It was time to move on! We left the 79th St. Basin about noon with the tide and travelled with C-Drifters across the harbour of New York City. What a busy place. One freighter after another some the size of city blocks, tankers, tug boats, ferry boats, large motorboats whizzing by, sailboats and fishing boats.
We had decided cross the Harbour to anchor in Sandy Hook New Jersey but first we went by the Statue of Liberty several times taking pictures of each other’s boat and the city skyline. If you look very closely you will see the Statue of Liberty sitting right on top of our boat.
The weather has continued to be wonderful, sunny warm, even at times, hot - “shorts” weather even when sailing. When we got to Sandy Hook we went to get diesel and gas at the marina docks. The current was exceptionally strong and it was very difficult to get off the dock. The attendants were very surly and unhelpful. These were the first such people that we encountered. Everyone, from the small towns to the cities has been polite, cordial and helpful. Ray and Irene on C-Drifters had the same experience with these young men. Afterwards, we dropped anchor at Sandy Hook and rested the next day.
That night we made arrangements to leave with C-Drifters at midnight with the tide and do the 16-18 hour trip on the Atlantic Ocean so that we would arrive in Atlantic City late afternoon. It is very difficult coming into a new port in the dark and we try to arrive at all new places during daylight. It was quite exhilarating sailing at night with the stars. We followed the buoys out to sea. Only a couple of large freighters passed by us. The wind came up and we skimmed along on just the jib. I dozed off for about an hour and when I awoke, both the main and the jib were up and it was wonderful sailing after so much motoring! I took over the helm while Roman made his famous delicious omelets. About 11:00 a.m. the wind died. We took in the main and while I was below, Roman decided to take in the jib as well. The ocean was like glass. Out of nowhere a sudden gust of wind came from the west and Roman had to let go of the line as his thumb was caught in the line. You can never let up your guard at sea! He had to go up front in the ever-increasing wind to untangle the lines. He needed both hands to do so and it was a good thing that he was wearing his life jacket and he was tethered to the life lines. Actually we both wore our life jackets and were tethered to the life lines whenever we went out of the pilot house.
From there on the wind increased steadily. We were doing 7 knots on just the jib and then just part of a jib. The waves got higher and higher and we were constantly sprayed in the cockpit as the waves and wind tossed us to and fro. We went into the pilot house where we were thrown about if we did not hold onto the grab rails which Roman had installed all over the boat.
To brace myself I sat on the cushions by the door with my back against the side of the boat and my feet against the wooden stairs hanging on for dear life. This was the longest 5 hours of my life!
Finally about 4:30 we made it into the harbour at Atlantic City and followed the instructions of Skipper Bob looking for the anchorage. His advice is really invaluable. We made it past Rum Point into St. George’s Thoroughfare Bay only getting stuck on a sandy bottom once. There was a boat already there tied up to a mooring ball so both C-Drifters and Moya Mreeya tied up to mooring balls as well. Exhausted we ate cold chicken and went to bed where we were rocked by strong winds and rain. Our mooring ball held fast but in the morning we found out that during the night both C-Drifters and Cambyration, the other boat in the Bay had drifted into the weeds and had to be pulled off by dinghy. Both boats dropped their anchors.
The forecast for the next few days was “gale force winds, rain and high waves”. Apparently out in the Atlantic Tropical Storm 15 was dancing about and heading up the coast. We decided to stay put in the protected Bay which was fairly choppy and windy. I didn’t want to imagine what it was like on the seas. Wednesday afternoon it calmed down a bit and Roman and I decided to dinghy to shore to see what was there. We had noticed that Cambyration only had a little rowboat with no motor so we went over in our dinghy to see if there was anything that they needed.
Cambyration is a 2 masted 35 ft sailboat with beautiful lines. Chad and LeeAnn are a young couple (23 and 20) from Michigan who bought this boat last August in New York for peanuts because it needed a lot of tender loving care and hard work! It is teak inside and out, even the decks are teak. Chad has been working on it non-stop. Chad is a young musician who can work anywhere and LeAnn has a job waiting for her in Wilmington North Carolina where they will live on the boat and keep right on working on it. They plan on completing their degrees on the internet. One of the best things about this trip is the wonderful people you meet along the way.
Chad and LeeAnn jumped at the chance of getting off the boat and we towed them behind our dinghy to shore on Brigatine Island where we found not only a large supermarket, a dollar store, a great bagel bakery but also a Burger King which had free internet access. Unfortunately neither of us had our computers with us.
We stocked up as the weather did not look good. It rained cats and dogs while we were in the supermarket and drizzled all the way back to the boats.
When we got back to the boat we had some time to relax. Roman read all about his new camera.
And I got caught up on my Sudoku. It is amazing but we are always busy on a boat especially when we are underway that there is no time to read or to do Sudoku. The wind picked up and the rain got worse so we went to bed even earlier than we usually do. When you are boating you get up with the sun and you go to bed with the sun. Now that the day is shorter we go to bed by 9:00 at the latest.
All night it poured and the winds threw us about in the v-berth. We could hear the strain of the lines attached to the mooring ball. Finally about 5:30 Roman got up and just as he went outside to check on the lines, the last of the frayed line gave way and we were adrift in the wind and the rain heading for the reeds and weeds. Roman had to drop the anchor three times before it held.
Here you see the four boats anchored off Rum Point. This is the day when finally it was calm and clear.
I needed to be in Toronto for the UCWLC Convention at least by the 16th or 17th. It was already Thursday the 11th and even if the weather cleared up by Saturday or Sunday, there would not be enough time to sail to Baltimore. I spent most of the day and my entire $30.00 telephone card calling airlines to see if I could fly out of Atlantic City. Surprisingly I found that only Delta could fly me out but only through Atlanta and at a cost of $1552.00. Unbelievable! My only choice seemed to be to stick to my original plan to fly out of Baltimore. But how to get there? Roman suggested that we rent a car. I added another $30:00 to my phone card and spent the next hour trying to find out which car rental places would pick us up on Brigatine Island. Finally we found one and arranged to be picked up on Saturday morning. I could then fly out on Saturday. But when I called the airline there were only the flights 2:15 or later on Sunday were available at the reduced rate. Saturday was sold out. Air Canada, by the way, could get me straight through to Toronto from Baltimore but at a cost of $652.00.
The next morning it seemed to clear up a little and we all decided to make a “caravan” (our dinghy towing the kids and Irene and Ray following) after “breckie” to the Burger King to use the internet. Ray and Irene are expanding our vocabulary. While there, the heavens opened up and it poured and poured again. I confirmed what I had determined by phone that I was indeed catching the cheapest flight and getting the cheapest car. So I booked the earliest flight on Sunday 2:15 and I would be in Buffalo at 3:15.
We got back to the boat all wet and found that I had forgotten to close the hatch over our V-Berth and our bedding was wet. Oh, the joys of boating! It is really quite difficult to string up lines to dry large items such as blankets in such tight quarters. We had some extra dry bedding and we managed.
We had to rent the car for the weekend as the rental agency was closed on Saturday. So we had time to do some sightseeing, grocery shopping and even went to Walmart. In the afternoon we went into Atlantic City to look at the casinos. Honest, we didn't even use a quarter to gamble, not that I saw a quarter machine anywhere. Here we are in the Trump Marina Casino.
This is in front of Caesor's Palace Casino. I can't get rid of the underlining so I'm leaving it. I am paying by the hour for use of the computer and no time to figure out why if it doesn't work in just a few minutes.
The ride to Baltimore was much longer than we had anticipated and took almost 4 hours. Everything had a toll: the bridges, tunnels and highways, but the roads were well-maintained and well-used. Maybe toll roads in Ontario are not such a bad idea. Our plane developed some mechanical difficulties and they had to bring in another plane so we left over on hour late. But I was finally on my way.
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