Everything Happens for a Reason

Our adventures last night were interesting, to say the least. Andy and I always try to think positive, and figure that everything happens for a reason. That is our tactic for not getting discouraged when things go wrong. Usually in hindsight you can find the good that came out of the bad stuff. This was certainly the case today.

We usually head out fairly early in the day. Due to our mishaps we didn't head out until 11:00am. Good thing! As I'm sure everyone has heard on the news, there was a mid-air collision of a helicopter and airplane over the Hudson River at 11:50am. We could very well have been under it, had we not been delayed!!

We sailed through New York Harbour. It was a wonderful opportunity to shut off the engine and enjoy the experience. I've always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, especially from the water. I have to say, though, that the experience was much less awe inspiring than I had hoped. She looked so small!! In fact, the New York skyline was a little anti climactic. I'm sure it was a greater sight before the World Trade Center fell. Sad, really.

As you can see by the pictures, Henry wasn't impressed either. ;)

By late afternoon the Coast Guard had reopened the east side Hudson River to boat traffic, so after fueling up we started up the river towards the 79th Street Boat Basin. It was very sad to see the recovery crews across from pier 40 searching for wreckage and bodies from the crash.

We heard a radio transmission on our way up the river about a boat in distress. As we approached the Enterprise aircraft carrier we spotted the distressed vessel...a small power boat with five fisherman rowing feebly towards shore in the strong Hudson River current. Well, our good boyscout Andy could not pass them by, so with the towing experienced he gained helping out on the Robbins at QCYC, we tied them on Sassy II's hip and towed them to safety.

We moored in the 79th street boat basin, and were discouraged to find that their was absolutely no shelter from wind or wakes! We might as well have been anchored in a shipping channel in the middle of the Atlantic! Talk about rocking to sleep!! Oh well, what can you ask for $30 per night in New York!

With the atmospheric changes, I guess a combination of being further north and having a storm front move in, I had a terrible headache. I went straight to bed at 8:00pm, and Andy took over baby care for the rest of the night. Thanks Andy!

A Great Sail to Sandy Hook

We were both dreading the 12 hour sail from Atlantic City to Sandy Hook. Our last trip in the Atlantic was rough, in more ways than one. But, having to get this leg behind us before we could make it the rest of the way home, we had no choice but to brave the seas and get on with it!

To our surprise and delight the trip was flawless! We had beautiful weather and fair winds. The seas were about two feet, and I didn't get sea sick at all! We did notice, however, that we must be getting close to home. We all wore pants and sweaters on this trip! We haven't worn warm clothes since we arrived in Florida the first week in April!

It took a total of 14 hours from port to port, which got us into Sandy Hook, New Jersey in the dark. We weren't concerned, we'd come into port at night before without incident.

Andy went below to find a phone number for Pete and Peggy who we had met in Atlantic City because Sandy Hook was their last stop and he wanted some direction to help us find the anchorage. Sandy Hook was a very large bay, and in the dark we couldn't see any other masts or anchor lights.

While he was below deck, Henry and I kept a casual look out, as we were in the middle of this massive bay and our depth was over 40 feet. Out of nowhere I was startled by our ladder jumping on the side of the boat! I looked up in time to see several large sticks knock past our hull!! I screamed for Andy to come up, and we stopped the boat to find ourselves in the middle of a field of these sticks strung with heavy line!

Andy tried to back us out the way we came in, to no avail. Our prop was fouled with line. The engine cut out whenever we tried to move.

Andy got on the radio and called for help. The Coast Guard responded and told us that we were caught in a fish trap. More of a boat trap if you asked us!! The Coast Guard boat came along and kept an eye on us while we awaited Boat Tow US assistance. We cut the lines that entrapped us and were towed to the anchorage that we were trying to find in the first place.

Boat Tow US sent a diver the following morning to unfoul the prop. Thank goodness we got a Boat Tow membership! The towing and diving bill would have been $1200.00!!!!!!! Yikes!

Rain Delays...

We woke up on day second morning in Atlantic City to drizzle. It was overcast and miserable outside. We listened to the weather forecast on the VHF radio to see what the day had in store for us. The seas were fairly calm, and the forecast held a lot of rain, but no thunderstorms. We really didn't want to lose another day in Atlantic City, so we decided to head out to sea and see how it was.

Well, after an hour out in the rainy, dreary, rolling seas we decided it was best to head back in. Our moods were as grey as the sky, and I was really not looking forward to a 12-14 hour sail with a cockpit too wet for Henry to play in. We would have been stuck below, which would have made me quite sea sick, for the entire day.

Instead of returning to the dock, we headed for an anchorage we had been told about the day before. When we got there we really wished we had known about it when we first arrived in Atlantic City. It was sheltered and peaceful. A little oasis of nature amongst the hustle and bustle of the city.

We enjoyed the rest of the wet day inside the cabin, watching TV, napping, playing with Henry, and resting up for the big sail ahead.

Sea Sickness = Memory Loss

When I last updated the blog, my memory had lost an entire day! Andy was reading the updates and told me that I had completely left out our stop in the Harbour of Safe Refuge...

Of course, he was right! I had completely forgotten that when we came in from the storm we had not reached Cape May, and came into the Harbour of Safe Refuge (aptly named!) in Lewes, Delaware. We docked at their city dock for the night. I felt rotten, so I went to bed early. It was the next day that we took the short, three or four hour trip to Cape May.

I think I'd better make my postings a little more frequently, my memories not what it used to be, and it's never been great!

Another Day in Atlantic City

It must be a virus I'm fighting. I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck! Of course, being up with Henry six times last night certainly didn't help!

Since I was feeling so lousy, we decided to take a day off from our travels. Andy did baby duty, and I slept in until 11:00am!! What a much needed treat! I felt quite a lot better waking at 11:00 than I had at 6:30am!

We took advantage of being docked in the touristy waterfront area today. We met a local named Paul, who also had a sailboat docked here. He gave Andy some 'local knowledge' about a few of the inlets between here and Sandy Hook. Then we went to lunch with Paul and a couple named Pete and Peggy who pulled up alongside Paul's boat while we were chatting.

Henry has been very difficult to put to bed lately...teething?... I'm not sure why. But after an hour or so of trying to get him down for an afternoon nap we gave up and went to see the aquarium. It was quite neat to see the Atlantic sea life up close like that! We quite enjoyed the tour of the aquarium, and...it put Henry to sleep!!

We took another walk in the evening, then Andy cooked a lovely dinner and we watched a movie. All in all we had quite an enjoyable day. Henry wouldn't go to bed tonight either....but eventually dropped off around 10:30pm, a couple of hours after bedtime. I'm not sure what's up with his aversion to sleeping! I'm sure we'll figure it out. This is only one of many challenges we'll face.

Cape May to Atlantic City, New Jersey

We were undecided whether to make the remainder of the trip to Sandy Hook in one jump or split it up. One trip would mean another overnight. Our decision was made be the fact that we realized we were pretty much out of formula for Henry, and Sandy Hook, from what we've heard, is just an anchorage, no shopping available. And so we decided to break the last leg into two days and go as far as Atlantic City today.

We had a pretty good trip to Atlantic City, although I was feeling quite 'under the weather'. I'm not sure if it was just residual exhaustion and nausea from the day before, or if I was fighting a virus. Either way, I'm glad we decided to split up the trip.

We arrived in Atlantic City and searched for an anchorage, to no avail. We ended up docking for the night at the public docks in front of some restaurants and an aquarium. The fee for overnight here was $1.50/ft. instead of the $4.00/ft at the local marina!!

Once we were settled in we ventured out on the local bus in search of a grocery store to pick up the much needed formula. Atlantic City was not at all what we expected! Andy was expecting a little version of Las Vegas, since he'd heard about their casinos. What we found couldn't be further from it! Atlantic City was a run down, impoverished city with what the bus driver reported as a very high crime rate. She said that young people there were lucky to see 20 years old without being shot!

We made our outing a quick one, buying our supplies in a little spanish grocery store, and bussing it back to the waterfront asap. The touristy waterfront area was quite a departure from the rest of the city. We got ice cream at a little shop on the water and called that dinner. Big mistake, since the sugar in the ice cream had Henry up and down like a yo-yo all night...and he had a proper dinner too!

Norfolk to Cape May

In Norfolk we met a very friendly local fellow named Terry. Him and his wife, Lena, invited us out to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had a really good time with them, and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy spending time with Henry. After dinner they drove us to a Food Lion for a few supplies. Terry is bit of an expert on VHF radios, so he sold Andy some cable and gave him some advice regarding the occasional trouble we've had reaching the bridges on our VHF.

The next day Terry came by and spent several hours with Andy installing new cables and making an emergency antenna. Henry and I ventured out to do some shopping, but the bus schedule was so complicated and infrequent we decided to make do with the meager shopping at the local plaza. At least it got us off the boat for awhile, I had a little 'cabin fever'.

That night the weather outlook was good, so we headed off on our 48 hour, which in looking at our new charts looked more like 36 hour, adventure.

The first night was uneventful. In the morning the sky was overcast, but the sailing was pretty good. Unfortunately...'the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed'...

Andy called the Coast Guard for advice on where the weather was heading. They told him it would miss us. Wrong! When the wind picked up to 25+knots Andy called them again, they told him that he should only be in 5-10 knots. He turned the boat and headed out to sea to avoid the storm. Unfortunately it chased us out, and eventually we had to turn into it. We headed for Cape May, looking to get off the water asap!

14 miles took us five hours! It was very rough and tough going. I was down in the aft cabin with Henry, Buddy and Charlie. Henry slept for some of the time, but it was very hard to keep him happy back there for the rest of the five hours. The hardest part was trying to keep him entertained and keep the dogs calm while I was sea sick! Definitely not our best day on the water.

Poor Andy was left to fight the seas and the storm alone. He was drenched, cold, and the auto pilot failed so he wasn't even able to take a bathroom break for that five hour stretch!

Needless to say we arrived in port feeling exhausted, each for our own reasons. We anchored for the night beside the Coast Guard Station. It was a noisy anchorage, as the Coast Guard had a platform out in the channel that had sirens and a loud speaker to call passing boats whenever they passed into the bay, or made a wake. I'm surprised Henry could nap at all! When things settled down later they had a helicopter doing exercises and hovering over the water about 100 feet from our boat! Not the most restful night, but much better than staying out to sea in that weather!

We were out