Northern Chesapeake, Delaware River and the Jersey Shore

Thursday - Friday, June 8-9, 2017

We are heading north again, moving quickly out of Chesapeake Bay.  We will return to the Bay in early fall, spending all fall, winter and next spring cruising this area, so we are skipping lots of interesting stops for now.

Shortly after leaving Annapolis we pass under this bridge, the only bridge to completely cross Chesapeake Bay.  (Norfolk has one partial bridge crossing but a tunnel goes under the main shipping channel.)

William P Lane Memorial Bridge

After a few hours of calm waters we turn up the Susquehanna River to the small town of Havre de Grace.

Havre de Grace MD

This is a quaint small town with a busy yacht club enjoying their weekly regatta.  We were told this is the first regatta day since the season began in April with enough wind to complete the race.

Susquehanna River

A lovely waterfront park near our marina features this lighthouse, on display here since being decommissioned and moved from its original location.

Concord Point Lighthouse, 1827

This has been a nice walking town with numerous historic homes and a downtown district with a few nice shops and restaurants.  Unfortunately there are many vacant building as well.

Havre de Grace MD

We missed an opportunity to visit the local Maritime Museum but enjoyed relaxing in a secluded spot behind the facility.

Havre de Grace MD

This little spot on the northern Chesapeake seems very remote, but the nearby railroad bridge crossing the Susquehanna River has had a steady stream of Amtrak passenger trains going north and south.

We have some challenging cruising ahead of us:  a 45 mile run down the very open Delaware River, which can be quite rough as it nears the Atlantic Ocean inlet followed by a 2-day run offshore from Cape May NJ to New York harbor.  We have been monitoring the weather forecasts for that area for a week or so and stopped in Havre de Grace to wait for a suitable weather window for the days ahead.  (There are few marinas we can use to wait for weather in Cape May and we are starting to see the notorious $$$ for slips as we move north.)  So, Havre de Grace was a good option to time our next few days of cruising.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

We leave Havre de Grace behind, passing this lighthouse on a nearby point.  We are now back in the Chesapeake, very near the northern end.  We maneuver around lots of small boats enjoying a beautiful Saturday.

Turkey Point Light Station

Soon we enter the C & D (Chesapeake & Delaware) Canal, a dredged canal connecting the two waterways.

C & D Canal

We stop for the night at this restaurant / marina on the canal.  We have a long trip tomorrow down the Delaware River and will time our departure to catch the outgoing tide, both in the canal and in the river.

Schaefer's Canal House, Chesapeake MD

We are starting to see more commercial traffic as we are nearing the Delaware River, a major inlet from the Atlantic Ocean.

C & D Canal

Sunday, June 11, 2017

A lighted bike trail extends the 18 mile length of the canal.  It was very popular on this lovely weekend morning.

C & D Canal

Along the way we notice this elevated pipeline crossing.  Normally the pipelines are buried or lie along the bottom of the waterways, but not this one!

C & D Canal

As we prepared to depart earlier this morning, we noticed lots of floating grass in the canal. 

Our two hour trip through the canal is almost over when Robert notices one of the engines is starting to overheat.  It is likely we have sucked up grass in the cooling water intake, reducing the effectiveness of the engine cooling.  NOT GOOD!  Robert determines he must clean the intake by diving under the boat.  Yuk!

We pull into the Delaware River and find an anchorage nearby.  We use crowd-sourced software, called Active Captain, that documents such things as marinas, anchorages and navigation hazards with dated reviews that allow us to quickly evaluate our options in such a situation.  So we idle to the anchorage area, drop the anchor, and Robert gets into dive gear.  Water temp is 65 degrees, a bit chilly.  His dive goes well and a big chunk of grass is now gone from the water intake and we are on our way.  Wow!  How could we do this trip without his diverse skill set?  We've lost 1 1/2 hours so we will have a late arrival at our marina.  A quick phone call and we learn they are open until 8 pm so we should have time to get there before closing.

We opted to skip a planned side trip up river to Philadelphia.  That trip will have to wait for fall when we retrace this route back to the Chesapeake.  We are starting to see lots more commercial vessels on the Delaware, no doubt heading for Philly.

Delaware River

Three hours after starting down the Delaware, the river opens up into Delaware Bay.  The wind off the Atlantic is creating choppy seas in the bay and we have moved from the open flybridge into our pilothouse to escape the spray coming over our bow.  After two more hours of choppy water we round this lighthouse and turn east toward the Cape May Canal.

Brandywine Shoal Lighthouse, Delaware Bay

At last we are in the calm, protected waters of the Cape May Canal.

Cape May Canal

We pass the Cape May Ferry terminal.  Large car ferries cross between the canal entrance, near Cape May NJ, and Lewes DE across Delaware Bay.

Cape May Ferry

Soon we are tied up for the night at our marina.  This is a very nice facility and we had hoped to enjoy the pool and spend time sightseeing in Cape May.  Our late arrival and planned early departure tomorrow make those plans way too optimistic.  We order a pizza for delivery (when the delivery driver asks "which slip are you in?", we know we chose the right restaurant!) and call it an early night.  Yes, they delivered our pizza all the way to our slip!

Canyon Club Resort, Cape May NJ

Monday, June 12, 2017

We have an excellent weather forecast for our offshore run over the next two days, so we head out early.  Sure enough, the seas are almost smooth!  The alternate route north follows the ICW (intracoastal waterway) inland through New Jersey but this stretch has little commercial traffic and lots of shoaling - way too shallow for our boat to safely traverse.  Running offshore, we can safely enter only a couple of inlets for an overnight stay.  So our route will take us into Atlantic City tonight for a relatively short day.  The second day will take us all the way to New York harbor.

The Jersey Shore from offshore

Approaching Atlantic City and the seas are still calm.  Yea!

Atlantic City NJ

Soon we are tied up at the Golden Nugget casino.  Whoopee!  Well, we are not at all gamblers, so we will have a quiet stop here and leave early tomorrow.  Imagine our surprise when we find our assigned slip and see a boat identical to ours docked next door!  Another 53 Selene with a dark green hull, named Wonce More.  We soon meet the owner and his brother-in-law, who are moving the boat from Florida to their summer home in Cape Cod.  We enjoy getting together for "docktails" and trade boat tours.  It's fun to see other Selenes; even though it is technically the same boat, each one is semi-custom and has interior modifications unique to each boat.

Docked at the Golden Nugget, Atlantic City NJ

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

We have a very long day today, 108 miles, which is a record for us in a single day.  We are off at first light, following Once More, who is going to the same marina as we are.  We are blessed with another calm day offshore.  The Captain is resting up for our entry into New York Harbor, later today.

Offshore New Jersey

The offshore calm is almost ethereal.

Atlantic Ocean

After dodging several large container ships approaching New York Harbor, we make our way under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  We're watching attentively for all the boat traffic criss-crossing this very busy harbor - very tense!

Verrazano Narrows Bridge

We were warned to steer clear of the ferries.  This big boy pulled directly behind us, going three times our speed, and we had to scramble to get out of his way.  It appeared he wanted to intimidate us and he certainly succeeded!

Staten Island Ferry

Between dodging ferries and big commercial ships, we had a few calm moments to snap some photos.  The Statue of Liberty is barely visible to the left of the skyline.

Manhatten skyline from Upper Bay

Here's a closer look at lower Manhatten.  The tallest building on the left side is Freedom Tower, or 1 World Trade Center, the tower rebuilt after 9/11.

Lower Manhatten, New York NY

We pass directly in front of the Statue of Liberty, close to our marina.  What an awe-inspiring sight!

Boka admires the Statue of Liberty

So after surviving strong currents in the Hudson River, very choppy waters from numerous boat wakes, criss-crossing ferries, sightseeing boats, sailboats, jet skis, ... we are tied up at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City NJ.  Our location gives us a perfect view of lower Manhatten.  What a great spot to spend a week seeing the sights!

View from our slip at Liberty Landing Marina