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Downeast CircleLoop Leg 1 6/27 thru 7/6: Annapolis to the Erie Canal |
Last Updated 03/28/06
| From | To | Total Days | Running Days | Nautical Miles | Engine Hours | Avg Speed |
| 6/27/04 | 7/5/04 | 9 | 7 | 404 | 46.5 | 8.7 |
At 1000 (exactly) Sunday, 6/27, we turned from the AYC dock, put Celebrate in gear, turned on Kool and the Gang playing our namesake Celebrate theme song at an offensive level of volume, and began our journey north for the summer. By 1045, the landmark Chesapeake Bay Bridge (above), at exactly N 39-00.00, was in our wake and we felt officially engaged in our long-awaited adventure.
Andrea settled
in
to her favorite observation station and spent several hours
beginning
the research of all the opportunities ahead of us in the Canadian Maritimes. She
wondered if we should spend a year there, not just a summer! Plans to anchor in
the Bohemia River were foiled because the water seemed to have shoaled in this
favorite of ours, so we continued on. With the help of a flooding tide we set
some quasi-speed records for the boat -11.1 knots at a mere 1800 rpm! We settled
into the dock at Schaffer's Canal House around 1600, went ashore to enjoy their
live steel drum band, and had a relaxing rest of the day.
On Monday, 6/28, we ran the usually
boring length of Delaware Bay in the usually boring way. It was flat, dull, etc.
Arrived in Cape May around 1500 and failing to find a
decent anchorage (remember
the captain's bottomphobic state), we tied up at the South Jersey marina where
the rates are about the same as a Courtyard in a major city, except at the
Courtyard they supply the bed, linens, towels, phone, water, bathrooms, etc.
Here one must bring all that with them and just rent six pilings and about120 s.f.
of water. We had met Glen from s/v Enya the day before in Chesapeake City, and
invited him for a social hour before he resumed single-handing his 53'
Halberg-Rassey sloop to Maine. He has sailed it thusly from SF to Mexico to
Hawaii to Alaska to Cape May so far!
On schedule, we cruised in calm seas
to Atlantic City on
Tuesday
and met up with Mike. Great dinner in Margate at Steve & Cookie's, then we
deposited the
required homage to the Trumpster at the blackjack tables. Wednesday was an easy
85 mile run to Sandy Hook. Seas only 1-2'. We surfed the web, and did a lot of
'housekeeping' along the way. We fueled up and calculated an even 7gph
consumption, even though a lot of our time has been at 2000 rpm /10k, not the
expected 1800 /9k. We are pleased with that. Anchoring, we discovered the
windlass has broken so we stayed the night at Atlantic Highlands.
Friday,
7/2 we got under way at 0730 in fairly soupy fog and headed toward the Big
Apple.
We slid under the Verazzano Narrows Bridge and passed Miss Liberty - majestic
even in the haze. Linda hopped aboard in NYC at the Lincoln Harbor YC and we
then began our northward trip on the Hudson.
As we passed under the George Washington Bridge we were truly in new waters. A strong sense of discovery and feeling that our Down East Circle Loop had somehow 'officially' begun! The Hudson is beautiful with the majestic palisades on the Jersey side and historic communities on the other.
We passed up a chance
to dock at Sing Sing and shortly thereafter arrived in Haverstra
w
and
settled in to its 1000 slip marina. Douglas was there to greet us and after a
gourmet lunch he and Andrea went provisioning. Great success - for dinner we had
the most delicious lamb chops on the grill as we toasted the community
fireworks.
Saturday, 7/3,
we
left Haverstraw around 1030 and with Linda at the helm and
Douglas
navigating using his latest silicon toy GPS/Chart Plotter, we headed north to
Kingston. We passed through some
of the most dramatic scenery
- it was as if we were in a fjord.
Towering mountains, deep
(160') water. Bear Mountain, West Point, Storm King Mountain,
Tarrytown, Newburg, Poughkeepsie, and on to Kingston - all the names from
years ago geography.
Kingston
is a quaint o
ld
town and we settled right at the
bulkhead at the town park,
savoring live music as the city celebrated Independence Day, and we celebrated another gourmet
meal aboard.
On the Fourth of July there was a crew exchange as Roger and Marcie arrived in late morning. It was great to catch up with the soon-to-be-hitched pair; they have their act all together.
Their car
provided us with the means for a provisioning run, and returning mid
afternoon
we launched the dink and ran the 4 mile
length of Rondout Creek lined with marinas
-
mostly for smaller craft
well suited for life on and
around the
Hudson River. Steaks on the grill and some TV, then a good night's sack.
Monday, July 5 was somewhat dreary on a couple of fronts - we bid adieu to Roger and Marcie, and departed Kingston for a 6+ hour / 56nm run against an ebbing tide to Troy, NY. There were some showers along the way. This section of the Hudson is far less dramatic than the New York to Kingston run. But it was significant in that we ended the day with a nicely done transit of the Troy Lock - the separation of tidal from river waters. We applied all our planning for the hanging of fenders, fender boards, tending lines, and lock maneuvering. It all paid off - the lock tender complimented us.
Thus our first leg of the Down East Circle Loop ends. We will spend Tuesday tending to cleaning the boat, getting some service on our windlass, paying bills and those kinds of chores, provisioning, and staging in Waterford for passage into Leg 2 - The Erie Canal. Stay tuned!
Coming next:
Leg 2 - The Erie Canal
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