Mea Culpa for the lengthy blog. Have been busy boating.

Departed Annapolis on June 10 in the rain.

Had a nice run to Baltimore Harbor, which is pretty damn big. Some large ships in here.

Pulled up to East Harbor Marina in the rain. Tied up and turned on the AC. Not too much later, the rain abated and we went for a walk about. Went to the rooftop bar at the Four Seasons nearby for a cocktail and some beautiful views.

Went back to the boat, opened up a good bottle of champagne, and toasted to my turning 50. Walked to an Argentinian restaurant, Bar Vasquez, and had a fantastic dinner. While we were awaiting our entrees, our waiter brought us out avocado toast with Maryland crab. I actually ate some. After dinner, we went back to the Four Seasons for a nightcap and were told we couldn’t go into the restaurant because we were wearing tennis shoes! And, for us, we were dressed pretty fancy! It was hilarious. We always say we are boat trash; being turned away at the Four Seasons pretty much solidified this.

Awoke to perfect weather the next day! We did laundry and boat chores. We then Ubered to the Baltimore Washington Airport to interview for our TSA Global Entry renewals which, thank God, ended up being very seamless. Ubered back into the city and walked to Whole Foods to provision. Mike met me there to carry groceries back to the boat. I told him I would just take the cart which we could return. This embarrassed him. Inserted by Mike:…Embarrassed? Nope…my partner the bag lady. Ha!

After putting groceries away, we took a walkabout. The inner harbor area of Baltimore is really pretty. Neither of us were really looking forward to this port, and it completely exceeded our expectations.

We walked to Camden Yards and bought a couple tickets to the ball game. The O’s are doing horribly this year, so we got great seats for $20 each. Beautiful ball park, and the Orioles won!

Met a lovely newly married local couple with whom we watched the game. (I think he will be buying a boat soon after talking with us.)

Walked the ~!.5 miles back to the boat along the waterfront, which was lovely.

After too short of a visit, we departed Baltimore the next morning and ran up the remainder of the Chesapeake. It was a lovely trip.

Entered the C & D Canal and went a short distance to Chesapeake City. Dropped the hook a couple times and were still not pleased with the anchorage. Mike scouted room on the City free dock, so we picked up and brought the boat there. Went to the local Tiki Bar and had a beer. Met a lot of cruisers. The next morning, walked around the charming town.

Walked to the C & D Canal Museum which outlined the story of the building of the canal which connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River. This canal carries 40% of all ship traffic in and out of Baltimore, and allowed passage from Philadelphia to Baltimore. It’s an impressive waterway with a ripping current that we scheduled to have at our back.

We took a long walk to an ATM machine and happened upon a Bayheads Brewing Company, so sat down for a pint. The bartender was a hoot, and we got to meet his mom who came in after us. Walked back to the boat and battened down the hatches as we knew a thunderstorm was coming.

When the rain came, it CAME HARD! With wind, thunder and lightning. Visibility went from great to very little. Well, that apparently doesn’t stop some folks from fishing.

Mike and I were stunned this dude was fishing in this weather. Apparently, I don’t understand the importance of the sport. After he tired of wearing his soaked shirt, he pulled that puppy off and kept on fishing!

The next morning, we departed Chesapeake City for Delaware City, Maryland. Super quick trip along the canal with the current at our back. We needed to get down the Delaware, but the winds were ripping.

Arrived Delaware City around 9:30am and tied up. Walked around this charming town.

Went to Crabby Dick’s for lunch. Went back to the marina and sat through a discussion of getting down the Delaware by Tim, the Delaware City Dockmaster. Tim explained to the boaters that the Delaware will essentially eat you alive if you boat on her during the wrong conditions. After looking at various weather sites, we decided we would take off the next morning at 5:00am, and tackle 22 miles down to the Delaware while the conditions were good and drop the hook at pretty much the only anchorage on the way down the 61 miles trip. Weather was forecast to be great during this trip.

We, along with some much faster boats, dropped the lines shortly after 5:00am at low tide to exit the tricky entrance to the marina. We didn’t run aground! We were treated to a beautiful sunrise and calm seas.

Well, before 6:00am, the wind and seas picked up. All of our hours of preparation, meetings and weather reports were worthless. We tucked into a great anchorage which was super protected around 8:30am and spent the day hanging on the hook. The next morning look fairly good for doing the remainder of the trip. Both of us wanted to get this leg behind us. Trip was pretty crappy, but we got into Cape May, NJ and reconnected with our friends John and Gina on Alysana which was very cool. Oh, I suppose I should mention I ran aground again entering the marina at Cape May. We got off the ground quickly and without incident. This one was totally my fault. I was supposed to stay 30 feet off the break wall, and I was probably 50 feet off. I never was very good at math. Skinny water can suck it.

Over cocktails and appies, had another “captains’ meeting” to discuss schlepping up the Atlantic Ocean the next morning to Atlantic City. We left Cape May around 7:30am, bashed through some big waves through the inlet, and had an uneventful ~50 nautical mile trip to Atlantic City.

We hit Atlantic City on a conflicting current and had a wild ride into the harbor. Mike was at the helm. Let me repeat…Mike was at the helm when we RAN AGROUND entering our anchorage! Instead of putting her in reverse, he hit the throttle forward with gusto insuring we were nicely stuck in the mud. He tried to kedge us off, but he did such an excellent job getting us on, our girl didn’t want to budge. Since our anchor was down, we had our anchor watch beer. I grabbed a book. Mike hopped in the dinghy and did some waxing on our hull (since she was so high on the water).

About 4 hours later, the tide came up and we swung free! We went over to Alysana and celebrated floating again with John and Gina. We watched the sun set and the casinos start lighting up.

The next morning, we took off around 6:30am and went up the New Jersey Intercoastal Waterway, which is often not recommended due to its shallow waters and numerous shoals. We originally planned to go outside in the Atlantic, but there was some nasty thunderstorms forecast for the early afternoon. We left during a mid-rising tide and were very diligent about traversing the skinny waters with a positive tide and slow speeds. We almost touched bottom once, but actually got through the day without running aground! Tucked into Trader’s Cove Marina, did a load of laundry, showered and made dinner. Sat through some good thunderstorms and were happy FF got a freshwater bath!

Awoke at 5:30 this morning for an early start to Staten Island. Unfortunately, we were totally fogged in. For this trip, we needed to consider: tide; current of the Point Pleasant Canal; current going through the very skinny railroad bridge abutments; current of the Manasquan River at the inlet; the conditions of the Atlantic Ocean; afternoon thunderstorms; currents coming out of New York Harbor; and finally, fog. Fog lifted enough for us to depart around 8:20 which meant that we would miss slack tide and have to fight the tide through the canal (which rips); fight the ripping current through the narrow abutments; have tide & current in good concert going out the inlet; and enter New York Harbor at Max Ebb (not good). All that said, had a lovely trip today, and usually had a mile visibility. We didn’t run aground, and weren’t hit by the fast moving ferries. Success! I’m much more comfortable boating now with a foot under my keel than I ever have been.

Arrived Great Kills Yacht Club around 2:00 this afternoon and were greeted by friends and strangers alike with big smiles. Happy to be through New Jersey and in NY! More thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow, so we will let our boat sit tight and venture into the City. Haven’t been to the Big Apple in some years, so looking forward! Very appropriate that we came into NY today as it is our dear friend Liz’s birthday and NYC is her favorite city. Will hoist one for you tonight Goat Girl. xoxo

Happy Friday Eve! M&M