Hi-5 Sailcat - Our Next Family Adventure...

2012-05-17 - to New York City, NY

We are heading today for NYC!! This is our last jump on the outside and then we will be in the protected waters of the Hudson River and Erie Canal.
later on..........

New York Skyline - New Jearsey (on the left), Manhattan (on the right), the Statue
of Liberty is now in view (on the New Jearsey side)...look closely

It was a great day on the water. The seas were so calm that you could see fish swimming and jumping on the surface. This is a stark contrast to the time we left New York City on the trip down. The seas were fine, but the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the honking ships going by. We also went on the smaller ship channel instead of the major 'Ambrose' channel. Kerry had studied the charts and picked this one as it was out of the way of potential cargo ships who use the channel. This made for a very calm enterance to a very busy harbour. We anchored in the same anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty. Tomorrow we will head over to the 79th Street Boat Basin to dock the boat and explore the town once more.

2012-05-16 - to Manasquan Inlet, NJ

surrounded by shrimp boats at the Shrimp Box Restaurant

This morning we were all set to make another attempt to leave Atlantic City. The winds were calmer, but we did not know what the sea state was looking like. A large power boat pulled into the fuel dock so I ran over to ask him if he just came from outside. Sure enough, he did. He said the sea state was fine...but, the fog was very thick. He was going to wait it out. We decided to head out anyway. We move a lot slower than power boats so we could keep a clearer eye out for boats in the area. We also had radar that was buzzing away. We really only had a few boats that we had to track. Without even being able to see them, they passed about a mile in front and were out of site. After a couple of hours the fog lifted and we could see clearly again. We landed at Manasquan Inlet late afternoon and tied to a restaurant dock called 'The Shrimp Box'. We were here on the way down and the manager was fine with us staying on the dock if we ate there. It's a great way to spend dock fees!

2012-05-15 - in Atlantic City, NJ

The food court upstairs had these great chairs in sand. It gave
a great view of the ocean and beach front!

lots of crashing waves today!

We tried to break free of Atlantic City today. Kerry had checked the weather and he thought that we would be stuck here today due to the higher winds. A sailboat pulled into the fuel dock that came in from the outside. Kerry ran over to ask them what the sea state was. They said that it was fine and they were just going to fuel up and head back out. We were skeptical, but thought that we would give it a try. Well, I am not sure what part of the North Atlantic they are from, but the sea state was not good. It was very rough. Leaving the Atlantic City channel is always difficult when the current opposes the tide. Sure enough the tide was opposing the current making for a very rough ride to the outside. We thought we would push through the channel, make the turn to the north and give it about 3 minutes. If things were not settled we would turn around. It wasn't at all

dangerous...just very bumpy and it started to really pour down. It was a good decision not to proceed. We turned the boat around and secured ourselves to the dock again after 30 bumpy minutes. We ended up taking a taxi downtown again to enjoy the boardwalk. We ended up spending most of our time at the Ceasars Pier (a very large pier with upscale shopping) since it was still raining. The best thing was a fountain show to music that was on every hour. We all loved that. It also gave us a great view of the ocean from 3 floors up. Lots of waves out there!

Our view from the docks at Kammermans marina - quite rustic!

2012-05-14 - to Atlantic City, NJ

We left the anchorage at Cape May this morning at 7am heading towards Atlantic City. Overall, it was a great day. We arrived at Kammermans marina at 12:00pm. It didn't take us long to check in, grab showers, and begin our walking journey downtown. It was a great day checking out the boardwalk. We walked for miles up the boardwalk, stopping to explore the shops and sites. When we had enough we jumped on one of the small buses in town called a Jitney. We didn't really know the route we needed but after a quick chat with the driver we figured on a good spot that he could stop which got us fairly close to 'home'. It was a very long day but we all faired very well. Tomorrow the weather isn't looking good for leaving, but we will check it out tomorrow.

2012-05-13 - to Cape May, NJ

We left the anchorage at the top of the Delaware River at 7:30am. We lew with the current and favourable wind for about 5 hours. The last 2 hours our speed went from 9-10 knots to 4.5-5 knots. We arrived in Cape May, NJ at 2:30pm - got fuel and water and then anchored for the night outside the Coast Guard Training Centre. We remembered this from the trip down where they do chanting (while jogging, I am assuming) until about 11pm. We were glad to have that part of the trip out of the way. Tomorrow we head out in the ocean again towards Atlantic City

2012-05-12 - to Delaware City, DE

We did 100 miles today! We left the anchorage at 5:45am and went all of the way up the Cheapeake Bay, with a favourable current for the last 8 hours, to the top and then through the C+D Canal. We anchored at 7:15pm at the top of the Delaware River. I kept the kids busy while Kerry sailed most of the day. Connor and I worked on a puppet show with Mario characters for Dylan as he really loves Mario!

2012-05-11 - to Little Choptank River, MD

This day ended not as planned....
This is Kerry's recount of the day:

We left Solomons Island at 6:00am. For the first hour we were going East and it was going great. We had a nice NW breeze. Then we turned the corner to go NW. The wind and waves were on the nose as winds pick up for about an hour. After ~2hours, we turned straight N (along the W coast) but wind had picked up and shifted more N. It was too rough to go the 30 miles to the closest anchorage on the west side (6 hours away). We checked Skipper Bob and Active Captain for anchorages on the easst side. Then we ran for a spot about 20 miles away on the East side of the Bay. We sailed for about an hour, but it got too rough to contnine in this NE direction. I pulled Skipper Bob and Active Captain again. Our choices were to turn back to Solomons Island or to find an anchorage straight east from us. I found one that was about 1 hour away. I turned East and had an ok sail into a place called Hudson Creek which is about 5 miles up the Little Choptank River. It was a nice well protected spot. So we advanced 16 miles worth over 4.5 hours today. We had planned to be in Annapolis, but we were all glad to be anchored in this very protected spot. We enjoyed the day just being together. Tomorrow we will try to gain some more 'ground'.

2012-05-10 - in Solomons Island, MD

We couldn't go anywhere today as the wind has picked up and would be on the nose all day to travel. We took the dingy to shore to enjoy the Calvert Marine Museum again. We had done this on the way down but it is a great spot. They have a fossil dig for the kids where they can search for shark teeth and other fossils. They also have a great touch tank. They even had a geocache for us to search for. We did that for most of the day and then just walked a bit in town for a bite to eat. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and we can move once more.

2012-05-09 - to Solomons Island, Maryland

Another long day. It rained and was foggy for most of the day. There was a lot of military presence, however. The first occurred when Kerry was hailed on the VHF radio by a large war ship. They were letting us know that they were performing high speed testing in the area and we were to stay clear. There was also another war ship parked right over a 'bombing site' in the middle of a Danger Zone. There was also a large plane, flying low, in a circular pattern around us. It looked like a training exercise as you could clearly read 'US Navy' on the side of the plane. The other spectacular sight was the witness of a large plane with United States of America on the side accompanied by 2 fighter jets and later a helicopter flying in the direction of Washington. It looked suspiciously like Obama's! ;)

2012-05-08 - to Deltaville, VA

We are now in Chesapeake Bay. We left the anchorage at 8:30am in Hampton and arrived in the anchorage in Deltaville, VA at 2:15. The waves made for a very rolly ride. I stayed inside and kept Dylan and Connor company while Kerry remained outside at the helm. We flew today with speeds ranging from 8 to 11 knots. Deltaville marina offers an anchoring rate of $11 per adult which allows for showers, courtesy car, bikes, internet, lounge, laundry etc. We opted for that and hung out in the lounge for a bit of 'off the boat' time while getting some, much needed, laundry done. Tomorrow we head out for Solomons Island, Maryland.

2012-05-07 - to Hampton, VA

high tide over the docks

In the middle of the night I was up with Dylan so I decided to check out the high tide on the dock. When the town built the dock they didn't factor in high tides, so the dock floods completely whenever there is high tide. This is fine for when you are already on the boat, but if you are returning to your boat it can get pretty uncomfortable. The other thing to is that at high tide the boat is very difficult to get up or down. Other than that these complimentary docks are great and the hospitality from "Mile Marker 0 Marine Supplies" is one of the best boat stores that service the need of boaters. First, they delivered a package of information as soon as we landed, they go and fill your propane tanks up for you, they will handle boater mail (which is great to know if you know you have a package coming), transportation to grocery stores, ice, bread, and the beer (they say the cheapest around!). They were just so nice to meet and their attention to customer service has never been seen like this on the trip so far. If any boaters are heading up this way - stay in the south basin in Portsmouth! You won't be disappointed!!

We had a few minutes in the morning to complete our geocaches. The one that stumped us was a small vial with two artificial leave sticking out of it. We couldn't find it for the longest time, but we finally did in the end.

We crossed the river over to Hampton, VA. It was very rocky and windy. We even lost (for a moment) one of our boat chair....but, not for long. A quick adjustment of sail and direction and we completed a successful

Dylan tries his hand on another flight simulator. He loved the crashing part much better than the
flying. I will make sure he is not my captain if I need to fly!

'man overboard'. We anchored out in Hampton, dinghied to shore and hit the Virginia Air and Space museum. It's been 3 museums in 3 days! We all had a great time but will need to have a good travel day tomorrow to make it north!

Connor tries a jumbo jet simulator

Flight simulator at the Virginia Air and Space Museum

Anchored off of the town marina in Hampton, VA

Virginia Air and Space Museum

2012-05-06 - to Portsmouth, VA

Docked at Waterside Marina, downtown Norfolk

In the morning Connor and I went on a short Geocaching expedition. We had three picked out that were within walking distance and, by amazement, we found all three!! After that excitement we headed over to Portsmouth - to stay on the city docks there. Just after we tied up the owner of Mile Zero Marine supplies came over to give us a welcome package of various pamphlets and boater information.

Connor did 3 more geocaches this morning before we headed out. Found all 3 that we
were searching for!

It was so nice to get this welcome for a change. We spared no time to head over to the Virginia Children's Museum. It was fantastic! I lost Connor the instant that we arrived. He was exploring all of the hands on exhibits. Dylan absolutely loved the model train exhibit. A soon as he saw the trains his eyes lit up. I wish that we could stay longer and do the museum again but, we are on a quick schedule to get home by the end of the month as our renters have decided to move out a month early. I think we thoroughly did the whole museum. By 5:50, they had announced that they needed customers to start making their way to the door. We were the last ones out and

Geocaching brought us to this lovely tribute to soldiers and the women in their lives
called 'Love Letters'. The letters were metal structures appearing as if they had
been blown in the wind. Very moving!

we all had a great time. In the evening Connor and I slipped out again to try another 3 geocaches. We found only 2 as the sun was starting to set. The tide had also come in and the dock is strangely underwater. We had been warned about this from another fellow boater. It's strange that town did not consider height of the dock in comparison to the tides. Oh well, we tucked ourselve in the boat and called it a night. What a great day.