A return to traveling

We are in back in the Chesapeake! We got here, after back tracking through New York and down the coast to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. It seemed that as soon as we sailed under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into the Lower Manhattan Bay we entered into ‘peri’-tropic waters; complete with dolphins, cleaner waters and bigger waves and winds. We were so happy to be back sailing.

Our trip back through the East River was almost equally interesting as the first time. We were happy to pass back under the Brooklyn Bridge and see the South Street Pier from the vantage point of the boat again. This time we turned to the south right away out of the river and passed along the south/east side of Governor’s Island. Then, we put up the gennaker and motor-sailed into Sandy Hook. Halyna managed to take the paddleboard out for quick paddle before dinner. She was scared back to the boat though when a curious dolphin got too close for her liking.

The next day we headed out with several out sailing boats from Sandy Hook to head further south. It has become very obvious that we have joined the mass migration of sailing boats heading south in preparation for going back to the Carribbean after hurricane season. It actually felt like we were finally in step with everyone else, and where we were supposed to be, instead of being one step behind. There was enough wind to use our gennaker again and we even had a chance to cut the engines for some time on route to Atlantic City. While many of the like-minded boats around us chose to sail through the night and into Delaware Bay, we decided to get what sleep we could and do a quick anchorage stop in Atlantic City again. We didn’t get off the boat this time, though. Instead, we enjoyed a peaceful evening at anchorage, ready to leave the next morning for Lewes. Although we can take our time heading south, we chose to do this part at a steady pace because the weather was supposed to change, and because there aren’t really many harbours to stop in down the Jersey coast. Our extra bit of entertainment on out trip to Atlantic City was a small shore bird that visited with us for several hours. It appeared that it had flown out too far and couldn’t or didn’t have the energy to fly back to shore. So, it hung out on our boat, eating all the bugs that popped up outside during the evening, and giving the kids something to follow around the boat. We named him Squirt. When we neared the shore, he finally left.

Our trip to Lewes was relatively short and we arrived there at 3pm. It gave us enough time to go to shore and visit the town. Last time, we were stuck on our boat with poor weather and didn’t see the town, althought it was rumored to be quite cute. We anchored out by the breakwater however, so the dinghy ride to town was quite lengthy. It included crossing a larger bay with ferry traffic and then a windy canal that went into the more sheltered town. Lewes is quite cute and peaceful. Admittedly, Kevin and I tend to like places with a little more action and less of just shopping and quiet street walking. So, although Lewes was nice, we tend to think that these small cruising destinations are sometimes more geared towards the retirement-age crowd. We were still happy to spend a few hours off the boat and exploring a new-to-us town.

The next day was very interesting for us. It was our first real foggy sailing experience. As we headed up the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the fog rolled in. At one point we couldn’t see more than 30 meters from our boat. It was a great way to really test out our new radar. Along with our AIS, we were able to navigate passed several other boats, including a freighter. We managed to get all the way through the C&D Canal and park ourselves in a lovely and relatively secluded anchorage with rocky shores and flocks of migrating birds. We were one of a long train of boats heading though the C&D Canal and we had an interesting encounter with another boat as we exited the canal. We suspect they weren’t aware they were on the wrong side of the canal. They nearly collided with 4 boats as they entered the canal. Thankfully, we haven’t encountered such poor boating previously.

After a peaceful evening we motored ourselves into Baltimore! We had thought we were going to go straight to Annapolis, for the annual boat show, but since we had some extra days, we decided to see Baltimore. We were there briefly on our trip heading north when we dropped off our anchor and chain for galvanizing, but this gave us a chance to see more of the city. The first day we went to shore and had a lovely walk along their water front. They have done an excellent job of creating a walkway all along the shore of the harbour. There were lots of people running along it. It reminded me of Vancouver’s seawall, in that sense. Baltimore seems to have several different areas of town with their own personalities. The entrance to the Baltimore Harbour is very industrial. The size of the freighters in the harbour dwarf our boat. We had dinner in another part of the city called Little Italy. There were several Italian restaurants and flagged lined streets. There was also a part of town with older brownstones that reminded me of my days in Montreal. And then, there is the downtown inner harbour. There were several converted warehouses and squares, along with a few highrises and old ships for touring. Unfortunately, we have recently been told that Baltimore can be a dangerous city as well because certain areas have very high crime rates. Fortunately, we were able to stay away from those areas.

Before our Italian dinner, while in the inner harbour, we went up to the top of Federal Hill Park. This very steep terraced hill used to be red cliffs that were used as a look out point for the Baltimore Harbour in the 18th century. It is now a great place to look out on downtown and the inner harbour. They have built a great playground at the base of it and even some beach volleyball courts. It really makes for a lovely downtown, however, what we found super interesting was the how few people there seemed to be! We looked up the population of Baltimore and it is only about 580,000 despite its large physical size. At one point it was the second largest city in the US, after New York. When we talked with some people in Baltimore they said that although there is a lot of industry in Baltimore (they even have a museum dedicated to it), people tend to live elsewhere. It certainly seemed that way to us.

The next day we did the tourist visit. We started the day by making our way to the B & O Railroad Museum. (Interestingly, there have been several references to Monopoly that we have seen in the north eastern states, including a community chest!?!) The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad museum was really fascinating. It was the first railroad built in the US and it has an interesting history. The museum had a great model train set that Simon and Norah loved. We also got to wander through old train cars. After the train museum we went to Baltimore’s National Aquarium. And they had dolphins! The kids were so excited to see dolphins up close after our encounters with them in the ocean. This aquarium is so good. After being to so many museums and exhibits I have decided I like it more if the museum helps direct you through the rooms. The aquarium does a great job of this. Especially the main pools. You walk in on a big pool full of large fish, sharks and rays and then after walking around the pool you go through a series of escalators that take you up a total of 5 floors, each with their own pools of animals from different environments. There were even puffins! At the very top there was an Amazonian jungle. Then, you walk all the way back down the 5 floors via a ramp that is surrounded by a large circular aquarium including the pool you saw at the start of the exhibit. We truly enjoyed it.

In the next two days we did a little shopping, in anticipation of Halyna’s 13th birthday and Thanksgiving. And then even better, we met up with another family that is doing their own sailing adventure. Coincidently they have the same model of boat as us and we loved seeing the differences between the boats and how they made the space work for them, compared to what we had done. It was great to exchange stories of our experiences so far and our plans for the future of our adventures and the boats. We have more meet ups planned in the coming days in Annapolis and are really excited to start socializing more. The family cruising community seems super supportive and friendly and we are thrilled to be a part of it.