Trip #6 Port Washington, NY - Pasadena, MD

We spent our last day doing laundry, cleaning and packing. I would have made an effort to go for a run or something, except for the fact that it was 96° and with the 72% humidity, John's weather app said "feels like 130°", so we were not keen on being outside.  John said he has never felt hotter weather in his life. More than five minutes and your skin begins to sting where the sun touches it and if you move a muscle, you’re immediately drenched in sweat. Yikes!  California is so fabulous.  

We are looking forward to coming back to our beautiful boat in the fall and hope to have more weather like we experienced during the balance of the trip rather than today!

In the morning I went for a run to a lovely lighthouse, then to a Farmer’s Market while John completed the last of his projects and organization of the new boat. After laundry and other boat chores, John and I walked the town and had a wonderful lunch of locally farmed vegetables and humanely raised dairy/meat at Laurappin.  If we had this restaurant nearby, I’d be a regular for sure! If you’re ever in Havre de Grace, we highly recommend this restaurant for great food and nice pub ambience.  

We then ‘set sail’ on one last beautiful cruise across the Chesapeake Bay to the Pleasure Cove Marina where the boat will be stored while we are home.  Pleasure Cove Marina is on the Bodkin Creek, a small river lined with nice homes with ski boats and other craft darting around as if we were on a lake with people skiing and tubing just like we would see on Lake Tulloch. We arrived at the marina to the sounds of live music on the deck of the Chesire Crab, a casual seafood restaurant where we too enjoyed cocktails and dinner that evening. 

At 9:00 am we pulled out of the harbor at and set off for a 6 hour cruise down the Atlantic, Delaware a River and C&D Canal which connects the Delaware River to the back of the Cheasapake Bay taking us all the way from Cape May to Havre de Grace, MD.  Luckily the weather was lovely and we had a beautiful cruise sitting on the fly bridge with a nice breeze and calm seas. We had dinner on the boat in Havre de Grace and enjoyed a good nights sleep.

We awoke to a Coast Guard Small Craft Advisory so decided to stay in the harbor for another day. We began with a lazy morning on the boat catching up on all John’s boat projects, but by early afternoon, the winds in the marina subsided and we decided to get a jump start on our long remaining voyage and leave for Cape May. We hired towboat Rick to guide us out of the treacherous ICW and out to the sea. We got an even later start as Rick had a last minute call to tow another grounded boat off a shoal, and when he returned it was 5:00 P.M. As the sun doesn’t set until 8:30 this time of year, and we only had a two hour cruise to get to Cape May, we set forth right away. All was easy and the water and wind quiet…  until about ten minutes into the cruise when we came upon the inlet to the Atlantic from the New Jersey ICW. 

Suddenly, it didn’t look so calm. The wind was whipping at 20 plus knots and the Atlantic was a sea of white caps. And worse, what I hadn’t realized was that to get out of this ‘bayou’ and onto the sea, we had to get through a half mile stretch of these 5-6 foot breakers rolling in to the cove. If we hadn’t been right behind Rick in his tiny tow boat, I would have completely flipped out. As it was, I put on my life jacket and tied the Personal Locater Beacon to my vest (it’s a handheld device, but I figured if one is escaping from an overturned boat in a storm, one would surely drop the PLB if it wasn’t attached!) I knew I was being a big giant chicken because Rick was standing at the helm of his 18 foot inflatable tow with no life jacket, surfing up the face, popping up over the crest and back down the other side.  John kept his cool, looking very focused and didn’t let it show if he was more than a little concerned. But I was very unhappy for a while, being a total scaredy cat, wearing my life jacket, eyes bugging out, standing and holding on as we swayed and rolled up and over the big waves. Once through the inlet it was much better but we still had another two hours of cruising in 3-4 foot swells on the Atlantic. After the wind began to subside and we thought we were good, we came upon some odd looking – almost submarine looking things scattered all over the place and we had to figure out how to dodge and maneuver through them. We figured that they were fish traps.  Just as the sun was setting, we cruised into the harbor, tied up, had a glass of wine and walked to Lucky Bones for a fabulous dinner (they had arugula salad and veggie burgers with broccoli (a welcome healthy-ish treat).

John and I walked Through the beautiful Victorian neighborhoods to the South Jersey Marina (where we would have been docked if all had gone according to plan) to pick up some supplies John had shipped there from Amazon.com and then had a beautiful late breakfast outdoors at The Blue Pig Tavern. Our white limo came back to pick us up and take us back to the Beach Haven Yacht Club. There the boat was waiting for us with new shiny propellers in place. We noticed one of the front sunpads was next to the boat, not on it. We soon learned that though the weather in Cape May just 40 miles to the south was quite nice, they experienced 50 mph winds in Beach Haven, blowing off one of the sunpads. After moving the boat back the the Yacht Club, we walked to the grocery store to get salads for dinner on the boat, watched some TV and hoped the storm was done so we could depart in the morning and not be further delayed. 

Before setting forth on our next voyage, it was time for the overdue christening of the boat, John Mathew did us the honor using a special (not for human consumption) bottle of champagne produced for just such a purpose and furnished along with a thoughtful bag of goodies embroidered with the boat name from Cape Yachts. 

We had a very pleasant cruise from Jersey City to Manasquan, NJ with fabulous views of Lady Liberty along the way.  After tying up at Hoffman's Marina and a little boat cleaning, we walked to the beach and then through town.  We had lunch at Brielle River House and dinner at Waypoint 622, both with lovely waterside decks just steps from the boat. 

With provisioning complete, our first cruise took us from Port Washington to the harbor at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NY, right across the Hudson from the Millenium Tower.  That afternoon, John and Matt went to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and walked along the Highline while I went to the Secord Gallery in the meat packing district featuring dog and animal paintings that I have always wanted to see (no surprise).  I also had plans to also spend some time at the Met to see a George Stubbs and John Sargent exhibits but traffic and crowds were too much to navigate in time to meet John Mathew & Andie (who had just flown in) at John’s college friend, Paul Berne.

Paul has an stunning flat overlooking Central Park filled with an eclectic art collection. There we enjoyed drinks followed by a family style dinner at Carmine’s in the theater district.  John ordered an order of garlic bread, and when asked, said yes to the cheese – take a look at the photo – one order!! We had a lovely and fun filled evening with Paul who is a real joy.  Matt, John and I stayed on the boat in NJ while John & Andie spent the night at The Standard, on the Highline in NYC so they could experience some NYC nightlife.

July 6th

John, Matt, and I flew into JFK on Virgin America where John picked up our giant red Suburban we rented to transport luggage and supplies. We drove to Great Neck, NY then checked in to the Inn at Great Neck. We scurried off to dinner at Wild Ginger, an Asian fusion restaurant in a strip mall – but it was surprisingly good. Then early to bed to meet the boat in the morning.