Mystic... Home

     We are back home in Mystic again. Arrived May first, May Day. We haven't been back this soon in quite some time and it's cold. Not as cold as we were in Wrightsville Beach but plenty cold enough for us.

     Our first passage was to Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal. We had a real good current and got there early in the afternoon. There is not any good spot to anchor until one gets to Cape May, NJ so there is no point in continuing on. The timing doesn't work and neither does it to New York City from the Canal in the afternoon. We anchored in the basin as there is not enough water at the free dock anymore. You need to arrive or leave at mid-tide or better and we would not be.

     At 0600 the next day (Saturday) we got underway. Decent current in the Canal and part-way down the Delaware Bay. It turned against us for a while then in a favor again. All in all, not too bad. Seas were okay, too. Our passage around Cape May itself was a little too exciting for us. We usually hug the shore near the beach but there were breakers all through the area. We went out our old route through Cape May Channel with breakers and Prissy Wicks Shoal to our port. We tried to cut through them at one point but that was nearly a disaster. A fatal disaster. We made it out of potential trouble by taking the long way around. The safe way around. The longer time didn't matter too much because we had decided to go all the way up the NJ coast over night. The night passage wasn't too bad. The seas were mostly on our stern with not much wind. It was mostly a swell from a very distant storm. The wind turned to our bow (from the north) about 0230 but the forecast seas did not develop until  much later in the day.

     We got the chance to wave to Heather and Mike in the Hell Gate area as they live very close to there. Tough to pay attention to boat handling and waving but we managed in spite of the strong following current. Because of the weather forecast we passed by Port Washington and went all the way to our usual mooring at Port Jefferson. The next day, Monday 1 May, we headed home. The wind had not shifted yet and was on the nose (ENE) with more than two foot seas. When the wind did shift to our stern the current then turned against us. Of course. The seas went pretty flat so not so bad of a compromise. Did I mention the fog? Oh, yeah. Visibility was well under a quarter mile until we got to the New London area. We had to maintain VHF contact with a barge and tug for more than an hour as our courses were very slowly merging and he was less than a knot faster than us. Because of AIS we knew where he was and his course and speed. Once we established who and where we were he could track our radar return. Perfectly safe. We later had to check in with the New London - Orient ferries to keep us all safe.

     When we got to the Mystic area the fog got denser but we were closer to the warmer land and visibility was not much of a problem. It got very thick that night on our home mooring and the next day was very bad, too. Then the wind started. 30-40 knots for some periods and 5-6 foot seas on the Sound. Nice to be home on our mooring for that. Got home early but just in time.

     We'll see what our four months at home brings us. Nothing exciting we hope.