June 9 - 12
Norfolk to New York City
Crew - Mike Russell

June 9  Departed Waterside Marina in Norfolk at 0740.  Backtracked through the harbor to give Mike a tour of the mothball fleet and the naval ship repair area.  Norfolk is a large harbor and it takes nearly 2 hours just to get into the Atlantic. On the way out we passed the active fleet including the carriers Harry S. Truman and George Washington.
But the big charge came when we passed the first of three nuclear subs who were returning to port.  We passed within 100 feet of one of them, and they are quite impressive.  They also throw a big wake at a speed I estimated to be 20 knots. Winds were light in the morning increasing to 20 knots from the south in the afternoon.  Today was the longest of the leg covering 114 nm to Ocean City, MD., motored at 15 knots and arrived at 1800. At Ocean City we had reservations at Olde Towne Marina, which proved to be a big problem as, contrary to their assurance there was not enough water in the marina at low tide, a fact I became concerned about shortly after docking.  With 2 hours left to low tide we had only a few inches under the keel.  We decided to leave, but by the time we untied we were already aground.  Fortunately we were able to wiggle out, and mush through to deep water - another 10 minutes however and we would have had to wait till high tide (in the middle of the night) to leave.  We did find a very nice deep water marina a couple of miles away, Sunset Marina, which was also better protected from wakes and which had no current.  Dinner that night was at the Crab House Restaurant (a 5)  near the commercial fishing docks.

June 10 Another perfect weather day as we left for Cape May, NJ at 1015, arriving at 1515. Cape May is located on the very southern end of New Jersey at the entrance to Delaware Bay.  It is a popular destination for beaching and fishing. In fact there was a shark fishing tournament and a J-24 Regatta the weekend we were there so both of the marina's we selected were full.  They did refer us to a marina in a private home development that occasionally accepted transients and we were able to get a berth there, no current and floating docks. (Contact Joan Rosemann).  After docking we unfolded the bicycles and road "downtown" for a bit of exploring and some provisions, which we carried back to the boat in a backpack.  With all the events of the weekend Cape May was quite crowded, lots of traffic.  Upon return to the marina we met a couple Mary and Matt who have a home next to the marina.  They were quite friendly and allowed us to take the adjacent picture on their lawn, invited us to tour their home and even helped us with picking a restaurant (Water's Edge, which was excellent), making reservations and even gave us a ride to and from.  

June 11  Had coffee on board with Matt and Mary prior to leaving for Manasquan at 0915, arriving at 1630.  Sky clear and temperature 72. Light wind from the SW.  The only problem for this and the other days is that there were lots of biting flies.  With the wind direction they blow off the beach, where they live, and find the boat an appealing site for rest and lunch (us). Manasquan has a good all weather inlet, but not much of a selection in marina's and no good anchorages as the water out of the channel was too shallow.  We wound up at the Brielle Yacht Club which is close to the railroad bridge and the waterway, so somewhat noisy, but it does have an OK restaurant at dockside.

June 12  Left at 0825 for New York.  Winds had shifted to the east which gave us a beam sea and a rolly ride.  Temperature was 69 in the morning dropping to 58 in the afternoon with the passage of a cold front.  By the time we got to New York Harbor is was foggy, rainy and cold, visibility about a mile.  We passed under the Verazzano Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty, where we took some pics.  We couldn't see Manhattan till we were less than a mile away and even then could only see the lower half of the skyscrapers.  Due to the lousy weather we aborted our plan to circumnavigate Manhattan and went directly to the Marina, the Newport Marina located just across the Hudson from the tip of Manhattan, with what would have be a stunning view, had the visibility and weather been more cooperative.  We stayed a night at the same marina in '98 and the view was spectacular, particularly at night.  The other plus to this marina was a good Italian restaurant at dockside, which was unfortunately closed due to a plumbing problem in the kitchen, a fact that we didn't learn until too late as we took a break from watching a remake of "Das Boot" (3 hours 20 minutes).  Wound up having peanut butter sandwich (Mike) and chicken soup (me) on board. So much for a gourmet dining experience in NYC. The marina does have a problem with waves generated by the ferry traffic, despite a breakwater, which makes it very rolly when the ferries are running (0630 to 2200).  The channel just outside the slips is also shallow and may not be passable at low tide. 

June 13  Cleaned the boat, did laundry and left for La Guardia just after noon for shore leave in KC.