Days 12-16, June 15th - 19th Chesapeake City to New York Harbor

The cruising books all say what a rough trip you can have down the Delaware Bay, so I viewed this segment with some anticipation. Tides and current here play a big role in the timing of your trip. We left at 0830 with the tide and three other Looper boats. The morning was cool and cloudy again, with a threat of rain. We lucked out and had smooth seas the entire trip.

As we entered the Cape May Canal, we saw a big sign "Welcome to New Jersey." Cape May turned out to be one of my favorite stops. The town burned in the early 1800's and when rebuilt, all homes were built in Victorian style, which they've preserved. The homes are fabulous. You can see some of the photos in our Picture List. There are lots of shops, restaurants, Bed and Breakfasts and a Promenade.

Reggie and I walked all over and even down to the beach. He found the "perfect" green grass and rolled and rolled in it, playing like a crazy doggie. He was SO funny - I couldn't help thinking that he'd maybe been on the boat too long. He sure slept well that night.

When we returned to the boat, Rich and I joined another "Looper" couple for dinner at the famous local Lobster House - not the chain. The local flounder met our expectations.

We delayed our departure one day due to weather and high winds. We decided to run the outside, rather than taking the New Jersey ICW. We had heard too many comments about the ICW being very shallow and also slow due to numerous bridges. The sun was out - yeh! - and we were underway. We passed Atlantic City, about 40 miles north, with its huge casinos and hotels. Our route was only 3-4 miles off shore so that was neat. The New Jersey coast looked very pretty. We had a following sea with 1'-2' swells and 10 knots of wind - a beautiful day on the water.

We arrived in Berille, NJ about 4:30P after a 90 mile run up the coast. We fueled, then washed the boat and cooked dinner onboard. Reggie and I took a long walk, exploring the area.

Cape May would be a great place to fly in and spend a few days or week. Its a popular destination but I had not heard of it before now.

It was Monday morning and we were about 40 miles from New York Harbor. I had a lot of anxiety of us traveling in New York Harbor. One of our cruising books suggested that we plan a Sunday morning arrival. Well, it didn't work that way!

The morning was sunny with hardly a cloud. The seas were like a "duck pond" again - unbelievable. This was the Atlantic Ocean!

It was very exciting arriving in New York Harbor, passing Coney Island, Staten Island, Brooklyn; however, nothing was more exciting than cruising by the Statue of Liberty in all of her glory. We cruised in the Harbor - "piece of cake!" The Harbor was actually pretty quiet. We've certainly traveled in much more congested areas. In fact, Norfolk, most recently. My Captain did great!

We had reservations at Liberty Landing Marina on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. We were directly across from East Battery and the Financial District of Manhattan. What a view, especially at night with all of the lights. It was a great location and easy to catch the ferry the next morning to tour the Statue of Lberty and Ellis Island.

Rich's Grandpa Andrews arrived at Ellis Island from Sweden when he was only 11 years of age. It was so interesting to listen to what the many thousands of immigrants experienced. The Registration Hall made the biggest impression on me, imagining a young boy, all alone and speaking only Swedish, going through the process of coming to this country. How frightened he must've been. Immigrants could be turned down and sent back where they came from. Many traveled 4-6 weeks by ship, only to have go back home. Grandpa had a sister and family in Estherville, IA, where he was going to work on the farm. Rich doesn't know how Grandpa got to IA. The New Jersey Railroad Station, now home of Circle Lines, was where the ferry left from for the tour of Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Grandpa may have left from The New Jersey Railroad Station.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day. We walked up to the Observation Deck of the Statue of Liberty, as far as one is permitted now after 9/11. I think it was 155 steps UP and back down.

I took photos of the area when we arrived on Crazy Eights. It was a bit hazy but I was so glad that I did, because the day that we were leaving New York it was raining.

Days 8- 13, Jun 11th - 15th Norfolk to Chesapeake City

The weather was kindly to us as we made our way up the East Coast, allowing us to move almost every day. We met friends in Norfolk that we met last year when cruising. What a delight that our paths crossed again. We caught up on what each of us had been doing these past few months and enjoyed a couple of meals together. Barbara from "Sea Weed" (Port St. Lucie, FL) loves Reggie and couldn't wait to see him again. She arrived on Crazy Eights with a new toy for Reggie. We named the squeaker toy Sea Weed, which pleased Barbara!

Norfolk is such a marvelous harbor with military, commercial and pleasure boats passing our anchorage. It's like watching the world stage traveling by. We can sit on the sundeck for hours watching the sights.

The weekend before we arrived in Norfolk was their annual Harbor Water Festival with many tall ships from around the world in the parade. Many were still in the harbor when we arrived on Monday. Don and Barbara were there for the weekend with many thousands spectators and shared some of their tall ship photos with us. Please see our Picture List for a real treat.

We left Norfolk two days later, under cloudy skies and cool temps, passing the many Navy ships on our way out. It was definitely jeans and sweat shirts weather.

Our next destination was Solomon's Island, MD, our first stop in the Chesapeake. It was a hundred miles north - a full day on the water. The water was amazingly calm and we made excellent time to Solomon's Island, one of our favorite spots from last years' cruise. When we arrived, we stopped for fuel and then anchored in our favorite cove. After a long day on the water, it's a little cleanup, dinner and early to bed. We lowered the dinghy and took Reggie ashore, giving him a chance to stretch his legs, too.

One of the fun things about belonging to the AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) is meeting other "Loopers." When you fly your burgee on the bow of the boat, you'll always have someone stop by to say "hey." We saw " Sea Toy" from Austin, TX in a nearby marina. We had met them in April at the Spring Rendezvous so it was fun to see them a few minutes. There were other boats anchored from London, Canada and Holland.

The following morning we were underway early at 0745 with another long day planned at 90 miles to Chesapeake City at the far end of the Chesapeake Bay. The sea conditions were not like yesterday's "duck pond." When we passed the bridges at Annapolis, the sea calmed down some. Mid-afternoon we could hear the engine slowing and we hadn't made any changes.
Rich figured a fuel filter needed to be changed so we slowed and he opened the engine compartment and changed the primary fuel filter on one of the engines. One tries not to have to do things like this when underway, but sometimes there isn't a choice. That did the trick and we were off and running again.

When we arrived at the marina in Chesapeake City after 5PM, we found several other Loopers there, who invited us to join them for dinner. I had planned to cook aboard - oh well! Socializing with other Loopers is at least half the fun of the cruise. We had a delightful meal and fellowship. They were from Chicago and VA.

Reggie and I enjoyed walking the town after dinner. So many of these towns have restored their 1800's homes. They're fun to see. There are always places to eat and often a local bakery to really tempt one - not to speak of ice cream! I think we've eaten more ice cream in the short time since we left GA than we have for many months.