Diary 14th October - 14th November - USA

14th October 2011

Posn: 40deg47'.23N  73deg59'.15W

79th Street Boat Basin, New York City

Well, we have closed the loop.  On Monday 10th October we returned to NYC and picked up a mooring - quite tricky with 3kts tide running - and that's the Down East Circle route completed.
However, before we get into that, didn't we have a superb time with Richard and Rosanna in Old Greenwich?  Very hot and sunny for our 42.5nm trip from the Thimble Islands, but sods law had the wind on the nose the whole way and we had some adverse tide so it took us 8 hours, but there was Richard on their Sabre yacht, 'Dumbledore', waiting at the entrance to Greenwich to guide us to the spot he had selected for us to anchor.  Once settled, he came on board and Rosanna joined us for a drink before we headed to their lovely house for dinner.  The following day we went into Stamford with them for coffee and then out on 'Minnie B' for lunch and a sail on Long Island Sound.  The weather was glorious, albeit little wind, and both Norma and Richard braved [Ed.: nutcases] the water for a swim.  We had a really good time and maybe we will see them again further south.

We weighed anchor on Monday morning at 0815 as we had to get the tides right in the East River and Hell Gate.  Once again, beautiful weather, but no wind.  It was very exciting through Hell Gate and past Roosevelt Island where we were doing 12kts SOG and there were standing waves.  Passing midtown Manhattan we had good views of the Chrysler Building, the United Nations and The Empire State building, then round the Battery and we could see the replacement for the Twin Towers being raised.

If we had to choose a city to live in, Phil would choose New York – there is everything you could want and stuff you didn’t even know you wanted.  The diversity is immense and the choices mind-boggling.  So, we have been back to Central Park, wandered around the East and West Villages, taken in “The Barber of Seville” at the Metropolitan Opera House (not quite as grand or on the same enormous scale as The Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg) [Ed.: that’s enough  name-dropping], a bit of clothes shopping for the cooler nights, cinema to see George Clooney’s film “Ides of March” (Ryan Gosling is very good and the trailer for the Daniel Craig version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” looked promising), having a beer at McSorley’s Old Ale House (choice of beer: light or dark, only don’t call it beer as the bar staff get upset) and the Blind Tiger Ale House (why do Americans not brew beer of 4 to 5% OG? It’s all 6% plus and you cannot drink as much without falling over), having a look at the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters and hanging around the Lincoln Centre.
The “Occupy Wall Street” protest was interesting: 1. They have no chance of achieving an occupation given the level of security and police presence; 2. The protesters are confined to a small park just off Broadway and Cedar Street and there are as many gawping tourists (like us) as protesters;  3. Appearances can be deceptive but a lot of the protesters have the presentation of … well … protesters; 4. Some of the placards are quite funny – “They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it  - Wake Up”; 5. The change in weather will have an impact on the longevity of the protest, and in the meantime a whole row of mobile fast-food vans have appeared - Capitalism in action eh? – to service the protesters; 6. If you ask the security guards in Wall St for directions to the protesters, they will lie.

So, to-day we do some domestics, visit MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and take in another film: "Moneyball".
Now, about this trip we have just completed.  First, some numbers:

It was great.  We were very lucky with the weather as for the whole of the trip from New York City to Quebec, we had rain on just a couple of days.  From Quebec to Prince Edward Island we had some rain on six days; from PEI to Boston we had rain on four days, and from Boston to NYC we had rain on six days.  In other years it has been colder and wetter.  

Would we recommend it?  Hm, tricky - it's a lot of motoring so engine maintenance is important, there's a lot of debris in the canals and rivers, the canals can get a bit boring after a while.  As our friends Andy and Sue said "it depends what floats your boat".  However: Hudson River, Kingston Ontario (and side trip to Niagara Falls), Thousand Islands, Montreal (the jazz festival and side trip to Ottawa), Quebec, Saguenay Fjord and belugas, Gaspésie (Mont Jacques Cartier and Perce Rock), Cape Breton and Bras d'Or Lakes, Halifax and Lunenburg, Massachusetts (Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Cuttyhunk), Rhode Island and Connecticut.  Now it is possible to visit New England, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Gaspésie by simply sailing east/north up the coast, but we did find the rest very exciting and, very importantly, we had the opportunity to meet up with the cousins from Edmonton in Quebec and we met some lovely people and made lots of new friends, especially around Montreal (you know who you are).  We were also able to share some of the experience with old friends who came out from NI, and that was a treat for us.

We used a cruising guide, Cheryl Barr's 'Down East Circle Route', and as we have said before, beware her misrepresentations of distances in Gaspésie and New Brunswick.  The new edition looks as if it is a major improvement on the version we bought.
We think we have had enough motoring for now, so guess what we are doing next.  Yes, heading down the New Jersey coast, up the Delaware Bay, through the Delaware-Chesapeake canal, through Chesapeake Bay and … down the Intra-Coastal Waterway to Florida.  Naw, we will wait for wind and go offshore … a bit.

26th October 2011

Posn: 38deg58’.08N 76deg 28’.64W

Eastport Yacht Centre, Annapolis

We arrived at Eastport Yacht Centre this morning, for a day of work on Minnie B – temperamental heating system.
Our trip from 79th Street Boat Basin went as follows. We left on Sunday 16th October, a day later than intended, because the previous day had 25knots of wind from entirely the wrong direction. We passed Saturday very nicely, with a subway ride to Harlem (just about worth seeing) and an excellent film, “Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt, who was terrific as a baseball team manager in this true story. All in all, we felt that we had used our time in NYC well, with two cinema trips, the Opera “Barber of Seville” at the Met, and “Free Friday” at the Museum of Modern Art.

Our first stop was Atlantic Highlands (well a bit of a hill really), an anchorage at Sandy Hook, a short motor of just three and a half hours. We anchored for the night at Posn: 40deg25'.05N 74deg01'19W.

Monday 17th we set off early heading for Barnegat Bay. We had a good sail for around five and a half hours, and were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves as we entered Barnegat Bay. Our guide book had urged caution because of the changing nature of the shoals in the entrance, but new buoys were in place, so we  followed the channel towards the anchorage area, then turned into the anchorage at when we seemed to be in the right place. Well, it was getting shallower so we brought up the keel and the rudder, then a voice came on the VHF warning the boat entering the anchorage (us) to go back in the channel or we would run aground….and we did.  Stuck fast on a falling tide. Luckily enough we have taken out TowBoatUS Insurance so we called them up and within half an hour we were off and anchored safely at Posn: 39deg 57'.02N  74deg 52'.97W.  Apparently we were the fourth boat that day to run aground at the same spot!  We managed to save another late arrival from the same fate by calling them somewhat earlier in their journey down the channel.  We could have sat there with a kedge anchor out and waited for the fall and rise of tide, but it would have been 2230 before we were off.  As they say, "if you haven't  run aground, you haven't been anywhere".

Next day we left at 0900, having waited for half tide, taking great care on our way out.  We intended to stay the night at Atlantic City but it did not look at all inviting (an architectural mess) so instead motored on to Cape May, anchoring in the dark at 1900.  Our cruising guide suggests there are two anchorages here, but only one looked feasible for a boat our size, and it was already crowded when we arrived, however, after some searching we found a spot at Posn: 39deg34'.36N  75deg35'.40W. We were glad we took the decision to press on to Cape May - the New Jersey coastline is flat and boring and it was good to get it over with.

We were up and off on Wednesday 19th by 0830, and spent a strenuous hour and a half rounding Cape May, going well offshore to avoid the shoals, and experiencing over 30 knots of wind off the headland. But Minnie B coped very well, and by 1000 we were sailing comfortably up Delaware Baydoing 7.5-8.5kts SOG, with around 15-20 knots of wind from the east, keeping just outside the shipping channel to stay clear of the very large vessels proceeding up and down this narrow fairway. We made good time and arrived at Delaware City Marina by 1630.  We were greeted by the friendly owner, Tim, who gave us excellent advice on berthing in the strong current in the channel - essentially, parallel parking using the current to push us onto the berth. The marina (Posn: 39deg34'.36N  75deg35'.40W) is very convenient if, like us, you arrive at the entrance to the Chesapeake-Delaware canal in late afternoon, and don't wish to transit in the dark.  Delaware City itself is definitely a city, but with a population of just 1,800 people.  It's a nice spot, with a great pub called "Crabby Dick's" where you can get excellent $5 appetisers.  We spent Thursday just re-grouping, doing laundry, e-mail and jobs around the boat, and then went to "Crabby Dick's" with a French Canadian couple, Danielle and Rejean, whose boat was hauled out for repairs to the keel - they didn't know what a dike was on their chart and went into it at 4.5kts: keel pushed up insidethe hull.  Ouch.  They don't speak English, so it was back to French for the evening, and we enjoyed their company very much.

On Friday 21st we were off the berth by 0715, to catch the tide through the C&D canal. It was a lovely day, our journey through the canal was uneventful, but again for over 20nm we had wind on the nose, but by 1320 we were sailing in Chesapeake Bay towards Annapolis. There were many boats out sailing, and we had bright sunshine, though we discovered that the main hazard in "The Bay" is crab traps and had to keep a good look-out for the small floats. We picked up a mooring off Annapolis City Docks (Posn: 38deg58'.53N  76deg28'.93W) and spent the evening on board.

We decided to stay in Annapolis for a few days, as we have some work to complete here. The Eberspacher heating has been playing up, the spray hood needed some stitching, and we are buying some new blinds, with integral insect nets, for our principal hatches. However, it being the week-end, we knew we wouldn't get much done until Monday, so we were tourists again. On Saturday we had a good walk around Annapolis, which is very pretty, and whose character is very much determined by the presence of the US Naval Academy. The city was jam-packed with people on early Saturday afternoon, as it was "Homecoming" (loads of Navy people and Midshipmen and Women's parents), and there was a major football game, Navy v East Carolina.  Sadly for the Annapolis fans, Navy lost.  On Sunday, we visited the Naval Academy, the highlight of which was the US Naval Academy Museum. It was very well done, with interactive displays of naval battles, and what we thought were very fair and objective descriptions of the wars and battles fought by the navy during and since the War of Independence.  It was very honest, for example stating that the USA achieved none of its war aims in the 1812-1814 war with Britain, and recognising why the USSR's desired to have buffer states between it and the West after WWII.

Monday saw us putting in place various arrangements for our work on Minnie B, freeing us up for a visit to Washington DC on Tuesday 25th. We caught the commuter mini-bus from Annapolis to New Carrolton Metro Station, amazing value at $8 each for a return journey. Then, we took the metro to central DC. We had a wonderful, busy day, walking to see The White House (we did not have an appointment to go in, but got a good view across the south lawn). We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, with the burial place of JFK and other members of the Kennedy family. The only disappointment was the absence of the famous reflective pool in the Mall, which is a building site and under re-construction.

After a lunch in Chinatown, we went to the Capitol, where we enjoyed an hour-long organised tour. It is a beautiful building, whose central dome is probably the best known site in the city. The rotunda is stunning and the whole place oozes history. But the best was yet to come. We enquired if we could obtain passes for the visitors' galleries in the Senate and House of Representatives, and found that we could -we just had to show our driving licences for the House of Representatives, as this was in session. So, we got to see the Senate first, and a couple of staff kindly explained about the Senate sittings and operation. It's really very clever. The Senate is made up of two representatives from each state, while the House of Representatives is weighted by population of each state. So, there are checks and balances in place. Next, after a security check, we were allowed into the gallery of the House, where a discussion on a new Jobs and Energy Bill was taking place. We felt really privileged, especially since Norma had never been inside the House of Commons or the House of Lords in London.  We rounded off our visit by a quick tour of the Library of Congress, which has a fabulous reading room and the fascinating Thomas Jefferson Library - he sold it to Congress after the British burned the Capitol in the 1812 War!   The whole day was great, the main sites are in easy walking distance of each other, and we felt we learned a great deal about the administration of politics in the USA.  We caught the commuter mini-bus back, arriving in Annapolis at 1830, tired but elated.  A couple of drinks in the Federal House pub where it is Happy Hour from 1600 until … closing time.
Once all our boat work is complete we start to head south and the next part of the adventure - Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida  - via some of the Intra-Coastal Waterway.

31st October 2011

Posn: 36deg50'.67N  76deg17'.97W

Norfolk, Virginia

So, we are in "The South" - officially.  Virginia, home to the Confederate capital Richmond and scene of bloody and bitter fighting in the Civil War.  It's not like that now, albeit the accents are changing - on the VHF we hear "Verginyer Pies" and look forward to a new delicacy - actually it's Virginia Pilots calling commercial ships.

We had some decent sailing down 'The Bay' from Annapolis  to Cambridge on 27th October (no, it doesn't compare) where we anchored right in the town (Posn: 38deg34'.32N  76deg04'.41W)  - well, in the river that runs through the town.  Had a stroll, some nice old houses and a couple of good bars.  
Next day we set off for Deltaville but some adverse tide slowed us and we ended up in the beautiful Mill Creek just south of Reedsville (Posn: 37deg47'.57N  76deg19'.93W) - at last we 'got' Chesapeake Bay.  It was very cold (2degC) and the next morning we had planned to go on to Norfolk, duly getting up at 0630 to be confronted by driving rain. We poked our noses out into the Bay and checked the weather forecast - 35-40kts of Northerly wind - and promptly returned to Mill Creek to sit it out.  This was the weather that brought snow to the northern states and is being blamed for a dozen deaths.  In Mill Creek we notched up winds of around 20kts with gusts up to 25kts - the heating was on and we were cosy.  

Sunday 30th had a better forecast, so off again at dawn and we had a great sail all morning with full main and poled out genoa, but as the afternoon wore on the wind eased and backed, so in order to reach the Norfolk anchorage in daylight we had some iron topsail assistance.  The wind change also brought a rise in the air temperature - most welcome as we had been wearing full body armour (the three layer Musto kit).
We passed the great US Naval shipyards where there were three aircraft carriers and innumerable other warships and supply ships.  We are at anchor just off the town at Intra-Coastal Waterway mile marker zero and have joined up with Anthony on 'Wild Fox' for the trip through the Dismal Swamp and on to Beaufort, NC - about 200nm.  He came for dinner and we caught up on our various travels and adventures since last seeing him in Antigua in April.
There is a whole OCC crowd (about six boats) here and the Port Officer is throwing a party to-night, so that will be nice. Gary is a very friendly guy who drove us to the supermarket this morning for some more stocking up.

The warmer weather helps too.

14th November 2011

Posn: 32deg46’.63N  79deg57’.24W

Charleston, South Carolina

It was so good to be back at sea for the offshore trip from Beaufort, NC – we left with the 0800 bascule bridge opening and with 18-22kts of NW wind we were quickly sailing in a south-westerly direction.  With two reefs in both sails we were bounding along at 7.5kts in bright sunshine but wearing full body armour as the temperature was about 8-10 deg c.

The wind stayed with us until just before midnight when it died away completely, so we were back to motoring and did this all the way to Charleston. BUT the trip was great – we had a pod of about 10 dolphins playing at the bow for about 30 minutes, and we saw turtles near the sea surface.  There are dolphins in the rivers that the ICW follows but they tend to ignore the boats.
We are doing some tourist stuff and we have met the OCC Port Officer, Emmett Johnson, who is very helpful. AND it’s over 20 deg C – yesssssssssss. However, first things first – how was the Intra-Coastal Waterway from Norfolk to Beaufort?

We left Norfolk on 1st November at 0810 along with Anthony and ‘Wild Fox’, and joined the fleet of southbound boats (of all types) – there were about 30 waiting for the bridge opening in Norfolk, but this thinned to four of us when we reached the fork of the Albemarle Canal and the Dismal Swamp Canal – we chose the latter.  The name belies a very pretty wetland connecting Elizabeth River in Virginia with the Pasquotank River in North Carolina and is the oldest continually operating canal in the USA, but it no longer has any commercial significance.  We  stayed for Tuesday night at a dock at the Welcome Centre, about 28 miles from Norfolk and thoroughly enjoyed the display of boat handling skills by a couple of motor boaters … er ... cast off all lines before starting the engine?  Hm! A couple of fenders the size suitable for a 20ft dayboat, for rafting up – the Americans call them “bumpers”, the difference in vocabulary speaks for itself.

We left around 1000, motored the rest of the canal and the Pasquotank River, arriving in Elizabeth City at 1530 (Posn: 36deg17’.91N  76deg13’.10W). It was a beautiful trip, as the leaves on the

trees lining the canal and the river were changing colour, so you see a mass of red, gold and brown on the banks, as well as birds of prey and the occasional otter in the river.

Elizabeth City is very welcoming to boaters, and provides free dockage for two days … but there’s a price to pay.  It’s pile moorings with the shortest pontoons we have ever seen.   Our cruising guides states that local people occasionally host wine and cheese parties for visiting boaters, and indeed there was a local “greeter” ashore when we arrived, just to say “hello and welcome”.

We stayed two nights, taking the opportunity to explore the town (the Americans call the tiniest of places ‘City’) and it is struggling – lots of empty retail and office properties, quite a few charity shops and not a lot happening.  

We left Elizabeth City on Friday 4th, and did a shortish run of 30 miles to a strange little place called Alligator River Marina (Posn: 35deg54’.35N  76deg01.77W). We had to stay there, because a cold front was coming through, and we didn’t have enough time to get to a secure anchorage. We arrived before lunchtime, safely before the high winds and rain arrived later that afternoon. The place is essentially a filling station with a small marina attached, in the middle of nowhere. It is run by a fearsome woman called Ms Wanda who does not seem to have a good opinion of people in boats – a bit of a shame when you are running a marina. It was quite convenient, with a laundry, showers, a TV room and internet, but there were notices up everywhere telling you what you MUST NOT DO, signed Ms Wanda. Well, we ended up staying for two nights because the weather was pretty awful, and at least we got the laundry done along with various internet affairs, so it was OK in the end and we managed to make Ms Wanda smile!

We departed on Sunday 6th November, with Anthony on ‘Wild Fox’.  However, his boat is much slower than’ Minnie B’, and we agreed to meet up again in Beaufort, North Carolina. We carried on  until four o’clock, and anchored at a spot called Pungo Creek, which was surrounded by trees and a few holiday properties (Posn: 36deg30’.29N  76deg39’.25W).  We were the only boat at anchor.  On Monday 7th, we carried on, anchoring mid-afternoon at a beautiful spot on South River, opposite the town of Oriental (Posn: 34deg56’.93N  76deg33’.69W).

Tuesday 8th we were off early for the final part of this trip to Beaufort, where we arrived in Town Creek marina at lunchtime (Posn: 34deg43’.51N  76deg39’.90W).  Yuk – pile moorings with a short and very low pontoon at the bow.  The technique for tying up that the American motor boaters adopt is just drive in and slide the stainless steel rubbing strake along the wooden piles.  Doesn’t work for us!  The lassoing of the piles is such fun when there is any wind.

The marina has a car that you can borrow (75minutes a go) so we restocked our food supplies and got a few hardware/boat items.  David and Lynn on  ‘Moonbeam of Argyll’ (OCC members) were in Taylor Creek and we called over for a drink – they were heading straight to Antigua.
Anthony arrived the following day and came for dinner.  Then he made superb spicy prawns and an excellent chicken curry for our last evening together.  He is sailing for 10 days or so to the British Virgin Islands. We both feel he is very brave to sail single-handed.  We hope to meet up sometime next year.

We waited for a cold front to go through and then it was back to sea.

We will stay in Charleston for a few days and then head for Savannah overnight on Thursday, stopping at Thunderbolt – there’s some north winds we can take advantage of, given that the prevailing winds are SW.  This is also subject to the horrible anchorage here – holding is very patchy and we have the Fortress attached to the Delta to get dug in.  Anyways, we are being made very welcome at Charleston YC and use their dinghy dock.

This is definitely a “must visit” city as the photos show.