July 14, 2023

Lynn here today…

The trip north on the Hudson River is beautiful. It’s easy to forget how rural and unspoiled NY State is since we usually think of the busy city when we talk about New York. Small towns with cute homes along the water and some magnificent mansions on hills overlooking the river. 

We saw very little pleasure boat traffic today but we still had to keep a watch for floating debris from the recent storms and avoided quite a few floating logs. Along the way, there is still some impressive industry – passing barges, a quarry filling a barge with gravel, two huge cargo ships awaiting containers. We guess America still has some industry. 

Three cranes on the ship and two blue on the dock for loading containers

 But after a cloudy morning, the sun came out and we were in Troy by 12:45. Tied up within sight of the first lock we will go through in the morning. 

We’re hearing about some trouble with the locks due to the storms. There are closures in the Champlain Canal but we won’t be heading through them until our return trip in late August. The Erie Canal also has some mechanical issues at one of the locks. We subscribed to an email service that sends updates on issues so we’ll get notice if we need to change our plans. 

Off to Dinosaur BBQ for dinner tonight…

Thursday, July 13, 2023

We left this morning at 7:45, passing the restored / repositioned Colgate Clock just outside the Liberty Landing marina.  Colgate-Palmolive was my first job after Wharton, launching me on a wonderful career in product management / marketing / new product development / general management / consulting / startups.  The clock used to stand atop the old Colgate-Palmolive plant on Hudson Street in Jersey City.  It now stands in front of the Goldman-Sachs tower.

As we pulled out, a beautiful Viking cruise ship was pulling into Chelsea Piers.  We gave her the right-of-way and continued north up the Hudson.  The river is beautiful, and the Hudson Highlands are particularly striking. 

Each time I pass this way, I think about Henry Hudson traveling upriver in 1608/9: no GPS; no charts; no idea of where it was leading, and no idea of where they would find food or water.   The river is SO big, and it goes on for 150 miles until it’s no longer navigable.  Lynn and I will cover it in 2 comfortable days at 18 mph.  I can’t imagine how long it would take in a primitive sailing ship, beating against the tide.

Fortunately, we had ANOTHER day of smooth seas and blue skies. I decided it would be a good day to enjoy a REALLY BIG CIGAR.  Here’s a charming shot of me puffing on a Perdomo INMENSO.  

The only navigation hazard was debris from the recent torrential rains.  We kept a sharp lookout, and several times we had to slow down and alter course to avoid logs.

Interestingly, the train lines along the river were not wiped out by the storms.  Lynn counted one freight train with 230 cars!

We are now holed up in Kingston, NY, a charming little town about 90 miles up the Hudson.  They still have Soap Box Derbies here every August, and there is a boatbuilding school and learn-to-be-a-rower (racing skull) classes.  Lots of good restaurants, too.

Tomorrow, we’ll top off the engine oil, add a little fuel additive and take off.  We have to wait until the morning so that the engine cools off.  It stays hot for hours after a 6-hour run like today.

Then it’s off to Troy, NY, the gateway to the Erie Canal.  Lynn has been on the Internet this afternoon, searching for news about problems caused by the recent storms.  Several locks were closed, but they appear to be opening back up as we approach.  Also, some fixed bridges might no longer be passable if water levels are too high.  So far, however, it’s a Green Light.

Wednesday July 12

It’s my 79^th birthday today, and I am grateful.  I’ve been given the greatest imaginable gift: good health and vitality.  I am never happier than on these adventuresome boat trips.

And the last couple days have been excellent.  We ran all the way up the New Jersey coast – about 100 miles – in ideal conditions: smooth seas and sunny skies.  

We left Cape May just before 8AM on Tuesday morning.  We ran outside (in the ocean) about a mile or two off the beach, until we came to Margate, where we swooped in closer to shore for a photo op with Lucy the Elephant.

Photo op from the boat

Lucy is a 6-story-tall piece of novelty architecture, built in 1881 by a real estate developer named James Lafferty, as a gimmick to attract potential buyers to his land holdings along the coast.  When I first visited her in the 1960’s, she had fallen into disrepair and was scheduled for destruction.   Saved by a fund-raising campaign and a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service, she is now a National Historical Landmark and an AirBNB property.

Last night, we had a lovely early birthday dinner with my brother Tom and his wife Mary Jo, on the beach at their home on the Metedeconk River.  I understand that METEDECONK is an old Indian name that roughly translates as (Me) “I” (TEDE – source word for tedious) “was so bored” (CONK) “I conked out”

No reference to Tom and Mary Jo…we killed 6 bottles of wine among the four of us.  WE had a fine time!

Now – after another perfect day on the ocean – we are docked at Liberty Landing in Jersey City, with a spectacular view of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. It never gets old crossing under the Verrazano Bridge, passing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and approaching Manhattan.

Here’s a great shot of the Manhattan skyline with a schooner in the foreground.

We’ll dine tonight at Liberty House – perfect for my birthday dinner.

Monday July 10, 2023

As you know, if you live on the Chesapeake, a trip north begins with a winding trip south to Cape May:  north up the Chesapeake Bay, east through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and south down the Delaware Bay to Cape May.  You are then free to turn the bow north up the New Jersey coast.

Our two favorite bridges (for the third time)- the St Georges at 8:02 this morning. Hopefully we won’t see them again until September!

After yesterday’s aborted start, we had 50 miles to cover to reach Cape May – about 4 hours.

The boat was running fine, and the first two hours were very pleasant.  Mostly on autopilot.  The second hour was a little choppier, and the final hour was hard work…manually steering in confused seas.

But here we are, tied up at South Jersey Marina – one of our favorite stops.  Our chores are finished, the boat is refueled, and we’re looking forward to dinner at a new restaurant here at the marina.  

Then tomorrow, we head north.  We’ll start out outside, and then head into the Barnegat Bay (at the Barnegat Inlet).  We plan to stay overnight at my brother’s house on the Metedeconk River, at the north end of the bay, close to Bay Head.

Our next stop after Metedeconk is Liberty Landing in New York Harbor – within sight of the Statue of Liberty.  We’ll post again after we make it to NY

Sunday, July 9, 2023

It was not a very propitious start, I’m afraid.  The boat felt sluggish, and we were burning more fuel than we used to.  Partly, we were fighting a foul tide, but Lynn said the boat just needed to “wake up”: it had hardly been used since we got home in April. Mostly, it was being waxed, and varnished, and re-fit mechanically.

Anyway, after a couple of hours, things improved greatly.  We had a very pleasant trip up the Chesapeake Bay and through the C&D Canal.  When we reached the Delaware River, however, the seas got choppy.  About 30 minutes later, we turned south around the Salem Nuclear Plant, into the Delaware Bay.

Here we are crossing under the old and new St Georges Bridges heading east at 11:06 am.

The Delaware Bay is notoriously rough, because it’s shallow, and any unfavorable wind can kick up a nasty chop.  The waves were more than twice what had been forecast – about 2’, right on the nose, with a 5 second frequency.  When you are heading right into the waves, they are effectively hitting you about 1-2 seconds apart.  It was very hard on the boat: rising; slamming down; shipping a lot of spray and water over the windshield.  It was going to be 4+ hours of damaging conditions.

And so – for the first time ever – We simply turned around.

And here we are crossing under the St Georges Bridges heading back west at 1:40 pm!

We are now holed up in a placid marina just off the C&D Canal, and a thunderstorm system is passing overhead.  At least I don’t have to wash the salt water off the boat – the rain is taking care of that.

Lynn reminds me that our last trip had a rocky start – my wrestling with the water pump for the better part of a day.  She says it’s a good omen.  I’m hoping she’s right.

Tomorrow, we finish the second half of the trip to Cape May!

CANADA, EH?

Lynn and I really enjoyed our trip to Lake Champlain last summer, so we decided that this year, we would push on into Canada.  The Chesapeake is very hot and humid in mid-summer, so we plan to leave July 9^th and return early in September. Roughly 60 days.

The route we’ve planned will take us:

• North to the top of the Chesapeake Bay
• East through the Chesapeake & Delaware canal
• South on the Delaware Bay to Cape May
• North along the NJ Coast to NY Harbor
• Up the Hudson River
• West on the Erie Canal
• North on the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario
• Across Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands
• North on the Rideau Canal to Ottawa
• East on the Ottawa River to Montreal
• South on the Richelieu (Chambly) Canal to Lake Champlain
• South through the length of Lake Champlain
• South on the Champlain Canal
• Back down the Hudson and home to the Chesapeake.

I’ve attached a link to a map of our route.  The map is interactive, so you can zoom in on it, and you can click on the little blue place markers for more info. Click on the blue hyperlink, then click on the map title to open the map: Interactive Route Map.

I estimate the distance to be about 1,250 miles – almost the same distance as a one-way trip to Key West. 

BUT IT’S GOING TO TAKE TWICE AS LONG, because of

• Restricted speed limits in the canals
• Transit times for over 100 locks!

We’re experienced with locks – we passed through 24 last summer, traveling up and down the Champlain Canal.  But this will take it to a whole new level.  Based on our experience last summer in the Champlain Canal, we allow ½ hour to transit each lock. So, imagine: 100 locks x ½ hour per lock = 50 hours.  One whole week of the trip is just lock transits!

We typically plan for 20 travel days to reach Key West, with a few stopovers along the way.  So, that trip typically takes about 30 days in total travel time.

We expect THIS trip to take almost 60 days, including 40 travel days. So twice the travel days to cover the same distance. 

I am going to have to learn to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the journey! 

Follow our travels at http://www.FreedomKeyWest2020http://www.freedomkeywest2020.com./.com.