TRAVELS of "CONDUCTANCE"

Great Kills Yacht Club is a basics only marina. Restrooms and showers are available. There is a bar onsite but no food. The docks are clean and the harbour host John makes the ease to get to the city easy. It’s reasonable in cost for New York City.

Today is the day we discover New York City. The marina here at Great Kills Yacht Club is unique because one of their members is a harbour host who greets all the Loopers who stay. He’ll drive us to the train station in Great Kills, about a mile away from the marina. Then We’ll hop on the Staten Island Ferry. The train ride is reasonable at $2.75 per person and the ferry is free to all passengers both ways. Great way to get to The Big Apple without the hassle.

John drops us off around 10:30 at the station. It’s everything you know an outdoor train station to be. Peeling paint, a woman calling Scott a pervert for taking her picture and I’m the Biotch with him. Gotta love New York. It’s about a 20 minute ride to the ferry. The ferry runs every 15 minutes or so so we don’t wait long. The ferry carries approximately 1400 people on each of her 2 main decks. Leaving St. George Station on the ferry we head across New York Harbour to the piers in Manhatten. The Statue of Liberty invites us into the harbour.
New York City towers over the harbour, with the new World Trade Center standing tall. The Chrysler Building, Empire State Building are all visible. Brooklyn stands to the right side of the harbour as we approach the piers. New Jersey to the left on the far side of the Hudson River.

For the day we visit the 911 Memorial Reflecting Pool. Each of every person who was killed in the 911 attacks including service men and women, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 have their names engraved. The interesting thing about the names isn’t that they are in alphabetical order. Before the memorial was completed the 911 Memorial Staff sent letters to all the family members. In that letter they requested information on their friendships, romances, relationships with others that had passed on that day. The 911 staff put together very meaningful insight when choosing where the names shall be on the memorial. They put names of people who had the closest relationships together. That is why names of the people are not simply alphabetical or strickly from where they worked or served. On each of their birthdays the 911 memorial staff place roses in the groves of their names. We have to remember when we visit this memorial that this is where family members have been buried and never found. That surviving family members still visit often to stand where their loved one is.

We decide to jump on a tour bus to see the sights of Downtown Manhatten. We will travel from the Staten Island Ferry to Times Square. In between we will see the various cultural area such as Greektown, Chinatown, SriLankatown, Indiantown, and so many more. Authentic foods are found in these areas. We’ll pass Wall Street, the street that never sees the sun. Those extremely tall buildings are barely a car’s width apart on the renowned Wall Street. A tour bus cannot drive on it because it is so narrow. Times Square is an overindulgent paradise. Sights, sounds, people, lights, massive displays. It’s an overindulgent paradise.

At the end of the day we’re back on the ferry heading back to St. Georges and then Great Kills by train. It’s our plan to stop at “Nonna’s Pizza” and enjoy authentic New York style pizza. We are not disappointed as we are treated like royalty. It was after 11:30 by the time we made it back to the boat. I suppose if you’re going to be up late the best place to do so is in New York.

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The heat is on! Yes we slept with the heat on last night in June, in Atlantic City. What’s that all about?

We had a great breakfast at the close to the marina restaurant GilChrist which is a family owned breakfast diner around since the ’40’s. Great prices, food and great service. Highly recommend it on a trip to AC. We wanted to head to the boardwalk for the day. It was overcast with thick clouds and cold. Bundled up in our 4 layers of clothes we head to the bus stop to wait for “The Jitney”, the local bus. It’s one of those shuttle buses that usher you around the airport. They don’t have a schedule but run every few minutes. Sometimes you’ll see 3 or 4 of them all bunched up at a stop because there is no real schedule. They just keep running the same route over and over again. There are a lot of them though so no worries because one will be around in a few minutes.

We are dropped off by the Tropicana on Atlantic Avenue. A little tidbit of information about Atlantic City. The game Monopoly named its streets after the streets here in Atlantic City. We saw just about all of them as they cross Atlantic Avenue. We walked the longest boardwalk we have ever seen for hours. I had the idea years ago to cover the boat fenders with cheap Tshirts. I forgot to buy Tshirts for this trip. So now I’m on the hunt for them because the Erie Canal is disgustingly dirty and grinds dirt into boat hull. The Tshirts work really well. Found 4 at the whopping price of $13.00.

We walked to the northern part of the boardwalk where the Taj Mahal, The Rebel and the Shoreline is. The Taj Mahal closed down last October. The Rebel never really was opened because it never took off, so to speak and The Shoreline is now strictly a hotel with no casino. The casino was The House of Cards. Apparently the Taj Mahal has been purchased. It is a magnificent building with its Arabian theme. It stands on at least 1 city block and towers over the ocean to at least 50 floors in the sky. The Rebel sits empty with its modern looking blue glass and industrial styling. It too is at least the same size. We also saw that the massive Hilton Hotel, down past the Tropicana is closed. It too is a massive structure that sits empty.

We had lunch at a little pizza joint, with amazing homemade ingredients, that was run by friendly Hispanics. We thought that was rather funny. Found out that us ordering lunch at noon was odd as they were mainly preparing for breakfast. We don’t fit the schedule of the casino goers, I guess. We made it to Caesar’s with its shopping mall built on a massive pier out to the ocean. You can sit in chairs and read for hours looking over the beach and its skyline. So peaceful, The day opened up with clouds but by the afternoon we were hot under the cloudless sky and had to peel back the layers of clothes. I wouldn’t say it became warm but the sun made an impression on Scott’s forehead. He’s seen a bit too much sun.

We tried to make it to the Imax in Tropicana but missed the start of the preview of Wonder Woman. Sorry we missed that one. Later in the day we stopped at a seaside, beach bar for a bevy. Most of the day was spent walking and taking in the amazing sights of the boardwalk. It’s the start of the tourist season here so it isn’t yet busy. Finding a Jitney bus stop was easy on Atlantic Ave with several buses available.

Its an easy night tonight as we have been preparing for a possible run on the shallow waters of New Jersey on the ICW. The winds are not cooperating for an outside run on the ocean. We’ll be up and out at high tide in the morning.

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We have decided to stay. Scott can do the oil change on the engines and leave the old oil here in this marina as they have facilities for the waste oil. Also there is some overdue office business and bills to pay. The day is overcast and rain is predicted. Also winds of 20 knots is expected. So we finish up our office duties and look to change the oil. Scott likes to warm up the engines so we are off for a spin. Just as we are untied and turned around in the marina the skies open up with some rain. Quickly up the tarps go and we drive off in the pouring rain that will hopefully die down by the time we are back in about 15 minutes.

It works. We prayed to the rain gods to give us a window to get the oil changed. It did rain but it was more of a drizzle for the hour and a bit it takes to change out the oil and filters on both engines. The canvas has to come down to open the hatch and leaves the entire back of the boat exposed so a light rain covers everything but at least the oil and filters are done for the next 100 hours of driving which will get us home.

Scott noticed that a vent had blown off somewhere along the way on the starboard side of the boat. He was fixing that in the rain the last I checked. He has cut up a frisbee to cover the hole but isn’t satisfied. He finds a broken, wooden paddle from one of Aiden’s paddleball sets that we play at the beach and cuts that up. It’s better than the plastic frisbee and will hopefully hold up better on the ocean waves we will inevitably have to face. It’s still raining. With everything done that we can think of for the day we are settling in with a bevy as we wait for the loaner car from the Harbour Host here in Cape May. A Harbour Host is a representative of America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association that helps out other Loopers while in their area. Scott and I are Niagara, St. Catharines, Lake Erie and the Western side of the Erie Canal Hosts. Bruce has a restaurant here in Cape May as well so if you wish a good evening go visit him at his restaurant. We would be there but he is closed on Mondays. We plan on leaving tomorrow so we may not have the opportunity to meet him.

After dinner we meet some new loopers at another marina in the trawler First Forty. They too are headed north and looking to leave tomorrow morning depending on weather. We are finally on the same Looper schedule as others. It’s a nice change to share stories with each other. Since Scott and I are so close to crossing our wake in New York we are the seasoned veterans, so to speak.

We also found out that a strange phenomenon happens here along the Delaware River very close to us. Horseshoe crabs, prehistoric crabs from the dinosaur era, travel to these beaches by the 10’s of thousands, at high tide, in a full moon, in mid May to early June to lay their eggs by the millions. Then the migrating birds come through and eat most of those babies. Very few of these babies actually survive. It’s early June so we are determined to go find us some crabs. It’s our turn for the loaner car so we hop in at 7:00 pm and travel to the coastline in search of horseshoes. In the time we have been traveling we have learned that these crabs have no way to hurt us. Although weird and scary to look at these are harmless. Their feet under the massive shell are simply pokey feet (technical term). They are used to move the crab along the bottom of the ocean. Their biggest issue is human intervention and a wave that flips them upside down. In the water they can flip themselves over again by using their tail and feet together and flip right side up. However if a wave hits them and they become upside down and they are not brought back to the water they die. There is actually a group here that goes around from beach to beach at the time that the 10’s of thousands of them are here and walk the beach to flip these wonders back over again. Getting to North Cape May Beach we find only dead ones and shells with some very full seas gulls. We probably missed the big rush as this is not a full moon tonight although it is high tide. We grab a shell for Aiden. It’s a rainy day today so pics are minimal.

We have decided to leave for Atlantic City early in the morning as high tide comes in and before the big storm hits with winds shifting from N to NNE.

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Annapolis is worth spending more than one night with. We just don’t have the time this round. As we pull out of the harbour the weather is cooperating with us, so far. The winds are low and the water is only slightly choppy. The winds are about 10 knots so the travel north is still a bit rocky but we are able to run 25 mph. The Chesapeake narrows around here. It is still a vast open space but you can see both sides now while you travel. We would have liked to have wandered around here more but we have a tight schedule for work so we push on.

Not much to talk about as we head into the Delaware/Chesapeake Canal. A canal that connects these two bays to the north. It’s quite large as canals go and very nice to pass through. We stop at Chesapeake City at a marina for a top up of diesel. There is a nice restaurant and marina right on the canal. It’s more convenient than trying to get into the basin at Chesapeake City. Do not attempt to dock at the free dock in Chesapeake City as the low tide brings only 2.5 feet of water. The entrance is badly shoaled and you have to hug the red really tight to find 8 feet of water. We didn’t go into the basin to anchor as it did seem tight but also we had only traveled for a couple hours to get here. We thought we would run down the canal to Delaware City at the other end of the 15 mile canal.

After entering into Delaware River we head a bit north to try Delaware City. When we see that we are at almost low tide we do also know that the water to get it in will be about 8 feet total water. With our 3.5 foot draft its a nerve wracking experience when you starts to see 4’s and 3’s on the depth guage. We get in to deeper water at about 10 feet toal water and see the free dock on sand. There is a 5 foot tide here and the dingy dock is out of the question even if you wanted to dingy over. The free dock behind the Police boats is completely full and we don’t want to travel down this skinny waterway to the marina where it would be difficult to turn around. So we do a quick reverse turn and go back out.

Now on the Delaware River, which is quite wide and deep, we are looking at our 3rd alternative for the day. Either we anchor over by Reddy Island with NW winds coming later at 20 knots and be mostly protected or we make the 3 hour more run down to Cape May. As we pass Reddy Island Scott makes the decision that he is up for the next 2-3 hours to drive today. That will make a 135 mile day. The good thing about this decision is that the Delaware River was giving us a nice tidal push of about 4-5 mph faster as the tide was going out. We were able to catch and stay with this big push for most of the way until we caught up with the incoming tide where there was some turbulence but we were still able to keep running at 28 mph. Heading toward Cape May there is a lot of fishing boats once again. Crab and oyster pots as well but not as bad as on the Chesapeake where you must keep an attentive eye for them.

There is a ferry at the entrance to the Cape May Canal that has the right of way and the canal is only half dredged on that side. Of course just as we are approaching the ferry is pulling out of its berth and heading out. We give it the passage it needs and head on up the canal. We were thinking of anchoring by the Coast Guard but made the decision to head to Utsch’s Marina where Scott can do some maintenance for the fuel filter change and a few other changes.

Utsch’s marina has everything. There is a harbour host here that leaves a truck for loopers to get around town. We must send a thank you to him when we get home. A full service deep water marina along with a ship’s store that has everything Scott needs and then some. He was able to replace our spare parts that he has used thus far and add to ones that he usually has on hand but hasn’t been able to find. We received a nice welcome package with homemade lavender soap and a bottle of home brew wine along with maps of the city. Bikes to ride to town are also availabl. The internet is full at all the docks. It has a reasonable rate for docking as well.

We are lucky enough to meet several other loopers here. We are all checking the weather over the next few days and there is a cold front coming through. We’ll have to make the decision to run “the outside” (on the ocean) to Atlantic City and be stuck there or stay here until it calms down. It’s a tough decision because tomorrow will be a nice day to travel and then have to be stuck in Atlantic City or stay here during a good travel day and be stuck here with all the amenities we need. We are not gamblers at all and wouldn’t care to go to the big casinos so the draw for us to leave isn’t there. But there is supposed to be a great beach and boardwalk. Decisions, decisions!

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Reveille. 7:-00 am. The coast guard wakes you with the playing of the age old theme on a trumpet. We were up already. Last night when we went to juice up our batteries with the gen it did not work. Scott figured out that the impeller was gone. After much discussion and a lightning storm on the Chesapeake we decided to wait til morning to fix it. It was a gamble being that the batteries would sit for 18 hours or more without charging. So Scott was up at the earliest sun to jump into the engine compartment. Half asleep he tripped on the stairs and whacked his head. I think I chuckled!

We actually love this sleepy little town of Crisfield. Maryland. After having the crabs for the first time last night at the local “best place in town” we have realized crab isn’t for us. With the charm of days of old when the crabbing was at its peak and storefronts have worn over the years we are saying goodbye as we travel out of this amazing little harbour. This is a place where you must make your own fun. There isn’t a lot to entertain you here if you don’t go looking for it.

We head across the Chesapeake with extremely calm winds and the sun shining. As we’re tripping along we hear so much chatter over the radio. The navy is conducting live targeting practice and to stay away from the area known as “whatever they said”. Not knowing the area and all the names of the point sand inlets on the Chesapeake we have no idea exactly where they are. So we keep tripping along like we own the place. Next thing we know we see a navy jet over our heads which catches our eye and, of course, we start taking pictures. Cool plane, drone or whatever it is. Next thing we know we’ve got the Navy on our stern. “Hail to the white, blue Canadian boat at buoy 72”. We don’t even know we are near buoy 72 yet. We’re in the middle of the Bay. No buoys in sight. Scott sees the boat on the AIS on the electronics and the guy says again, Blue hulled boat, something or other. Hummmmm, we’ve now got a big fast moving Navy boat on our stern. Scott talks over the radio to the boat “Transporter” the navy “get away from here” boat where they tell us we need to move north and get to buoy 74. “Okay”, so where’s buoy 74? So now we’re both searching on our electronics, me on the ipad and Scott on his chartplotter, to locate buoy 74. So we alter our course and head further north to get away from our new friends in the Navy.

We are heading Solomon’s Island. A favourite Looper location that we thought we would try out. We head into the marina Solomon’s Island Yacht Center. Big name, not so great marina. Go to Calvert’s across the waterway. So not worth the stop here at Solomons Yacht Centre Marina. The pool isn’t available. I needed to do laundry and although the 3 washers were good there was only 1 of 3 dryers working. The showers were dirty and although there are 3 showers I had to go to 2 of them to find one that wasn’t overflowing with garbage and obviously not been cleaned in awhile. We needed to wash a few things on the boat and the water pressure was terrible. Not many people here so I cannot imagine what it is like if it’s busy. They do have bikes available to head into town. The wifi bandwidth has been scaled back to the point where it drops out or runs so slow that it crashes. All this for New York City pricing. So not worth the stop at this marina.

The town is just waking up after its winter. Boats are still under shrink wrap and the town is just starting its summer. The restaurants, shops and tiki bars align the boardwalk. A cute antique store, ice cream and the best key lime pie this side of Key West is available at Lotus Café. We stop in and order a couple pieces for later tonight. We both agree we like Crisfield much better for its charm and ingenuity.

Tomorrow we head into Annapolis and are thinking of hooking to a mooring ball. Stay tuned for that experience as neither of us have down it before.

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