Aug 1 - Run up the Atlantic to New York

At the first crack of dawn, we left South Jersey Marina for the trip out in the Atlantic to New York City. Robert had prepared our route with way points. Many loopers make this a two or three day trip, stopping in Atlantic City. However, the weather for Aug 2 looked iffy so we decided to make one long day's run.

As we pulled out of the harbor, the gorgeous sunrise was a very positive omen for the day.
After the worry of making the offshore trip, the day was perfect. The Atlantic was totally flat, as you can see in the picture above. Fog threatened for a bit but did not materialize. The winds were light. We ran 3-5 miles off shore. Our main navigational challenge was traversing through the many fishing boats gathered opposite every inlet, called on the chart "fish haven".

This is as close as we got to Atlantic City.

It took us 12 hours to make the 130 mile trip to New York. Although it was an easy run, 12 hours is still a long day. You can imagine how excited we were to catch our first glimpse of New York City. Our destination for the day was Great Kills Harbor in Staten Island. One of the members of the America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association had made arrangements for AGLCA members to stay at a greatly reduced rate at the Great Kills Yacht Club. We had reservations to stay, but our slip was not available until the following day. John, the looper, invited us to use his mooring ball for the night. Tying up to a mooring ball was a new experience. The goal is to latch onto the rope at the end of the mooring ball and to tie off the rope to a cleat on the boat. It took me a couple of tries to hang onto the rope, but at last we were secure. We had successfully completed our Atlantic Ocean run and were snug in the shelter of Great Kills Harbor.This is a picture of a mooring ball in Great Kills Harbor.

July 29-Aug 1 - Cape May, NJ

In Cape May, we stayed at South Jersey Marina. This is another first class marina that caters to boats small to mega. There was no swimming pool, but each day they bring the morning paper with fruit to your boat.

If you look on a map, you will see that Cape May, NJ sticks out on a point between the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The goal is to make the run to New York. Although there is an intercoastal in NJ, for a boat the size of Grand Fromage, this route is not recommended. The alternative is a 130 mile run out in the Atlantic. Almost all loopers live in dread of this segment and stew about it for months.

Although we were eager to spend time exploring the town of Cape May, we were also looking for favorable conditions to make the Atlantic run to New York. It was a lovely, warm day when we arrived in Cape May. This was very positive. We awoke the second day to thick, dense fog. This was very negative. As an aside, coming from northern California, fog means cold, damp, drizzly conditions. The fog in Cape May looked like a familiar situation, but it was warm.

Fog....egad....how do you predict it? We could check out weatherunderground and other weather sites to get a pretty good idea of storm possibilities and wind. Fog, how do you know? We did manic google searches to learn about fog, dew point, ocean temperatures vs air temperature. I became the instant queen of fog knowledge. I became steeped in fog prediction lore. The next day showed all the conditions I had learned would produce grey, dense fog and it was gorgeously clear.

A beautiful boat docked next to us...a real classic. It was an 80 foot Trumpy named SS Sophie.
We became friends with John, Aimee and Servern ....captain, first mate and first dog. They have traveled between Nantucket and Floria many times. John told us that his read of the weather indicated that Aug 1 was going to be ideal. They invited us to follow behind them, but this was not a practical solution because they planned a departure much later in the morning.

When we weren't studying the weather, we toured Cape May...known for quaint victorians and birding. Here are a few of the victorians:


We rented a car to visit some of the well known birding hot spots. While too early for the fall migration, we did see some black skimmers. I had looked forward to visiting the Cape May Bird Observatory in order to shop for new binoculars. A very knowledgable young man helped me to methodically select the pair right for me. I am thrilled with my choice - Swarovski 10x32 EL.

While we had the car, we stopped by the grocery store for a little provisioning. We encountered a first...a pay lot for the grocery store. Only the first half hour is free. There are so many tourists in Cape May that we figure it was a defense move to keep people from using the lot for all day sightseeing.

July 29 - Trip to Cape May, NJ

We left Chesapeake City at the crack of dawn to enter the C&D Canal and to run down Delaware Bay to Cape May. We had heard various horror stories about this portion of the loop. One couple had told us they left Chesapeake City with a questionable weather forecast and had then encountered such severe weather on the Delaware Bay that they had made the local papers the next day. Others told us about swift currents in the C&D Canal.


Captain Robert prepared for our trip very methodically, including a study of the tides, currents and weather. He set way points on Delaware Bay. We left at the right time to take advantage of the tides. It really paid off as we picked up a couple of knots and actually arrived a couple of hours early.


We said goodbye to the Chesapeake, our home for two summers. We greatly enjoyed our explorations in the Chesapeake, but we were also eager to see other areas of the east coast. The trip was easy, as we said hello to New Jersey.

July 28-29 - Chesapeake City, MD

We had a very pleasant run to Chesapeake City. We stayed at the Chesapeake Inn and Marina.

One of the couples we had met in Rock Hall, Scott and Milly, had urged us to call when arrived in Chesapeake City. Boaters have to be the world's nicest people. Scott and Milly picked us up at the marina and drove us to a lovely restaurant for dinner. They even offered to drive us to the grocery store, but we had provisioned in Rock Hall. It was such an enjoyable evening. Scott and Milly are involved in developing a creative system for lighting stairways. If you'd like to learn about their endeavor, click here.

Scott and Milly at dinner.

July 26-28 - Rock Hall, MD

Before leaving the Chesapeake, we made one last stop at Rock Hall Landing Marina on the east side of the Chesapeake, MD. Our first night, we were adopted by a cruising group from a little town near Chesapeake City. They invited us to join them for a fun dinner at a nearby restaurant.



The second night, we were honored to be invited out to dinner by the two couples who own and manage the marina. These people are truly nice and entertained us with funny stories about life in the marina business.

July 22-25 - St Michaels, MD

St Michaels was one of my favorite stops. True, it is a tourist attraction. True, it is expensive. However, it attracts tourists....lots of them, I must say...with quality shops, historic homes and buildings and fun events. There is a relaxed feeling to St Michaels and not that frantic tone associated with many popular places. Besides that, it is just way too cute. Click here for a web site with history and tourist information.

We stayed at the St Michaels Marina...a first class outfit that provides top quality service to boaters in day boats to megayachts. Since it was quite warm during our stay, the pool was a welcome amenity. There is a REAL grocery store within a few blocks walk.

We enjoyed hours of wandering up and down many streets, admiring the cute and historic homes.

View of Grand Fromage from the Maritime Museum, across the harbor
Team Finnegan with Grand Fromage across the harbor. St Michaels has a huge, wonderful maritime museum with exhibits covering many aspects of boating and fishing in the Chesapeake. Click here for the web site. We enjoyed wandering around. The lighthouse was a hoot...the whole thing was interactive. You could open any drawer, pot, container or door to find items a lighthouse attendant might have stored. This old fishing boat will never see water again, but it was fun to explore. Captain Robert "driving" Thor. One of the volunteers is building a log canoe the old fashion way.

July 15-22 - Cambridge, MD

We had a beautiful ride up the Choptank River, as featured in Mitchner's 'Chesapeake'. Our destintion was Cambridge, MD, where we stayed at the City Marina.

There are many positive aspects to Cambridge. The natural setting with trees, marshes and water is gorgeous. There are blocks of beautiful historic homes and ambitious projects to bring tourists. The Hyatt hotel and resort at the edge of town appears to be very busy and popular.

However, there are some definite negatives....the downtown has many empty buildings and there is a rundown feeling to much of the town. The City Marina was rebuilt a year ago, however it doesn't seem that anyone familiar with boating was involved in the project. Among other things, they put in fixed docks, when most recreational boaters far prefer floating docks. There is a very attractive visitor center, but it is not easy to find and there is no way for a boater to tie up with a dingy.

Those things said, we had some very enjoyable and busy days in Cambridge. It was ideal for dingy rides up the Choptank and scooter rides were once again a wonderful option. We visited a wildlife refuge. Twice we took a taxi to the Hyatt for golf. The course is just beautiful, extremely well maintained, immaculately manicured, with many nature areas left intact. We were very excited to see a bobwhite.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary in Cambridge. Obviously this called for a regal dingy ride to the world famous Suicide Bridge Restaurant....conveniently located next to the Suicide Bridge in Secretary, MD.
The Suicide Bridge.
You'd think a suicide bridge would be a huge, tall, massive structure over a roaring river. Team Finnegan enjoying our festive Chesapeake wedding anniversary
On the Chesapeake, they eat blue crabs. This is a cult and social bonding event, as far as I can tell. We once had lessons from a server as to the intricies of eating blue crab. For all of the work you go to for the teeniest, bittiest bit of meat, I'll take mine in crab cakes. However, a crab feed is wildly popular. I asked a couple of diners if I could photograph their feast. Note the brown paper on the table. Not shown in the photo are other essential utensils...the wooden hammers, the crab claw breakers, the little picks and of course, the mantatory crab bibs.