Greenwich, NJ

Archie and Jonny went for a walk in Cape May before we pulled up the anchor on Saturday, October 15 at 9 a.m. We are headed up the Delaware Bay and usually we do the whole trip in one day. But we are not in a big hurry to end our cruise this year so we decided to seek out an anchorage halfway up the bay along the Cohansey River.

It was a nice day - cool, with a little breeze as we cruised north on the wide Delaware Bay. There was very little boat traffic.  The breeze gradually increased as we entered the snaking Cohansey River.  The river continued its deep and winding path and we went around several twists and turns before deciding on an anchorage.  We chose a spot just outside of the little hamlet of Greenwich (pronounced “green witch” unlike the towns in Connecticut and England).

After lunch we dinghied in to explore the area. We tied up at a funky dock at a marina that had been badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy and never fully restored. This did not provide a very positive impression of the town we were about to see.  However, we were very pleasantly surprised by how lovely Greenwich, NJ is.  The homes lining the few main streets were historic, very attractive and well-maintained for the most part.

Almost everyone was gaily (or scarily) decorated for Halloween.

We wandered all through this town of just over 800 people marveling at how pretty it is. Many of the big trees lining the streets were in full autumn color and the streets were filled with the dried fallen leaves. I was delighted to shuffle through piles of leaves reliving one of my favorite childhood activities!

Greenwich was established in 1748 and its claim to fame is that it had its own “Boston Tea Party” type rebellion setting fire to shipments of British tea that were in the harbor. There are many houses from that era and several very “skinny” ones, likely only one room wide!

We stopped at a pretty shop selling locally produced crafts and chatted with the young woman who runs it.   She had grown up here and was very proud of her town and noted some of the historic homes for us to be sure to see.

As we walked back to the dinghy we passed what looked like a Christmas tree farm and also beautiful marshes along the water.

After passing a boatyard filled with derelict boats, we returned to where we were tied up and chatted with two fellows at the boatyard, decidedly different types from the young woman but equally friendly.

In the meantime, Archie found a friend to play with while we talked..

We had a light dinner and watched an entertaining Spike Lee movie until the connectivity became too bothersome and we went to bed on our last night at anchor.

Cape May, NJ

The original plan on Friday, October 14 was to take the ICW to Cape May because the seas were expected to be uncomfortable for traveling.  The ICW here is very skinny with lots of bridges all of which require the utmost attention to navigation.  While Jonny was taking Archie for his morning walk, he  learned from some of the local fisherman that the seas were not bad so he wanted to try the outside. If it was too rough we could always turn around and go on the inside. And so we headed out at 8 a.m. for the five and a half hour cruise to Cape May.

We nosed out into the ocean to check it out. There were 2 to 3 foot swells with long periods so it was really not too uncomfortable and we decided to go for it. It was quite chilly but we stayed on the flybridge and bundled up. I was not feeling 100% throughout the trip. I was a bit queasy so I was unable to do my usual reading, writing or needlepointing.  Instead I just cuddled with Archie and dozed occasionally throughout the cruise.

We arrived at our anchorage in Cape May by 1:20, had lunch, and took Archie into shore for a walk through some pretty Cape May neighborhoods.

We also went to our favorite fish market next to the Lobster House restaurant where we bought some of our favorite goodies.  Those included salmon, shrimp salad, crab soup, cole slaw and potato salad. We had to hold back from buying more because we are trying to use up the food in our pantry.

On the way in to shore we stopped to chat with a fellow boater and his wife who is with MTOA and who is a port captain in Camden, ME.  We invited them for cocktails later that afternoon.

Shortly after we returned from our walk and shopping Dan and Cathy came by for a little while. We had fun chatting with them and learning about their cruising experience. They were on their way to Florida and the Bahamas for the winter.

That night we had a very nice dinner of the leftover steak and sides from our dinner out the night before and planned for the next (and last) two days of travel before we end this year’s cruise.

Atlantic City, NJ

Jonny took Archie for a walk while I had breakfast on Tuesday, October 11.  I had my Spanish tutor at 9:30 and Jonny decided to pull up anchor by 9 so we could make our way to Atlantic City. I was able to do my lesson from the salon. Fortunately there was only one day this year that I couldn’t participate in the lesson due to connectivity problems.

For the next several hours we cruised south on a sunny and fairly mild day with calm seas.  I made tuna fish sandwiches for lunch and after lunch Jonny spied another whale and this time I saw it too! We even saw it blow! This is the second time in two days that we spotted whales on the Jersey coastline!

We arrived in Atlantic City by 1:50. The local MTOA port captain who Jonny had contacted helped us to get a slip at the Farley State Marina which is operated by the Golden Nugget casino. It’s a huge marina and really quite nice.  Glenn was also kind enough to let Jonny have the new inverter shipped to him.  That was the reason we were staying there - so Jonny could install the inverter and have some moral support from Glenn, a very seasoned boater.  After we arrived, Jonny removed the old inverter and got ready to install the new one which was planned for the next day. We took Archie for a couple of walks and had dinner on board.

On Wednesday Jonny worked all day installing the inverter.  It was a lot of work but he didn’t stop until 6:30 and he got it done! Hooray!

In the meantime, I worked on finalizing the article about our San Juan Island cruise to submit to the MTOA magazine.

Although our original plan was just to stay two nights, we decided to stay a third night because the weather forecast called for rain and rough seas on Thursday. As it turned out Jonny still had more work to do connecting the inverter and snaking the wires through the chase to where our instrument panels are.  This was one area where I could help because my hands are smaller and maybe a little more nimble than his to maneuver through a blind space to make the connection.

While he did that, I watched the ninth (and last) hearing of the January 9 Congressional committee. It was fascinating and even more fascinating is why the majority of Americans are not completely outraged at all that has been reported!

That evening we took advantage of the fact that Atlantic City had extended its restaurant month and we had dinner at the nearby Chart House which is connected to the Golden Nugget. Dinner was very good and as usual, we had enough leftover for another meal!  After dinner we walked through the casino to gawk at the people playing the slot machines.  We are clearly not gamblers so the proximity to the casino held no draw for us. 

Each day we were here we took Archie for long walks along an attractive waterfront walkway. It brought us by some very pretty scenic areas, a windmill installation, and a few of the Atlantic City casinos such as Harrah’s and Borgata. We weren’t on the famous Boardwalk but we didn’t mind a bit though it might have been fun to stroll by the others at night when they are all lit up.

On the last night we were delighted by a fireworks display within view of Zendo. Our plan was to leave the next morning bound for Cape May.  Sadly, we only have a couple more days and nights on Zendo before we put her up for the winter. 

Barnegat Light, NJ

We had a long day of cruising down the New Jersey coast on Monday, October 10. We left Sheepshead Bay at 7:45 after Jonny took Archie for a walk on the beach.

It was clear and sunny but quite cold starting out in the high 40’s. Time to get back to Miami!  Thankfully the seas were very calm and we had an uneventful journey until Jonny kept  spotting a whale! He actually saw it breach but I, unfortunately, only saw its fin. We never expected to see one in New Jersey but apparently it’s not that unusual.

Getting into Barnegat Bay was a little nerve-wracking.  Jonny was following the markers but noticed that the other boats returning to the bay were approaching it from an entirely different angle. We proceeded slowly and carefully into the harbor but noted the depth gauge kept showing shallower and shallower depths until we finally touched bottom. Thankfully, Jonny took immediate action and skillfully maneuvered us back and forth until we were freed up.  At the same time, he contacted the harbor master to ask him about the right way to enter the harbor.  He was told that there had been a lot of shoaling (duh!) and how to proceed.  Clearly they should have put up temporary markers to prevent boats from going this way.  Apparently it was noted on the Notice to Mariners but we hadn’t bothered to review it this time.  So we followed the other boats entering the bay passing many of the attractive beach homes lining the shore.

We proceeded to the place where we like to anchor but there was a sailboat in that very spot.  After a couple of false tries, we finally got ourselves settled.

We dinghied over to chat with our neighbors and heard another distress call from a sailboat that had run aground and needed a tow. Not a good thing - they need to mark that shoaling!

After our chat we took Archie in for a walk. One of the reasons we like coming here is that there is a big dog park that Archie can run around in.  Usually there are just a few dogs but this day there were lots.  Archie was a little reluctant to interact with them at first but he eventually warmed up to a couple of dogs that he chased and wrestled with.  Surprisingly, this has been the first dog park we’ve been to on this voyage.

That evening Jonny made a lovely dinner of cod almandine, artichoke salad and quinoa. We had a quiet night aboard and will be heading to Atlantic City the next day.

Brooklyn, NY

Since we only had a four hour cruise on Sunday, October 9, we took our time taking off for our next destination, Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club in Brooklyn.  We took the launch to bring Archie for a walk down City Island Ave. 

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This time we walked all the way to the park where he was able to run freely and chase sticks through the old baseball field. 

On the way back we stopped to pick up a few groceries at the local market and Jonny bought a freshly made Italian grinder for us to split for lunch.

We left City Island by 10:30 for the cruise down the East River through Manhattan. It was quite chilly and I spent a lot of time riding from below in the salon.  We sped through turbulent Hell Gate and I went up to the flybridge to record our speed. It’s always exciting traversing the intersection of the East and Harlem Rivers.

Afterwards we passed the many landmarks of NYC. We’ve done this so many times I just included a few shots here.

The waters were pretty rough as we left Manhattan and headed to Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.  This has become a convenient and cost effective anchorage for us especially with New York prices.  We secured a mooring there by 2:15 and called the launch so we could take Archie in for a walk.

Archie’s walk took us all the way down to a waterfront park where we chatted with some friendly dog owners.

We returned to a Zendo to relax and read and catch up on the blog. That evening we had meatloaf for dinner and did our usual routine of reading and watching TV.  Jonny has been spending a lot of time over the last couple of weeks talking with his brother Andy about their mom’s declining state.  Her doctor had suggested having hospice do an evaluation. That was just completed and Janice will have hospice services including an aide a couple of days a week starting soon.

We need to continue making progress on our return to Miami. Our next stop is Atlantic City where Jonny will be working with a friend to install the new inverter.