West Point on the Hudson as we approach from the south.

We traveled from Haverstraw marina, a bit south of West Point, to Kingston NY today. What we saw along the way is worth a separate post.

West Point to the right. Narrow bend in the Hudson ahead.

Beautiful setting for a home. Probably has huge lawn – don’t need sprinklers here. Wonder what the winter is like?

Didn’t know they had one of these here. A nuclear plant on the east bank.

A 25 minute taxi ride got us to church a bit early. Singing group practices up front.

There is a sharp bend where the Hudson has one of its narrowest points. A great spot to stop the British from getting up the river and splitting our country into two. So a military fort has been continuously at West Point since George Washington put one there in 1778, the oldest in the US. The school was started in 1802.

Cemetery turned out to be high point of tour. Our guide knew all the stories. Great men are buried there.

We toured West Point on Saturday. The tour probably meant more to Sue and I because we remember men like Schwarzkopf, Westmorland, Stilwell, etc. Of course Keith and Gayle knew some like MacArthur and Eisenhower. Admission into this school is really tough and a number of great military leaders have come out of it. The buildings are old and built from stone. One of them is the largest stone building in the US.

During the tour through the cemetery we saw graves for a lot of men we recognized. Our guide told a number of stories about the people there. We are moving fast now, but some things are still worth stopping for. This was one of them.

Outside the chapel on Sunday.

After the service, on the way out.

Sunday we went back to West Point for church at the Cadet Chapel. The building is beautiful and the 23,000 pipe organ sounded great. The acoustics are good for sacred music but, combined with the chaplain’s unsteady voice, not so great for speaking. Overall definitely a high point of our trip since leaving Washington.

Restaurant at Haverstraw Marina. Hudson to left. Our boat off to the right.

Haverstraw Marina, 50 miles up from NYC, was the marina in the West Point area that could take our size of boat. We are staying here 3 nights, then we plan Kingston NY for the 29th and Albany the 30^th for our next stops. Then we’ll turn left and be at Schenectady NY, six locks into the Erie canal for July 1!

We are not experienced lockers yet. We transited a few locks when we crossed Florida after first getting on the boat, but that was with a professional captain aboard. With Sharon and Paul we did a few locks in the Dismal Swamp canal and the Great Bridge lock just south of Norfolk. It’s great to have Keith and Gayle on board for line handling through the Erie. I’ll blow up our two big 27 x 36” fenders to hang off each side of the bow, then if we hit a lock side we can bounce off, I hope.

We did take the subway into Manhattan the night we were there. St John’s Cathedral as we passed Manhattan.

What was this? Looked it up on Google maps. Sing Sing prison.

The Hudson has been scenic all the way so far, with rugged banks, especially on the west side as we get toward the bend at West Point. We see a number of trains, both passenger and freight traveling on the east side. Few cars are visible, however, so any highways would have to be a ways back from the river bank. Fortunately, at least from our boater’s point of view, the banks are too steep in most places for roads along the river, except periodically at an occasional small town or village.

Not a lot here right by the marina, but we’re here to see West Point, as well as a bit of catching up on boat stuff tomorrow.

It was probably there before, but we noticed NYC and the Verazano Bridge at 20 miles away.

We are just 1.5 miles due north of the Statue of Liberty at Liberty Harbor Marina on the Jersey City side of the river. The big bay and open ocean running are behind us. Both bays and the ocean took only four days. I never thought it would be that quick. We did miss a lot on the Chesapeake. We just skipped past the 10 mile wide mouth of the Potomac with all that is up there, and missed Annapolis. It was just a short hop up the Delaware if we would have wanted to visit Philadelphia. We also skipped by Baltimore. We passed by a lot. Many people spend their whole life boating on the Chesapeake.

There is no way to miss NYC, however. It appeared on the horizon when we were 20 miles away. Entering New York Harbor was our most dramatic cruise yet. We went right up to the warning buoys a few hundred feet from Liberty Island and took some pictures.

Keith and Gayle with Jersey City on the left and Manhattan on the right.

Keith (and I) see the Staten Island ferry for the first time. I’ve heard about it many times in movies.

Liberty Harbor Marina is one of the few protected docking places right by Manhattan. With their lock on the market they don’t run as tight a ship is they might, but we got in OK after going over things several times with the staff, most of whom were new and did not know much. I need to know that a slip is wide enough before I back into it, since I can’t see well back there. No one knew anything about slip widths. I had parked the boat at the fuel dock for a pump out, and so ran over myself to check them out. The docks were at various angles so I could not put a tape on them to check. I’m going to get a laser measurer next time I’m at Home Depot.

At the Statue of Liberty just before going 1.5 miles more to our marina.

We finally found a slip obviously wide enough and got quickly settled. The ladies wanted to walk the four blocks to the subway into the World Trade Center. We saw a bit there and ate at a pub. There was a very light drizzle much of the time, so we did not stay too long. All four of us (separately) stayed in NYC just a year or two ago so one night there will be enough. We need to get up the Hudson and our goal of the Erie Canal entrance by July 1. Looks like we’ll make it.

Atlantic City from 15 miles to the south.

Later that Tuesday evening at Delaware City I checked the NOAA wave height forecast for the Atlantic off the New Jersey coast. It showed 2 – 3 feet on Wednesday, 2 feet on Thursday and then 4 -5 feet on Friday. You don’t want to know what it said about Saturday through Monday where the forecast ended.

We waffled around a little and decided we should probably leave for Cape May, at the south end of Delaware Bay and the Atlantic in the morning. We left late at 7:15 because I had not paid. The thunderstorm had prevented that the day before, and everything was closed up when it finished. Also, I was headed the wrong way and preferred to have an experienced marina guy (Tim at Delaware City is well known) secure our lines while we turned the boat around with the strong current in the very narrow channel. That was necessary because the marina side ties were full, with a boat a few feet in front of us and a piling right behind. The current was wanting to send my bow right into the bow of the guy in front.

The strong current at that time in the Delaware river and the top part of the bay was another decider. It started us traveling south at 13 mph. Our timing looked good, so instead of reserving at Cape May I called the Senator Frank S Farley Marina by the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City. That was a third of the way up New Jersey coast and made the total trip length today 100 miles. That leaves another 100 miles to New York harbor tomorrow with waves predicted even better than today.

We passed this and another amusement park well before reaching Atlantic City.

Another tall ship some distance away coming up Delaware Bay. We assumed it was heading to Philadelphia.

Our first open ocean experience was great. 2 to 3 foot waves turned out was smoother than expected. This was due to the much longer wave period of 7 seconds. These go easily by and move us up and down more than roll us. The forecasts give the period as well as the wave height. Not sure how they can predict such things, but glad to have the information.

We traveled about 1 ½ miles out from shore to avoid a few shallow areas. Saw a couple of big ships but only one or two smaller boats. Keith and Sue both saw either manta rays or very large stingrays several times. Sunny weather with little wind and easy smooth seas. The ICW can be easy too. We’ve gone all day and passed one boat, but you still have to watch a lot more than on the ocean.

Senator Frank S Farley marina at the Golden Nugget casino.

We were docked by 5 and went over to the Golden Nugget Casino for dinner. Among many restaurants there we chose a buffet that pleased all of us. It was a long day but relaxing for all, including Keith and myself, who shared the piloting. Ocean travel is great, and not nearly a scary as we thought. Even so, I’ll still watch the weather and wave reports.

Sunrise on Chesapeake Bay leaving Salt Ponds Marina. Eastern side of bay too far to block anything.

We are at Delaware City Marina at the east end of the C & D (Chesapeake & Delaware) canal. Yesterday we ran 93 miles up the Chesapeake to Spring Cove Marina. This is our longest “open water” run to date. It was OK, but with some rolling at times. As usual, the bay proved easier and smoother than expected. Things we have never done are always a bit scary at first, but then we find them nicer than expected. What should we expect? The Chesapeake is one of the boating capitals of the world, with many huge marinas holding boats most of which are smaller than ours. It could not be too bad.

Passed a few of these lighthouses out in the middle of the bay. I assume all are no longer manned.

On the other hand, I talked to a number of people at Salt Ponds where we stayed the extra night. While I’m sure there are many others who are different, none of those I talked with had taken their boat north of the Potomac mouth! Below are things we saw the second day on the bay.

A mysterious thing appeared out in the bay. We tried guessing, but the charts said it was an LNG terminal.

Long set of bridges crossing the bay. To the south bridges are partial. Traffic was in tunnels where we crossed.

The flag in the back is French. Going to Philadelphia July 4th celebration. Sails are for show. It’s under power.

Today it was 95 miles up to a marina on the canal west end, but we were making good time so I decided to go 20 miles further through the canal. I called Delaware City and reserved their very last spot.

After exiting the canal we went a mile north up the Delaware river and then a half mile up a very narrow channel where the shifting current can be 5 knots and more. We were fortunate in two ways. It was slack current as we went up. Then, just after we tied up to get fuel the mother of all thunderstorms came and totally drenched everything. I don’t remember of being in rain that heavy since we got the boat. If we had been twenty minutes later we would have been caught in the rain in the channel. It probably would not have been dangerous. There were no high winds or waves, but the rain was thick enough that it was hard to see, and maneuvering and docking would have been anything but fun. I suppose if the current had been maximum with that low visibility rain things might have gotten interesting.

Now we’re making progress. We went over 200 miles in two days. We plan to stay here an extra day and fix a few other things on the boat.

At front in the Great Bridge Lock. Not much level change here.

We are at Salt Ponds Marina on the Chesapeake, 18 miles further north than we have been before. We got through the bridges quickly. Traveling on Saturday helped at a couple of bridges that open more quickly on weekends because of less auto traffic. We were behind a large tow at one of the bridges. It took forever to go through, so by the time we were there the cars were lined up a long way on either side.

We hit the Great Bridge lock as it was open on our side so sailed right in to the front where we waited for more boats behind us. There were a big group of Coast Guard people at the lock who took the opportunity of all those boats being stopped to board everyone for a safety check. We had been checked less than a year ago but of course I could not find the paper from the previous boarding. They were a lot quicker than last time, when they traced all our plumbing. They were off us only a few minutes after the lock gates opened but still had to do the boats behind. The boats going the other way waiting to get in may not have been to happy about their delay.

Steel Bridge had been taken down, replaced by a 65’ clearance fixed bridge. That was great news. We hit that one a little late on our way back from Norfolk last year and waited 55 minutes. I don’t think we were delayed more than 30 minutes by bridges and locks, even with the Coast Guard thrown in, so we sailed 18 miles past mile marker 0 at Norfolk and out into the bay.

Navy ships as we leave the Elizabeth River into the Chesapeake Bay.

Our first bay experience was great, with little or no waves. The only drama was our first back in docking with our guests. The slip width was 1.5’ wider than our boat. As I backed in Keith, Gayle and Sue were all shouting directions to me. I should have set things up with them in advance, and since have asked Keith to take charge.

A big storm is supposed to come through here tonight (Saturday night) and small craft warnings are on the bay for tomorrow. Wave height is to be 3 to 4 feet, the short period kind that rock us easier. I’m a little reticent about travelling open water for whole day, so we’ll wait an extra day here for that to pass, and leave on Monday.

Gayle and Keith at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We visited DC while waiting for the boat.

No photos during this entry. I haven’t found the big camera yet and no time to use the phone.

On June 19 we are at Coinjock Marina (on our last trip south it was between posts Traveling South and Belhaven) with Greg to fixing some things that came up on the boat. After being on the hard for two months and having a number of things like the fresh water tank removed (to access the bolts holding the struts) our trip out of Washington turned into a “shakedown cruise”. Our first trip was just 45 miles to Belhaven Marina, the next was 50 miles to Alligator Marina and then 35 to Coinjock at ICW mile marker 50. The first two of these overnights I could figure out some minor things that happened and today the trip was short and we arrived early enough at Coinjock that Greg has time to fix some of the bigger things.

Keith and Gayle Holmes from Australia are with us on the boat for the next month. We have become good friends working with them in India and Thailand and have taken a few vacations together as well. The are pretty adaptable people and have had no trouble with life on board.

It’s a good thing they are adaptable, because these first days have been chaos. The workers had torn up the bed and removed the big fresh water tank under it. Clothes and storage items were moved off the boat into storage and then later returned. Do you suppose a few items might have ended up in places other than where expected? We’ve still got piles of stuff stacked everywhere and are trying to make sense of it when we land after our day’s travel. Everything truly essential we have found, but I’m just wondering when Sue will notice my tooth brush and related items are not present and consider them essential.

There’s a “famous” restaurant here at Coinjock. Whenever you mention going here area people, including Greg, always say to eat here. Sue, Keith and Gayle were over there tonight. I stayed here to work with Greg and learn what I could so if these things break loose again I can fix them.

Up to now we’ve had pretty short trips. We’ll start picking up the pace tomorrow.

The Props are finally back on. Ready to go back in the water.

We’ve had a very busy time our first few weeks of running the boat. A long way to go in a short time. I have written these entries up, but had no time to process them and what few pictures we had time to take. When the pressure is off, somewhere around the Erie canal entrance, I’ll start putting things together and get these entries in. I’ll try to back date them to when they happened. Here goes: After two full months in Washington NC, nearly all of it on the hard where we could not live on our boat, we will be back in the water and on our way. We started early near the end of March. Many start the loop a month later than we did and get by OK, with maybe not quite as much time to stop over in interesting places. We are now starting two months later.

A little earlier. The water tank is still out, pulled forward from under the bed.

We’ll have to hurry through the first part of the loop. I plan to go quickly through the rest of the ICW (Washington is 30 miles off of mile marker 150) to Norfolk at mile marker zero. Then we’ll transit the length of the Chesapeake bay, through the C & D canal at its top over to the top of and down the length of the Delaware bay to Cape May. Then it will be up the New Jersey coast on the open Atlantic to New York City and then up the Hudson to Albany and the entrance to the Erie Canal.

A boat rally, including President Bush’s (elder) boat taking off from our yard. Star Gazer off picture to right.

We hope to arrive at the canal by July 1. If we can do that we’ll have time for an unhurried transit of the Erie Canal, the Trent – Severn Canal, the top of Lake Huron and down Lake Michigan to Chicago by the end of August, when conventional wisdom says to be off the great lakes. We won’t have tons of time for stopping, but will still have enough days for down time and seeing sights. Hopefully no more major boat trouble will intervene. The big if at this point is weather. It’s not the most fun to travel in bad weather on the ICW, but except for big storms most of it need not slow us down. On the more open waters of the bays and especially the Atlantic run that could be different. We could get delayed waiting for a “weather window”.

Another week in Washington NC before leaving. A dog jumping contest in weekend fair downtown.

Waves on the big waters could be troublesome or even dangerous for our boat. The bay waves would be, like much of the great lakes, closer together, or higher frequency. These can rock us, especially if on the beam, more than slow swells out on the ocean. On the other hand, ocean waves can get really big. If 3 foot or higher waves are forecast I will think of not going. 4 foot or higher I will definitely not go. The last two weeks has been quite hot, both in Richmond and then in Washington NC. That would have worked. The next few days are forecast the same, so our next few days of ICW time will be easy.

Veterans at the WWII memorial.

We spent more than 2 weeks in DC. We saw way to much to detail, but, for our memory as well as anything else, here’s a summary.

27 Mon        Monticello, Miche Tavern, U of VA.
28 Tue          Museum of Art. This and the Louve are our favorites.
29 Wed         Lincoln, Vietnam, WWII memorials, Air & Space
30 Thu          Museum of Art. Downtown walk that evening.
1 Fri              Museum of American History
2 Sat             Museum of American Art. A few blocks north.
3 Sun            National Cathedral service, Hillwood Museum.
4 Mon           Library of Congress. National Botanical Gardens
5 Tue            Arlington cemetery, Pentagon City mall
6 Wed           Spy museum. Interesting. Spent a lot of time there.
7 Thu            Mount Vernon. Research caused changes in 40 years.
8 Fri              Museum of Natural History. Better than expected.
9 Sat             Relaxed at Hotel
10 Sun          Museum of Natural History. Lot better than NYC.
11 Mon          Art (yes, again) and National Building Museums
12 Tue           Drive to Washington, NC

Sue sits where we both sat 40 years ago on our previous visit to Mt Vernon.

Our first 2 or 3 days in DC were a bit cool, as it had been at Monticello. After that it warmed up to a nice temperature for the rest of our visit. We kept our rental car and used it for the cathedral, Arlington and Mt Vernon, but for the most part it was not necessary. Except for Mt. Vernon cabs would have been  better.

Hillwood was fantastic. Home of Marjorie M. Post (Post cereals & married to E.F. Hutton)

With less time we might have skipped Natural History. Glad we didn’t.

If you’re going to be stuck in a city, there’s none better than DC. After leaving we stayed a couple of days in Washington NC to check on the boat and then flew to Ft Lauderdale for Sue’s eye appointment. We had not planned on being in Austin, but changed our minds about 3 days before coming. Southwest Air is great that way. We cancelled a return trip from Ft Lauderdale to Norfolk (close to Washington NC) and used the money for Austin. Seniors are able to get low prices on these flights just a few days before. I don’t think we paid more than $20 over one we could have bought way in advance.

Keith and Gayle fly in May 29 to Kennedy. Near the end of our DC stay a cab driver told us about the new Marriott Courtyard hotel near the Capitol. He said they were trying to get their rooms filled since they were not yet known to be there. Sue called and reserved rooms for Keith and Gayle and us for the first week in June in case the boat is not ready by the first. Average $100 per night. If the boat isn’t ready by June 1 we’ll continue our DC vacation with them while we wait.

“Monumental” best describes the art museum. Our favorite DC place. Contains our favorite DC restaurant too.