From the Chesapeake Bay, we shot across the 15 mile-long C & D Canal (with a 3 knot current going our way!), then down a smooth Delaware River arriving to Cape May, NJ without much drama (some trips have been very memorable!).  Fortunately our good weather window held up so we could continue offshore the next morning to NYC.

If you’ve ever been to Wildwood, NJ, this is the view from offshore. Notice the flat seas. Unfortunately no whale sightings – a couple of years ago we spotted a whale feeding right off a nearby beach.

Two different hazy skyline views of NYC. This first one is looking north towards the Verrazzano Bridge approaching from Lower Bay, as if coming in from offshore.

This one is nearly the opposite view, looking west back at the city from Long Island Sound.

In-between is the East River, including “Hell Gate” with it’s up-to 4 knot current. We planned to have the current with us, but unfortunately nailed the max current at 11:37 AM. While it’s nice to have that much current with you, the turbulence was a bit too much, bouncing us up & down as if on a bucking bronco. Then (of course) we encountered a large ship around a curve at the narrowest bridge opening! Does the water looking boiling? This is nothin’! Hell Gate used to be a canyon of irregular rock causing MUCH worse turbulence.  By the late 19th century, hundreds of ships had been lost, resulting in the Army Corp of Engineers performing massive blasting & rock removal operations which continued for 70 years.  Not until 1876 was it finally considered safe to transit in all conditions.

I’m not sure Long Island Sound could ever be any flatter than this.

Every lighthouse has a story. This one in Huntington Harbor, Long Island, NY is fairly new, completed in 1912, replacing a series of nearby ones from the mid-1800’s. It is unique in both it’s Venetian Renaissance “castle” style as well as it’s construction. It was the first lighthouse in the U.S. to have the “crib” of a foundation built on land, floated out, sunk, then filled with concrete.

Not sure we need more laws & regulations, but it would be nice if people could resist releasing Mylar balloons into the air during every celebration.  As we know, everything which goes up, must come down.  In just 2 days in NY & CT, we saw nearly a hundred balloons floating in the water!  Really, really bad for every creature from turtles, to ducks, to fish over many years as they slowly deflate, breaking down into millions of tiny particles.

After our customary overnite stop at the peaceful Hamburg Cove in Lyme, CT, we’re now safely at our marina in Deep River for a month or so.  As always, our plans are in flux, but our rough plan is to leave just after the 4th of July weekend craziness for Block Island, the Vineyard, thru the Cape Cod Canal, the Boston area & continuing northward for a few weeks in Maine.

The weather has been mostly good, so we’ve been moving right along. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware & down to Cape May, NJ.  Once there, we’ll wait for a good offshore weather window to travel the 115 miles offshore to NYC – sometimes it’s the next day, sometimes we’ve had to wait a week.

In the narrow canal prior to Norfolk, you never know what you’ll run into. This barge looked to be full of squares of scrap metal. They took up most of the channel, so they have “spotters” on the bow for an up-close view near boats & bridges.

In Norfolk among the dozens of battleships & other naval vessels, this one was a little unusual. What the heck is behind those overhead doors? As we veered closer for a better look, a naval patrol boat zoomed towards us – never mind!

Our most notable stop was in Solomons, Maryland to visit cruising friends Mike & Ann who conveniently live in a condo – on the water – with a dinghy dock!  It was great to catch up, complete with a fantastic dinner, “taxi” & laundry services made it our best stop this trip north!

Modern navigation can almost appear to be a video game. While we have an older built-in chartplotter system, we mostly navigate with an iPad mounted near the helm with Navionics Charting app. Believe it or not, it will “auto-route” your day’s trip, much like Google Maps in your car.  While, of course, we never depend on it exclusively, we have found it extremely accurate!  Last year I also hooked up an AIS receiver which transmits other vessel positions who have AIS transmitters (almost 1/2 of boats & all ships) so they show right on your screen (especially helpful at night or in the fog).  Large ships have a larger icon. An icon turns red when you are on a possible collision course with them (as deemed by your settings) .  The line in front of each vessel lets you know their direction & speed – they will be at the end of their little line in 6 minutes. The most difficult part is to constantly remember that only about 1/2 of the vessels are shown! All features can be programed to your requirements & comfort levels.  Pretty cool!

Within a week or so we expect to arrive in Connecticut.  We hear on the news that COVID is now over & no more masks??  Did anyone check with Dr. Fauci 🙂 ??

In any case, we’re looking forward to a great spring with family & friends in Connecticut, then head up to Maine so we can eat too much lobster!