New York!

Wow, it has been a very busy week! We made it to New York!

We started the week traveling through the Delaware/Chesapeake Canal which took us into Delaware Bay. We anchored that night in a quiet spot just behind an island that was made mostly of reeds. The kids thought it was weird because there was no town nearby and there was nobody else around. Of course, there was a thunderstorm that night but otherwise it was very peaceful. Delaware Bay was surprising differently from the Chesapeake. I can see why it is much more popular to visit the Chesapeake. Delaware Bay seems relatively unpopulated, with much fewer towns to stop at. Infact, we traveled the length of it in one day. Delaware Bay also has many shoals so you have to stick quite closely to the channel. It was peaceful though. We arrived that evening just outside of Lewes. Lewes appeared to have a nice stretch of beach lined with white houses. I can’t tell you anything more about the town because we didn’t actually end up leaving the boat and going to shore.

We were going to head up the coast the next day but decided to stick around another day so that a) we could find a marina in New York to store our boat in while we visited family for a weekend, b) Kevin could work on hooking up the watermaker to the upgraded power system, and c) I could attach some new adjustable table legs to our main saloon table. We decided to put adjustable legs on the main table because Kevin’s legs didn’t actually fit under the table without banging his knees. Plus, we can now lower it so that it can be made into a bed, either for guests or, more likely, for us when we are on helm duty at night when it is cooler out. It is close to the helm but inside. It is also nice, in my view, to stick close to the person on helm when your off ‘duty’. I don’t like being down in the bedroom when Owen or Kevin are on helm at night by themselves because it is hard to judge how the trip is going and I sleep anxiously.

Finding a marina can be difficult. At this time of year, they are often full. They can also be very expensive in popular areas. To make things worse, our boat is so wide many marina’s can’t accomodate it. Our beam (or the width of our boat) is 29 feet. As a result, we are put on the end of the docks where there is no set slip width. So, we spent the better part of the morning calling up the coast looking for a marina. In the end, we decided that we would try places just north of New York, on Long Island and just planned to go a little further before stopping. It would take us a little closer to Kevin’s sister as well, who lives in upstate New York, on a farm. We were so excited and relieved when we found a place and at a reasonable price. We want to leave our boat in a marina when we visit his sister because it is safer for the boat in a marina than at anchor. If it is left on anchor while we are away then we can’t be there to adjust the anchor if a storm blows in. Furthermore, we have some projects to take care of (just a few. . .ha ha) before heading across the atlantic and it is handy to have the marina with shore power and dumpsters near by. Plus we will be provisioning for our passage and will need easy access to the docks when bringing all our food on board. With our marina booked, we planned the rest of our trip up the coast.

The next day we headed out and across the bay to Cape May where we were able to get fuel before going to Atlantic City. The trip took us back out into the open ocean and we were happy to be there. There are more waves, but the water is bluer and cleaner looking. We were hoping for more wind, but unfortutnately it was still elusive. We pulled into Atlantic City around 7pm and made ourselves some dinner. The anchorage was near to downtown and a little rough because there were a fair amount of boats zipping around. The kids stayed on the boat after dinner getting ready for bed, while Kevin and I took a brief trip to shore to get groceries. Admittedly, with plans to enjoy a little of New York City before heading to Kevin’s sister’s place, we decided not to stick around Atlantic City the next day. So, no salt water taffy for us. From the boat, it looked like a smaller coastal version of Las Vegas. Having been to Las Vegas many times we recognized several of the casino names that were the same in both cities.

Our next stop was just across the bay from Long Island in Sandy Hook Bay. The trip up the shore was really nice. The Jersey Coast was pretty from the boat. It was dotted constantly with beaches, small towns, ferris wheels and water towers.I find it facinating seeing all the water towns. Having grown up on the west coast with all the mountains, I haven’t seen that many water towers. I would have though that perhaps there would have been a different, more modern, way of collecting water. But I guess, if it works and isn’t too expensive, then why change it. Perhaps somebody can enlighten me if there is another reason. Our big lesson from that trip was to secure our belongings despite appearances of calms seas. We have become complacent with our stuff over the trip, leaving all our stuff all over the place because things have been quite calm and we haven’t had anything go flying on us. However, we hit a random big wave after a personal fishing boat passed us and many of our dishes on the counter went flying. We lost 4 dinner plates and Kevin’s tea mug. The good thing was the dishes were dirty, so less dishes for me to do that day! And now Kevin has an excuse to buy a souvenier mug.

Sandy Hook was another spot we hung around for a day. This time because of the weather. We were hoping to go to shore for food and a break (the kids had not been on land for 7 days), but a big thunderstorm rolled though and kept us indoors most of the day. Oh well, another opportunity to get more boatwork done! Oddly, just as we arrived in Sandy Hook our GPS konked out. Kevin spent a long time trying to get it to work, including a call into support. But it seems like it just stopped. Kevin even bought a new GPS antenna but it didn’t help. Unfortunately, to make things worse, it means that our AIS is currently not working. We can pick up where other boats are, but we can’t send out the signal where our boat is. So, it has to be fixed before we cross. We are hoping we can just get sent a new one, since this one only lasted 2 months and seemingly stopped working for no reason.

Our next trip was just a short trip but one of our more exciting ones. We traveled across the bay, using our phones for our GPS combined with the chart blotter, to anchor right beside the Statue of Liberty. It is so neat to see in-person the sights you have heard about your whole life. I have seen the Statue of Liberty before, but it was very cool to see it from a different angle. The anchorage just behind the Statue of Liberty was a little rocky but super convenient. That evening, we took our dinghy across Hudson river and dinghy docked at a marina in the financial district of Manhatten. It was a very very bumpy ride. There were so many boats traveling around the bay that the water is constantly choppy. We did find that it settled significantly in the night when the boats were ‘put away’. When we were crossing, one boat in particular, ‘The Beast’, drove right in front of our dinghy. The wake created 5 foot waves that we didn’t have time to avoid. We held on tight and rode the wave getting only a little wet. It definitely made us happy to reach the other side.

In Manhattan, we started by wandering around the World Trade Centre One and the new memorial to 9/11 there. There is a museum associated with it but we were there too late. Also, one of the few downsides of having a large family is that sight-seeing can be very expensive! So we are choosey in the places we see. As an example, seeing the Empire State Building would cost our family over $500USD! Instead, we took the subway system, which the little kids thought was amazing, to Times Square and just checked out the people. We ended up in a diner close to Times Square for hamburgers. Prior to Times Square we saw the Charging Bull of Wall Street, the Fearless Girl statue and New York Stock Exchange building. There is so much to see in New York just wandering the streets. Infact, there is so much to see, I would love to have somebody plan my itinerary for me and show me around for a few days because the choices can be overwelming. We are hoping to spend another day or so next week seeing more sights.

The following day we made our way up the East River to our marina. We were so happy just sitting on trampolines and catwalk watching the city around us. We went under the Brooklyn Bridge along with 6 other bridges. We saw the UN Headquarters and the Empire State Building peak through the towers. We went past LeGuardia Airport with the planes flying over us and caught sight of Riker’s Island. The 3 hour trip took us to the lovely Manhasset Bay and our marina.

Today we are visiting with family. We rented a van and drove up to the farm yesterday. We are looking forward to family time but also a break from boating chores (although Kevin is doing planning on his computer as I write this). Maybe Kevin can finally stop long enough for me to cut his hair!