New Jersey

Sandy Hook/ Atlantic Highlands
Wednesday, September 11 - Thursday September 12 -
We left Liberty Island at 9:52 a.m. just as President Biden was flying overhead in Marine One to go back to D.C. We motored to Sandy Hook and arrived at 1:05. On Thursday we went into the town of Atlantic Highlands with Pepper and walked about 1.3 miles down 1st Street. We stopped at the grocery store and liquor store for extra provisions and on the way back found the post office and passed a man carrying a propane tank. Upon inquiring we learned the hardware store sold propane. We went back in the afternoon to fill our 2 empty tanks and mail Evan’s bday card. We were glad we found out about the propane as we were worried we would run out. Previously I mentioned how the town reminded me of Lake Hiawatha, NJ where I grew up through elementary school. As we were walking back from getting propane there were 3 girls with their bicycles eating ice cream outside the ice cream shop. That’s exactly what I would do when I was young! Except it was penny candy instead of ice cream. I could move there!

Cape May
Friday & Saturday Sept. 13 - 14 Happy Birthday to our son-in-law Evan! We had planned to stay in Atlantic Highlands another day to do more things, such as a bike ride and eat Thai food, but Kevin was concerned about forecasts of strong waves offshore that would impact our trip to Cape May and potentially cause us to stay there several days. We decided to leave a day early and go past the Cape May inlet that is off the Atlantic and into Delaware Bay. I spent the day doing my usual routine of cooking for an overnight passage and cleaning. We pulled anchor at 3:00 p.m, first stopping for fuel at the marina, and began our overnight journey. The waves and wind were mild at first, but the waves picked up by nightfall and continued to increase making the trip bumpy. There was not enough wind to really sail and we used the mainsail to try to keep the boat more stable. By 12:30 p.m. on Saturday we were rounding the corner of Cape May and entering Delaware Bay. We anchored near the beach and break wall to get out of the swells. It was a little bouncy until the ferries shut down but once night time came we slept like babies after getting 3 hours or less of sleep the night before!

Delaware River
Sunday, September 15 - The wind was howling when we woke up and the sun was shining - great day for a sail! We pulled anchor at 10:45 and headed up Delaware Bay. The winds were around 10-15 knots and we were able to sail on a broad reach. Kevin commented that the waves were like we were offshore with small whitecaps, I replied we kind of were since there was no land in sight, it may be a bay but it’s big. Eventually the current was no longer against us and the waves calmed down a bit. We continued sailing until we got near the Cohansey River, our destination for anchoring. The wind picked up significantly and pulling in the jib was difficult as we tried to get the best angle to the wind. We motored around the river looking for a good place to anchor where it wasn’t too deep and had limited crap pots. We ended up back toward the mouth of the river and finished anchoring at 4:40 p.m. Regardless of where we anchored it was going to be bouncy. We were between NJ and Delaware, on the NJ side, at the base of the Delaware River. In the evening as I made dinner the boat was rolling side to side quite a bit but it did die down as we went to bed and we slept well.もっと詳しく