of familiar faces from our own Niagara-on-the-Lake Sailing Club at the show (Glen Berglund and Mike Loney) and Mike Heeg, the broker who sold us Chinook and who had become a good friend. We sensibly managed to purchase only needed charts – and a toaster, and a mask and snorkel, and …

Leaving Annapolis we spent the next week traveling down the Chesapeake, anchoring at Solomon’s for three days, meeting several Canadians, in particular Terry, Kim and Brynne from Wiarton, Ontario on Fair ‘n Sea ( a Nauticat) who recognized Chinook from its previous trip (and there’s). Anchoring in the Glebe in the Potomac River on a starry night, and spending three nights at Deltaville tied up at the friendly Fishing Bay Yacht Club (hot showers again) were more highlights. We had bought a crab pot in anticipation of the bounty of them, and a few hours after lowering it beside the boat in the Deltaville Harbour we had six good-sized crabs steaming in the wok for supper.

We found most of the shallow parts of the Chesapeake (there are many) but managed to run aground only twice. We were pulled out by passing boaters who had the local knowledge our charts were lacking. Honestly, in both cases, another six feet to the right or left would have those sand bars out of our way. When Chinook gets stuck, her engine alone has a hard time moving her – well, it just doesn’t!

NORFOLK AND THE DISMAL SWAMP

Entering Norfolk Harbour was a real milestone as it is the start of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) proper. We anchored three nights off the Hampton Welcome Centre and one night off Hospital Point in Norfolk before heading toward the Dismal Swamp, the more scenic start to the ICW. There is actually little that is dismal or swampy about that canal, although the locking times had been changed just three days previously to conserve water which made transiting a day longer than we had planned.

WARM WELCOMES AND FOGGY RECEPTIONS

The North Carolina Welcome Centre had a display of cotton bushes, peanuts and tobacco plants, and the Elizabeth City free town dock “Rose Buddies” sponsored a wine and cheese party for the dozen visiting yachts that night. Debby’s parents had spent time at Elizabeth City in the 1980’s – actually sold their boat there, so her mother was tickled that we were there. The next two mornings after leaving Elizabeth City greeted us with fog, delaying our usual early starts. It is unnerving travelling in fog straining to see the next marker buoy in a narrow channel with three foot depths either side, and when the fog rolled in on us again after half an hour’s motoring, we just pulled over by the red “16” until it lifted again.

Harbour porpoises accompanied us out of the anchorage (the third time we had seen pods of these beautiful mammals), blowing and diving around the boat.

The chef with a little snack - cheese garlic bread!

FUTURE PLANS

At this time (October 28) we are in the little town of Oriental NC and will be in Beaufort/Morehead City in a day or so. We pick up mail there from the post office, and some engine filters we had previously ordered. Then we will head south as fast as we can to keep ahead of the slowly advancing cooler weather.

We have managed to spend the last month now either at anchor almost every night with the occasional night at a free dock, so October’s VISA will not include the expensive marinas. Obviously we pull into marinas for diesel, to fill the water tanks, and to pump out the holding tank, but they are to be avoided for overnighting to keep our budget under control. Motoring all day long is not interesting, but at least it charges the batteries and keeps the fridge cold for that welcome beer after the anchor has dug in.

We lit our cabin heater in Oriental for the first time as the unusually cool weather chilled our bones . It worked well, the cabin was very cosy at night. The weather has been warm and sunny
for most of the trip to date despite any previous griping above about rain, wind, waves, and rocking nights.

.The huge naval base at Norfolk
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Chinook was so far holding up very well, and as long as she is being fed clean diesel and given regular oil changes there was no reason for her not to. We ripped the drifter on the Chesapeake, but it was old and pressing our sewing machine into mending it seemed a waste of time.

We missed CBC Radio, but we listened to Radio Canada International (RCI) nightly from 6pm to 8pm on our little short wave Sony radio to get the CBC News and As It Happens. We also stumbled on a station called Public Radio East (NPR), local for the area we were in. It is an American version of a cross between CBC One and CBC Two. Of course all of the news is American, but with good depth, and much of the music is classical.

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The Wanderings of Chinook of Canada. Atlantic Hops to the Delaware and the Chesapeake