Delaware City to the Hudson River
May 10, 2025
Yesterday, about 2 ½ hours out from the canal from Cape May, Lauren saw three, what looked like black spikes evenly spaced right near the boat. They were so close there wasn’t time to avoid them. We were in about 20 feet of water. It certainly made our hearts skip a beat or two. There were no markings on the chart indicating any obstructions in that area. We heard no sounds as we traveled over them. Just before we turned into the canal, Lauren pointed out another similar object poking up in the water, then a second, then a third; they were dolphins. It was their dorsal fins that we saw earlier. So, the first three we saw were swimming in perfect sync and went right under our boat. What a scare! Also, it was very exciting seeing the three near the canal.
It is about 6 pm. The winds have finally died down. We’ve been listening to them howling since abut 1 pm yesterday afternoon and got worse overnight. Since the wind has died down, so have the waves; we are not bouncing around like a cork in a storm. The change is so welcome. Tomorrow morning, we will head out of the Cape May Harbor into the Atlantic for a run up to Atlantic City. It should take us about 5 hours of much smoother traveling than yesterday.
Posting a pic of the screen and toggles Brian built for our bedroom hatch.
May 11, 2025
This morning at 1:15 am we brought up our anchor and headed for Sandy Hook. Lauren was apprehensive about starting out in the dark as she always hated traveling at night when we had our sailboat. There were no issues and absolutely no other traffic on the water for many hours. There was a full moon, but it was overcast. We saw several dolphins and many cormorants. The sunrise was a welcome site, the weather was mild and the seas calm. So, a great and uneventful day of traveling. Once we got close to the entrance to Sandy Hook Bay, Lauren followed the previous owners tracks into the anchorage (thanks Bob P.) Only three other boats here. Brian took a dive into the 62 degree water to check to see if there was anything on the prop and/or rudder because our speed was rather slow today even though the rpms were up. Not sure what was going on. He found no issues. We are anchored right near the Coast Guard base for Sandy Hook. We arrived about 5:15 pm; a long day of motoring. Before entering the Sandy Point inlet, we could faintly see New York City. Tomorrow, we head over to the Statue of Liberty to anchor. The marinas in this area are very pricey, so not sure what the plan is other than the first night of anchoring.
May 12, 2025
Anchor up about 7:45 and traveled to New York City. We dropped anchored about 2 hours later and have a great view of Lady Liberty’s back side. There is no anchorage in front of her because of the channel which is very busy with the ferries. Coming into New York kept us on our toes. There is so much commercial traffic; cargo ships, tankers, car farriers, all sizes of passenger ferries, tugs and, of course, pleasure boats. Our chart plotter kept giving us alarms of collisions if we didn’t constantly alter our course going in. It wasn’t as stressful as we thought it might be though. Our anchorage is a bit rolly because of the constant ferries back and forth to Lady Liberty. Brian deployed one of the flopper stoppers and that helped eliminate a bit of the roll. There were helicopters constantly flying about; could be for tourists or other.
Brian really wanted to go visit Ellis Island, but where we are anchored, there is no place to take a dinghy in unless we took the dinghy a mile up the river to a marina. We didn’t want to take a chance going that far with our electric motor and also maybe fighting currents. We have already planned on going to a marina tomorrow at Half Moon Bay. From there, we can take a train ride into the city to visit the sights. We are looking forward to seeing all the city lights tonight from our boat. At the moment, Heidi is curled up on a salon pillow; yes, even though she was given medication this morning before we left, she still was a bit stressed.
May 13, 2025
Pulled up anchor at 5:45 am and headed up the Hudson River to Half Moon Bay Marina. Saw very little traffic on the water other than a couple of barges. Arrived about 11:45. Brian thought maybe this would be a good time to try and back into a slip; Lauren wasn’t so sure. It’s a well-protected marina with little currant and there were no winds. So, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We went for it. Lauren got in with no hiccups. It was a tight squeeze between the dock and the end piling (about 3 inches on either side of the boat), but we did it – definitely a team effort. There were two dockhands to guide us, so once the stern was aligned and Lauren punched out the bow to port and tweaked the stern thruster to starboard, we idled back into the slip and the dockhands (Jack & Steve) took our lines and walked it back. Jack gave us info about the town and Steve texted us detailed info for the area. There are a couple of other Loopers here; hopefully we will get to meet them, especially any Golden Loopers (they’ve already completed the Loop); they will have invaluable information.
May 12, 2025
Last night, Steve, the manager of this marina, bought 3 boxes of pizza for all the Loopers here. We all sat on a deck at the club marina and enjoyed our time with everyone we met. One couple was a Golden Looper and another couple was a Platinum Looper which means they’ve traveled the Loop more than once. A lot of valuable and interesting information was discussed.
Woke up to a rainy day. This morning Brian was able to successfully use the fuel polishing system to transfer fuel out of the leaky tank into the good tanks. So now we can stop worrying about that issue. Somewhere down the road we will have someone weld the defected area. For now, we have 3 tanks full of diesel and will be able to travel a good distance before having to refuel. This afternoon while out for walk with Heidi while we had a break in the rain, we met a “local”. We had a wonderful chat with him about the area.
Brian reading: Almost done with A People’s History of the United States (thoroughly enjoying it)
Lauren: The Drop by Michael Connelly
PS: East of Eden was a wonderful read
May 15, 2025
It rained all day yesterday and poured during the night. We discovered a leak in the foredeck. Someone left a 1-inch circular hole under the windlass and water drips down through it; another project to take care of. We do have provisions stored in this area, but all are protected, so we didn’t lose anything.
Hemmed and hawed about leaving Half Moon Bay Marina. As Lauren needs to be home every 6 weeks for appointments, we tried to find marinas along the way to leave our boat. Every one we contacted was booked. All the Loopers have been paying close attention to when the locks on the Erie Canal will open. The opening has been delayed because of high water, debris in the water and damage to one of the locks and erosion along the shoreline. It looks like it will be at least a month before the locks open; fingers crossed. Two Looper couples from Canada are rerouting and going up Lake Champlain into Canada instead. We may do the same.
We left Half Moon Bay Marina about 11:30 and getting out of the slip went smoothly. Traveled up the Hudson to Cold Spring. The views were fantastic, though, there was a lot of debris in the water. We passed West Point; the place is massive! We are the only boat anchored here at the moment; it’s so peaceful. A few tugs with barges have gone by. Staying onboard this afternoon and will get off tomorrow and walk about town.
Hope all is well and stay safe out there.