New York Harbor and Miss Liberty

What a difference a day makes. When we pulled into Sandy Hook on Saturday we had 5 - 6 feet waves on our beam so were really happy to get to the marina. On Sunday morning, we departed the marina in calm but foggy conditions headed for NYC. This picture on the right is the marina as we left our slip and the next picture on the right is the Verrazano Bridge that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn - our first sight inside the harbor. One of our most amazing sights yet on the loop was when we saw The Statue of Liberty from the water on our boat - quite a moving experience. Two pictures below are - one of Miss Liberty by herself and one with Miss Liberty and an impostor - but a good looking impostor holding a flashlight, a Waterway Guide, and a cut out crown.

Along with the crews from "Happy Clams" and "Just Relax", we rafted up on anchor behind the statue for the evening and took the dingy to Liberty State Park just next to Ellis Island. What a great way to spend Memorial weekend.

On Memorial Day, we left our anchorage and finally made it to The Hudson River with the Atlantic Ocean - and all "big" water for awhile - behind us. Although the day was overcast and a little windy, in the river the ride was relatively smooth. The view up the West side of Manhattan was great - this is a picture of the Empire State Bldg from the water. We arrived at the Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton on the Hudson (picture to the left) mid afternoon and decided to spend a couple of nights here and travel into NYC for our long awaited "night in NYC" thanks to a great group of friends and co-workers from sanofi. On Tuesday night, we stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, was joined by our travel companions to see Hair (which seemed appropriate since Jack has not had a haircut since March) on Broadway, and had dinner at a great restaurant on 46th street. While there, we also went to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building and took this picture looking up the Hudson with Central Park on the starboard side.

We departed the marina this morning and will stay in Poughkeepsie tonight and should with plans to be in Catskill tomorrow night for the next few days. We should be in Waterford, NY by Monday and will make the turn toward Lake Champlain early next week. The adventure continues.....

Cape May to Sandy Hook, NJ

We departed Cape May on Friday - early as usual - headed to Atlantic City. This first picture was made on Thursday in Cape May and captures the Victorian style homes in Cape May. The next picture was made from the water as we departed Cape May on Friday morning. Our original plan was to stop in Atlantic City for the night but the weather and waves were favorable so we changed plans to pass Atlantic City for an anchorage north. Although this decision worked out fine, in retrospect we probably should have followed our original plan!! In spite of not stopping, we were able to take a picture of the Looping Monkeys in Atlantic City from the water and they, nor us, lost any $$$$.

For fair balance, we needed to show The Captain taking a well deserved break in the middle of the day while The Admiral was in command of the bridge. Both needed the experience.

By skipping Atlantic City, we could get closer to New York Harbor and the Hudson River so we chose Barnaget Inlet as a favorable anchorage for the evening. However, as we approached the Inlet, the wind speed increased dramatically and the waves were incredible (although we discovered on Saturday what incredible really means - more on that later). In the Waterway Guide, we read, after we were in the Inlet, the US Coast Guard warns boaters to not approach the inlet if waves are breaking over the jetties. Believe me, the waves were breaking over the jetties and we were fortunate to have "the luck of the dumb" and made it into the Bay. We joined John and Sue for dinner on their boat and, after returning to "Still Busy", had a restless night worrying about dragging anchor. However, we were up at 5 AM (this is suppose to be fun - right?) and left the inlet with numerous fishing boats, racing to find the best fishing spot, at dawn. Here is a great picture of the Barnaget Lighthouse which boast the second tallest lighthouse in the US - assume Cape Hatteras lighthouse in the tallest. As we progressed out of the inlet, we made this picture of the sunrise over the Atlantic as the shrimp boats were departing and the fog was arriving. This was truly the best part of the day. From there we experienced dense fog, wind, waves in excess of 5 feet on our beam, and more wind mixed with numerous fishing boats! What a wild ride - the worst in terms of wave height and frequency we have experienced - but we finally arrived in Sandy Hook, NJ around 2PM. We spent most of the afternoon picking up after the turbulent ride - books and dishes all over the salon - and washing the salt off the boat, including the canvas over the bridge which should give you an idea of how high the breaking waves sprayed. All is well that ends well and we have successfully navigated New Jersey and the Atlantic and look forward to traveling to the Statue of Liberty and entering the Hudson River tomorrow or Monday. We plan to stay at a marina on The Hudson and spend a couple of days in NYC - hotel, dinner, theatre (thanks to a gift from Jack's coworkers upon retirement), shopping, long warm showers, and a stationary bed. However, one of the most exciting parts of The Loop will be the NY and Canadian waterways and we are eager to experience this part of the journey.

We are back on the water...Annapolis to Cape May, NJ

As planned, we flew from Baltimore to Charlotte on Thursday to take care of some personal business and regain our "land legs". Overall, a very successful trip home - the house was meticulous thanks to Jessica. On Friday evening, we traveled to south Charlotte for dinner at Pia's mom with her brothers and family. Great homecoming. On Saturday, we attended Jack's grandson, Jackson, baseball game and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He is really growing! Here is the lefty as he prepares to hit during the game.

On Saturday afternoon, we met the "crew" (the same crew in the earlier picture that traveled to Charleston to see us off) at Big Al's for wings and beer - a chance to share some of our memories so far. After Big Al's, we went to the dock for more beer - great afternoon!

Sunday was cool in Charlotte so family - including Jackie and Jackson - met at our house for a cookout. We so much enjoyed seeing family and friends and home but we both are looking forward to getting back on the water to continue the trip. We flew back to Baltimore on Tuesday and arrived in Annapolis just in time to see The Blue Angels practice for their upcoming show at the Naval Academy graduation later this week. Although we won't be there for the actual flyover, the practice was awesome. Here are a few pictures taken from the bow of our boat as the Angels flew over the marina.

Our last dinner in Annapolis was followed by watching The Idol and Dancing With the Stars before leaving early Wednesday for the C&D Canal that joins the Chesapeake to the Delaware River.

We left Annapolis on Wednesday around 7 AM headed for the C&D canal . "Just Relax" and "Happy Clamz" were two days ahead of us and we needed to make good time to catch them in Cape May. We left the Chesapeake for the last time and traveled half of the C&D before stopping at a marina for the night - about 60 miles on the water. We arrived at the marina mid afternoon. A very pleasant weather evening - no winds, comfortable temps, no humidity. This is a picture of the Summit North Marina as we settled in for the evening with cable hook up to watch the Idol final and we were both surprised and pleased that Kris won.

We again left early on Thursday (although we don't like getting up at 6 AM, we do enjoy the water in the early morning - crisp, calm, smooth). We traveled the last 5 miles of the C&D into the Delaware River into New Jersey. Here is our first sight of NJ (no kidding) as we left the C&D with Delaware on our starboard and NJ on our port. The trip down the Delaware could not have been any better as we ventured outside the shipping channel to avoid the commercial traffic but maintained a comfortable depth. The "crew" from Charlotte gave us a couple of stuffed miniature monkeys when we departed Charleston and asked us to post pictures as we traveled. As they reminded us this week - we have been remiss so we have now "strategically" placed the monkeys on the bow rail above the Looper flag so all pictures from the bridge will show the monkeys. So - here is the first of many more to come - Monkeys on the Loop in the Delaware Bay.

We arrived at the entrance of the Cape May canal late morning after another 60 miles on the water and were fortunate to follow another motor yacht into the inlet (notice the monkeys). Our depth sounder was reading 1 - 2 feet as we passed the ferry boat pier at the entrance and we feared running aground - it was low tide. Following another boat did provide some comfort, if he hit bottom we knew where to avoid. We made it to the marina to join our travel companions and spent the afternoon in Cape May - a very charming resort town in southern NJ that is the nation's oldest seashore resort that dates back to 1812. The entire town of Cape May has been proclaimed and national historic landmark and has the largest collection of Victorian houses in the country. Very colorful!

We plan to leave tomorrow for Atlantic City and hope, weather permitting, to be in NYC early next week.

Solomon to Annapolis

On the last update, we had arrived in Solomon for a couple of days with plans to travel to St Michaels and then to Annapolis. We had planned to spend two days in Solomon but Mother Nature had a better idea - the wind on Sunday was strong so we decided to spend another day - Mother's Day - in this cute little fishing village. On Saturday, we traveled with the crews from "Just Relax" and "Happy Clamz" to a state park where we hiked 2 miles through the woods to search for shark's teeth along the beach but only found a couple of fossilized sea shells but everyone enjoyed the walk. As you would guess, in a Maryland village on the Chesapeake, we enjoyed the fresh crab cakes at some of the local restaurants. We also visited the Calvert Marine Museum on Solomon.

On Monday, John, Sue, Doug, and Leslie departed for St Michaels and we departed for the 45 mile trip to Annapolis. Our traveling companions will join us in Annapolis on Wednesday. The trip up the Chesapeake to Annapolis was relatively smooth with overcast skies, a few drizzles, and light winds. We departed Solomon at 7AM and arrived at The Yacht Basin Marina shortly after lunch. This is a picture of the lighthouse as we entered the Chesapeake Bay - the cliffs were beautiful through the mist!

Since traveling up the ICW from Charleston to Myrtle Beach, this was our first venture without following John and Sue. We were happy everything went so well as we navigated the Chesapeake on our own. Jack has visited Annapolis many, many times over the years on business travel and this is the first time he has seen this bay city from the water - a whole different perspective. This is another lighthouse as we entered the Annapolis harbor - the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, the last screwpile lighthouse in its original location. (remember you can click on any picture to see an enlarged view).

The weather on Tuesday was a pleasant 70 degrees so we took the train into Washington for a marathon sightseeing expedition. We were amazed at how much we were able to see in a short 6 hour tour - many of the Smithsonian museums, the National Archives, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery. Our sore feet and joints can attest to our hectic walking tour but we had a great time. Pia had never seen DC and she was fascinated by the history of this great country. However, as an artist, she was most amazed with the American History of Art Museum and we made a picture of her viewing an original Monet. Jack enjoyed viewing the original documents of the founding of this nation at The National Archives. A great day of sightseeing!

Early Thursday, our traveling companions arrived in Annapolis in time for all of us to tour the Naval Academy. What a historic place with a lot of tradition

- we actually viewed John Paul Jones' crypt located below the chapel on campus. Graduation is next week so many of the students were busy cleaning and practicing for the big event. We will be back in Annapolis from our trip home just in time to see The Blue Angels perform for graduation.

So we are off to Charlotte for a few days - checked on line and discovered that we could fly home for the same price as renting a car and driving 7 - 8 hours one way. Kind of a "no brainer". We will be back on the boat Tuesday and will leave Annapolis on Wednesday and hope to catch up to "Happy Clamz" and "Just Relax" in Cape May, NJ. Although we are glad to home for a few days, we already are looking forward to continuing our trip!

Norfolk to Deltaville to Solomons

We discovered that if the weather reports say 2 - 3 feet waves, you need to add these together to determine the correct wave height! We left Norfolk on Monday morning with the intention of traveling to Mojack Bay for an overnight Anchorage. Leaving the Norfolk ship yards was not too bad until we hit the Chesapeake Bay. The waves were 4 to 5 feet and were beating us up pretty bad so we decided to cut our day short and find a haven to wait out the weather system. We tied up to the docks at Dare Marina just south of Yorktown - "Just Relax" and "Happy Clamz" dropped anchor in the cove and John and Sue used the dingy to join us for dinner in the evening. Early Tuesday, we left for Deltaville - about 40 or so miles further north. Because of unpredictable weather, we decided to stay in Deltaville for 2 nights and we all used the extra day for "projects" on board. John and Doug helped me change the oil in my VDrive and I was able to fix my VHF antenna connection to get better reception. Pia reciprocated by painting numbers and names on "Happy Clamz" dingy and repairing the Captain's chair on "Just Relax". We left Deltaville at 6 AM this morning and are currently in the Chesapeake headed for Solomons on the Patuxent River - a long run of 60 miles. Although we debated if we should stay in Deltaville one more day or not, it appears that leaving was the right decision. Although the swells are 2 - 3 feet, they are on our stern so not so bad. We plan to stay in Solomons for a few days and then to St Micheals on the Eastern Shore before arriving in Annapolis after the weekend when we will rent a car a drive back to Charlotte for a few days.
Since writing this post, we have arrived in Solomons - a cute little fishing/tourist village in Maryland. We are now in our 4th state since leaving Charleston. Today, we plan to break out the bikes for sightseeing and shopping. We hear the crab dinners are great. We may stay here until Sunday!

Oriental,NC to Norfolk, Va

We left Oriental on Tuesday on a beautiful, sunny day for our trip to Bel Haven. We pulled away from the Marina at 7:30 and arrived at our anchorage just north of Bel Haven at 3:30. Our trip took us into the Neuse River to Bay River to Gale Creek to Upper Spring Creek to Goose Creek and The Pamlico River across the Pamlico Sound to the Pungo River. We are both glad we have a GPS!!! We had a pleasant dinner aboard "Just Relax" and attempted to watch The Idol from our boat with limited success because we were so remote.

On Wednesday morning we departed the Pungo River and proceeded up the Alligator River. You would think the Alligator River is named after the reptile but all we were able to spot was a lot of driftwood. So, for the first picture pretend this is an alligator.

We arrived at Alligator River Marina just beyond the Alligator Swing Bridge (and we haven't seen one alligator) around 1:30 - a four hour run. Early arrival allowed us to do some needed cleaning and maintenance before our dinner out of fried chicken and seafood in a booth in the back of the convenience store located at the marina. Overall - a "romantic" evening topped by watching The Idol on a 12 inch TV located in the bathroom/laundry/shower facilities.

On Thursday we once again left early so we could make the trip across the Albermarle Sound before potential inclement weather arrived in the afternoon. The Sound is the largest fresh water sound in the Eastern US and is shallow so any wind can cause turbulent travel. Our day across the Sound was smooth with the exception of the many, many crab pots that you are forced to dodge. After a long day of watching for crab pots, the Admiral took a breather.

We arrived at the town docks in Elizabeth City around 11:30 am. What a charming, friendly little sea port town located on the Pasquotank River. The locals are there to help tie you up to the dock and the local grocery store will come to pick you up for shopping. The dockage is free on a first come basis.

Here is a picture of Pia at the dock NOT taking a nap.

Doug and Leslie aboard "Happy Clamz" finally joined us in Elizabeth City. The three boats will travel together in the coming weeks.

We had planned to stay in Elizabeth City for a couple of days but learned of a bridge closing just south of Norfolk beginning Sunday for 3 days so we decided to leave on Friday to make the long anticipated trip to The Dismal Swamp and our first adventure through the locks. Here is Jack preparing "Still Busy" for an early departure as the sun rises.

The Dismal Swamp is everything the name describes and is Mother Nature at her best! The waterway is long, winding, and narrow. You need to be alert for floating logs and debris in the channel. We passed one sailboat headed south in the waterway and he needed to watch for overhanging trees on his mast.

So, we finally make it to the lock which was a lift of 8 feet. This two pictures demonstrate how much you do rise - Pia when we first entered the lock and Pia we were ready to depart. All in all, not a bad experience for our first time. On The Loop there are over 110 locks - we have 2 behind us!!

After the first lock, we traveled to the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center (an oxymoron?) where you must raft together to accommodate all boats that are waiting overnight for the next lock at 11:00 AM the next morning. At this small face dock, we have 8 boats rafted together. The Dismal Swamp Welcome Center is also a state park and we took the opportunity to hike the trails.

We departed the Welcome Center Saturday morning in time to make the lock opening at 11:00 AM. We crossed the Virginia state line prior to the lock and finally "locked through" the final lock on the canal around lunch and arrived in Norfolk/Portsmouth early afternoon. We made the trip from watching geese, turtles, and other wildlife to watching out for huge ships in the harbor. Quite a change of scenery and culture in a few short hours. We will be in Norfolk for a few days and plan to spend at least the next two weeks on the Chesapeake before traveling home for a few days in mid May. We were both amazed at the beauty of Eastern NC and are already talking about coming back to spend a few months exploring the many sights to see. We fully expect to enjoy the Chesapeake as much.