Inner Harbor, Patapsco River

Our original plan for today was to go to the grocery store in Fairlee in the morning and then either hang out for the day (the creek was a lovely, quiet place) or move part of the way to Baltimore. However, Graham was feeling some pressure to get home and take care of some business, so we decided to head directly for Baltimore and defer the grocery shopping until we got there.

After pulling up the anchor, we carefully motored our way out of the creek -- we left on an incoming (rising) tide so there was more depth under our keel, but the narrowness of the entrance and the shallowness of the channel still caused some consternation as we left -- fortunately, all went well and we shortly were back in the main Chesapeake Bay.

The sun was out, the winds were a moderate 8-10 knots out of the Northwest, the air was cool and Baltimore was South and West of us -- we would actually be able to sail today :-) Indeed, we had a pleasant 5-6 knot sail down the Chesapeake towards  Baltimore, which is about 9 miles off the main bay, up the Patapsco river. Once we arrived at the river's mouth, the wind's direction required us to tack back and forth across the river to make progress -- we turned on the "iron job" (i.e., the engine) about a mile short of the Francis Scott Key bridge and motored the rest of the way in, taking a slip at the Inner Harbor East Marina. We (Jack and Sue) immediately took off to do some provisioning while Graham chose to take a shower, hang and relax at the boat.

Baltimore is a small city with a large waterfront -- under continuous redevelopment since the late 80's, the waterfront has become a clean, modern and a large tourist attraction. The redevelopment has also improved adjacent neighborhoods -- downtown Baltimore is full of modern buildings and the adjacent Fell's Point neighborhood has been "gentrified" with numerous refurbished two story homes, restaurants and bars -- very cute and full of young people.

Francis Scott Key Bridge with Baltimore in the distance

The City from the Patapsco River

Marinas in the Inner Harbor

We had to walk about 1.5 miles through Fell's Point to get to the cluster of stores we needed (grocery, wine, hardware, West Marine), all of which were happily located within a block or two of one another. We split up the list: Sue did the grocery shopping while Jack went for the boat supplies and wine; we came back together at the grocery store, where the plan was to take a cab back with all of our acquired goodies.

Jack finished his shopping before Sue and arrived back at the grocery store before she was finished. He then called the Baltimore Cab Company, who was more than happy to promise that a cab would be there within "15-20" minutes, sufficient time for Sue to complete shopping. Alas, that was a promise that was to be broken-- the cab never showed up and after multiple attempts to schedule or hail another cab by both Jack and Sue, Jack literally "happened" upon a solution -- specifically, he saw a cab parked in a lot adjacent to the grocery store and happened upon its driver who appeared to be just coming back to work from a break. Jack asked the cabbie whether he would like a fare -- the cabbie, who had limited English skills and after thinking for what seemed a very long time responded "yes" --hooray, we had a ride!

Since it would have taken longer for the cabbie to drive back to the grocery store entrance where Sue was waiting with the goodies (traffic is awful in this part of Baltimore at 6pm), Jack went back, retrieved Sue and the goodies, walked them to the lot and we both happily loaded our stuff into the cab's trunk, ignoring the fact that the trunk had a huge dent in it, there was no "floor" covering the tire and the tools and that our food was being  mixed in with other, similar looking plastic bags containing God knows what.

We both got into the cab and the driver made multiple attempts to start the cab (oh-oh). He calmly asks Sue to see whether her door is ajar -- it is not. He then asks me if my door is ajar -- it is -- I open and re-slam it and the cab starts -- we are finally on our way.

It is quickly apparent that the cabbie needs some "coaching" on where to turn to get us to our destination -- we happily provide it; traffic is slow and we are inching our way through Fell's Point when Jack notices that the meter isn't running and that there is no picture license in the cab -- when asked, the cabbie says that the meter is "broken -- it doesn't work" but "don't worry" -- Sue and I look at each other and I am sure the same thing is running through both of our minds -- when we get to our destination, our goodies, all locked in the trunk, are likely going to require a high "ransom" to get them freed -- what have we gotten ourselves into?

Surprisingly for us, when we arrived at our destination, the cabbie popped the trunk, jumped out and was very helpful in unloading and moving our goodies over to the dock cart. He asked for $10 for the trip -- I gave hm a big tip :-)

The rest of the evening was consumed by unpacking the groceries, shower and dinner - the three of us walked over to a local Fell's Point Tavern called Kooper's -- the food was mediocre but we had a good time celebrating our arrival and past good times together. By the time we all got back to the boat, the only reasonable option was to turn in, which we all did.

The nighttime cityscape

Fairlee Creek

The day started early for Sue -- she heard Lanakai leaving at 6:30 am and went up on deck to help them off, but they were already gone by the time she got there. She went back and lay down for a while, and then heard our Williamsburg friends leaving, again went up on deck but was too late to help. One thing about Sue -- she is always trying to help people :-)

Tuesday was supposed to be our "down day" -- a rainy day had been predicted and we figured we would just ride it out in Chesapeake City. However, as we were eating breakfast, the sun was shining and the rain seemed a remote chance, so we decided to press on. Sue had looked at the charts and found a small creek, Farlee, off the main channel that looked like a good day's journey -- 26 miles, what appeared to be a lovely anchorage and a grocery store available -- what more could you ask for :-)

The current was against us (again) and there wasn't much wind, so we motor sailed. The upper part of the Chesapeake is very pretty, with lovely wooded hills, some with homes, coming down to the water's edge. It also has numerous small and large creeks, coves and bights, all making for a pleasant enough journey. It was hot, but the extreme mugginess of the previous day was gone.

Fairlee creek has a "tight" entrance -- basically, you enter via a narrow, short & shallow channel that runs along a beach that ends abruptly at a point - you have to make a hard right turn around that point to enter the creek -- if you don't make the turn, you'll run your boat aground on another beach directly ahead -- the creek entrance is perhaps 25' wide and the point is partially submerged -- beyond the entrance is a nice anchorage just to the right. Narrow, shallow and with a hard turn around a partially submerged point, this is a"white knuckle" creek entrance. Oh, and just to make the challenge even more interesting, by happenstance, we had arrived on the ebb --it was close to low tide and the outflow would be strong because there is a good size bay behind the creek entrance.

Oh, and did I mention the approaching thunderstorm -- yes, just to heighten the drama, a big ugly thunderstorm with coal black clouds started to build right over Fairlee creek as we were approaching it -- we had actually passed a number of thunderstorms along the way -- we could see their lightening and hear their thunder, but they were off to our west and far enough away to not be a direct threat to us -- this one was different, however -- we were headed right into its maw -- the race was on -- could we make it into Fairlee creek and anchor before the thunderstorm broke?

You know, you can't make this stuff up -- as we got closer to the channel entrance, the clouds got blacker, we could see lightening behind them and the thunder was infrequent but loud.  The storm appeared ever more ominous as we entered the entrance channel and found it very shallow -- we were seeing around 6 feet (My Weigh draws 5) -- indeed, we even touched bottom about half way down the channel -- but fortunately, the boat kept moving. And then the penultimate moment arrived, timing the right turn around the point -- too soon, and the boat runs aground on the submerged part of the point,; too late and the boat runs aground on the oncoming beach :-( Harrowing to say the least.

Fortunately, we timed the turn well, the boat's nose spun into the creek (the outgoing current helping it briskly along -- it was like a racing turn, you could hear the water swoosh us around) and we made it into the anchorage without running aground -- but then, just to spite us, the heavens opened up -- those coal black clouds dropped a deluge on us -- I could barely see Graham from the helm as he was lowering the anchor -- it was a downpour of massive proportions -- and the thunder was incredible -- there were cracks so close that I literally was flinching when they broke.

Graham got the anchor down and we rode out the rest of the storm in the relative safety of the anchorage (we could see white caps on the bay but the conditions in the creek were more settled). Needless to say, a cocktail or two followed quickly after the anchor was set, as did dinner -- we were glad to be home for the night.

Looking out from the anchorage, this beach ends in a point and the channel is on its other side

The point and the entrance from the anchorage

The marina in Fairlee -- we never made it to the grocery store as we decided to move on to Baltimore.

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Chesapeake City, C&D Canal

Monday morning was overcast but the rain the night before had cleaned off the boat, the winds were calm and the the river settled. We all slept in after the long day yesterday, so by the time we had breakfast, pulled up the anchor and took off, it was almost 10:30.

Of course, the pesky current was still against us, so the trip down the canal was slow -- we probably averaged about 3.5 knots. Our destination today is Chesapeake City, a small town on both banks of the canal that is intimately tied to its history. The canal was initially built in the 1800's to shorten the transit time from Baltimore to New York and Philadelphia -- it initially had locks, but over the years, the locks were eliminated and the canal widened and deepened to accommodate the large container and car transport ships of today.  Chesapeake city was the home of the canal operators and managers for much of its lifetime although in today's electronic communications and controls world, all that is left of them is a Canal Museum (which we visited -- more on that later).

The trip through the canal was surprisingly uneventful as we encountered little ship traffic -- we easily navigated past the one tug and barge tow that we did see -- we undoubtedly would have been able to pass a larger container ship, had there been one, although in the relatively narrow canal, it would definitely have been a "David and Goliath" moment for us as our tiny sailing vessel would have had to pass very close to a mammoth ship, undoubtedly making us feeling insignificant and very vulnerable.

The C&D canal has a number of bridges crossing it

"Hanging" on the C&D

The weather was partly sunny, airless and very, very muggy -- this was our first encounter with the "hot and muggy" weather the Chesapeake is famous for during July and August. We arrived at Cheesecake City about 1:30 and landed My Weigh on the free city dock -- we got some timely help from another cruising couple (Tom and Jill) who had an Island Packet also on the dock. They were heading East and North to NYC -- their plan was to "turn around" at the Statue of Liberty and return to their Williamsburg home -- cruising couples are often our age but they were much younger -- we all wondered "how they could do it" but never did find out :-)

My Weigh consumed the last available space on the dock -- soon after we tied up, another boat (Lanikai) arrived and asked whether they could "raft with" (tie up to) My Weigh -- they (Harry & Melinda) were also on there way East, to Ocean City, to referee a Sailing Regatta. Long time cruisers, and considerably older than us, they mentioned that they had cruised more than 100K miles over the years -- that is a mind blowing statistic.

After rafting Lanakai up, we decided to take a walk to visit the town and get an ice cream. The old part of Chesapeake City is on the southern bank of the canal right next to the town dock and consists of a couple of blocks of ramshackle restored victorianish homes, some of which were now boutiques, shops and restaurants. After dipping into a store or two and realizing that the local ice cream shop was closed, we walked about 3/4 of a mile to a roadside ice cream stand in the raging heat and humidity -- needles to say, the ice cream was the reward for taking that trek.

On our return trip, we visited the Canal Museum; we got there fairly late in the afternoon and ended up closing the place -- actually, Graham and I were the last ones out, Sue having left to return to the boat 10 minutes earlier. Surprisingly, when Graham and I went to leave the Museum grounds, we found ourselves "locked in" behind the 8' fence, topped with barbed wire, that surrounds the place. After trying a couple of different options for getting "around" the fence, we realized that our only option was to "go over" it -- we found a corner by the gate that was offset enough from the main fence to allow us to safely climb up and over to break out :-)

On the way back to My Weigh, I remembered that the boat had air conditioning and that all we had to do was to "hook up" to shore power to escape from the miserable heat and mugginess. In the almost 3 years that Sue and I have owned the boat and cruised the Northeast, we had never had a need to use the AC.

Naturally, when we hooked up the power and turned on the AC, it didn't work -- after all, isn't that what a boat is "supposed to" do? We soon realized that the system need some priming (at least that was the theory that Graham and I came up with). After about 45 minutes of disconnecting and reconnecting most of the system's components, we got it primed and it worked wonderfully -- it cooled the boat to provide heavenly sleeping conditions.

Jack & Graham pondering their next A/C move

We celebrated this accomplishment by all taking showers (in the now cool boat) and going out to the Bayard Inn, a locally well-known "higher end" restaurant that Sue and I had visited many years ago on Thanksgiving. The dinner was fabulous and made even more so by Sue's generous offer to pay for it as a thank you for fixing the AC. We got back to the boat and turned in just before the skies opened up in a downpour came that we all earnestly hoped would break the heat of this very, very muggy day.

Graham and I met this fellow on our way back to the boat after breaking out of the museum

Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Entrance, Delaware River

Today we made the run to the entrance to the Chesepeake & Delaware canal; it was a long 12 hour day.

We all woke up refreshed with more than 9 hours of sleep under our belt. After a brief discussion of our options for the day, we all agreed to leave and get to our next major stopping point, the C&D canal. Getting off the dock was a bit of an adventure -- the wind and tide and narrowness of the marina all conspired to make it difficult; with some help from a friendly dock-mate and some close order maneuvering, we managed to exit the place with no scratches on My Weigh or the other boats in the marina.

We had to sail out and around Cape May because My Weigh's mast is too tall to fit under the bridges of the Cape May canal, which provides a shortcut to the Delaware river. Once we turned up the Delaware we encountered a strong current against us; it slowed our rate of progress considerably, roughly doubling out transit time. The Delaware is very wide where it meets the Atlantic, indeed you are essentially out of sight of land when you are in the middle -- needless to say, the long featureless trip against the current was tedious but the crew handled it well by handing off the helm in shifts and reading, napping and snacking its way through the tedium.

We arrived at the mouth of the canal after 8pm -- too late to enter for the 12 mile run to Chesepeake City. We dropped a hook just outside the entrance and Sue became an instant heroine when she volunteered to cook the rest of the crew dinner (she had eaten earlier, just before her last stint at the helm). Let's hear it for Sue :-)

About 10:30 a strong front came through with high winds that pushed the boat around quite a bit; fortunately, the anchor held and the long day ended with no additional drama.

Cape May

We arrived safe and sound in Cape May at about 2pm after a 24 hour overnight sail from Atlantic Highlands. The weather conditions were almost ideal for this leg -- clear skies, reasonable temperatures, calm seas,  full moon for great night visibility and moderate winds -- in some ways, you couldn't ask for more -- but alas, it wasn't quite perfect: the wind was on our nose all the way so we ended up motor sailing the coast of NJ -- c'est la vie :-)

I love sailing at night -- it is incredibly peaceful and serene, there is a sense of being "one" with the sea, and sometimes the sites are other-worldly. This time the play of the moon rise on the sea swell was mesmerizing -- thousands of twinkling lights on the sea surface from moonbeams -- hypnotic. We also saw a small pod of dolphins in the early morning light, lazily feeding off of Atlantic City -- awesome.

We encountered surprisingly little traffic along the shore although there were a few tense moments in the night when I was at the helm when a tug and tow passed close by.

As I mentioned earlier, Graham and Ryan joined us as crew -- for the overnight leg,  we worked in 4 hour watches: Sue and I did 8pm-midnight, Graham & Ryan did 12-4, Sue & I 4am to 8am, etc.

The most excitement occurred at the very end of the trip hen we managed to run aground inside of Cape May harbor -- we were in the middle of the channel but they were having extraordinary low tides because of the full moon and we just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. We managed to get ourselves off using some rocking tricks and putting up the mainsail but it added 45 stressful minutes to an already very long trip.

Once we got off the bar, we tried getting advise from a local Tow Boat operator and two different marinas on the best way to get into a dock. After another 45 minutes of Keystone Kop activity with all of these "experts", we managed to get safely on a dock with no more drama. The remainder of the day was spent at the Marina's pool, after which we went to dinner with Bobbie (Ryan's mom) who came down to pick him up -- he had to be home by Sunday to study for an important exam coming up next week.

Graham on deck, ready for the evening to come

Ryan relaxing after a stint at the helm

Chicken Dinner before nightfall

We met this poor fellow on the dock at the marina in Cape May.

Atlantic Highlands, Sandy Hook Bay

Friday - We woke up rather late (9am) for us -- it had rained overnight and we both slept through it -- fortunately, the boat was mostly buttoned up and the rain was light, so no serious damage done.

We spent the morning putting the final touches on the boat's readiness. Specifically, we rigged the job and put the dinghy in the water and took a tour of Horseshoe cove to make sure the outboard was working fine.  We also cleaned the deck -- it was full of "ooghies" (as Sue would say) that were accumulated over the winter (mostly bird crap but also a bunch of "mystery stains".

The afternoon was spent on a pleasant sail up Sandy Hook bay, out into the Atlantic and then back to Atlantic Highlands. The sky was clear, the temperature delightful and there was sufficient wind to push My Weigh along quite nicely (mostly 6-7 knots). The sail also gave us a chance to make sure all the running rigging was set up and operating properly.

We took a mooring in Atlantic Highlands since that would enable us to easily pick up our crew tomorrow -- Graham and Ryan (Bobbie's son) will be joining us to help move the boat to Cape May N.J. -- an overnight sail -- more on that tomorrow.

We finished the day with a nice Salmon dinner on board, followed by a shower at the Marina (always a welcome benefit of being on a mooring).

Sue and a sundown brighten my first evening on the boat in almost a year

Cheesequake creek, Raritan Bay

After much planning and hard work, we launched "My Weigh" today to start our journey to her new berth in Florida. We expect to spend a day or two more here in NJ to "shake her down" before heading South.

The first leg of our journey will be a 24 hour sail down the Jersey coast to Cape May (I am writing this first blog entry from Horseshoe Cove, on Sandy Hook, N.J.) From Cape May, we will head up the Delaware River, through the C&D canal and down Chesepeake Bay to Newport News Va. where we will enter the "ditch" -- the Intercoastal -- to wend our way further South. We are shooting to get to Jensen Beach Florida, our new home, by mid September.

But, our plan is loose and we don't plan to "push" to get there -- our priority is simply to enjoy the journey and the experiences it offers.

We hope to visit with friends and family, explore new places and perhaps make some new friends along the way.