Sightseeing New York City

Broadway!

We arrived in New York City to stay four nights and no real plan on what we wanted to see. Obviously, there was going to be a lot that we would not be able to see this trip. Jane wanted very badly to take a water taxi into the harbor to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. During her working days she oversaw an archive of Ellis Island medical records and successfully transferred these records back to Ellis Island before she retired. So, she had a personal connection to the site. We didn't do much our first day because we were pretty whipped out with our 74 mile trip from Barnegat Inlet and all of the excitement we encountered in NY harbor.

Times Square

Jane's moment in the spotlight

More Times Square

Mmmmmm! NY Pizza!

Prowling loopers in NYC

eaded over to the Brooklyn Diner for lunch. This was a classy white linen place, but the menu offered NY style thin crust pizza, and that is what we had. It was a really great meal.

Resting the knees in Bryant Park

Jane & the Chrysler Building

In the subway

After lunch Jane wanted to wander over to 5th Avenue, probably hoping to find the Saks store that resides somewhere on that street. On the way we passed Bryant Park and stopped so the old knees some of the party had to deal with could take a break. We made it to 5th Avenue and there was talk about going to the Empire State Building, but the walking distances involved convinced some of the party to opt out. Eventually, everyone decided to return to the marina, and we rode the subway back. There's so much walking involved that it's no wonder that NYC seems to be populated by very young and thin people. We got back to the boat and had supper aboard before watching a movie and turning in.

A rock in Central Park

King Creole's cooking!

Love 'dem mudbugs

Chilling out on Bavarian Cream

Linda, Jane & Dixie

The next morning the skies were overcast and threatening rain. Jane wanted to take an early walk in Central Park. We headed over to the park, passing some really ritzy real estate, and strolled through the park for about an hour. On the way back to the boat we stopped at Zabar's world famous delicatessen and went in to get some stuff for the boat. We found about two dozen varieties of olives and olive mixtures in wooden barrels and picked up about a half-dozen different choices. Then we went to the cheese section where we picked up about 5 different types of cheeses that we had never heard of. At the meat section, we found some prepared meats that, although really pricey, would make a couple of nice meals for us on the boat. Then over to the bread section for some really great bread. On the way back to the boat we spotted a couple of trucks with New Orleans phone numbers on the side. "King Creole, Mr. Mudbug" from Kenner, LA was boiling crawfish under a bridge for a private party for NY Tulane University Alumni. They had a jazz band, carnival throws, and all the fixings set up right next to a restaurant next to the marina. When we got back to the boat, Dixie called Jane and wanted to know if she wanted to go shopping. Of course, Jane said yes and we agreed to invite Dickie & Dixie for dinner on Bavarian Cream. Well, about 2 hours later, Jane returns and said the Dickie & Dixie didn't want to come for dinner, but were going to crash the TU party. We had dinner on the boat and around 7 p.m., Dixie called and said that she had a sack of crawfish for us! Jane went up to the restaurant and picked up the crawfish and brought them back to the boat. We had just finished peeling our bag, when Dickie & Dixie and Larry & Linda showed up for drinks. What an evening! We sat an talked and drank until almost 10 p.m.

Mmmmmm! Eating a mozarepa

 A pulled pork sandwich and a lobster roll

The next morning the skies were still overcast and we couldn't decide what we were going to do. After watching the TV we learned that the Puerto Rican parade was going to be coming into our vicinity. So, we headed up to Broadway where we found a street fair with all kinds of vendors and eateries for several blocks. We walked up and down while Jane shopped her heart out. We ended up back at the boat and planned our trip up the Hudson for the next day.

We Leave Cape May for New York City

Atlantic City- note ocean state

Old Barney- Barnegat Light

We had a good weather window and wanted to run from Cape May to New York City on the outside in the Atlantic Ocean, as opposed to running the New Jersey ICW, which is even more convoluted than the AICW in Georgia and South Carolina, and is notoriously known for extremely shallow water at low tides. With good weather and calm seas, we could run outside in the Atlantic Ocean and not have to worry about channels or water depths. Just set a course in 25-60' water and set the autopilot and travel around 8 knots. What could be simpler? After talking it over, we decided that the seas and weather were cooperative and an outside run wouldn't be bad. Where we had planned on three days to get up the NJ ICW, it would now be reduced to two, as we decided not to stop in Atlantic City, but head for the Barnegat Inlet, then on to NYC.

At Fisherman's Wharf

Roemer Shoal light leading to NY harbor

Verarazano Narrows Bridge

Passing under the bridge

We spent our last night in Cape May and dined at the famous Lobster House restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. We've had some good food on this trip, but this was in a totally different class. The next day we topped off our tanks with low cost diesel ($3.89), and headed for the Cape May Inlet. These inlets are really fun to run when the tide is flowing or ebbing. They can generate 3-4' waves or better which makes getting out on the ocean difficult. Fortunately, we were coming through the Cape May Inlet at near low tide and the waves were not too bad, because it was really close to slack water. Once on the ocean we set a course and started to ride the 70-odd miles to Barnegat Inlet. The seas were good and consistent. The only problem was there were 1-2' running swells or rollers that was making Jane seasick. After about an hour, she went below and laid down to try and cope with the conditions. We passed Atlantic City around noon and around 4:00 p.m. we made the Barnegat Inlet and picked our way through some shoals to get to a good anchorage for the evening.

Going through the anchorage area

First glimpse of lower Manhattan

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

Lady of the harbor

The next morning we left the anchorage early to make our way to NYC. Barnegat Inlet was less hospitable this morning as we were going out on an ebbing tide and the waves and currents were horrendous. Once we got to the ocean, though, the seas calmed down and we had a comfortable ride. In fact, the seas were even better than our gulf crossing, and we thought that those were good. We passed Atlantic City around noon and made our way to Manasquan Inlet. From here, the AICW ends and all boats heading north must run in the ocean. We had about 26 miles to New York harbor. We passed Sandy Hook, the northern most point of New Jersy, and started heading for New York's lower harbor. We had hazy conditions and thought it wise to stay out of the marked shipping lanes. Our first view of New York was the Brooklyn shoreline and Coney Island. After turning more northerly, we spotted the Verrazano Narrows and the Verrazano bridge. During Capt. Larry's running days, he often envisioned running across this bridge at the start of the NYC Marathon, but never had a chance to run the race. Instead, he had to content himself with driving Bavarian Cream under the bridge. To pass through the Narrows, we had to enter the shipping lane, and we were quite aware that a large ship was hot on our stern and gaining. Once past the bridge, there is a large anchorage area and we picked our way through the ships and entered NY harbor.

Governor's Island

Lower Manhattan skyline

Jane lost her light!

Neeeeew Yoork Ciiiity!

Once in the harbor, everything around us became interesting. We passed the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to port, and saw the East River and lower Manhattan where the financial district is to starboard. We spotted several of the landmark buildings including Governor's Island, the Battery, and the Chrysler building. To port we spotted the Morris Canal and immediately to starboard, missing of course, would have been the towers of the World Trade Center. We saw the Brooklyn Bridge and made our way towards the uptown area where we saw the Empire State Building sans King Kong.

Want to go to Staten Island?

Ellis Island

LA loopers Dickie & Dixie at Empire State Building

What a site! Jane was worried by about all of the boat traffic and water taxis, but Capt. Larry was amazed that the water taxis actually observed the rules of the road and waited for him to pass when he had the right of way. We chugged on up the Hudson and found the 79th Street Boat Basin which is actually the NYC municipal marina. We picked this marina on recommendations from some other boaters as a marina that was conveniently located to many sites. We will talk about the conditions in this marina in a separate posting. Anyway, we got the boat secured and met some fellow loopers and had dinner on the boat before turning in. We were too tired from a long day and it was just too hot and humid to head out that evening.

79th St. Boat Basin at night

We Leave the Chesapeake Bay and Enter the C&D Canal

Sandy Point Shoal light

Refuge at canal entrance

Our stormy weather had passed causing us to spend an extra day in Annapolis. We were glad we did. Our last day in port there were reports of wind gusts to 30 kts. out in the bay. The forecast was for NW winds at 5-10 kts. the next day, so we decided to move on. We had a long day planned, so we left around 0700 and headed out into the bay. We had gone approximately 6 miles and during that time we lost our GPS signal 3 times. Why this happens we haven't a clue. We passed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the seas started to get rough. Within the next 15 minutes we were experiencing 3'+ seas. For those of you who think of boating and what we are doing as a leisure activity, you could not possibly be more wrong. A much more apt description of what we usually go through can best be described as crisis management, with some days requiring a much greater management skills than others. That is exactly what we went through on this day. So, we are in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and being pounded by 3-4' rollers, when the starboard engine starts to overheat. We shut the engine down and start to make way on one engine. About one-half hour later, Capt. Larry hands the helm over to Jane so he can go below and dry and figure out what's going on. He got below and was being knocked all over the engine room, only to find that the starboard raw water strainer was completely empty of water.

Entering Delaware- bridges by our marina

It seemed to be similar to the episode we had right after we left with an air lock in the raw water cooling system. The salon and galley were turned upside down. We felt that our only choice was to ride it out and hope that things would settle down. And that wishful thinking turned out to be true about 40 miles later! It wasn't until we got into the Chesapeake and Delaware (C&D) Canal that we had protected waters. We finally made it to the marina near Bear, DE and got tied up.

The next day we called some recommended mechanics and tried to troubleshoot our problem. One of the mechanics immediately started to lament how long his waiting list was. This was the marina's recommended "go to guy" and they were a little miffed when we called them back and asked for another recommendation. We figured there were some kickbacks involved, and finally got the marina manager who said he would get a Volvo representative involved. In the meantime, Capt. Larry went below to check things out. After going through the raw water strainers, the raw water pump, and the mixing elbow, we couldn't find anything that indicated a problem. We put everything back together and started the engine up. We let it run for over half an hour with no indication of overheating. Once again, a problem that we couldn't reproduce. So, we decided to spend the weekend and try a few other things, before heading out into the Delaware Bay and Cape May, NJ. That evening Jane was telling her friend, Ellena, about our problems and she asked Capt. Larry if there was anything different between the raw water systems on the two engines. After thinking about this, he said that the only difference was that the port engine had a Volvo impeller and the starboard engine had another brand, but that both impellers were new and changed just before we started the trip. Ellena suggested changing the non-Volvo impeller to a spare Volvo impeller to see if that cleared the problem up.

Dining with Cam & Thea

The next day Capt. Larry changed out the impellers. Everything seemed to work fine at the dock, but we wouldn't know for sure until we headed out. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and met a Canadian couple, Cam & Thea, aboard Spring Moon. That evening we went to a nearby restaurant with Cam & Thea and turned in early so we could get an early start for Cape May. As worn out as we were though, neither of us could sleep. We were probably both worried about the boat, the bay, and the long day ahead. The next day we got underway around 0630. We finished up the C&D Canal and entered the Delaware River.

Leaving the C&D Canal

Here the currents were strong on an outgoing tide, and for the next 4 hours we were traveling 10-11 knots with the engines practically at idle speed. About 3 hours from Cape May reality set in and we were fighting an incoming tide and doing 6-7 knots. The boat had been running fine so we decided to put it up on plane and test the overheating problem.

Ship John Shoal light

After 15 minutes we backed her down. The good news is the cooling problem didn't recur. The bad news is we lost pressure in the port trim tab and the boat was listing to starboard. We made it to Utsch's Marina in Cape May and headed out for a hardware store and grocery. Since this was the fourth time that the port trim tab gauge line had sprung a leak, Capt. Larry decided to cap it off.

Miah Maull Shoal light

Jane, Dixie, and Dickie

Larry & Christine

The boat could still be leveled "according to feel," but we wouldn't have a gauge that told us the degrees of trim. This is how one permanently manages a crisis of this nature. That evening we met up with some other loopers and hosted happy hour on Bavarian Cream. We hooked up with Dickie & Dixie aboard Me' Nou, a couple of crazies from Lake Arthur, LA and Larry & Christine, aboard Blue Skies from Charleston, SC. Larry & Christine had started the loop just three days earlier, so it was comforting to note that we were no longer the greenest loopers out there. Well happy hour ran until about 10:00 p.m. and we still had not eaten. We grilled some pork chops and had a salad after everyone left and turned in for the evening.

The next day Capt. Larry fixed the leaking trim tab line, clean the bilge, and "burped" the A/C water pump which ran dry from our rough day in the Chesapeake. We also re-planned our route and decided to run on the outside in the Atlantic Ocean up to Barneget Inlet, anchor overnight, then run on into New York City, arriving there on Thursday. We would spend the weekend there then start heading up the Hudson River early next week. Of course, the best laid plans........

Go Navy! Annapolis and the U.S, Naval Academy

Calvert Cliffs

We spent our last day in Solomon's Island lounging around the pool and trying to stay cool. There were unseasonably warm temperatures for the are in the low to  mid 90's and the humidity was really high also. We felt like we were back in Louisiana. A sign of the times, we guess, we were watching some 10-12 year old boys horsing around in the pool when one of them announced, "hey, do you want to play Navy seals?" He then demonstrated how he would try and sneak up behind another boy and horse hold him under water for at least 10 seconds. However, he told how the victim could try and shoot him, but would probably result in him breaking his neck! Capt. Larry lamented how much this has changed from "cowboys and Indians" when you just shot the hell out of the redskins! Anyway, we found the scenario amusing and timely.

Fish rearing or holding farm

Cove Point Light

Bloody Point Bar Light

Thomas Point Shoal Light

Stumbling back to Bavarian Cream from Pussar's Landing

The next morning we wanted to get an early start for Annopolis. Fuel prices had dropped to $3.59.9 for diesel at our marina and we wanted to take advantage of this. However, we were told that they had run out of diesel the previous day, but were expecting a delivery early that morning. Jane started calling other local marinas and found one that had fuel for $3.62.9 a gallon, so we took off and topped off there. Because we had stayed put in marinas for so long, it was our first fuel purchase in a month. We headed out into the Chesapeake and started for Annapolis. Almost immediately after we entered the bay we spotted the Calvert Cliffs which were carved out by the flow of the Susquehanna River when ocean levels were lower during periods of glaciation. It was warm and humid, but we had some air flow on the water, and there were no biting flies today. The trip was uneventful until we got to Annapolis harbor. Here we encountered 3 smaller navy ships that blew their horns at us and crossed our course. In every instance we had the right of way according to the "rules of the road," but had to reduce speed to avoid a confrontation. Now, we're not ones to take on an armed naval vessel, but they obviously could see that we were a recreational vessel running the edges of the channel to avoid them, and had every right to be where we were. Yet their actions forced us to alters ours. It seems the least they could do was call us on the radio and advise us of their intentions. Anyway, we made it into Annapolis and tied up at the Annapolis City docks in the heart of downtown. After we got cleaned up we went out to dinner a Pussar's Landing which is a far cry from the one we visited in Tortola (still Capt. Larry's favorite place in the world).

Going NAVY!

Dahlgren Hall

Bancroft Hall- a dormitory and site for meal formation

Bancroft Hall entrance foyer

Inside the chapel

The rear of the chapel

The next morning we got up and headed over to the U.S. Naval Academy. We signed up for a walking tour and had a terrifically knowledgeable guide who was also very entertaining. It was also a good time to visit as graduation had taken place last week. This place was awesome! We know we keep saying that all of these places are better and better, but the naval academy was really the best! We got to see pictures of all of the sport-winning midshipmen and some that became really famous later on. We learned of the tough requirements for getting into the academy (19,000 applicants for around 1200 positions), and the strict schedules and disciplinary requirements the middies have to adhere to. We toured Dahlgren Hall and the Bancroft Hall dormitory. We went to the beautiful chapel and the crypt of John Paul Jones, all of which was simply amazing. Then we toured the academy's museum that featured exhibits of the navy's outstanding leaders and academy graduates, and also housed the world's second largest model ship exhibit.

Crypt of John Paul Jones

One of the ship models

It was all so inspiring. If you ever get to Annapolis, we absolutely recommend a visit to the academy. You will not be disappointed!

Go NAVY! Beat Army!

At Chick & Ruth's Delly

Back on Bavarian Cream

With our looper friends

Heading back to Nauti Nell

A storm front passed through the area after we left the academy, and the next day the conditions on the bay didn't sound too promising with wind gusts to 30 knots! So we decided to spend an extra day in Annapolis and resolve some issues we were having with the boat. One of the problems were were experiencing was the starboard engine overheating when we got up on plane. It would run at 7-8 knot trawler speed all day long, but put it up on plane and the engine would overheat. Capt. Larry deduced that we must have a partially blocked seacock, so we decided to clean it out. We opened the water strainer and the seacock and rammed a wooden dowel through it. Capt. Larry felt some initial resistance, and after a couple of attempts, felt that the seacock was cleaned. Also, our port trim tab hydraulic line was leaking. This was the one we had repaired in Thunderbolt, GA by the marinas "hydraulics expert." Well, his fix didn't work, so Capt. Larry went to a nearby hardware store and bought some new compression fittings and did his own fix. We also had to replace the vent fitting to the holding tank which broke off when Capt. Larry tried to remove the vent hose to ensure that the vent was not blocked (this is the really fun stuff!). Finally, we had a major crisis. The head stopped working. Capt. Larry troubleshot the situation and was pretty sure the vacuum pump motor was burned up. We would have to get this fixed at a major marina that had access to several parts stores. In the meantime, we would have to get a large supply of Annapolis City Dock restroom tokens so we could use their facilities. At night Jane would just have to pee in a bucket we had on board and empty overboard when no one was looking. After all, it would be just a couple of days of this before we got to Cape May, NJ where they had serious repair facilities. Well, while Capt. Larry was off using the restroom facilities, Jane decided to clean the head. When Capt. Larry got back she told him that when she was cleaning the head switch, the head motor started running. Capt. Larry had forgot to check the switch and had probably turned it off when he was using the head the day before. We didn't think about this, because the pump had been turned on since we left. Jane had solved our head problem. Since a pump motor ran around $300, Jane was going to be treated to dinner of her choice that night. She had invited fellow loopers Twyla and Mike Chapman from Nauti Nell to join us for docktails, and we all ended up at a nearby restaurant that was featured on Man vs. Food TV program. It was a fun evening.