New York City

The BIG Apple
July 18 – 20, 2007

Eddie and I whined enough, and Wayne finally relented, to have a few days in New York City to be tourists. Being the thrifty minded individuals that we have to be now, we decided we would check out the West 79th Street Boat Basin facility. We had talked to a sailboat while we were heading south on Delaware Bay who mentioned they were thinking of going there too and how inexpensive and convenient it was.

The skies looked bleak the entire morning, and we were waiting for the fog to lift enough for us to get through New York Harbor. By 1400 we had to decide to make the move or not as we had about 22 miles to go to get to the marina, and we wanted to get there before the rush hour peak and/or dark. So, we upped the anchor and began heading toward the Verrazano Narrows. A thunderstorm struck with heavy rains, but fortunately, not terrible winds. We had to creep along from one channel marker to another. After the storm blew through, we had good visibility, but the going was slow because of the outgoing strong current pushing against us. The heavy rains had washed the city streets clean and all the debris was in the waterway in huge floating masses: plastic, paper, tree leaves and limbs, auto parts, lumber, and pier and dock pieces. Just one more thing to have to worry about!

Passing through New York Harbor is always exciting because there is so much activity. The colorful orange Staten Island ferries and yellow New York City water taxis buzz about in stark contrast to the drab barges. I must say, though, that some of the tugs they use have some nice paint jobs and interesting shapes. I call one type a giraffe tug because it has a pilothouse that sits high atop a long extension from the lower deck so that the pilot can see over the tall barge it has to push. Today we are treated to the sight of the majestic Queen Mary 2 which had just docked earlier in the day.

We make the turn past the Battery to take our first trip up the Hudson River. We pass over the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and can see their huge ventilator shafts, the only visible evidence we are even going over them. We pass through an empty commercial dock section which we later see is where cruise ships dock. We are amused to see a multi-level driving range fully enclosed with netting and people hitting golf balls right out into the Hudson River. We wonder what keeps the people from falling off the platform and how many clubs must be laying on the river bottom!

Norwegian Spirit Arrival

By 1730 we have picked up our mooring lines and are as secured as we're going to be for our stay. Located adjacent to the Upper West Side, south of the George Washington Bridge and contiguous with Riverside Park, the marina is run by the City of New York Parks & Recreation. The facility operates 24hrs/day. There are docks for full time liveaboards, and the entire property is fenced off and locked up. To get in, you have to hail the office and be let in or let in by someone you know already there. They have an ice machine and free washer and dryer.

From a boating viewpoint, it appears that the boats at the docks take a real beating. Despite having a breakwater to cut down on wakes from the busy traffic on the Hudson, there is still a lot of wave action around the docked boats. Many fenders were flattened, boats with scraped hulls, bent rails, all evidence of lots of movement. The floating docks are very tippy; you have to be careful crossing from one section to the next. Carrying anything is a challenge. At least being on a mooring keeps the boat from being damaged, but it is a wake adventure to say the least. Since we were gone all day every day we didn't have to be bothered by it as much. At night traffic is at a minimum, so you don't have to really worry about getting rolled out of the bed from a bad wake.

Standing outside on our upper deck is quite interesting. We are right next to the buildings of the Upper West Side. Donald Trump has purchased a lot of property adjacent to the waterfront and has erected a couple of new high rises; the one right next to us is Trump Place. For developmental permits, builders are required to provide green space for community use, so a lot of improvements have been made to Riverside Park. This heavily treed area has attractive flower gardens, biking, walking, and running concourses, special seating and entertainment and dining areas. The city sponsors a summer program called Open Air Flicks whereby a huge screen is set up on a renovated pier (next to us), chairs are put out, and people can watch free movies. The city lights, especially those of the George Washington Bridge, look beautiful at night from our vantage point. I can't get good pictures of them from the boat because it is moving and distorts the photo.

Color in the Park

NYC Rainbow

City personnel are in the process of setting up for a Triathlon which will take place on Sunday. Participants will swim in the Hudson (a cringing thought for we swimmers of Bahamian waters!) right by where FLUKE is moored.

Central To Our Thoughts

After a restful night's sleep, we (including Ursa) started out early to spend the day in Central Park which was within easy walking distance from the marina. Right after we arrived there we knew we would not be seeing the whole park in one day, so we focused our efforts on seeing the sights within the area bounded by Central Park West and Fifth Avenue and W59th St. and W81st St.

We learned that Central Park is so beautiful thanks to the efforts of the Central Park Conservancy which manages the Park under a contract with the City of New York. The CPC was formed in 1980 and has raised over $325 million dollars from private citizens, foundations, and corporations to transform Central Park from the beat up condition of the late 70s to the outstanding model of an urban park that it is today. There is something for everyone now to enjoy in a safe, serene or entertaining, and invigorating atmosphere.

Park and the City

We were so surprised by the diversity of activity and sights within the Park. There are open fields where organized sports and functions are held to little corners with quiet benches where people are required to use headphones to listen to music. Cultivated flowers provide bright, attractive spots of color. In contrast,The Ramble is an area left in its native state so you can walk in a natural, densely wooded forest more like you would see in areas far removed from the City. Fountains and plaza areas showcase architectural styles. Fascinating sculptures catch your eye. Science isn't left out as you can visit the zoo or hike up to the meteorological station at Belvedere Castle which also provides a great elevated opportunity to see the Park from above. Rent a row boat and enjoy some solitude and exercise on the lake.

Belvedere Castle

When it was time for lunch, rather than using a Park vendor, we walked over to Lexington Ave. and found a deli. We took the food back to the Park and ate on a bench like hundreds of other people were doing. Pigeons and sparrows flocked around to get the tiny crumbs that Ursa left behind or that we threw out just for them.

Ursa proved to be a real people magnet, even for the likes of New York City. Children and adults want to pet her (many think she is a “puppy”), and dog lovers are so curious about what kind of breed she is. Despite her dislike towards other dogs, she welcomed the opportunity to take a break from walking to get friendly rubs from strangers. One attractive woman wearing a little black dress talking on her cell phone motioned for us to stop so she could pet Ursa. While doing so, she kept talking on the phone, seemingly ignoring our presence, and said “They're going to pay for your sperm”!

We were all dragging by the time we walked back to FLUKE, but had already started talking about what we planned to do the next day.

The Downtown Tour

After yesterday's adventure, we were looking forward even more to spending Friday in the City.

A short walk to the nearest subway station led to the first “challenge”. None of us had ever purchased subway fares, so we had to figure out what to do. At least we knew where we needed to go, but didn't realize there were express routes, so we mistakenly got on a regular commuter route and stopped at all the stations. Not to worry though, we had allowed time for such “mistakes”. Our jaws dropped when we climbed up the stairs at our Times Square destination and saw all the lights, tall buildings, and hustle and bustle in the crowded streets.

Times Square

We needed to find Madame Tussauds where we would begin our Downtown tour on a City Sights NY bus. The buses all provide top deck seating to give passengers the best views possible. Guides narrate, pointing out historical and popular City sights and provide interesting anecdotes about people, places, and events. You can hop off and on at any stop. There are so many buses in service, waits for the next bus are seldom more than 20 minutes.

Tourists (on the bus)

Our tour stops included: Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Empire State Building, SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, World Trade Center Site, Wall Street, Financial District, Battery Park, South Street Seaport, Lower East Side, United Nations, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, and Broadway.

DKNY

Since we wanted to “see” as much of the area as time would permit, we agreed we wouldn't take time to do any shopping. Plus, we elected to do a lot more walking from area to area rather than getting on and off the bus.

NYSE

Bullish

We bought deli sandwiches near the World Trade Center site and ate in a park in the Financial District. Then we walked over to Wall Street where Eddie grabbed the famous Bull by the balls because we heard it was supposed to be good luck, but the Market has fallen ever since! We passed the beautiful old Customs House and walked on to Battery Park which was packed with people waiting in lines by the hundreds to get on the ferries to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Liberty Man

Battery Park Skyline

We spent the most stationary time at Rockefeller Center. The famous ice skating rink is an outdoor cafe during the summer, complete with tropical plants and gushing, sparkling fountains. A farmer's market was in full swing where the giant Christmas tree sits during the holiday season. We entered the GE Buidling and took the super fast(2 min. 45 sec.) elevator with blue lights in the ceiling that twinkle like stars to the 70th floor. This is the Top of the Rock, where you go to the outdoor observation deck to see the City from above. On a great weather day, this was the place to be! We were able to identify many of the places we saw on our bus and walking trips and even see all the way into Long Island Sound where we would be traveling the next day.

Rockefeller Plaza

Central Park Overview

East River and Beyond

Empire State Building

While we couldn't bring ourselves to buy “I Love NY” tee shirts (only 5/$10), we did love our time in the City and look forward to return visits.

Chesapeake to NJ

Heading Up and Down the Bays, and Washed Out to Sea
July 14-17, 2007

Getting up at 0630 on the 14th was a treat since the original plan called for a 0100 wake-up call. Since our coastal run was scratched we will have a short day (7 hrs) to get to our anchorage at Sandy Point at the mouth of the Great Wicomico River. After anchoring, Wayne and Eddie decide to get out the old alternator to replace the one we are operating with now since it has been discovered it is not putting out ANY voltage now, and our batteries are almost dead. They can't make the change over until everything cools down when we turn off the engine after we anchor. I decide to make brownies and vacuum the inside of FLUKE. The old alternator change over proves to be successful; even though we will have less output, it will be better than zero. We will have the alternator checked when we get to a convenient land base. Looking through the binoculars towards the shoreline I can see a 10' tall carving of a pilgrim that looks like it was made out of a gigantic tree trunk. Fascinating, as it is private property and not a park.

Calm waters of July 15 allowed me to work on the blog while underway to our destination in the Rhode River, south of Annapolis, MD. The Rhode was so crowded with both sail and power boats. However, one of the nice things about that river is it has a "through" section of the waterway designated as a float free zone. The Chesapeake is notorious for crab traps and their buoys making navigation very difficult in some areas. Whoever managed to get the float free zones created has done a real service for safety and enjoyment of the waterway. We would like to see more of those zones, especially in Maine.

Overtaken by Behemoths

Early the next day we passed the picturesque Thomas Point Light and then slowly cruised under the huge William P. Lane Memorial Bridge (Land Rt. 50/301). It is the only full bridge connecting both sides of Chesapeake Bay so has to be high enough for all the military and commercial ships to go under. It sure looks a lon . . . .g way up as we go under!

Thomas Point Light

Less Than Half of William P Lane Bridge

It must have been Demolition Day at the Aberdeen Proving Ground where the Army does ordnance testing. There was one explosion after another, varying in amount of noise and smoke plumes produced, as we passed by. There are "guard" boats stationed out in the waterway making sure that no one can get to close to "ground zero".

We dropped anchor just inside the mouth of the Bohemia River, west of the beginning of the C&D Canal, early enough for Eddie to go for a float behind the boat. He puts out a line with a float to hold onto and the current pulls him back out behind the boat. He can flounder around in the water or sit on the float. The big deal about this is that this is one of the rare areas in the Chesapeake "back" waters people can swim without having to worry about sea nettles stinging them. We have seen numerous types of jellyfish at several of the anchorages we have visited. Some of them have tentacles a couple of feet long!

We are entertained watching 3 people crabbing right next to us. Using a small skiff, they run out a line about 100 yds long with an anchored float at each end. A piece of bait is securely attached to the line about every 10 yds. Starting at one end the line is lifted out of the water and the boat is driven alongside the line. As the line comes up out of the water, hopefully with a crab grabbing the bait, a person with a metal net scoops the crab off and dumps it in the boat. When the boat gets to the other end, they turn around and go back to the beginning. By the time they begin lifting the line more crabs have gone after the bait again. We were impressed with how many crabs they were catching in a short period of time.

We could see weather conditions were building up for some rain and fog, so we weren't surprised to wake up on July 17 to a foggy sunrise. With visibility less than 100' in some places and the current against us, traveling through the sometimes restrictive C&D Canal was a slow venture. We relied on our radar to look for other ships (those coming from behind are just as worrisome) and hailer siren to provide an audible warning.

Foggy Anchorage

Fortunately when we entered Delaware Bay most of the fog had lifted, the Bay was calm, and traveling just outside the main shipping channel (this is done to give the BIG commercial ships all the room), we made good progress towards the Atlantic. In fact, with a weather forecast of only patchy fog, mild winds and mostly calm seas we made the decision not to stop at Cape Henlopen and just keep going all night up the coast of New Jersey to beat what looked like impending foul weather.

Salem, NJ Nuclear Plant - 3 Reactors

The wind and sea conditions proved to be true to the forecast, but the fog was not patchy within the 10 or less miles we traveled from the coast; it was socked in. We kept thinking that we would get out of it, but as the twilight waned it stayed with us. This was to be our first experience with traveling in the fog at night. Night travel at sea is challenging enough in my book, but the fog added a whole new fear.

I had the first watch, from 2000-0045. The foggy black of night disoriented my depth perception. Even though I had the radar and electronic chart to guide me it is still an unsettling feeling not to actually see a target. I tracked a boat for 4 miles that was slowly angling towards our course and felt comfortable that it was seeing me too by its course line, but I couldn't see it until it was less than 1/4 mile away when I saw that it was a fishing boat with nets out. If it had been a boat traveling at twice our speed I would have been very nervous since that short distance would have been passed quickly.

In fact, at 2230 I had a marker buoy coming up that I could see on radar and on the chart. When I could finally see it flashing through the fog I felt we were going to be too close and turned the boat off course. I had difficulty orienting myself and had to wake up Wayne to come help me. Eddie woke up too. I felt so bad disrupting their sleep! Little did I realize what they were going to do to me when it was my turn to finally get some much-needed rest.

At 0345 I was awakened to a loud grinding noise coming from the aft section of FLUKE, and the boat was getting bounced around quite a bit, not like when I left the helm and the seas had been calm. I thought we had hit something with the prop. I could hear Eddie yelling up in the pilothouse. I ran upstairs to see the guys staring out at a commercial fishing boat that had crossed right in front of our bow. Wayne had put the boat in reverse to bring her to a stop to avoid a collision. Even though they had tracked the boat for quite a ways, and we had the right-of-way, the other boat had not yielded. They had misjudged the distance it would take to alter course to avoid the other boat by a comfortable margin. Another lesson learned a frightening way. It was difficult to go back to sleep after that!

The fog stayed with us all the way up to Sandy Hook at the northern tip of New Jersey where we would make the turn to head up into busy New York harbor. With visibility being so poor, and the air feeling like impending rain, we decided to hold off going into the harbor until the conditions improved. Having to deal with the fast moving NYC ferry traffic in the fog wasn't what we wanted to practice. Plus, it gave us a chance to check out the Horseshoe Cove anchorage which we had never been to and wanted to find out if it would be suitable to use after the NJ coastal run in the future. We had the anchor down at 0800 and breathed a sigh of relief.

Great Bridge, VA to Chesapeake Bay

The Great Deal
July 11-12, 2007

We weren't arrested, fined or kicked off for exceeding the 24 hour limit at the Great Bridge free dock as we spent the nights of July 11 and 12. We didn't feel guilty about over extending the time limit since no other boats docked on the south side of the bridge anyway. A couple of boats did use the dock on the north side though.

The bridge and lock land areas have been turned into a park. People come to crab, fish, and just watch the recreational and commercial boats, tugs, and barges slowly travel through the lock and bridge area. It is a great way to watch the ICW traffic since you can get so close using the observation areas along the shore; you can talk to people on the vessels passing without even yelling. 35,000 cars/day travel over the bridge.

A Classic Trumpy Waits Patiently

There is a flock of Canadian geese that has one domestic goose and her 3 goslings traveling with them. It looks funny to see the one odd goose in with all the others. They are all beggars and make goose poop piles reflective of their big body size, and it is all over the shore where we have to walk.

A Farm Fresh grocery store about a mile down the road makes it convenient for us to shop for perishable items we have run out of. The only challenge is carrying everything back to FLUKE, especially deciding who has to carry the watermelon and cantaloupe. We reward ourselves with a trip to the nearby Dairy Queen. The cute guy behind the counter sees Ursa peering through the window and hands me a small cup with vanilla ice cream saying, "This is for your dog". Eddie rode his bike to a NAPA store about 5 miles away, risking life and limb along the concrete jungle road with no bike path, to pick up the oil filters we needed for the engine.

Eddie received some sad news at this stop. He was to rendezvous with Mrs. Clark, a former tenant of Sea Oaks. He had started calling her a couple of days before we arrived and couldn't get an answer. Her daughter saw the message and returned Eddie's call to tell him that her mother had died two weeks earlier and that she had it written on her calender to meet with Eddie. We were sorry she missed our boat.

In The Loop

A Good Luck, Friday the 13th, Sunrise Over Norfolk
July 13, 2007

We had to get off the free dock by 0445 so we could get through all four of the Norfolk bridges before they shut down for 2 hours beginning at 0630 for morning rush hour traffic. We were through "our" great bridge and into the Great Bridge Lock (separates the fresh water of the lowland areas from salt water of the Norfolk side) by 0500. Since we were the only ones in the lock and there was hardly any tide we went through quickly. Then it was a rush to get to all the bridges in time.

There was virtually no waterway traffic to impede our progress. A couple of tugs were moving around, presumably to get hooked up with their cargo somewhere. We passed through the old (1928) Jordon Lift bridge, our last one, with 5 minutes to spare. Then we were in the downtown part of the Portsmouth harbor area and passed into the Norfolk Navy section. It was interesting being alone in this usually busy, congested area. We could see people arriving to work and Navy personnel assembled on many of the ships in group formation for their morning "check in". We slowly pass by red buoy 36, mile 0 of the ICW. You would think there would be a sign saying that! The home dock is close to mile marker 950, so you can see we have come a long way.

Mile 0 of the ICW

Back to Port

We had our anchor set in the Kiptopeke State Park anchorage area by 1100. This anchorage is one of the most unique we have visited. KSP is the only state park located on Virginia's eastern shore. The land was originally the site of the terminus of the ferry which provided service from 1950 - 1964 connecting Virginia's eastern shore to Norfolk before the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The terminus needed a breakwater to help ensure safe ferry landings in poor weather. So, the Virginia Ferry Corporation purchased nine surplus WWII concrete Liberty ships. They were sunk, filled with sand and water and lined up in a 1500' long row. The breakwater did its job; the ferry service provided up to 90 trips/day at its peak.

Unique Breakwater

Liberty Ship Construction

When the new bridge forced the ferry service to shut down, the 540 acre site was purchased by the State of Virginia for a park. The name Kiptopeke means "Big Water", which is what the ferry had to cross each day. Now the site has multiple uses for people to enjoy. The old terminal platform is a huge fishing pier complete with dual boat launch ramps. There is a swimming beach, 4 miles of hiking trails, bird banding site (thousands of migratory birds stop in the fall and spring), hawk and raptor observation station, butterfly garden, and campground. The old breakwater provides an excellent fish habitat for sport fishermen to enjoy trying their luck. After lunch we launched FIN so we could go ashore to check out the land facilities and get some walking exercise.

Kiptopeke Boardwalkers

FLUKE, Breakwater, Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

We anchored here with the intent of exiting out of the south end of Chesapeake Bay and making an 18 hr. Atlantic Ocean run up the eastern coast of Virginia to Cape Henlopen where we would stage ourselves to cross the Delaware River to go up the coast of New Jersey. A late afternoon weather forecast indicated that sea conditions didn't look favorable in 3 days when we would be out to sea, and we didn't want to be stuck just sitting at Cape Henlopen, so we have changed our plans and will head up inside Chesapeake Bay. Such flexibility will keep our tummies happier.