Cape May, NJ

We had another long day of cruising on Thursday, September 5 traveling from Atlantic City to Cape May.  We could make better time if we traveled outside on the Atlantic rather than the ICW but we weren’t sure about the conditions.  So after leaving our comfortable anchorage at 8:45, we stuck our nose out of the inlet to see how the ocean looked.  It looked choppy with whitecaps so we erred on the side of caution and took the inside route.  We anticipated that it could take us about 8 hours to get to Cape May instead of 5 if we went on the outside.  And once we were underway we thought it might take even longer because the many bridges and no wake zones were really slowing us down. Again, this was to be a day of hyper-vigilance due to the sinuous passage and the often shallow waters.  However, in the long run, it was a beautiful cruise passing by a lot of comfortable waterfront homes (the Jersey short is filled with them)!

And we cruised through long stretches of serene vistas as well.   The whole trip only took us six hours. We were on a rising tide and we thought that maybe the effects of Hurricane Dorian were pushing water into the bay which helped to speed us along..

We arrived  at Utsch’s Marina after stopping at another one for a pump out. We had never stayed at Utsch’s but it’s very popular with loopers. The last time we tried to stay here it was full and we stayed at another more expensive marina.

We docked next to Puffin, a beautiful 42 foot Nordic Tug with very friendly owners, Peter and Cathy. The dockmaster and dock hands were helpful and welcoming and we quickly saw why this marina had such a good reputation.  We planned to stay for two nights waiting for the best weather window and tide schedule for the next leg of our journey up the Delaware Bay to Delaware City.

Jonny had been suffering from an earache for a couple of weeks and finally decided to go to a clinic to have it looked at. A fellow from the marina gave him a ride to the nearby clinic and sure enough, he had an infection and was able to get a prescription for it. Upon his return, the marina (and the general area) lost power but fortunately it came back a couple of hours.  Although Dorian was moving up the coast, we hadn’t expected it to affect us in any significant way other than the fact that in the middle of the night it poured rain and the next day it rained a little on and off during the day.  Lynn put off doing the laundry which was a very long walk from the boat due to pending rain.

That night, we treated ourselves to a true date night by having a delicious  prix fixe dinner (albeit at 5 :00!) at the elegant Peter Shields Inn and Restaurant. The restaurant was located in one of the gorgeous early 1900’s homes that line the road across from Cape May’s beautiful beachfront.  It was a lovely meal with wonderful service and we felt quite pampered.

The next day was bright and sunny.  Jonny did some engine maintenance and fixed one of the bikes so we could go exploring.  However, the fix didn’t hold so we had to borrow one bike from the marina.  We proceeded on our way, cycling through the charming town of Cape May which is filled with Victorian architecture, beautiful homes with welcoming front porches, and and cute shops.

We headed to Ducky’s, recommended by last night’s server as “the place to go” for fresh vegetables. We loaded up our backpack with beautiful fresh vegetables. 

From there we biked along the beach road checking out the gorgeous wide Atlantic beach where quite a few people were enjoying the last vestiges of summer.

The day called for ice cream so we found an ice cream shop on a pedestrian mall in “downtown Cape May”.  Lynn was a little disappointed in this part of town. Though it was attractively laid out, it was more touristy and seemed less authentic than the older, more charming parts of town.  On the way back to Zendo, we stopped at a fabulous fish market run by the Lobster Pot, a very popular (and touristy) restaurant right next door to our marina.  They had stone crabs for $7.50/pound, unheard of to us Miamians where the prices are more than twice that! We bought stone crabs, soft shell crabs, and flounder.  Jonny had bought their lobster salad, potato salad and coleslaw when he was here on his way up north and highly endorsed them so we bought those too.  We would be feasting on fresh seafood for the next several days!

When we returned to Zendo, we were invited aboard our dockmates’ boat, Puffin, for drinks and hors d’oeuvres.  Peter and Cathy are a charming couple from Cincinati with whom we were very simpatico. Too bad we were both leaving the next day - we would have enjoyed spending more time with them.  Hopefully, our paths will cross again!

Afterwards, on our aft deck we indulged in our seafood extravaganza enjoying our fresh stone crabs, soft shell crabs and corn on the cob. What a treat!  The next morning both Puffin and Zendo would be taking advn antage of calm seas and a favorable current on the Delaware Bay to head out to our next ports of call. 

Atlantic City, NJ

We gave ourselves a pre-dawn wake-up call on Wednesday, September 4 for the long cruise down the Jersey shore.  If we started early before the seas picked up, we could make better time by going on the Atlantic side of the coast rather than the winding intracoastal waterway (ICW).  So at 6 a.m. we pulled up the anchor, watched the sun rise, and headed out on what started to be a sunny day.

We stayed on the outside until about 1:00 when the wind and waves picked up and it was getting just too uncomfortable. There are not many places along the Jersey sure that are safe to pull into and we were just getting to the Barnagut Bay inlet which was our best bet.  Jonny muscled his way into  that challenging inlet and we proceeded on the narrow sinuous channel that would bring us to the ICW. We continued on that skinny channel which required a lot of concentration.  This was not a relaxing cruising day!  We did cruise through some serene areas and passed  this beautiful isolated house in Little Egg Harbor (love that name)!

By 5 p.m., we arrived at an anchorage noted on the chart, but it was wide open and had a very strong current.  Jonny wasn’t comfortable with the situation so we decided to push on to Atlantic City.  It should be noted that we were pushing to make it to Cape May to get ahead of the remains of Hurricane Dorian before it impacted our area.  

As we neared our anchorage we watched as a helicopter seemed to airlift someone from a nearby fishing boat. We were not sure if it was a practice maneuver or for real. There was no chatter on the radio to indicate either situation. 

By 6:30, after a 12 1/2 hour cruise, we arrrived at a very protected anchorage in Atlantic City called Brigantine across from Harrah’s Casino. It was a nice, calm spot with only two other boats that were on mooring balls. 

Jonny had been manning the helm for most of the trip and he was pretty tired.  Lynn made a dinner of pork tenderloin marinated in jalapeños in adobo sauce which we cooked on the grill. That and a tossed salad made for a satisfying dinner after a long and stressful day (particularly for Jonny).  Harrah’s and nature provided an amazing light show.  Following that extravaganza, we had a quiet evening and fell into bed early.

Sandy Hook, NJ

We left City Island on Tuesday, September 3 in the early afternoon so we didn’t have to fight the current on the East River.  In the morning, Jonny took the launch to the hardware store to buy marine caulk so he could caulk the leaky window.  Let’s hope it works!

After lunch we took off for our afternoon cruise through New York City - as always so impressively scenic!  The traffic wasn’t too bad but we had to be hyper-vigilant in those roiling waters.  Lynn is obviously fascinated by bridges...

It was a short cruise and we ended up in a rather open anchorage in Sandy Hook, NJ next to what appeared to be military housing.  The anchorage was pretty rolly but we decided not to move.

We had cod for dinner and played Bananagrams. This was Jonny’s first time playing and it reinforced the fact that games are not his favorite amusement! We went to bed early knowing that the next day would be a long one.  We planned to leave early to see how far we could get - maybe even Atlantic City.  And just for the record, there is no end to the fabulous sunsets that we witness nearly every night!

City Island, NY

We had another short three hour cruise on Saturday, August 31 as we traveled from Oyster Bay to City Island on a fine summer day with flat seas and partly cloudy skies. We had the NYC skyline in our sight for the entire journey. 

More boats were around as we were in a more populated area and it was Labor Day weekend.  We had been wanting to go to City Island for a couple of years.  Its reputation intrigued us as it is very small with a lot of boaters, a real sense of neighborhood, and the home of residents whose families have been there for generations.  We planned to get a mooring at the Harlem Yacht Club, one of the country’s oldest.

We arrived promptly and the launch came to greet us.  After we got situated, we called it to take us to shore where we had lunch at the yacht club’s  comfortable restaurant.  City Island is very small, one and a half miles long by a half mile wide. With only 4500 residents living in mostly modest, well kept dwellings, City Island is more like a small New England shoreline village than a New York City enclave. It was originally part of Westchester, NY but is now part of the Bronx.  

We strolled down City Island Ave., the main drag and found our way to the City Island Nautical Museum.  There, a friendly docent told us about the history of City Island.  Interestingly, it had been a major boat building center with several well known yacht manufacturers located here. Many America Cup yachts were built in shipyards here including several winners of that most coveted award.  Sadly, all of them are now closed and the primary industry is tourism, specifically, seafood restaurants.

We had the obligatory ice cream at Lickety Split, a cute little place with mediocre ice cream and after strolling through half the town, we returned to Zendo where we had dinner onboard.

The next day we took the bus to the New York Botanical Garden located in the Bronx right across from the Bronx Zoo. 

What an absolutely beautiful garden! We spent the entire day wandering around. 

A fantastic exhibit was underway featuring the work of Roberto Burle Marx (a noted landscape architect and conservationist).  This was particularly relevant to us because he was the landscape designer of the sidewalks next to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts that extend all the way down Biscayne Blvd. in Miami.  The exhibit was was gorgeous and because he is Brazilian, several of the exhibit sections had Brazilian  music playing in the background!

Before leaving we watched a Brazilian band perform in  a courtyard where they got everyone on their feet, including us, to dance to the intoxicating rhythms!

On the way home we stopped for dinner at the Lobster House, one of the aforementioned seafood restaurants on City Island.  It was packed at 5:00 on Sunday and we had to wait at the bar to be seated.  The servings were so plentiful that we that we split a broiled seafood dinner and took enough home for a second meal!

We expected to leave the next day but stayed an extra night because the weather window had shifted. So on Labor Day itself, we took the launch into town to go to the grocery store which, fortunately, was open.  Jonny wanted to find a hardware store to buy some marine caulk to fix our leaky window but none were open.  Instead, we took a long walk exploring the other half of the island and in so doing found the home where the movie, City Island, that we had just watched, was filmed.

Later that afternoon, we met Dora, a friend of our friend Cathy Tisdale, who Lynn had met at Cathy’s 60th birthday party.  Dora lives on City Island in a 100 year old home. We met for a drink at the yacht club and had a lively conversation getting to know each other and learning about her fascinating career. 

That night we took the launch back to Zendo, ate the remainder of our seafood dinner from the Lobster House and enjoyed yet another gorgeous sunset.

Oyster Bay, NY (return trip)

We departed our Norwalk anchorage on Friday, August 30 at 7:30 am for a short two hour cruise to Oyster Bay on Long Island.

We were returning to visit Sagamore Hill which we were unable to get tickets for when we were there earlier in the month with Stephanie. We left early to avoid  the winds that were expected to pick up as the day wore on.  We wound our way through Oyster Bay where there must have been almost 300 sailboats moored or anchored. We passed a section of beautiful classic wooden sailboats that we always admire but never desire anymore.  

We found our way to the eastern edge of the mooring field where most of the smaller power boats were.  We wanted to be closer to the shore so it wouldn’t be such a long dinghy ride. It took us four tries at three different locations to finally get the anchor to set!  

We dinghied into town and had lunch at the same Canterbury Oyster Bar and Grill we went to with Stephanie because we liked it and it had the most interesting menu and cozy atmosphere.  Afterwards, we Ubered to Sagamore Hill where we explored the well-tended grounds before beginning our tour. Walking along a lovely wooded path that took us to that a marshy beach area, we had stunning views of the water and surrounding landscape.

Afterwards, we headed up to the main house for our tour.  It was quite interesting. Teddy Roosevelt (who hated being called Teddy and preferred TR) was particularly accomplished and amazingly energetic.  His home was filled with vestiges of his hunting passion.  Stuffed and mounted heads and bear rugs were plentiful and in most every room except the bedrooms where Edith drew a line!  TR was an author of over 45 speeches, articles and books. There were many bookshelves filled with thousands of books.  He was known to read an average of a book a day, even while president and sometimes reading several at a time. 

TR was famously dedicated to his large family and this Summer White House, as well as the one in Washington, was filled with the laughter and the shenanigans of his six rambunctious children. He, reportedly, was the leader of the pack in many cases. 

Both he and his wife died at Sagamore Hill though she lived many years longer than he.  He had built the house as a young man and no other family ever lived there.  When Edith died she turned it over to the government to be preserved as a national treasure.  The home has almost all its original furnishings. It is not overly formal and one can easily imagine it serving as a warm family home as well as an appropriate setting for the many heads of state and notable Americans who visited.

We weren’t able to get an Uber back to Oyster Bay but we were able to hitch a ride with a couple who was on the tour with us.  They were in town from Texas having brought their daughter to her freshman year at college in a nearby university. After stopping at the grocery store where we bought some nice cod for dinner, we headed back to Zendo. Lynn wasn’t feeling 100% so we didn’t cook the cod. Instead, after a nap we settled in and prepared for our next stop to City Island by watching the movie, City Island!