Sailing Encore

We left our Baltimore slip on August 8th in the still dark of 540am and headed north to the top of the Chesapeake Bay. Passing by multiple picturesque inlets and bays that are far too thin to allow our deep keel a visit.At the top of the Chesapeake is the C & D canal (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal) Obvious by its name that it connects the two Bays. There are swift currents thru this canal as the bays’ tides rise and fall. And we happen to hit it just right with a bit of slack tide and then a big push through to the Delaware side. The canal itself is 14 miles long, about 137 meters wide and 37 feet deep with trees lining the banks. Constructed in the early 1800s, the canal has long been used by freighters, working vessels and pleasure cruisers. There is a bike path along the northern side and we saw occasional groups of bikers enjoying the nice day. We passed under 5 different bridges- all without a care, as they were well over 90 feet clearance.

By midafternoon we were into Delaware Bay with a strong current helping us along at 9.5 knots! So we decided to continue on down to the Atlantic opening of the Bay to Cape Henlopen where we slipped into a quiet near-empty anchorage with the last of the daylight.J

Just before I went to bed, I caught the moon on our anchorage-Wednesday, we slid out to sea early and motored past Cape May and along the coast of New Jersey where our only deep anchorage choice was Atlantic City. Here we found a spot off of the city’s bustling casinos and hotels. Atlantic city is home of Boardwalks, Monopoly, and Salt Water taffy.

But with our weather window open and benign, we once again set out very early with the Big Apple our goal. The long day went by smoothly, motor sailing up the coast along New Jersey.  By 4pm the city was in our site.

And soon we were in the thick of it. What an amazing passage we had. We saw the Statue of Liberty, the Battery, Manhattan sky scrapers, the United Nations Headquarters, and Empire State building. We motored through the tankers and freighters and dodged the ever busy ferries transporting the cities workers back across the waters to their homes for the night. We went past Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and into Long Island. We went under 9 bridges, with evening traffic snarled on them.

Thru Hell Gate, a narrow tidal strait in the East river where the gnarly current was with us to push us along into Long Island Sound.

There we found our anchorage off Port Washington in Manhasset bay. We settled at anchor just as the Thursday night buoy races were underway for the locals.

We walked around Port Washington and visited the local West Marine and Stop and Shop for supplies. And spent the afternoon watching the local Optimist kids practice. Even saved the day by taking our dinghy out to rescue a screaming young sailor who had overturned her boat. We took the Long Island Railroad into New York City, arriving at Penn Station into the heart of Manhattan.

We walked north from the station through the crowded streets, taking in the hustle and the sites.

We went to the Frick Museum. This is the 1912 home of Henry Clay Frick. It is one of the last wealthy mansions that existed along 5th Avenue. Mr. Frick was an industrialist who made his millions supplying coal to steel manufacturing. He collected art and graciously left his home as a museum. It is amazing inside but NO photos allowed. We walked further up the boulevard to the MET- Metropolitan Museum of Art. And there we spent hours walking from one fascinating area to the next. You could spend weeks here and not see it all.

Of course, my favorite is always the impressionists. And I was not disappointed.  I took these photos so you could save and use as screen savers and get some art in your life.

(Thank you, Claude Monet, Paul Gaugin, Georges Seurat, and Vincent Van Gogh)

We walked back through Central Park. This park is ingenious and truly makes this city. Since its conception in the late 1800s this park has undergone many renovations and is a beautiful space to step away from the busy city.

We caught the train back to Port Washington and hiked back to the pier and dinghied to the boat just as the sun was setting– my feet were sore but what a great visit to a great city.
After hanging around in Port Washington we are headed up into the Long Island Sound– still going North.