We finish up our visit to Baltimore and get back underway again. We make the open ocean passage to New York City, past the Statue of Liberty, and then up the Hudson River!
Days 31-32 – Sunday & Monday, 6/25&26- In Baltimore
Sunday and Monday were both rainy days. On Sunday afternoon, Tim, Brenda, and Riggs got back from their trip, and we helped them bring their supplies back to the boat. Tim and I re-installed his StarLink antenna. The old one was making grinding noises, and after sending them a quick video, they sent him a whole new unit. We got together with another Looper Boat, “Meraki,” in the evening for some docktails. They are planning a similar route to us up through the Champlain Canal, so we compared notes.
Monday, Brenda & Brenda did some final shopping for provisioning, and Tim and I took care of a few minor boat projects and a last visit to “The Lighthouse” (mega beer store).
Day 33 – Tuesday, 6/27 – Baltimore, MD to Delaware City, DE – 71 miles, Travel Time: 6hrs 8min
It rained cats and dogs overnight. Some areas of Delaware saw 60 mph gusts and several inches of rain. The morning was only partly cloudy with calm winds, and we cast off from the Anchorage Marina at 8:30 am. When we got out of Baltimore Harbor and back into the Chesapeake Bay, we had some swells on our side, which made the boats rock. We sped up from 10 knots to about 15 knots, and it took most of the rollout. It was a nice trip to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C&D Canal) entrance. When we got to the C&D, we were in a much more sheltered area, so while the winds were up, the C&D acts like a bit of a wind tunnel. It was a nice smooth ride.
We only met one large barge and one larger boat from the Army Corps of Engineers going the opposite way. Aside from a fair amount of junk (sticks, logs, etc.) in the water, it was an uneventful passage with many nice views and a bunch of bald eagles.
There were thunderstorms predicted for the late afternoon, and as we reached the end of the canal, we could see the dark clouds not too far off.
As we were going through, we heard another boat called “Indigo” (the same as Tim & Brenda’s) ahead of us. They were also going to Delaware City Marina. When we called in for docking instructions, they asked them to identify as Indigo 52 and Indigo 44 (the boat lengths) to avoid confusion. It’s only about 2 miles from the end of the C&D to the marina.
As we were turning down the channel to the Marina, we heard the first rumbles of thunder, so we hurried our pump-out to get to our slip before the rain started. Delaware City Marina is on a narrow canal. They have you dock on your starboard side, facing up the canal toward a dead-end low bridge. Then they turn your boat around by hand to your port side so that you are facing back toward the entrance before the final tie-up. It’s a popular stop, and we had nine boats on the dock. They have done the spin so many times that they have it down to a science and know how to use the current to help them.
Just after we finished tieing up, the first of several rounds of thunderstorms hit with heavy rain and lots of lightning. Tim and I put on our rain gear and went up to the office at 4:00 for the daily boater briefing. The Dockmaster shows you the areas to avoid when heading down Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ, most boaters’ next stop. There are a few submerged walls and shoals. Also, the weather on Delaware Bay is different from what most have experienced, and they share some good resources to figure out if it’s a go or no-go day.
It was still raining heavily after the briefing, so we waited until it slowed down a bit around 6:00 and walked to a Crab restaurant just a few blocks away for dinner. Around 8:00, the storms had pretty much passed, and we were treated to a beautiful rainbow over the boats.
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Day 34 – Wednesday, 6/28 – Delaware City, DE to Cape May, NJ – 61.8 miles, Travel Time: 4hrs 50min
The route from Delaware City to Cape May travels down Delaware Bay toward the mouth of the Delaware River. The closer you get to Cape May, the more the ocean influences the waves and weather. Our briefing the night before said that the weather was very favorable for the trip, so at 8:00 am, we dropped lines and headed down the bay.
We saw three large ships before us as we entered the main channel. We slowed down and moved out of the main channel to let them maneuver. Delaware Bay is the main shipping channel for Philadelphia, PA, and the Inland New Jersey ports like Newark, so there is a lot of big ship traffic.
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We had initially planned to stay two nights in Cape May as there is a great downtown with lots of Victorian-era houses. However, we decided to cut our visit short as the next two days were out in the open Atlantic, and the weather looked pretty good for off-shore travel. After settling in, we took the marina shuttle downtown and did a bit of sightseeing. We got back just at sunset, which due to the smoke, was spectacular!
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Day 35 – Thursday, 6/29 – Cape May, NJ to Atlantic City, NJ – 44.1 miles, Travel Time: 3hrs 49min
We left Cape May and headed out to sea! The weather was very good. Just a light wind and only about 2-3 foot rollers with lots of room in between. We ran about 1.5 miles offshore, trying to stay in about 40 to 60 feet of water. Any closer, and the waves start to build as they reach the shore.
We saw 6 or 8 other loopers out on the water taking advantage of the good weather, and a few more spent the night at Atlantic City. We pulled in at 12:20 pm and got tied up in our slips.
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After settling in, we took a walk to the Casino where the marina is located. It was Horrible. It’s an old Donald Trump casino that went bankrupt to the tune of $1.8 billion. It reeked of stale cigarette smoke and was pretty much just a bunch of elderly people sitting at slot machines wasting their lives. We only spent a few minutes there.
Tim and Brenda took an Uber to the Atlantic City Boardwalk, Brenda and I stayed on the boat as I wasn’t feeling well. Later we had dinner at an outdoor patio restaurant at the Casino, then made it an early night as we had a long run-up to New York City the next day.
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Day 36 – Friday, 6/30 – Atlantic City, NJ to New York City, NY – 91.7 miles, Travel Time: 6hrs 43min
We got up early on Thursday and were pulled out of Atlantic City by 6:30 am. We had over 90 miles to go and wanted to get off the ocean and into New York Harbor before the winds were predicted to pick up after 12:00.
We ran a bit faster than we usually do due to the distance averaging about 16 knots for most of the trip. Again it was a good day to be off-shore. The waves were just gentle rollers and light winds. Again we traveled between 1.5 miles and 2 miles off-shore. With the haze, there was not a lot to see.
When we passed Sandy Hook and entered New York’s outer harbor, we passed the Romer Shoal Light lighthouse. We saw a NYC Police boat with its lights on, and as we got closer, we saw that they were escorting a couple of swimmers in the water! Brave Souls!
As we approached New York City, the smoke haze seemed to get thicker. We could barely see Coney Island, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge loomed up out of the haze. We had a bit of traffic as we entered the harbor, a Norwegian Cruise Ship was following us in, and two large ships were headed out.
New York harbor is VERY busy, and you have to pay close attention and keep looking around between the ships, the ferries, water taxis, tour boats, and the other pleasure boaters.
We saw the Statue of Liberty appear through the haze and cut across the river to get our requisite boat pictures in front of her.
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Our marina for the night, Liberty Landing Marina, was just past the statue and Ellis Island. We were tied up in our slips just after 1:00. It turns out we made the right choice to leave early and run faster as by 3:00, there were some 20-knot winds, and the harbor was all mid-sized chop!
After settling in and checking in, we took a walk around Liberty State Park, checking out the old CNJ Railroad terminal and getting a couple of views of Manhattan through the haze.
Dinner was at a restaurant next to the Marina. It was very nice, but not worth the price.
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Day 37 – Saturday, 7/1 – New York City, NY to Croton-on-Hudson – 37.8 miles, Travel Time: 3hrs 46min
On Saturday morning, we left Liberty Landing and headed north up the Hudson River. There had been some heavy rain overnight that washed the smoke out of the air and was much clearer. Also, being a weekend day, there was nowhere near as much commercial traffic on the river.
We cruised by the Empire State Building and the old New York seaplane port, and the Manhattan driving range. Halfway up Manhattan, we went by the Norwegian Cruise Ship that had followed us in. Then it was under the George Washington Bridge. There was almost as much traffic in the river as there was up on the bridge! We had to work our way around three tow barges.
A bit farther on was the Mario Cuomo Bridge (formerly the Tappan Zee Bridge, and soon to be the Tappan Zee II Bridge due to Mario’s legal problems). At the base of the Tappan Zee is the town of Sleepy Hollow (of the Halloween story fame), with the Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse.
It’s just a few miles from the bridge to Croton-On-Hudson and the Half Moon Bay Marina, our marina for the next three nights.
Half Moon Bay is a popular marina with Loopers, and there were 16 Loopers there, including 4 Beneteau Swift Trawlers of varying sizes! The folks on Katie B invited a bunch of us over for docktails, and we watched the moon rise over the marina.
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Love reading about your adventures! Hope you are both well.
We also love reading your adventures and seeing your pictures! Stay safe.