We left Annapolis when Carol got back from a work trip and went all the way up to the Bohemia River again. It was a mostly calm day with favorable current at times so we made decent time to the northern Chesapeake. Good thing. We anchored as the breeze was picking up and the sky was getting darker. Darker, but not from the sun setting. Weather had been off to the west and north of us during the afternoon but it was sliding in our direction. About dinner time it slid right over us. A very strong gust front hit us with a brief downpour. As we were having dinner I noticed we had dragged when the front went through and although it had stopped we were closer to shore than I would like and the wind shift had us worried about the lee shore. We re-anchored closer to the northern shore of the river with a little less exposure to the NW wind. A little. At least there was less fetch so the waves were smaller. We felt secure for the night and there were no further adventures.
The next day we were set up to catch the current through the C & D Canal and that was a quick passage. The trip down Delaware Bay was not terrible, at the beginning at least, as the wind and seas were behind us. the waves started out as 1-2 ft. but later increased to the occasional four or so. The last part of the passage from the shipping channel to the Cape May Canal exit area was no fun at all and then the passage around Cape May itself via the Cape May channel was even less fun. Really bad. Really, really bad.
We survived the 90 minutes or so of this great fun and went into Cape May Harbor. There were no boats anchored there (I wonder why?) so we had time to cruise around and choose a good spot. We didn't. We chose a lousy spot. We dragged our anchor, again during dinner, and had to find a better spot. We did. Just a few feet from the old spot but this time the anchor held fine. We spent the next day here, too. It was too rough in the harbor to put the dinghy in the water to go get fuel to top off our tanks. Not matter as we had plenty to get the rest of the way home but I always like to have full diesel tanks.
The next day we got underway to go to Atlantic City. It was only a five hour trip so we stopped to have an early dinner before getting underway again to head up the New Jersey coast overnight. This stop was to time the overnight passage to arrive in the New York City area when the currents would change to our favor. It didn't work out.
We got to the Sandy Hook area much too soon. With the seas and breeze behind us most all the way our SOG was too high. Too fast. It was still dark and too early for the current. We went around Sandy Hook using our GPS as all the lighted buoys for the many channels are very confusing. We 'borrowed' a mooring at Atlantic Highlands but only stayed there about 45 minutes as the trip around the Hook used up all our extra time.
The passage through the Narrows, up the Bay and the East River was mostly uneventful except for the very heavy traffic. Many barges and all the ferries kept us on our toes. Hells Gate was reasonably easy and our speed throughout the City was very high. Average was over 10 kts with highs over 12. Fast.
With this speed we did not stop at Port Washington and went all the way to Port Jefferson to 'borrow' a mooring there.
The next day was mostly flat calm except for a bit of breeze as we got to New London. We went against the current so our passage was not too quick but we were home on our mooring by about 1500. The end of our eighth eight month cruise.
A few days after getting home we rented a car to go to Astoria, Queens to retrieve our car and to see Cobbe. Oh, and our daughter, too.
Now it's work on the Pearson, catch up on bills and other obligations and get the boat ready for another trip south in September.
