Heading to Maine

July 19-20, 2024

Leaving Rock Hall, MD, July 19, 2024

Hi everyone and welcome back to Travels with Lynn and Guinness!

This trip got off to a rocky start: we boarded the boat in Rock Hall on Saturday, July 13^th, the day after my 80^th birthday, all ready to go, only to learn that the air conditioner pump had failed.  In 98* heat.  So that was a non-starter! Back to West Chester for two days.

The service crew at Haven Harbour installed a new pump on Monday morning, but by then, the weather apps were forecasting 4-5’ waves offshore and in the Delaware Bay, not settling down until Friday.  (Anything over 2-1/2 feet is VERY uncomfortable.)

We need three days of calm conditions to get from Rock Hall to Cape May up to NY Harbor.  Here’s why:

To get to Maine, we must travel north to the head of the Chesapeake Bay, east through the C&D Canal, then south down the Delaware Bay to Cape May.  And the Delaware Bay can be treacherous.   Last summer, we had to stop and shelter overnight.

Once we’re in Cape May, we can finally head north again, but we must go offshore before we can get into the more protected waters of the Barnegat Bay.  It takes one long day from Cape May to Metedeconk: my brother’s house near the northern tip of Barnegat Bay.

Once we leave Metedeconk, we then need a third day of good offshore conditions to run up the North Jersey coast, around Sandy Hook, and into NY Harbor.

So…if we weren’t going to have good conditions, we realized that we might as well wait in Rock Hall.

So…we left Rock Hall on Friday instead of Monday – 4 days behind schedule.

But it was worth the wait: cooler temperatures and calm seas.  The Delaware Bay was a lady, not a witch, and we had a smooth run to Cape May, where we met Lynn’s friends, Dana and Doug, for dinner on Friday night.  One minor issue developed when we were docking in the marina.  A new dockhand was on the boat securing the front lines and managed to get one of them caught in the bow thruster, rendering it useless. The solution required someone going under the boat to free the line.  I initially thought I would do it but looking at the jellyfish and dead horseshoe crabs, I thought better of it.  We arranged for a professional diver to come Saturday morning, but as I worked through the problem, I was able to reverse the thruster and free the line.

Today – Saturday July 20^th, we made the run north along the Jersey coast in conditions as calm as I’ve ever seen them.  Flat, slate-gray seas and a light haze to soften the sun’s heat.

2-1/2 hours to Atlantic City, where we could have ducked inside, but the sea conditions were so favorable that we continued offshore to the Barnegat Inlet.  Then the madness began!  This was a Saturday in the summer, and it felt like every boat owner along the Jersey Shore was out in the Bay at full speed.  And then there were the sailing regattas who just happen to keep crossing the channels – it was a bit of a zoo!

We are now tied up at my brother’s house and it looks like the weather will be cool tonight.  After a late lunch, we are taking advantage of the quiet and their laundry facilities before we head up to NYC tomorrow.

The dock at Tom’s house

Good night all!