New York to Cape May (11885 miles)

Goodbye Manhattan

Dima and I plan to leave Port Washington at 11 after taking on Fuel and Water - we discover the fuel dock has gone shallow and have to take the water taxi in with jerrycans. Then we depart, his boat is called Cheers and he is also singlehanded. Several other OCC boats had left the night before. Time to go South. (SouthWest actually)

We will take a foul tide through Hell Gate but the weather has dictated our departure - it had been forecast to blow heavily that morning and I needed Fuel. Our speed was always above one knot but we got though to Manhattan in 6 hours when we could have done it in three to four so not too bad.
We had to avoid a number of tugs of different types. As we were often doing three knots this was sometimes tricky. The tugs and their loads were coming the other way, with the current and doing 9 knots sometimes - but they can hardly steer. I had already had an interesting time arriving in Boston with Nick at a narrow part of a channel, with rocks on either side - where four routes meet. I was radioed by a tug/barge and told to keep a steady course and keep an eye out my portside but I would be ok. On reaching the narrow part a tug/barge to Starboard said "Shadowmere, WHAT are you doing, I AM coming" my immediate response was to say "Ummm" on the radio and then look around me - Nick increased the throttle. We cleared the fracas easily. The tug on our port side was essentially stopped so we are unsure which tug actually called us - if it was the starboard one he was in error in telling us to watch out our port side. Of course these tug captains are superb at their job but they speak into the radio as if they have a massive wad of tobacco in their mouth... glad it wasn't foggy!

A tug pulling a barge on a long wire

A tug pushing a barge

a tug pushing two barges

A tug alongside a barge - I just saw the barge at first - there is a wee man at the front supposedly telling the helm where to go. The thing was moving at 45 degrees when I saw it - the captain was trying to line up a corner to get through a bridge. Sheesh!

Talking of bridges - I passed under 7 as before. The East river was open - it had been shut the previous week because the UN (or security council of the UN) were in session. 

And then the view

I exited East river by passing through a channel away from the statue of liberty but photographed it anyway

Just as I entered the (narrow) channel, and was being overtaken by a tramp steamer, with a barge coming the other way, the US coastguard called me by name on the VHF - I had to recite my cruising permit number and Shadowmere's registration numbers and details - all a bit fraught when trying to avoid shortening my waterline length!

And then out to sea as light was falling - it was a spectacular night  - the sky was very blue, the sun had been shining and the wind was a light 5 to 10 knots - however it was cold. I put my pajamas bottoms back on - under my trousers and wore T-shirt, shirt, pullover, fleece jacket and hoody and oilskin jackets and trousers. I also wore two pairs of socks and discovered if I wear my carpet slippers (fleece lined indoor Ugg boots) my feet get warmer than in welly boots. A snood and hat under my hoody complete the cold weather gear - I had had damart longjohns on board when we cruised in Scandanavia but had removed them in Belfast <sigh> It never got below freezing, but with a bit of wind chill it was cool.

I motorsailed as the lightish winds were at 45 to 60 degrees off the bow. This got us quite far down the coast, the forecast was for stronger SW winds to arrive soon so I decided to pull in to Atlantic City - about 35 miles short of Cape May. The wind was to gust strongly and I took a berth in the marina - attached to a nearby Casino. It had off season rates of $2/foot so not too bad, we stayed two nights and a bit and left at 5am on the Monday morning for a 36 mile run down to Cape May (the wind was again to go around to the SW by noon so best to get inside before then.)

But first Atlantic City; a dozen casinos - high rise hotel Casinos with ultrabright lights can be seen from 20 miles away - I had been suffering from a weird cold air mirage effect where everything more then 3 or 4 miles away gets fuzzed up and reflected so you see two versions, one above the other so it was hard to make this all out. It really looked weird.

The next day I went for a walk to sort out my US mobile phone - it can be topped up online or using the phone - but needs a zipcode so I have to top up in person once a month.; This involved walking 45 minutes into a poorer part of the town. The town is characterised by small housing projects, the odd high rise apartments. Also some nicer bigger houses. Then these gargantuan towers of Babel where the rich people spend money perhaps. The boardwalk also has food and souvenir shops for the pleasure seekers. There is a set of shopping outlets to further redistribute wealth. Not my cup of tea frankly

There were also quite a few fishing boats, all in (it was Sunday) not sure how often they actually get out. I saw two smaller boats in the next 36 mile journey

Now, the boardwalk was good - it had Adirondaks!

Note the thicker base than we have seen before - stops them blowing away? nice curves too

Amusement park though Cape May to the South has more, I think the Casinos bring in more money, its a matter of optimising profit I suppose...

Note the wee houses nestling under the shadow of the giant

It was a lovely boardwalk

To be fair, the two boats near me each visited the casinos and played a few tens of dollars and had fun. It just isn't something I would want to do. The mathematics don't stack up. The chemistry of the brain is such that a win produces endocrines that mask all the losses that preceded the win.

And then the shopping

Not many places there to buy a loaf or bread...

The poor area did have a dollar store (bit like Poundland) and there were liquor and tobacco stores there too...

I didn't take photographs in the poorer area. My sensibilities...

You could have a "good" shopping experience here.

Perhaps I have damned by faint praise, 

Good bye Atlantic City. Having left at 5:00 am I couldn't photograph until daylight. It was a tricky departure. The 5:00 am had been suggested by a German and Croation couple (Christian and Sanja) and I had hoped they would leave first and show the way - there is a shallow bit on the way into the marina and two unlit red marks. Then the river exit had a bar to get through - marked with lit buoys but tricky in a few knots of current - I find when I look at 3 or 4 red or green marks in pitch blackness it is hard to see which is the closest ones. On curvy routes this can be troublesome.

I finally cast off at 5:15, on my own with Dima just behind me. I go through the first shallows and find 5 other yachts waiting in the river (to group up as I think as they travell together) I ended up leading the procession out on my own - luckily the chart plotter had a track still on it from when I had entered so I was able to cheat a bit. I  was also keen to get to Cape May before all the best anchorages were taken. In the end I was first to the anchorage - there was one other boat there so I was able to pick a prime spot - I put out a lot of chain and a tripping buoy as wind was expected later. Dima was next and then the anchorage slowly filled up. It is beside a US coastguard training facility and I have heard squarebashing with American chants at 6:30 AM and after 8 PM, which considering it is dark and freezing is remarkable.

The New Jersey coastline - most of it is wall to wall buildings interspersed with some greenery

Cape May itself (to the East of the town actually) And then the entrance to Cape May inlet (2 miles from town)

All safe at anchor. There are marinas here and a canal that suits motorboats, Lots of shallows.

Getting ashore is a long way as the USCG land is a secure area. But it gives me time to get the blog up to date.   

Dima and I depart here in two days for a 140 mile open sea passage and a further 20 miles up into Norfolk/Portsmouth and the start of the ICW. Weather watching, these "Northers" are coming through far more frequently than they are supposed to. As each one dies we can ride moderate to strong NW winds and then SW flows re-establish. I will be glad to get into the ICW.

New York, New York; second time (11739 miles)

Fika with Shirley, she comes to New York, lovely to have company, my favourite company too!

 (Fika is a Swedish word for coffee break, must have something sweet. Fika is Swedish for Coffee spelt backwards... In belfastese it means Elevensus)

There is also beer (that night)

sort of beer...

Anyway, to get to New York I have to leave Boston after Nick has flown home.

My last sight of the city, and then we approach the islands that separate Boston from open water, as I said in a previous blog, some of the islands are parks and would be a great day trip from the city. Boston is my favourite city so far.

And goodbye to the islands of Boston - and it's quirky lighthouse

I have a long trip to get South to the Cape Cod Canal and end up going through it in the darkness, fairly tricky, as was the pickup of a buoy in a tide current ridden bay!.

(Screendumps of OpenCPN and free NOAA charts, not to be used for Navigation)

I have the advantage of having come this way before.

The gap at the 16 foot depth is only 300 feet wide. The cross current was 2 to 3 knots. I rammed the mooring buoy so it was amidships and hooked it with my Swedish mooring hook lashed tight to a rope and cleat - this gives me time to lie down on the sidedeck, lean over and thread the bow lines through the eye on the top of the buoy. I'm sure you can appreciate that the cameraman was busy at this point. I have also lassoed bouys before but it is difficult if the buoy is pressed hard against the boat in a current. YippyAyeAh.

And onwards to Port Washington. I visit Newport again and this time go to the Newport Yacht club - famous as the endpoint of the singlehanded across the atlantic race. (and others). The harbourmaster had told me I can get in if I am a member of a "Yacht Club". I am fairly sure I have to be a member of a "Reciprocating yacht club". I wing it, I say I am a member of Donaghadee Sailing Cub (and the Ocean Crusing club) and the barmaid asks to see my membership card, which I have conveniently forgotten - A friendly couple say they will sign me in and I enjoy their company whilst ordering local ale and meatloaf - brilliant and under 10 bucks!.

Unbeknown to me, my nephew Scott is sitting in a different yacht club half a mile across the bay in Newport, but we do get to meet in New York for 30 minutes a few days later. (Scott lives in London but was sailing with the New York Yacht Club in Newport for a few days. He was also putting video of candycrush being played onto the side of a massive building, it's what he does (the video bit, not the candycrush bit)

His long arms are very useful for Selfies, This is just before Shirley and I see "The Ferryman" a most moving 3 hour play about... Well, about a family and friends in a farm when the hunger strike was going on. An insight into the IRA and frankly a really good piece of theatre - I'll not spoil it but you should try and see it. It will make you cry, and laugh, and sigh...

After Newport, I retrace my steps, stop in New London and then head to Port Jefferson where I experiment with putting down two anchors 60 degrees apart. I use my Danforth as I suspect it is better if the mud is soft enough to enjoy getting plowed in long furrows hundreds of yards long with a CQR. It works though I suspect I only lay to the Danforth, it was a bug*er to get up and I may have slightly strained my back - the fairleads at the front of Shadowmere hold two 45lb CQRs so I had dropped the Danforth from the bow cleat to Port. It has two different sizes of chain and rope so using the windlass is not convenient. After Port Jefferson I head to Port Washington where I take a buoy - two nights free then 25 bucks a night. Cheap but no showers, poor public toilets. You do get water taxi service although at this time of year it stops at 8pm. A big advantage of Port Washington is that (a) it is a lovely example of small town America and (b) it has a 45 minute train ride to Central Manhattan for 8 bucks. And Shirley is arriving in Manhattan!

Before heading to Shirley I make a mistake, for the second time. In the photograph below, you will get points awarded if you realise that you are supposed to attach the black thingy to the very sharp metal thingy below it. Yes, I swiped my beard with a number -1 and removed everything. And of course having done one side, I had to do the other. That skin hasn't seen daylight since I was 18. My mother always said my beard hid a weak chin.

Off to get Shirley

And here she is

Once on board bad weather sets in for a day, we get a few jobs done. Shirley (Paint Wizard) redoes the heads having discovered american paint - latex water based, really good!

Front and Back

And I hide up the mast. Thank God and Christine for my new knee.

I cook up steaks and I have to admit, the Americans do great meat, the steaks actually melted in our mouth. And no, they weren't frozen

And then in on the water taxi to explore. Always better with two, particularly with Shirley.

Chairs and Adirondaks

Note these are really bad Adirondaks, I photographed them to remind me to fit beer holders to my design when I get home. (the chair above has no curved seat or back. Although to be fair it does fold.)

Port Washington has a dockside walk adorned with "scuptures" and artworks. We see these wind chimes and I add then to the things to do when I get home

We took a video, forgetting it had sound, please ignore

The town has a great community spirit,and many shops that sell nice things (as well as shops where you can buy a loaf of bread - my acid test of a good place!

In fact we go to a local concert in the community centre by JJ Grey, a legend in his own town. We visit the Library - a fantastic place/

And Shirley buys a cushion - or what will become a cushion (plus read the writing!)

And of course Fika

And then New York. We visit MoMa, we do this by getting the Metro to the Met and then Walking to MoMa 20 minutes away (oops) But it is a nice day for a walk...

Interestingly, outside the Met is a protest by some religious people, Quite adamant they are right. (I suppose they always are)They put on a concerted effort to get their message across. From Choir singing to Bagpipes

At the Museum for Modern Art (MoMa - you knew that wasn't the Met didn't you? I meet an old friend - does his bum look big in this. And no, I am not misbehaving.

MoMa has a lot of art displayed - a lot of Picassos and interestingly displayed with compatriots and showing a historical timeline of his development. We snapped pictures of some stuff. The displays were crowded though.

I prefer the one in the background, the one in the foreground reminds me of Davros - you know Davros - the founder of the Daleks

Now that is a starry night

Now where did I put my car keys

Words fail me, let's try initials .... WTF

The scenery outside in their courtyard was amazing

And then there were the shops

We visit Macys It's big, it's expensive. We did not get asked "Are you being Served" - no hang on, that was Gracey's wasn't it?

It does not have husband chairs, I usually seek these out when shopping with Shirley. It does have a high tech play area... sexism is real, its full of men. It is their Samsung exhibit.

3D is coming, so is the real world!

These sensors monitor all sorts of things and let you know when stuff happens in your house - I have built things like this but the current fear of big data mining and hacking might make them hard to market (at present). The "internet of things" is taking a bit of time to catch on. Though I do like the Nest - an online thermostat and there is a video camera online doorbell with microphone and speaker that is kinda cool...

My top prize goes to the Samsung pen that will work with any android or Ios device. No lag, I would have loved to have this when I was teaching the great unwashed how to be engineers or failed graduates - their choice. I still covet one for my random scribbles...

And Shirley buys a bag. 

And I have no idea what I am doing beneath this Call of Duty poster, maybe Shirley said adopt an aggressive pose?

And then all too soon, Shirley has to fly hone. In the end the bus comes quickly and the goodbye is really quick - sometimes better as both of us are a bit tearful. 

Still, only 8 weeks to Christmas in the Virgin Islands.

 I head back to Port Washington, Alone. And plot with the weather gods to head South. There are a few other yachts in the same boat (sic).

In the end I travel in company with Dima - a New Yorker from Belarus with a boat called Cheers. We do a 110 mile run in convoy from Port Washington to Atlantic City which is 30 miles North (East actually) of Cape May and the Delaware inlet. I hope to go straight from there to the Chesapeake inlet - 160 miles of open sea. The weather is not very amenable to my hopes but we do what we can. Once I get to the Chesapeake and the start of the ICW I am more sheltered and slightly more immune to bad weather.