June 6th - Chesapeake Bay

This update takes us from Deltaville, Virginia, up through the Chesapeake Bay to our favourite hidden treasure, Chesapeake City, midway along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It's hidden from most of America down under this huge highway bridge and is the perfect layover spot on the way to the Chesapeake Bay.
On the trip home we've tried to go into different places so that we can experience more.
As I said, we couldn't go into Hampton, Va. because of the damage done by the tornado last night. So it was on to Deltaville and anchor in Jackson's Creek. We wanted to get back here as it's a potential place to store our boat for the fall on our way south again in two years.

The Deltaville Yachting Center (DYC) has excellent facilities and the staff is very friendly. This is where Pat & Ted Haight purchased their new boat this year.

One thing I really liked is the way the DON'T mess up the sides of your boat when hauling it. For only a few dollars a year they install heavy plastic covering over their travel lift slings that are easily washed off and don't transfer the last guys crap all over the side of your boat. I think it's a great idea and should be pursued at Dartmouth Yacht Club.

A little plastic held on at the top end by duct tape and it saves on wear and tear on the slings as well.
On a trip like this a lot of folks have asked what we used for charts and guidebooks. Here's a couple pics of some of the items we used.

Once in the Bahamas, the Explorer Chartbooks are the bible. It doesn't matter what electronic or paper charts you have on board. These things are very accurate and provide write-ups with lots of info on all the places you want to go to.

The next thing you need is a person on board who can read and make sense of all thesse guide books. We have our own personal guide ... hahaha ... and she did a fantastic job.

From Deltaville it was north to our old stomping grounds at Solomon's Island on the Pautuxant River. This is the second largest sailing community on the Chesapeake Bay right behind Annapolis.
You know, it doesn't matter where in the world you get to, it all comes down to this. "If mama ain't happy, then nobody's happy" as the saying goes.

The next day took us further up towards the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Mill Creek, just south of the bridges. Our anchorage provided us great protection. That evening we decided to try out the local food favourite .... blue crab!

Funny, but they don't look blue to me.

I was astonished at how packed this place was and everyone had a pile of crabs in front of them. This wasn't about eating, it was all about socializing. At a mere $95 per dozen I could only arfford two crabs in case I didn't like them. WISE DECISION!!! I thought they would be more like lobster but the work involved in tearing this thing apart and extracting what amounts to about one tablespoon of meat sure didn't appeal to me .... But at least I tried them.

Next stop? ..... another favourite.....Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal.
Like I've said before we could stay here forever.
It was pretty busy at the Chesapeake Inn and the music was great.

I sure hope these guys aren't planning on coming in.

The town dock here is free but it's only so big. A couple nights here could easily last a week and we have to get going. Cape May is still a long day away.

Jan was ready to stay for a few more days.

....... and so was I.

OK ..... We HAVE to get a move on tomorrow! I placed a lot of pics of this town in my September update so I won't post them again.

Our run down the Delaware Bay was uneventful .... actually quite boring.
No wind, no waves, just putt putt putt.
Cape May is a city at the bottom end of New Jersey. It offers a great stopover spot where you can get fuel, water, limited supplies and some rest ..... Did I say rest? .... it's always windy on here .... all night long.
NOAA predicted a nice next couple of days for the run north to New York City so we decided to leave in the morning. Man were they wrong! 15-20 knots from the south ... great sailing weather, rapidly turned into 25 and gusting to 30 knots from the east .... with high seas .... and we had 120 miles to run. Things were a little uncomfortable but the boat was handling things just fine until off Atlantic City we took a big wave on the beam and got knocked down. Everything in the boat landed on the deck. Not fun anymore. We couldn't anchor inside Atlantic City this time because the USA passed a law recently that said you couldn't.
On we pressed until we rounded Sandy Hook at 10pm and made the run down to Atlantic Highlands by midnight. We still had a lot of cleaning up to do before we could get something to eat and get to bed.
Well, we got a good sleep last night and it's no wonder, we were exhausted.
This morning we headed over to Great Kills Harbor, about 5 miles south of New York City. It was supposed to provide excellent protection from all winds if you could find an anchorage .... and that was the kicker .... the entire harbour contained some 6 marinas and yacht clubs and was literally wall to wall moorings. We've never seen so many. Fortunately after a quick run through the boats we were able to find an area with no balls so we dropped the hook and went to sleep.

Tomorrow it's off to New York Harbour, the Statue of Liberty, and Lower Manhattan before thrusting ourselves into the East River, passing Hell Gate and finally arriving in Port Washington, on Long Island.
We were back in the thick of it again as soon as we passed under the Verrazano Bridge. Ships were everywhere and the weather was rotten, but we pressed on without getting run over.

The Staten Island Ferry even backed off and slowed down for a photo op.

The Grand Old Lady was standing proudly on Liberty Island looking down over her new arrivals.

Looking north to Lower Manhattan, the void where the two World Trade Center towers stood majestically before that fateful day, the new Freedom Tower reveals its enormity. It dwarfs the city. As of three weeks ago, it is now the tallest building in NYC.

Transitting the East River you see the new trend in New York. land is at a premium and there is no place else to build, so you are seeing more and more homes being built ON TOP OF existing mass housing complexes. These are actual houses up there. US$15 MILLION, AND NO LAND!

FINALLY, we made it through to Port Washington. We'll be staying here for a few days of R & R (yeah right!) and some sight-seeing in the Big Apple. Our mooring is among one of the best deals around. They are owned by the Town of Port Washington and are FREE for the first two nights. A very nice water taxi vessel will transport you anywhere you need to go for $4.00 each way during those two days. All days after that cost $25 per day for the mooring and unlimited water taxi rides. You sure can't beat that deal.

Right across the street from the dingy dock is a great Shop & Stop grocery store, liquor stores, West Marine and laundry facilities where they'll do your wash for $1.00 per pound and just up on Main Street is the Long Island Rail Road train station where for $5.00 you can ride right into the heart of New York City at Penn Station.
Look out New York, we're coming for a visit !!