The winds and
rain came into Belhaven NC on Sunday as expected. We were tucked in safe and secure in our
slip. Today would be a day of rest, we
had no choice as everything is closed during the day on Sunday in North
Carolina.
We splurged on
breakfast this morning, we had BACON and pancakes with real maple syrup. I even heard someone on the dock say “I think
I smell bacon” in a very envious tone.
After breakfast we settled in to watch the rain and listen to the
Patriots beat the Chargers. We were able
to get WEEI sports radio from Boston on the internet.
After the game
the rain stopped and the sun came out for the late afternoon. We were able to get out and walk around a
little and stretch our legs and meet our dock neighbors.
For dinner I
finally figured out the recipe for pressure cooker lasagna. It came out great, probably one of the best
meals we have had on the boat. I was a
little surprised at how good it was.
Just at the end
of dinner the wind picked up considerably and started howling out of the
west. The boat was rockin and rollin and
pulling on all of the lines. The power
went out at about 8pm and was out all night and into Monday morning. It finally came back on about 2pm on
Monday. We slept well considering the
rough weather.
Monday morning
dawned COLD and windy. It was in the 40s
outside and only about 50 inside. With
no power at the dock we were forced to turn on the generator and turn on the
heat. With the heater on and the sun out
the boat did warm up quickly and it was a comfortable morning.
Our marina has
free golf cart use and we used it to go to the Food Lion and provision. We did not need too much but we never pass up
a chance to go to a real grocery store.
While at the store we ran into Mike and Tina from Cheroka. They were on the town dock. We told them about our golf cart and offered
them a ride. They said they needed the
exercise but asked if we would take their groceries and drop them off at their
boat. We said yes and then Mike decided
he could buy a case of beer because he did not have to carry it back to the
boat. We loaded up all of our groceries
and drove back to the marina with a stop at Cheroka.
Now that the
power was back on at the marina we could get a pump out and do
laundry. I took another golf cart ride
into town to check out the town free docks.
There are no services there, but they are free. I ran into Brian and Jacki again and talked
about how badly Cowessett was damaged in the storm that went through New
England. He also said that the west wind
blew about 3 feet of water out of the bay and his 6 foot draft was now in about
5.5 feet of water. He said it got down
to about 4.5 feet during the blow. He would
wait until tomorrow for the water to come back up so he could leave.
Going back
through town I stopped at Farm Boy and got some popcorn shrimp, took it back to
the boat and had an afternoon snack along with some local IPA we found at the
Food Lion.
For dinner on monday we went to the Spoon River Artworks & Market. http://spoonrivernc.com/ Josh, the dockmaster at the marina, told that this was the best restaurant on the east coast. Arguably, it is in the running.
Everything is local and fresh, the menu is hand written for whatever that are serving that day. I started with local clams in a broth and Elaine had coconut shrimp. For entrees I had Black Drum and Elaine had the filet. Both entrees were amazingly good. They don't have a regular wine list at this restaurant. They have a wine room. You go to the wine room and pick your bottle off the shelf or cooler. They had a very wide selection. We were too full for desert but the owner told us that her husband had made an amazing apple cake with ice cream and gave us one to split for free. She then came over with a special cocktail that she was experimenting with to ask our opinion. Both were spectacular. The dinner was a great value and an unexpected treat to find such a place in a tiny little North Carolina town. We got a couple of bottles of wine to go and hopped in our golf cart for the short ride home.
We came back to a peaceful night on the boat and slept well before heading off to Oriental NC in the morning.
Cool fish cutouts in the risers
Shops across from the town docks
Belhaven NC city hall
Add caption
Downtown Belhaven NC
Our ride at the Food Lion
Cheroka at the town dock
Local NC IPA
Great IPA from North Carolina
Pressure cooker lasagna
Dinner
Our marina
River Forest Marina, we are on the other side of the dock
This sailboat ran aground when all the water was blown out of the bay
I slept past 7am
this morning and still got to see the sunrise over the river. We usually take our time in the morning
because we don’t go too far for our day’s cruise. We were the last boat to leave the anchorage
and enter the Alligator River/Pungo River canal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pungo_River
The canal is very
straight and about 20 miles long. Most
of the time is feels wide but on occasion the stumps and snags seem to be just
feet from the boat. (they are not, it just seems that way) We saw several bald eagles while in the canal
but no other wildlife. The scenery is
diverse, forests, marshes, swamps, and canals line the main thoroughfare.
We popped out of
the canal and headed west along the Pungo river to Belhaven NC. http://belhavennc.us/ We had called ahead to the River Forrest Marina http://riverforestmarina.com/ and they were ready for us when we arrived.
Ed, the dockhand, was there to greet us and help us tie up. This was the first time we had tied bow to
just pilings. Ed walked us through the
procedure and with just a few hiccups we managed to get the boat secured. There was a half finger pier to starboard but
without the cleats we are used to. It is
all pilings. It makes it harder to get on
and off the boat sometimes depending on the wind.
There are five
other transients on the dock with us.
They are all boats that we have been seeing along the way. I have heard that this is the case, you see a
lot of the same people and boats while travelling the ICW.
The marina is
very nice. The restrooms/showers are
clean and spacious. There is Wi-Fi and
it WORKS. They sell fuel and pumpout is
available. The washers and dryers are
free. They have golf carts that you can
use to go into town or to the Food Lion.
Belhaven is a golf cart community and you can drive them on the roads
just like cars.
It is only half a
mile walk into town and got our exercise Saturday afternoon. We walked to the town docks that are at the
end of main st. There were three boats
tied up there and we had seen two of them along the way. There was a little impromptu cocktail party
beside the boats. We met two very nice
Canadian couples sailing south. Mike
& Tina, aboard Cheroka, were planning on wintering in the Bahamas and then
continuing on to Greneda.
We then meet a
young couple that were staying at the town free docks up the river a bit. They are on Gypsy Soul, a Delphi 40.3. Captain Brian and Admiral Jacki. They said that they were from Rhode Island
and we said so are we. When we said we
kept our boat in Greenwich Bay they said they did to. They then said that they were at Brewer
Cowesset and we said yup, so are we. The
coincidences ended there as they are from the North yard and we are from the
South. Small world.
Belhaven NC is a
quaint little town with a short little main st.
We checked out some of the shops and looked at some restaurant
menus. The hardware store is the old
kind that sells everything, including hardware.
If they don’t have, you don’t need it.
We will be staying here for a few days so we decided to come
back and check out some more sights.
We woke up this
morning on Broad Creek NC to some fog.
It was mostly in towards the creed and the shore line. It did burn off before we left the
anchorage. As we were getting the boat
ready to leave we made some new fisherman friends. It seems that we anchored with our rode over
their net. I apologized for anchoring
over their net but they said it was not big deal and that I would have no way
of knowing it was there because it was not marked. Fortunately, for both of us, it was a calm
morning and there was plenty of slack in our rope rode. They were able to pull up my rode and pass it
over the top of their boat and continue on their way. They were very nice about the whole
affair.
There were 22
boats in the anchorage the night before and by the time we left there were 2
left. We were only going about 37
nautical miles today so it was not important to leave too early. We could relax in the morning or relax more
in the afternoon. It is always best not
to rush things in the morning and to start the day rested and refreshed.
The weather was
again sunny and a little bit cool, in the 60s.
The forecast for crossing the Albemarle Sound was very good, seas less
than a foot and light south winds. I
have heard that crossing the sound in high winds can be very uncomfortable as
they tend to kick up quite a chop.
We made it across
the sound, about 15 miles, and came into the Alligator River. We requested an opening of the Alligator
River Swing Bridge and were greeted with prompt and courteous service. Most of the cruise was uneventful. We were cruising in a wide section of the ICW
and scenery was good but not great.
We got into our
anchorage with no problems and settled in for the afternoon and evening. After we set the anchor we were treated to a
show of Air Force jets flying from the nearby base. They were doing circles around the Alligator
River flying right over our boat. They
are incredibly fast and LOUD. This went
on for about an hour or so and was very entertaining. They also flew overhead around 8pm and it was
less entertaining.
There are about a
dozen other boats in the anchorage with us.
Many of them are the same as the previous night. These boats left Broad Creek well before us
in the morning and yet here we are all together again.
Cell service in
this anchorage is almost nonexistent. We
can get e-mail, text, and phone calls just barely, but internet service through
our phones is nothing.
We had cocktails
and hor d’oeuvre on the flybridge. Dinner
was shrimp & gnocchi picatta. We
expect to sleep well tonight.
We slept in a
little and made the 9am Great Bridge opening for our day’s voyage. The Great Bridge coordinates with the Great
Bridge Lock for their openings. After
the lock opens for the southbound boats the bridge waits for them to all bunch
together before opening. We waited for
the lock to open and then cast off the dock and waited in front of the bridge
for it to open. Fortunately, the winds
were calm and eight boats could almost hold their position in the water without
running into each other. I could see
this being a dangerous thing if the winds were up. The bridge could open sooner and stay open
about two minutes longer and everyone would be safer.
After going past
the Great Bridge we cruised with a group of about ten boats towards two other
bridges that would open. The same thing
happens at these bridges. A bunch of
boats try to not run into each other while the bridge operator waits for the
allotted time to open. The bridges open
on the hour and the half hour so you could be waiting for some time. It is good practice trying to keep the boat
steady in a crowd.
Once past the two
swing bridges the group of boats spread out on their journey south. At times it seemed that we were the only boat
on the water. The scenery is picturesque
in most spots. There are lots of
forests, marshes, side creeks, birds, and lots of stumps. You always have to keep a sharp eye out for
stumps beside the channel and for floating debris in the channel.
About halfway
through our cruise today we crossed into North Carolina. We seem to be cruising right along. North Carolina is a big ICW state so it will
take some time to complete.
The weather today
was sunny and a little cool. However, up
on the flybridge with the sun shining through the isinglass it can get quite
warm. The water in the ICW is almost
always calm. This makes for comfortable
cruising conditions. We like to cruise
slowly so we pass very few boats, mostly sailboats with small engines. We get passed a lot, mostly by bigger faster
trawlers and by much bigger and faster go-fast boats. Almost all of the boat passing is done
according to a polite procedure. You
call the boat you want to pass and request to pass them on either port or
starboard. They then answer your request
for a slow pass. The boat being passed
slows down and the boat passing also slows down to minimize wake
disturbance. Once the passing boat is
past the slower boat, both boats return to their normal cruising speed.
We use Active
Captain and the Waterway Cruising guide to help us pick anchoring spots. Today’s spot was from Active Captain. It is near the end of the North River near
Broad Creek in Shiloh NC. From here it
is an easy beginning to crossing Albemarle Sound. It seems that everyone else must use these
guides because there are about 22 boats in this anchorage for the night. It is a huge anchorage and there is room for
lots more boats.
Beautiful sunset
tonight and the wind died right down to about 5kts and the water is almost flat. It should be great sleeping conditions.
A very short hop
today, eleven nautical miles. We were
running from Hampton VA across the James River and into Portsmouth/Norfolk
harbor and into the south branch of the Elizabeth River. This is where we would take a few days to
reprovision and rest for the official start of the ICW.
There is a lot of
boat traffic in this area. The port is
full of navy ships, cargo ships, tugs, barges, and pleasure craft. You really need to be paying attention to all
of traffic as some of them move quickly.
We pulled into
the Ocean Yacht Marina in Portsmouth VA. http://oceanyachtmarina.com/ This marina is at the beginning of the ICW. We had a perfect landing at the fuel dock,
and after getting 150 gallons of diesel we made another successful landing into
our slip.
The marina is
good but not great. The wi-fi stinks,
the pump out was not working, and the bathrooms are a little dirty. The staff, on the other hand, is very helpful
and polite. They have a well-stocked
ship’s store and are centrally located in downtown Portsmouth. We have floating docks and full finger
piers. We take these for granted back
home but they are not always available down south. Floating docks and finger piers make getting
on and off the boat so much easier. They
also make docking easier.
After getting
secure we walked into town to check out the shops and restaurants. The downtown area of Portsmouth is seriously
lacking in shopping. There were only a
few stores and most of them were closed.
We did find a great Italian restaurant called Mannino’s. http://manninositalianbistro.com/ We went back for dinner that evening and it
was great. I had a veal parmesan layered
with Portobello mushroom, Parma ham, and mozzarella. Elaine had lasagna Bolognese. We didn’t even notice until the bill came
that it was half price wine night on Mondays.
We walked back to the boat and slept very well that night.
We left the anchorage in Deltaville and continued south on the Chesapeake to Hampton VA. We would be anchoring across from Norfolk/Portsmouth VA and the start of the ICW.
Once again, the weather and seas were very calm on our ride. The sun was out and it was comfortably warm on the flybridge. During the ride we came across a pod of dolphins, about 20 or so. They were swimming in a line across our bow. The sun would reflect off of their backs as they broke the surface. It is hard to get good photos of them with our cameras but we gave it a shot.
As we got close to Hampton we encountered a little more boat traffic. We saw a couple of huge MERCK container ships leaving the James river and heading out into the bay. They are enormous and faster than you might imagine. Stay very far away from them.
We anchored in Mill Creek off of Fort Monroe. After we came in, four sailboats came in to anchor. A couple of them were a little close behind us, hopefully our generator bothered them a little. There was plenty of room in the anchorage and they could have moved a couple of hundred feet away.
We relaxed for the afternoon, had dinner, and then listened to the Patriots beat the Falcons (again) on Westwood One radio.
We spend a
wonderful night on anchor in Solomons MD.
There was almost no wind and the water was flat calm. We have rocked more in a marina slip. The sun doesn’t come up until after 7am so we
get to sleep a little late and it is still dark.
The weather
prediction for today was for calm winds and seas. We were only going on a short cruise today,
about 43 nautical miles. We have found
that shorter cruises and mid afternoon anchorings are best. There is no reason to cruise for a long day
if there is no reason to cruise for a long day.
It was a very
uneventful ride down the Chesapeake. It
is at times quite boring. We are a mile
or two off shore and there is not much to look at was we roll along. Coming in and out of the tributaries and
harbors is different. The scenery is
much better, lots more to see.
We turned out of
the channel and entered Ingram Bay and the Great Wicomico River. From there we then turned into Cockrell Creek
and Reedville VA. https://www.virginia.org/cities/reedville/ We found a great
anchorage in the north fork of Cockrell Creek, we are the only boat here. The holding is good and there is little to no
wind. The water is calm and the boat is
not rocking at all.
We launched the
dinghy and motored into the town to look around. Reedville is a very quiet little town. There is a nice Ice Cream shop http://www.chitterchatsicecream.com/ and a few
restaurants but no place to provision and no shops that we could find. We of course had to stop at the ice cream
shop. It was a quaint little family run
establishment with very good ice cream and frappes.
The main street
of Reedville is lined with older well-kept Victorian homes. The town is also known for its Menhaden fish
processing plant. As long as you are not
down wind of the plant it is good. There
was a northwest wind coming in today and when we were approaching the town from
the south we could smell the fishy odor of the plant out in the bay. Maybe if you live here you get used to it,
but if I had to smell it at anchor I would leave.
We stopped by the
Reedville Fisherman’s Museum http://www.rfmuseum.org/ for a visit.
It was a very interesting place and we learned a lot about the menhaden
fishing industry. It was very surprising
to learn how big this industry is and how long it had been sustained.
After visiting
the museum and what there was of the town we dinghied back to the boat for late
afternoon cocktails and dinner. The
sunset was again gorgeous and we settled in for a restful night’s sleep.
We arose at the
crack of dawn in Rock Hall MD, OK, sunrise was about 0710 so it wasn’t that
early, and headed out of the harbor toward Oxford MD http://www.oxfordmd.net/. The forecast was for 5kt winds and seas of
1ft or less, a much better forecast than the last two days.
It was going to
be a short cruise, about 40 nautical miles.
This seems to be a very good distance for us to travel in a day. It is not too long a day on the water and we
get into port in the early afternoon.
There was not
much boat traffic, the usual crabbers, fishermen, and a few cruisers. We passed several large cargo ships anchored
and waiting to head north up the bay. I
think that they were waiting for the tide.
We had a great
tide all day long and made good speed.
The wind and seas were as predicted and we had a comfortable cruise.
We got into
Oxford MD at about 1330 but had to wait for the fuel dock to clear so we could
pump out. We were staying at Brewer
Oxford. https://www.byy.com/marinas/brewer-marinas-oxford-boat-yard-marina-oxford-md/ It is that last Brewer we will
see as we continue south. After pumping
out we moved over to the next dock for a side tie and settled in for the
day.
Brewer Oxford is
a great marina. I would give it five
stars if it had floating docks and full finger piers, but everything else is
first class. There is a captain’s lounge
with big screen TV, comfortable chairs, microwave, coffee maker, fridge, and
all the other comforts of home. The
bathrooms are spectacular, better than you might have in your home.
We came to this
marina because it was half price (we are Brewer gold card members) and because
we had developed a small water leak from out oil cooler. We didn’t know what the repair would be or
how long it would take. The manager,
Graham, who also doubles as a mechanic came to the boat right away and quickly
discovered that is was a loose drain on the inboard side of the cooler. He tightened it up and stopped the leak. It is fortunate when a suspected repair turns
out to be nothing. The service here is
great.
We walked into
town to check out the Oxford Market http://theoxfordmarket.com/ and mail some birthday cards at the Post Office. We thought that Rock Hall was a quiet small
town but it is nothing compared to Oxford.
Oxford is deadly quiet. It is a
peaceful little town with almost nothing to do.
The market was little more than a poorly stocked convenience store. They did, however, have a very fine bottle of
Bombay Sapphire with my name on it.
We did some
laundry and hung out in the Captain’s lounge with cocktails and Hors d’vouers
and then had dinner on the boat, Shrimp and broccoli alfredo.
We thought we may
have had to stay here for a day or two to fix the oil cooler but we will not
take advantage of our good fortune and move south as the next few days look
good.
After a relaxing
day on the hook in the Bohemia River it was time to make our way south down the
Chesapeake Bay. Our destination of
choice was Rock Hall MD https://www.rockhallmd.com/, a scant 35 nautical miles away. The forecast was iffy, winds 15-20 and seas
2ft. We decided that the boat and the
crew could handle it because it was such a short trip.
As you can see
from the video it was a bouncy ride. The
wind was off of our starboard side for the first few hours. We had to roll up the windows in the
flybridge because we were heeling over so much.
This helped, but not a lot. The
rolling was so much that we had to “tack” the boat to quarter the seas. I thought
that we bought a power boat so that we could go in a straight line, but here we
were tacking like a sailboat.
After about two hours of this we turned
slightly to port and the wind and waves were mostly from behind. This took care of most of the rolling but our
boat does not do well in a following sea.
Because of our semi-displacement hull (wide flat bottom stern) the
following waves pick up the stern and turn the boat whichever way they feel. It takes a lot of concentration to steer the
boat on any type of course when the waves turn the boat 30+ degrees on a whim.
While not a
dangerous ride it was a little bit uncomfortable, but not too bad. We reached Rock Hall in good time as we had
good tides all the way down the bay. We
entered the harbor and tied up on an end dock at the Rock Hall Landing
Marina. http://rockhalllanding.com/ The docking was tough as the wind was still
strong and the bow was being blown off of the dock. We managed to eventually get the bow over and
tied up nice and tight for the day.
Rock Hall is a
small town on the eastern shore of Maryland.
It is active in the summer, but this is off season and it is pretty
quiet. There is a nice grocery store
less than a mile away and we were able to provision for a few days. Most of the shops on the short downtown strip
were closed and the streets deserted.
We had a very
comfortable night on the boat and awoke the next morning to check the weather
reports. The reports were not great,
small craft advisory until noon because the winds had not calmed down yet. We decided to spend another day and night in
the marina. When I went to pay for
another night at the office I was told that the third night would be free if we
decided to stay, tempting.
I woke up around
6am and noticed that the temperature on the boat was 51 degrees. I turned the heat on (yes, we have heat on
the boat. We are not savages) and went
back to bed. A few hours later when we
got up it was fairly warm. It was the
first time we had turned the heat on during our trip down south, maybe we have
to move faster.
We got the bikes
off of the boat for the first time on our cruise and checked out the town. It is a small town. We rode around most of the town in three
hours and saw beaches, marinas, and the rest of downtown. Now I know why the third night is free. There is nothing to do after two days
here.
We rode to the
hardware store to get some supplies for boat projects. We had to re-hang the cross-stitch picture
that was in the V-berth and needed some wire.
The handle to the bathroom door broke so that needed replacing. We found both items at the local hardware
store and took care of these projects easily.
There was a West
Marine in town so of course we had to stop in and look. We ended up buying a Lower Chesapeake Bay chart
book for the boat.
Apparently, crabs
are pretty big in Maryland. We bought
some local lump crabmeat at the grocery store and had crab cakes for
dinner. The crab here is pretty good and
made for exceptional crab cakes.
After dinner we
settled in for the night and got ready for our cruise down to Oxford MD in the
morning.
After spending a
comfortable night on the South Jersey fuel dock we took advantage of good seas
and weather, if not tides, to make our way up the Delaware River. Our intention was to get through the C&D
Canal and anchor in the Bohemia River in Chesapeake City MD.
We got an early
start, relatively speaking because we had to wait for some fog to burn off, and
set off through the Cape May Canal and turned north into the Delaware
River. The seas were great all day,
less than two feet to start and getting smaller as we continued north. The tides were a little against us but the
wind was good off of our starboard quarter.
We saw very little boat traffic for such a good day on the river.
After three days
travelling on the New Jersey ICW this was very low stress cruising. We did not have to stare at the depth finder
all day wondering if we would run aground.
We were not constantly looking for the next marker and trying to stay in
the channel. The toughest part of the
day is navigating by the compass and trying to maintain a consistent
heading. It is hard to do without a
visual reference in front of you. Maybe
we will get an auto-pilot some year.
The last couple
of hours on the river we finally got a following tide and managed to enter the
C&D Canal about 4pm. The canal was
smooth and deep and easy to navigate.
About half way through the canal we determined that we were going to
reach our destination in the Bohemia River just around sunset. We increased RPMs a couple of thousand and
ran a little faster. We thought we would
need those extra ten minutes for anchoring and we were right.
We entered the
Bohemia River and anchored just past the mooring field of the Bohemia Bay Yacht
Harbor in about 6ft. of water MLW. This
marina is where we bought our boat in 2015.
We anchored in the last few minutes of remaining daylight and settled in
for the night.
A well-earned IPA
and beef burritos rounded out the night.
The anchorage was well protected from the wind and the seas were
calm. We slept well with a very gentle
rolling.
Bohemia Bay Yacht Club, where we bought our boat.
Sunset over the Bohemia River, hadn't seen one for a while.
Next day same place.
We decided that
this Sunday would be a day of rest. We
had a great spot on anchor in the Bohemia River that was mostly calm. Being a Sunday there were a few wakes by
small local fishing boats and a few cruisers.
We got some
reading and crafts done. We picked up
the Ravens/Bears football game on the radio and rooted for the Bears to
win. They did, in overtime. We also kept track of the Patriots/Jets game
on NFL Mobile. Of course, the Pats beat
the Jets, need you ask.
The weather
cleared up in the afternoon and we got to see a sunset for the first time in a
few days. We also got to see the stars
for a change.
Sunset cocktails
and hors d’oeuvre on the flybridge followed by chicken marsala completed the
evening. (and also listening to the
Sunday night football game on the radio).
Start time and hours 0908 3335.05
End time and hours 1420 3340.40
After spending a comfortable night on anchor in Long Beach NJ we headed out for day two of our NJICW trek. We would be passing through Atlantic City and stopping in Ocean City for a night on anchor.
Once again the horror stories of the NJICW were false. We had no trouble keeping track of the markers and had plenty of depth. We started our trip on a rising tide and had no problems.
This was the day that we would be requesting bridge openings for the first time. I called it the Bascule bridge day. I love it when people on the VHF radio call me Captain, makes me feel important. All of the bridges opened promptly upon request and the bridge operators were friendly and helpful.
Again, we saw newer homes along the water. They mostly looked like the other homes we saw on the first day, with a few exceptions. We also saw plenty of birds and marshes. There was little traffic to contend with, but at one point we got waked by a NJ State police boat just north of Atlantic City.
We got to the anchorage, the Rainbow anchorage, fairly early and set anchor without any problems. Our new #44 Rocna has so far held like a rock.
We had dinner and turned in for the night. About 5am we were awakened by some severe rolling. At first I thought that we were being waked by fishing boats going out but soon realized that this was not the case. I got up and saw that the winds had picked up considerably and the waves were up also. The anchor was holding wonderfully and we were not dragging so we went back to bed and tried to sleep a few hours more.
The anchorage on the first night
Current over wind, notice the rode.
Good dinner.
We got up around 8am and looked out the window and quickly decided that we were not going anywhere today. The seas and winds were a little too much for travel.
Our only neighbor in the anchorage
We settled in for a day at anchor in bouncy conditions. A little reading, a little napping. It was good when the wind and current were consistent but at times the current was against the wind and were sideways to the waves. At dinner time it was a little rough and we just had cheeseburgers and Kraft macaroni and cheese. The anchor held perfectly and we went to bed with a little more than a gentle rocking hoping that the next day would be better.
After three
nights in Manasquan NJ we gave up on going outside to Atlantic City or Cape
May. The weather reports were just awful
for the rest of the week. 20+ knot winds
and 6-9 foot seas.
This meant that
we would try our luck going “inside”, the New Jersey ICW. I have read many opinions on blogs and
websites about this route. They range
from beautiful and easy to awful, you will run aground, you will lose the channel,
don’t do it. With little to no choice we
decided to give it a try.
We started off by going through the Point
Pleaasant Canal. We went through just
after slack low tide so there would be less current. A full tide current can be 4+ knots. Needing to get through the canal at slack
tide meant that we would be travelling the NJICW on a rising tide. This means that if we run aground we can wait
for the incoming tide to float us off of the bottom.
This northern
portion of the NJICW was a very pleasant cruise. The water was calm and the winds were
mild. You just had to pay attention to
the markers and watch your depth. I
think the lowest we saw all day was 3.6ft.
We draft about 3.3ft so had no problems.
You really notice
all of the new houses alongside the water.
I think these may be rebuilt new homes because of Hurricane Sandy. Most of the homes have similar architecture,
but a few here and there stand out. We saw lots of birds and small fishing boats
but only a few fellow cruisers.
We cruised
through Barnegate Bay and past the inlet then went a little more south and
anchored off of Long Beach at the Beach Haven anchorage behind Ham Island. We were the only boat there and the night was
calm and peaceful.
We left
Mamaroneck NY and cruised through New York City and on to Manasquan.
Our initial plan
was to go to Sandy Hook NJ and wait for a good weather window to go on the
outside route down New Jersey to Cape May.
However, the cruise down the East River and through New York Harbor was
so easy and fast that we decided that we would try for Manasquan and wait there
for our window. There was a Brewer
marina there and we could use our last two free nights and any additional
nights would be half price.
The weather and
seas were calm cruising down the west end of Long Island sound and under the
Throg’s Neck Bridge and into the east river.
We had good tides and made great time.
We passed through Hell Gate just past slack tide and carried an ebb tide
all the way through New York harbor and under the Verrazano Narrows bridge.
It is amazing at
how much commercial traffic is in the East River and around lower
Manhattan. The ferry traffic is nonstop
and you really have to pay attention.
After first considering stopping at Sandy
Hook we looked at the marine forecast and saw that the seas off of New Jersey
were forecasted to be only 3ft. The next
few days were going to be snotty so we had to decide if we wanted to sit at
Sandy Hook or Manasquan. We decided on
Manasquan, a mere 3-4 more hours south.
The seas were
every inch of 3ft. Probably closer to
4ft with short intervals. It was a very
rocky ride down the coast. It was never
dangerous and we never felt unsafe, but the ride was uncomfortable. I believe it was a good decision to continue
on to Manasquan because we stayed at the Brewer Crystal Point Marina for three
nights and is was more relaxing than staying on the hook in Sandy Hook.
Entering
Manasquan inlet in rough weather you go from bouncing around like a coke bottle
on the water to perfectly smooth in a matter of about 100 yards. There is a decent current in the river and
docking was a challenge, we went bow in because the wind and current were too
much for out little single engine trawler.
The Brewer Crystal
Point Marina https://www.byy.com/marinas/brewer-crystal-point-marina-point-pleasant-nj/ is a new acquisition by the Brewer/Safe Harbor company. They really are a work in progress as they
have no services there except showers and bathrooms. The fuel dock and pump out are self
service. There was no Wifi, no grills,
no dock hands, nothing.
We spent the
first night recovering from out bouncy ride down the coast. The second day we did the same exact
thing. We slept late and relaxed all
day. The third day we walked to the
Super Stop $ Shop to re-provision. It
was a nice walk after being on the boat for a few days.
We had dinner at
the River Rock bar adjacent to the marina. http://riverrockbricknj.com/
The food was good and the beer menu was barely adequate. The noise from the TVs was overwhelming. We could barely talk across the table. It was so loud that I wondered why OSHA
wasn’t requiring ear protection. My ears
were ringing for the rest of the night.
The worst part was listening to the bar patrons cheer on the Yankees as
they beat Cleveland in the playoffs.
The next morning
as we got ready to leave we discovered that the pump out hose would reach our
boat without us leaving the slip. A very
convenient surprise.
