Post # 9 Chesapeake Bay to NYC

Blog Post #9 The Eastern Shore to NYC
June 5 to June 15
 
Up the Choptank River, to the Tred Avon to Trippe Creek to visit our friends Sarah and Ken Sadler in Easton.

Ken & Sarah Sadler in Easton MD

We met them in Maine at the Sweet Chariot Festival on Swan’s Island a number of years ago, they used to regularly sail to  Maine for the summer. Back when they still had kids at home they chucked the corporate life and took off in a 51 ft sailboat with three out of five kids, two dogs and two cats for two years, and they haven’t stopped adventuring since.

From Sadler's backyard, their "Skedaddle" and our "Snow Goose"

This is the area of the Chesapeake where most of the action in James Michener’s “Chesapeake“ takes place, a massive sprawling novel that begins in the 1600’s and goes through Watergate in the mid 1970’s. Great read for history if you are in the area, but I am relieved to have reached the last page.

Nice (and narrow) passage through Tilghman Island,where they still have the classic skipjacks and lots of other working boats.

Classic skipjack at Tilghman Island Canal

In Annapolis, another very beautiful city, we meet Sarah and Ken again for adventures at the Apple Store, Home Depot and a dinner at wonderful Indian restaurant.

Alex Haley brings along the younger generation. Annapolis is where he did his research for "Roots"

Up to Worten Creek, back again on the Eastern Shore, a quiet spot for kayak and rowing and an after dark swim.

Worton Creek , a quiet anchorage on the Eastern Shore. Working fish weir on right

Farewell to Chesapeake Bay as we head down the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. We spent the night anchored in the in the basin at Chesapeake City, which is actually a very cute 19th century town. 

Chesapeake City street garden

Our longest travel day so far, 65 miles,  down the Delware River Bay to Cape May NJ.

Sunrise on the C&D Canal. Up extra early to catch the tide.

The beach at Cape May

Cape May, NJ. I’ll wager there are more quaint Victorian B& B’s per sq mile than any other spot in the country.

Cape May, long a summer resort, still quaint

Now we begin the dreaded New Jersey passage. The ICW does go through NJ, but there is much shoaling and many warnings about going aground. The other choice is to go “outside” as in open ocean.  I’m not too keen on this, but it does seem the better option provided the weather is good, and it is, so we go.
First stop, Atlantic City, a place we would have avoided if possible. But our little marina, Kammerman’s, was quite leafy and laid-back, far enough from the casino life, and in an interesting neighborhood- in transition.

Our marina in the other Atlantic City.

There aren’t that many places to safely pull in along the Jersey coast, so we we didn’t have a lot of choice about coming into Manasquan  River for the next night. According to our trusty Skipper Bob, “The Great Circle Route” a particularly narrow rail road bridge plus a swift current and a very busy waterway make this spot "one of the most dangerous parts of the ICW on the East Coast”, and there are lots of warnings in Active Captain about going in only at slack tide to avoid the current. Of course we arrived when the current was full strength. Thankfully  Hoffman’s Marina is just before the bridge, but all the other conditions applied. It took four dock hands a good while to get us into the slip, and they were working hard. Snow Goose is a single engine boat, and while that has a number of advantages, one of the distinct disadvantages is in maneuverability  in docking situations.  The help was competent and cheerful, they kept assuring us that this happened all the time.  One of them made a point to tell me later that my husband had done an amazing job holding the boat so they could get it in, given the single screw, he was impressed. There was another trawler coming right after us, and for this one the marina folks asked them come along side the fuel dock  (much easier than a slip) and they put three deck hands on the boat, one of whom took the helm, and another on the dock. Even so it took them two tries to get in.  Wish we had been the second boat.

Next day all the way to New York Harbor which is thrilling to approach by water.

NYC!

What is it? If any one knows let me know. We watched this appear over the Hudson, line by line, with no visible casual agent.

New World Trade Center

We stayed on the Jersey side and took a short water taxi ride across to the World Trade Center to see the new building and the 9 11 memorial. It works, it is very moving. There are two of these tower footprints. Water flows over the sides into the center opening. From no point can you see the bottom of that hole.

9 11 Memorial

Chris Gardner, who's name appears above, was the previous owner of our sailboat Evening Star. We never met, but we inherited his log along with the boat, and he and Joel chatted on line in the Freedom boat forum. It was amazing that Joel found his name among the 3000 inscribed.

Double Check by Seward Johnson, ©1982 The Sculpture Foundation. After 9 11

On a lighter note, Joel visited Double Check, in Zuccotti Park no less (Occupy Wall Street), now in happier days. Resiliency in action

More advice imparted

On the 15th we left early in the foggy morning and rode the considerable
tide up the river to Croton - on - Hudson, to Half Moon Bay Marina.