Sights of New York

After our visit in Brooklyn, it was back to Staten Island where we moved the boat from the mooring ball to a dock at the Great Kills (a Dutch word for creek) Yacht Club. Through a former Looper who is a member there, we were able to stay there for $1/ft. – an unheard of price for the NY area. Thank you again John C! He said about 25 Loopers have visited there but we were the first sailboat! The only down side was it was quite a long drive from Brooklyn for Kyle and it wasn’t exactly convenient to shopping, etc. We did have quite an ethnic adventure shopping at a local Russian market though. I don’t think there was one thing in the deli case I recognized but we managed to get some produce and basic items. Kyle lives in a very Polish neighborhood - interesting shopping there too and hearing so many other languages spoken by people passing by. We hauled laundry to a laundromat on our bikes which was an adventure in itself.

There was a family of mute swans with three little ones in the area. This was what I saw peeping in my galley window the morning we left.


On Friday the 25th we left Staten Island and went under the impressive Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. It's one of the world's largest suspension bridges. I can’t resist taking pictures of impressive bridges and this area has a lot of them.




We entered New York Harbor not knowing exactly what to expect. There was quite a lot of chop with all the boat traffic. Here’s one of the famous orange Staten Island ferries passing by Lady Liberty. We feel somewhat of a connection to these ferries as they’re built in Marinette, WI.

Here’s one of the Circle Line tour boats passing a portion of the famed Manhattan skyline.


Here’s another view of the Statue of Liberty. It’s rather unbelievable to think we’re actually seeing her from our very own boat all the way from Green Bay, WI! I climbed up to the crown with a HS group many years ago but you’re not able to do that anymore.


Here’s Ellis Island where the immigrants were processed for entry into the U.S. I wanted to tour it but it didn’t work out to do that on this trip. Only tour boats are allowed to dock here and at Liberty Island.


We anchored for the night off Liberty State Park on the New Jersey side near Liberty Island with a few other boats. We could see the green lights of the Verrazano Bridge in the distance; they looked like twinkling emeralds – beautiful.

Capt. Paul diligently prepared for the next day’s adventure: a side trip up the East River through Hell Gate!

Getting Kyle Back to New York

As we left Baltimore we passed Fort McHenry. Here's an aerial view of the fort showing why it was known as the star fort. This is the fort that successfully defended Baltimore from a British attack during the War of 1812.

There is a special buoy in Baltimore Harbor painted red, white and blue to mark the spot where Francis Scott Key penned the words to our national anthem. He was being held prisoner on a British barge during the War of 1812 several miles from Fort McHenry. We could see why he would ask "Oh say does that star spangled banner still wave..." it was a long way away! We were lucky enough to see two YP (Yard Patrol) ships from the Naval Academy pass the buoy. The midshipmen were saluting it while the national anthem was playing aboard ship - what timing!

Kyle, being the dedicated professional musician that he is, found a way to get in some practice time while onboard. (the cool hat belongs to his Dad).

The first night was spent anchored in a river near Rock Hall, MD. We spent some time at a free dock but didn't want to risk the $100 fine for overnight docking even though we never saw anyone around. The next night we stopped at Chesapeake City. There's also a free dock there that does allow boats to tie up overnight but it was low tide and we hit bottom on the way in so we decided to anchor in the basin with a few other boats instead.
The C & D Canal was next, it's about a 12-mile long man-made cut from the 18th century that connects Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay. It allows ocean liners to go from Baltimore to Philadelphia. No sailing on the canal but we were able to sail some on Delaware Bay. After another shorter canal we were in New Jersey - wow three states in one day! We decided to take a bit of a shortcut into Cape May and go under two 55-ft. bridges (just about our mast height with the vhf radio antenna). It was low tide and we made them both - but barely. The Cap'n felt it was a bit too close for comfort! We got a slip in Cape May at the South Jersey Marina. At $2.95 per foot, it was even pricier than the Keys but it was nice to be in a marina; the weather had turned quite warm and humid.
From Cape May we were out in the Atlantic Ocean. There wasn't really enough wind to sail so we motor-sailed. The ocean swells weren't that pleasant and some of the crew was a bit uncomfortable (we won't mention who but one of them was Ginger). We made it to Atlantic City by late afternoon. I wasn't expecting the skyline to be so impressive but no casino visits for us. The neon light show on the side of one of the high-rise hotels was kind of fun to watch though, also the full moon was gorgeous.

We anchored in the only area allowed in a fairly strong current but had no trouble with our anchor holding. Kyle, Em and Ginger took the dinghy to shore but Paul stayed with the boat. You can see the speed of the current by the effect on this buoy.

We pulled anchor at 6:30 am (early for us) and headed back out into the Atlantic. We decided to make the run to Sandy Hook, NJ - again motor-sailing but the water was smoother and the waves were behind us. After 13 hours and 86 nautical miles, we anchored in a cove just past Sandy Hook. With the Verrazano Bridge at the entrance of New York Harbor in view, Kyle felt as though he was nearly home.

The next day we went an hour or so over to Staten Island and got a mooring ball at the Great Kills Yacht Club. That's where Restless Wind is right now and here's a couple pictures of our visit with Kyle and his girlfriend, Lizzie.

Here they are next to the famous Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, with Manhattan in the background.

We plan to spend a little time in the Long Island Sound - hopefully actually doing some sailing! After that it's on to the Hudson River heading north.

Annapolis and Baltimore

We arrived back at the boat from the trip home on July 10th. To backtrack a bit, we toured the Naval Academy before we drove home and I wanted to include some pictures of that. The midshipmen weren’t on the Yard as classes weren’t in session and the Chapel isn’t open to tours on Friday afternoons, beyond that the tour was very interesting.

The Naval Academy was founded in 1845 by then Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft. It sits on 338 acres facing the Severn River, grounds of the former US Army Post Fort Severn. It's a beautiful setting. This is part of Bancroft Hall where the approximately 4,200 midshipmen live and have their meals.

This is part of the rotunda in Bancroft Hall. Paintings of historic naval scenes line the walls.

Part of the tour includes the crypt of John Paul Jones, a Scotsman who became a naval hero during the Revolutionary War.

One of the marinas in Annapolis with the Maryland Statehouse in the background.

With a final thank-you to our generous hosts, Chuck and Linda, we were off to Baltimore.

This was the view going under the expansive Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

We anchored one night on the way near Dobbins Island. It was a Friday night and about 13 boats stayed for the night, down from the 26 or so that were there earlier. This home on shore has its’ own lighthouse – rather cool we thought.

Kyle took the train from NY down to Baltimore and we met up with him on Saturday the 12th. Jim and Lou and family were there with their family to visit their son so they were able to pick Kyle up at Penn Station. Kyle enjoyed re-connecting with them until we got to our marina. We all got together for dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant. I didn’t get a picture of the whole group but this is their oldest daughter, Shannon, and her girls, Emily and Mariel, with Ginger.


This is a view of the Inner Harbor at Baltimore with a replica of the USS Constellation.

Another view of the Inner Harbor; it was a beautiful day for a dragon-boat ride.

St Michaels and a trip home

We made a trip over to St. Michaels on the eastern shore as we’d heard a lot about it. We were told it would remind us of Fish Creek in Door County, WI and it definitely had that feel about it. Lots of unique shops and art galleries, beautiful scenery, lots of boats and ice cream! We anchored off the town and used the public dock for dinghies. Here is one of the beautiful boats we saw coming in from an afternoon cruise:

There was also a sailing regatta to watch.

There was a minor adventure with the small boats going by the anchorage. A brief knockdown and he was back up and ready to go.

The maritime museum for the whole Chesapeake Bay is located in St. Michaels. It’s a great museum with wonderful exhibits, old restored boats and hands-on activities. This is the Hooper Strait Lighthouse moved here in 1966 from the waters of Hooper Strait:

This is a miniature skipjack, “Spat”. The skipjack became a popular workboat in the 1890s. They were built to be sturdy and swift and were especially suited to the waters of Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland’s state flag is the only one in the U.S. based on heraldic emblems. The design was taken from the shield of the coat of arms of the Calvert family, colonial proprietors of the State of Maryland. We thought it was really unique and now we know why.

This is actually being written back home in Green Bay. We rented a car in Annapolis and left Restless Wind at the private dock of our generous new friends, Chuck and Linda. The only thing they wanted in return was some brats and cheese from Wisconsin so that’s what we’ll be taking back for them. We had some medical appointments but the main reason for the trip back was to help our daughter move. Alison is starting a new job at Fox-11 in Green Bay and will be looking after our house while we’re gone. We were able to get the freezer operational again before we left. The technician who repaired it was from "Shiver Me Timbers" marine refrigeration - too cute!

We drove the 1,000 miles straight through (ugh) but plan to do it in two days for the return trip. They tell us we’re here for the best week of weather for the entire summer so far and I’m loving the cooler air and low humidity (Em speaking). When we return, the plan is to head up to Baltimore and meet up with Kyle who will come down by train from NY. I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.

A Crabby Experience

On Friday, June 20 we headed to Galesville on the western side of the Bay. The only tricky part of the trip was making it through Knapp’s Narrows, a 1-mile shortcut canal which is subject to shoaling. Here’s one of the old Skipjack fishing boats docked in Knapp’s Narrows:


Early evening we hooked onto a mooring ball off the West River Sailing Club. That worked out fine except poor Ginger took a tumble down the four steps from the cockpit down into the cabin while we were busy getting tied to the ball. Thanks goodness she didn’t break anything but it took her quite awhile to recover (poor old gal).

The main reason we came to Galesville was to look up a relative of boating friends from Green Bay, Bob and Nan. We took a short dinghy ride over to meet Chuck and Linda (Nan’s cousin) Saturday morning and had breakfast at their lovely home. They were kind enough to offer the use of their private dock on Tenthouse Creek so we moved our home on water over there. The water is a bit low when the tide is out but a little mud never hurt anybody. Here we are next to their SabreLine m/v Molly's Magic:


We had a little tour of Annapolis and were guests of Chuck and Linda’s for lunch at their yacht club overlooking the Naval Academy. That night was “Rhythm on the River” a fundraiser event for West/Rhode RIVERKEEPER®, a group Linda is very involved with. It was a treat to hear the steel band, enjoy the catered food, hear more about what Riverkeeper does and meet fellow boaters.

I got such a kick out of their two sweet golden retrievers, I guess because they're so different from Ginger! I call them the “golden girls” - Here are the mellow Cookie and Carly chilling out. They really enjoyed riding along on the Boston Whaler when Linda gave us a tour of the area.


One of the advantages of having your own dock just off the Chesapeake Bay is you’re allowed to put down two crab traps for your own use. Here is Paul trying his hand at harvesting the Blue Crabs who took the bait of turkey necks.


Here are the unsuspecting victims, soon to be dinner:


We were given a hands-on lesson in shelling a Blue Crab. It’s quite a process but they’re really delicious. They even have a chart with pictures for novices!


You can see how the color of the shell changes during the steaming process. (sorry Alison!)


Thanks to Linda driving us to a dog groomer, we were able to get Ginger’s “problem” taken care of. They gave her a pill to kill the fleas and after her bath and haircut, we all felt much better. She was even up to helping study the charts again!

ps: She’s on Frontline Plus for the rest of the trip.