Barnegat Light, NJ

We left Cape May at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27 to take advantage of the calm seas off the coast of New Jersey. It was a long day, almost 10 hours, as we cruised 2-3 miles offshore.

Cruising past Atlantic City, we recalled the many times we had anchored there. But on this day we had a chance to double our distance, and so we did.

Archie did very well today. It might be because we got him to take his CBD earlier than the day before!

We had a wonderful surprise passing schools of light brown rays all heading south. There must have been literally thousands of them swimming past our boat! We looked them up and they are called Cownose rays. It went on for miles and it was very cool!

We saw lots of dolphins as well, but they didn’t come as close to us as the rays did.

As we entered the Barnegat Bay Inlet, we passed its imposing lighthouse.

There were two places to anchor and we chose the one that mentioned a dinghy dock in the review on Active Captain. We were very close to a large fleet of fishing boats. 

We dropped the anchor and loaded Archie into the dinghy. After a couple of attempts we finally found the place to tie up and took him for a walk.  The town of Barnegat Light is very neat and clean and has many lovely well-kept homes. 

It was very fortunate that we just happened upon a large dog park with two dogs playing inside.  We went to go in but the park required a fob as it was only open to residents.  We were able to persuade the two women inside to let us in as we were just passing through.  Needless to say, Archie was in heaven and we were very happy for him to have a chance to run free and play and wrestle with other dogs, all of which he loves to do.

Upon returning to Zendo, we did our usual wine and cheese routine watching the PBS News Hour and telephoning family.  Jonny prepared a delicious dinner on the grill - drumfish, purchased at the fish market the day before, and asparagus.

We had a relaxing evening afterwards after some intensive trip planning discussions.  Tomorrow we head to Coney Island.

Cape May, NJ

After Zendo was towed from Philadelphia back to Delaware City, Charlie, the local mechanic came onboard to troubleshoot the fuel injector pump issue.  We were relatively happy to discover that the problem was that it hadn’t been properly installed. The instruction manual stated clearly that the drive shaft  on the pump should be tightened (torqued) not once, not twice, but three times.  The guys had neglected to tighten it the third time and the pump was loosened during our travels in Philly and it failed to function properly. After several hours of work, the issue was resolved. 

During the lulls in working on the project we managed to fit in a little more local sightseeing visiting the nearby villages of Port Penn and lovely little Odessa.  We’ve learned that Delaware has a lot of these tiny historic towns.

We decided to do one more sea trial back up to Philly to make sure things were working well.  Jonny and Archie left for Philly the next day and Lynn drove Ryan’s car back. He had again graciously loaned it to us while we were in Delaware City.

Happily all went well with Zendo and Lynn enjoyed a lovely lunch with Ryan.  Lots more historical details are always seen strolling through Philly!

But because Stephanie wasn’t feeling well, we didn’t stay the weekend and instead turned around and returned to Delaware City the next day. Fortunately, Zendo performed well.  And we were also pleased that Tim, who owns the marina and of whom we are very fond, didn’t charge us for the half day of labor it took to properly reinstall the pump.

So finally on Monday, July 26, we resumed our 2021 cruise and departed Delaware City at 6 a.m. bound for Cape May, NJ.

It was an overcast day and the seas were quite calm.  Each of us was able to spend a little time napping to make up for our early wake-up call.

We belatedly remembered to give Archie some pet CBD chewies to prevent him from becoming seasick on the open seas. He did pretty well until we were halfway there when he got sick on our bed and peed on the saloon rug! Poor baby! Poor us!

It became even more overcast as we continued on our seven hour journey and we arrived in Cape May by 1:00.  By this time, it had become very hot and we set our anchor across from the Coast Guard Station which was conducting loud training exercises throughout our stay.

We tried to cool off by dangling out legs in the very chilly waters which helped just a little!  Whenever we are in Cape May we love to visit the Lobster Pot Restaurant’s seafood market, so the three of us dinghied over to it. We passed a couple of boats that had been with us at the Delaware City Marina. The couple on one of them, Rincon Fiesta, wanted suggestions on places to visit on the Hudson and Long Island Sound. They were docked at nearby Utsch’s Marina and as we passed them they invited us onboard to pick our brains. So after stocking up on goodies from the seafood market we visited with Jim and Silvia for awhile.

When we returned to Zendo we had a delicious shrimp scampi dinner with orzo and asparagus.  It was an early night because we were going to have an even longer cruise continuing up the Jersey shore the next day.

Philadelphia, PA

We had an easy voyage up the Delaware River on Sunday, July 11 heading for Philadelphia.  We shared the river with some significant vessels but overall it was calm seas and fair skies.

Archie did very well enjoying the breezes.  Our plan was to spend the week in Philly where we could visit with Stephanie a lot and see other friends and family.  

We arrived in Philly after five hours and tied up at a dock close to the river as the marina has silted in quite a lot. This spot is far from the bathrooms but we have a great view of the bridge and we’re very close to a big dock space which will be great for entertaining later in the week.

There was a lot of construction on the street in front of the marina but fortunately we found some good places nearby to walk Archie including a couple of pocket dog parks.  We’ve started a new 30 day on-line training program with him called Sexier than a Squirrel which is proving to be quite entertaining and effective for all of us!

The marina is in Old City, the most historic part of town. There are some very old and interesting buildings nearby and some cool pubs as as well, one of which is called Khyber Pass.  When Jonny told the server that he had been to the real Khyber Pass, she thought he was talking about a rock band! She had no idea it was an actual place in Afghanistan!

Some of the highlights of our week included a leisurely lunch with Ryan and a delicious dinner with Stephanie and Ryan that they prepared for us in their lovely apartment. 

We also met our friends Tracy and Jane who moved to Philly from Burlington, VT to be close to Jane’s daughter and grandchildren. They are in the process of building a home in a cool part of town called Northern Liberties just behind their daughter’s house.

It was so hot that week (highs in the high 90’s with a heat index in the low 100’s) that some afternoons we just stayed inside and “chilled” out in the AC.

Later in the week my cousin Taylor Lynn and her two little ones, Evie and Otto, met Stephanie and us in Rittenhouse Square for a late afternoon wine and cheese get together.  We didn’t get to see them last year due to Covid. The kids are just adorable and their dad, Stu, joined us when he was done working.  Unfortunately they couldn’t meet Ryan because he was out of town for a weekend bachelor’s party.

That evening Stephanie, Jonny and I went out to eat at one of Stephanie’s favorite restaurants called Entree.  On the way we ran into Ryan’s twin  sister Shannon who we had never met. She lives around the corner from Stephanie. We were glad to finally meet her and she got to thank us in person for the July 4 vacation that she, her boyfriend, Stephanie and Ryan spent at a our condo in Miami.  That night, instead of taking an Uber back to Zendo, we had a sleepover at Stephanie’s. It was quite fun for all of us except for Stephanie’s cat Sasha who isn’t happy having Archie around at all!

Sunday, the final day of our visit, was a real highlight. Ten of Stephanie’s friends joined us aboard Zendo for a short cruise on the Delaware River.  This has become an annual event when we bring Zendo to Philly.  First we had a picnic on the big deck beside our boat and then took off for our cruise on an overcast but thankfully not scorchingly hot day. Everyone had a great time and we stopped for a short while so some of the group could go swimming.  However, because we had a bit of trouble getting the engine started, we didn’t turn it off when we stopped for a swim. As we arrived at our dock, the engine gave out! The river has a strong current and we started to careen into the sailboat next to our slip.  Through the quick thinking of our captain and four of the female crew including Stephanie and me, we were able to avert a crash and Jonny, with the help of the sailboat’s owner, skillfully maneuvered us into our slip.  It was a nerve-racking close call!

The kids ( actually young adults) graciously and quickly cleaned up the boat, thanked us and scampered away.  Now we are left with the perplexing task of figuring out why the engine failed.  Originally we had planned to continue our cruise and leave the next day but that plan obviously had to change. Jonny’s original thought was that if we advance the idle a little, we could get Zendo started and make it back to Delaware City where we were headed the next day.  It may be that due to some of the recent repair work, an adjustment needs to be made. 

Unfortunately, the next day we were unable to get the engine to turn over at all!  By Tuesday we were finally able to get a mechanic onboard who confirmed that there was still a problem with the recently repaired injection pump. After several phone calls, we determined that the best thing to do was to have the boat towed back to Delaware City where the injection pump would have to be pulled and sent back to the place that had rebuilt it.  So on Wednesday morning Sea Tow arrived to tow Jonny and Archie the five hours to Delaware City. I walked to Stephanie and Ryan’s to hang out for the day, make dinner, and borrow Ryan’s car again for our undetermined stay in Delaware City!  Ahh, the joys of boat ownership!

Delaware City Sojourn

Since we spent a full four weeks in Delaware City, I thought I would capture some of the additional adventures we had while there. Due to Ryan’s generosity in loaning us his car we were able to explore the surrounding area more fully in between boat repairs. Some of the highlights of our visit included a couple of visits to nearby New Castle, a charming small town that is filled with historic homes and a lovely waterfront. On our second visit there we were joined by our boating friends, Liz and Steve, and we had dinner at an old tavern named Jessup’s that featured an endless list of beers and a menu with old-fashioned recipe selections. 

On another day we explored Wilmington where we strolled along its waterfront.  We also spent time touring the Nemours Estate, former home of Alfred DuPont. It’s a fabulous property with formal gardens reminiscent of Versailles.  The DuPont family owns so many properties in Delaware, it is quite amazing. Many of them are open to the public and it would take at least a couple of weeks to explore all of them.

We also spent a day visiting Longwood Gardens, another former DuPont property, with its stunning gardens. Ryan’s mother works there and she kindly gave us complimentary tickets. 

On the 4th of July we drove down to Havre de Grace, a charming little town that was hosting an old-fashioned Independence Day parade. The streets were lined with local residents and we had a lot of fun watching and joining in the festivities.

In the meantime, various repairs were being done on Zendo by Jonny and the staff at Delaware City Marina.  The injection pump was rebuilt and reinstalled, solar panels were installed (a long, labor intensive process), the rub rail paint was stripped, and new batteries were installed. In addition,  Zendo was hauled out for the bottom to be painted and a new depth gauge installed.  All in all, a lot of work and quite an expensive month!!

The people at Delaware City Marina are great and we feel very comfortable there.  The weather was beastly hot at times and we yearned for a swimming pool to cool off. But thankfully our AC managed to function well (fingers crossed).  

Archie got a much needed haircut and benefitted from the lovely shaded park next door as well as the miles long walking trail that ran all all along the C&D Canal.

Stephanie and Ryan met us for dinner on the last night of our stay so they could pick up Ryan’s car as we would be cruising up to Philly for a week’s visit.