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13 May 2021
Depart: Cohansey River / Delaware River anchorage NJ 8:10
Arrive: Altantic City, Brigantine Anchorage, NJ 5:30
Distance: 73 nm
Conditions: Clear, chilly, Light wind
We anchored right near the entrance to the Cohansey River last night. Fortunately, the Delaware River was extremely calm, and we had a restful night.
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| View of the Salem Nuclear Power Plant from our anchorage spot at the Cohansey River |
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| View of the Delaware River from our anchorage |
As we traveled the Delaware River today, we saw a slow speed of 7.2 knots. What a difference from the 11.2 we experienced yesterday evening! I was even happier that we traveled the extra distance last night after I saw our speed this morning.
The Delaware River has a number of lighthouses like the one shown below.
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| Ship John Shoal Light |
Clark chose an alternate route down the river, i.e. not inside the designated channel. It was one he had noted from prior trips down the river. We had plenty of water and no worries with this path. It probably cut 20 to 30 minutes off our travel time down river. The one concern with traveling outside the channel was the possibility of traps. We did not see many and those that were around were well marked.
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| Trap with a flag - easy to spot |
The past couple of days we have seen amazing cloud cover. I had to post today's "cloudy day" picture as a comparison!
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| That's it! Nothing else in any direction! |
As we approached the end of the Delaware River and the entrance to the Cape May Canal, we picked up speed. The current had turned and our speed progressed slowly until it reached a whopping great 10 knots as we turned to enter the canal.
Near the ferry terminal, we found a dredging operation in progress. The dredge appeared to be blocking the canal. With the angle of the vessel, we could not make out any signage to decipher where we should go. Clark called the captain and was told to do a starboard pass.
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| Pathway unclear |
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| Oh, now that we are passing the vessel, we can see the sign that says "Pass" and see the circles and diamonds that tell where to go. |
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| We certainly did not want to go on this, i.e. the wrong side, of the dredge. |
To make it all the more interesting a small work boat moved around on the side where we were told to pass.
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| Dredge operation work boat |
Our next point of interest was the Cape May - Lewes Ferry terminal. At least we did not come upon a ferry as we ventured through here.
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| Cape May - Lewes Ferry Terminal |
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| Ferry "Delaware" docked at terminal |
As we continued on along the canal, we decided that we should stop for fuel at Utsch's Marina. We had about 1/3 full tanks, and Clark thought it best to fill up before an ocean voyage.
Along the way to Utsch's we saw ...
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| Tree-lined View of Canal |
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| Houses along a portion of the canal |
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| Yet more Osprey! |
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| USCG Station Cape May |
Our timing was perfect for getting fuel. Another boater entered the marina directly behind us. One pump was not working and the hose on the other was too short to reach, so he had to wait for us to fuel before he could. A couple minutes difference and we would have been waiting for him. Many dollars later, we were on our way again, and shortly after that we were out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Views of Wild Wood, New Jersey amusement park from the Atlantic Ocean.
As we traveled, we did some calculations to decide how far we could go today. We entered the ocean around 2:30. Three hours put us at Atlantic City. The next inlet after that would be Barnegat. We settled on Atlantic City as the additional time to Barnegat would put us in after dark.
We could see Atlantic City well before we got there. The time passed slowly as we made our way. By the time we got to the inlet, around 5:00 p.m., we were both more than ready to call it a day.
I saw a balloon floating on the ocean today. So annoying!
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| Balloon in the ocean! |
Approaching the entrance to our chosen anchorage for the night, we saw yet another dredge operation. This time, however, the workers had left for the day. As we approached, I wondered if the entrance to the anchorage was completely blocked off. It was not.
However, entering this particular anchorage is very tricky due to the skinny pathway in and tricky currents pushing the boat around willy nilly. Clark entered at an angle due to the dredge equipment. He knew he needed to stay left entering the anchorage to get the deepest water. The currents flowed in that direction. Thus, he was concerned that he would get pushed too far over and end up, as he said. like the boat in the Suez Canal.
As we entered the channel, our depth suddenly went from twenty-something feet to less than one foot and then we felt a bump as we nudged the shoal. Meanwhile, the current Clark expected to push him to port was pushing him to starboard. He had to use the bow thruster to help fight the current and get us over where we needed to be. After that we managed to creep into the anchorage with no further problems.
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| View from the Brigantine Anchorage |
14 May 2021
Depart: Atlantic City, NJ - Brigantine Anchorage 8:45
Arrive: Home in Rumson, NJ 7:15
Distance: 88.5 nm
Conditions: Clear skies, 40s going up to 60s, Light wind
Before leaving the anchorage this morning, I took a couple of pictures of the site.
Given the difficulty entering the anchorage last night, I had no interest in attempting to drive the boat out this morning. I held the boat in position until Clark had the anchor up, came up and took over. We had more water this morning than last night when we came in at low tide, so we had no issues leaving.
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| Dredge outside Brigantine Anchorage |
I got snap happy with the camera on the way out towards the ocean.
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| Jetty leading up to fishing pier |
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| Fishing Pier |
With all the tall buildings, the Atlantic City lighthouse is fairly well obscured.
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| Well-hidden Atlantic City Lighthouse |
The water on the ocean proved to be calmer today than yesterday.
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| Red Buoy marking the inlet for Atlantic City -- super calm ocean today |
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| Today's cloud picture! |
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| Yet another balloon on the ocean! Grrrr! |
After almost three hours of travel up the coast, we could see Barnegat Light.
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| Barnegat Light and Inlet |
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| Two planes flying together over NJ |
I spent most of the day down below preparing for our arrival home later in the day. I looked in various nooks and crannies to find things to be taken off the boat. Some things will come back on when we leave on our next voyage; others will remain off permanently.
As we passed various places of interest and Clark saw me walking back and forth, he would call out milestones. "There's Shark River!" "Passing Asbury Park!"
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| Asbury Park, NJ from the ocean |
It is always so frustrating when we pass Sea Bright on the ocean. If we could cut through Sea Bright to Rumson, we would be home in 30 minutes. Instead, we have to go all the way around Sandy Hook and down the Shrewsbury River. Clark noted the time as we passed the Highlands Bridge on the outside and when we got to it on the inside. It took one-and-a-half hours.
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| The house icon marks where we live. Note the distance to get around Sandy Hook! |
Where do all the balloons come from? We saw at least 6 on the ocean today. Trying to catch them from our boat as they float by would be nearly impossible.
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| Star-shaped Balloon |
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| Multiple balloons tied together |
We had a somewhat hazy view of New York City today.
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| Coney Island, NY |
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| Verrazano-Narrows Bridge |
As we reached the tip of Sandy Hook, Clark noted that the winds had picked up some and the short stretch we had to travel to get around the tip would be rougher than the travels we had seen throughout the day. Without working stabilizers, it was a bit rocky but not a problem.
Views as we approached and rounded the tip of Sandy Hook.
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| Sandy Hook Lighthouse |
Approaching the Shrewsbury River, there is a tall building that is better than any lighthouse for marking the area.
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| Eastpointe Condos aka "Top of the East" makes a great "lighthouse" |
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| Nice weather = busy little beach near the Seastreak Ferry to NYC |
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| Nice day for kite sailing |
I tried to get a good picture of the Twin Lights Lighthouse. However, the trees obscure most of the building.
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| Twin Lights Lighthouse on the hill, behind the trees |
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| Bahr's Restaurant and Fuel Dock with Twin Lights Lighthouse in the background |
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| Navesink River bears off to the right |
We continued on the Shrewsbury River and came to our last bridge of this trip. When Clark asked about the height clearance, the tender told him 16 feet, so we needed an opening. Fortunately, we arrived before Memorial Day, so the bridge opened upon request!
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| Sea Bright Bridge -- last bridge opening for this trip! |
Shortly after the bridge, we passed the marina where we used to take Sea Moss for the winter. We saw the marina owner and some friends sitting out on his boat. They all waved to welcome us home.
Then, we turned off the Shrewsbury River towards the area known as Pleasure Bay which carried us to Little Silver Creek and ultimately down the creek where we live.
I looked back expecting to see him cursing us out. Instead he was holding up three fingers and yelling. I stepped back to hear what he had to say. He was telling us that we only had three feet of water the whole way in. I yelled thank you as we continued on our way. We had less than one foot of water under the keel, but we still had water.
When we bring the boat back to the house in the spring, it is always "interesting" to see how many of the channel markers survived the winter. As we got to our little creek, we found that both of the double markers marking the entrance to the creek were gone. I went and stood on the bow of the boat and thought how funny it was that we were practically gunkholing into our own creek. As I peered over the bow, I could find no signs of the channel markers. I just hoped our props would not find any parts of them either!
Clark said we were about 45 minutes before dead low tide. Today seemed to be a super low, and we needed every bit of water we had to make it home to our dock. We managed to push through and most likely did some dredging of the channel for the next guy. Only a handful of markers exist at the entrance to our creek. After that, we just stay in the middle.
After the last markers, I went to start putting out lines and fenders. All of a sudden, in an unexpected place, Clark spun the boat around to start driving backwards down the creek. We churned up a lot of black muck as he turned. I asked him why there since that meant he had to traverse nearly the full 1/4 mile of the creek backwards. He said we would not have anywhere near enough water further down the creek to turn around. "Besides it will give the neighbors something to talk about."
I stood in the cockpit and talked to him through our headsets to act as a second set of eyes regarding avoiding running into docks or boats tied to docks. I told him that I thought there were not too many pleasure boaters that could do what he was doing at that moment in time!
When we finally got to our dock, our neighbors on both sides of our house were outside and yelling "Welcome Home" at the top of their lungs. What a reception! We even got help tying up our boat at the dock!
After we got the boat secure, Clark ran up to the house to turn on the water and kick up the heat. We planned to sleep on the boat one more night. With several months of dust in the house, I needed to clean before we could move back in. With my dust allergies, I thought perhaps a hazmat suit would come in handy for the job!
Watching us put in long days to get here, a few folks asked "Why hurry home?" I thought about it and made a list.
Boating is fun, but ...
- we ran out of friends that asked us to visit on the way home
- I was down to rationing vegetables for dinner
- we had calm seas now and no stabilization
- the list of things to fix on the boat kept getting longer
- laundry was piling up
- garbage was taking over the boat
- we were tired of waking up to a 60-degree room
- I needed to get off the boat and get some exercise
- I am anxious to see the grandkids / family and NJ friends
- Clark wanted a long, hot shower in a heated room!
Even though it is a tremendous amount of work to move back into the house from the boat, it is so nice to be home!
LOVE your commentary . . . particularly the list at the end! Enjoy those grands!
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