Down The Atlantic and Into The Chesapeake

We departed Jersey City for Cape May early Monday morning, October 20, in order to take advantage of calmer seas finally forecasted off the coast of New Jersey.  However the ocean was quite rough and the winds were against us so we decided to cut the day short and pull in at the Golden Nugget Casino & Marina in Atlantic City.  Fifteen yachts of varing sizes tied up after us. What an interesting place!  Dick and I haven't been to many casinos other than on vacations out of this country a while back, and we felt like we landed on another planet!!  What an experience just walking through a big casino in Atlantic City!  The sights, sounds and smells will linger with us for some time!

Casino Lights at End of Dock

Tuesday morning we ventured out into the Atlantic Ocean one more time, heading for Cape May. The seas were rough but once we got into the Cape May Canal things calmed down and we decided to continue on into Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal all the way to Chesapeake City, Maryland.  It was a long day for us--seven hours on the water, but we were glad we did it and enjoyed a nice dinner at the historic Banyard Inn and a walk around this charming small Maryland town all decked out with pumpkins and Halloween regalia!  What a change from Atlantic City and New York!

Chesapeake City Sunset on the Canal

Wednesday morning, as predicted, cold rainy weather hit but we chose to continue on our journey, heading for St Michael's on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay.  Once out of the C&D Canal, conditions on the Cheapeake gave us pause...so we took advantage of an opportunity to detour up the Sassafras River to Georgetown, Maryland, where we are tied up at the Georgetown Landing Marina and we are nice and cozy and warm on the MollyBelle.  The small portable boat heater that I bought at Liberty Marina is getting a lot of use!  Coincidentally, we are docked next to the facilities with a washer and dryer so we will have clean sheets tonight!

Thursday, October 23:  We are still at Georgetown waiting for the Chesapeake to calm down before heading to St Michael's.  Plan to rent a car today, explore the area and get some groceries.  Our nice dock neighbors delivered milk to our boat this morning.  But we really need to get some provisions on board!

New York, New York!

On Tuesday, October 14, we  departed Port Jefferson out to the Long Island Sound and down the East River.  Always exciting for us, cruising alongside Manhattan provides marvelous vistas of the Big Apple with its iconic skyscrapers, bridges and bustling traffic.  Traversing the water under the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg (BMW) Bridges provides some great photo opportunities!

Happy Captain

So we slowed down and took in the sights while rounding  the tip of Manhattan.  The Statue of Liberty welcomed us as we crossed the Hudson River to Jersey City and tied up at Liberty Landing Marina where we are waiting for the seas to calm down enough for smooth sailing down the New Jersey coast.  The views from this marina are fabulous!  The lower Manhattan skyline is what we see from the MollyBelle and walks around Liberty Park affords views of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Also directly across the channel from the marina is the burgeoning Jersey City skyline, dominated by the Goldman Sachs Tower.  I have posted several photos on Facebook and Instagram and will attempt to attach a few to this blog.

Special Approach

Along with all this excitement a bit of misfortune has befallen me:  I came down with laryngitis shortly after arriving at Liberty Landing.  Other than a few walks around the adjacent park and taking advantage of the photo ops, I've been reading, resting and writing...a little.  The short ferry rides we had planned to take to New York City,  Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty have been curtailed.  We are so disappointed to have called off dinners and get-togethers with friends and family.  Dick has replaced his lopsided captain"s chair...now we can sail straight!  However, he refuses my exhortations to go off and visit some of the nearby sights.  Smoother seas are forecast for tomorrow, Monday, so that is when we plan to cast off and head for Cape May.

One Last View!

Sag Harbor and Port Jefferson

Last Friday, October 10, we left Newport and cruised across Long Island Sound to Sag Harbor where an independent film festival was going on.  We didn't recognize any celebrities, but we enjoyed our short stay in this tony village nestled among the Hamptons on Long Island.  Friday evening's  special treat was a tour of the megayacht Intuition II.  Thank you Pat, Candace and crew for an inside glimpse of your fabulous floating vacation home!  Our yellow slickers came in handy during Saturday's rainfall as we ventured out for a pizza and visit to the local hardware store and an art gallery.  The weather cleared and we walked to nearby St Andrew Church for five o'clock Mass followed by a most enjoyable dinner at the American Hotel.  Sunday brought sunshine and calm seas...mostly...for our sail to Port Jefferson where we tied up and enjoyed the amenities of the Danford Hotel and Marina for two nights.  Port Jeff is another historic Long Island village which has a bustling ferry to Bridgeport thanks to P.T. Barnum.

Sag Harbor Sunrise

An added bonus to our travels was a very special reunion with my Long Island cousins.  We found each other on Facebook a few years back and I contacted them to see if we could meet up in Port Jefferson on Monday.  What a wonderful day!  Three sisters: Colleen, Kathy and Joanne--daughters of my father's brother Edward Lang, and me, the only child of Josephine and George Lang, reunited after more than 40 years!  Coincidentally, Kathy was visiting from South Florida.  We vowed to meet up again, perhaps in Florida next time!

Special Cousins' Reunion

Back to Blogging and Boating

After a two-year hiatus from blogging I have decided to resume writing about our travels on the MollyBelle.  In 2012 I tracked our journey from Vero Beach to Boston.  Now we are sailing our boat back to Florida and looking forward to some new adventures on our trip South.  Our October first departure from Boston was delayed for five days while we waited for favorable sea conditions off the coast of Massachusetts.  We sailed smoothly down the coast and through the Cape Cod Canal but crossing Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay into Newport, Rhode Island was a little rough.  Also encountered a problem with the hydraulic steering system on the boat which made it difficult to dodge all the lobster pots! We arrived in Newport and docked successfully at the Newport Yachting Center at 3pm Monday afternoon.

We've been enjoying our stay in Newport while waiting for favorable seas to head over to Sag Harbor, Long Island.  The steering system has been fixed--it needed fluids!  Tuesday afternoon we took a long walk around this lovely historic town over to the Cliffwalk in front of the huge mansions along the ocean.  The weather was great and the view of the ocean was spectacular!  We've enjoyed some delicious meals at Aquidneck Lobster, The Black Pearl and The Revolving Door Restaurant.  We liked the Revolving Door so much that we returned there for dinner Wednesday evening with the Corbetts, our Florida friends who spend the summer in Westport Point.  We thought we would take advantage of that revolving door!

So after laying off writing and journaling for a couple of years, I hope to keep this journal interesting and entertaining.  My pen is a bit rusty but I will give it a try!  Captain Dick and I are well and we are looking forward to returning the MollyBelle to Florida.  He has not grown any more hair on the top of his head but he has grown a beard to help him look a bit more salty!  I have passed into another decade of my life but I think I can still manage to give orders from the bridge!

Newport Cliff Walk

                                                                           

Summer in the City

Greetings from Boston!  Just a few thoughts on what has been going on since we arrived in Boston.  Also, I miss hearing from many friends and family members who were commenting on my blog/journal of our boat trip.  Staying connected with everyone was an unexpected bonus to writing about our travels. So I hope this post elicits more news from you!

Upon our arrival in Boston Harbor on July 2 we were greeted by the U.S. Coast Guard on the water and the Blue Angels in the sky.  The Navy jets were practicing for their big show on the 4th of July and the Coast Guard were zealously protecting the tall ships and big Navy vessels docked in the Harbor for the OpSail festivities that week.  The planes were an awesome sight to behold, both during practice on Monday and the real show on the 4th!  The CG kept us quite a distance away from Lincoln Wharf where our daughter was ready with camera to record our entrance into Boston.  We safely made it to the Shipyard Quarters Marina in Charlestown where the boat has been undergoing some minor repairwork and some much deserved rest after our two-month long journey from Florida.

Our cozy condo in the city feels very spacious after our lengthy sojourn on board the MollyBelle!  We are thoroughly enjoying our stay here especially after all the headaches we endured last summer during the prolonged and ill-fated renovation work.  We finished a few more decorating objectives--finding a wonderful small antique secretary on Craigslist and getting our special Tim Sanchez oil paintings shipped from Florida.  Got some flowers planted on our small "balconette" and now we are feeling right at home!

The "journey" continues with frequent morning walks along the Rose Fitzgerald Greenway where I observe the business types bustling up from the underground "T" stations and hurrying along the narrow canyons of buildings leading into the Financial District.  Oh they are so purposeful and focused!  And I am happy to be so aimless and free!

Last week's journey took us on a very comfortable Amtrak train trip to New York City.  We decided that we like traveling by train almost as much as by boat.  Sure beats airport hassles!  While in the City, Dick accomplished some business and we visited the 9/11 Memorial.  Recalling the details of that horrific event is not something I was looking forward to doing.  However, it is good to see the work that is being done in remembrance of those who suffered and lost their lives that infamous day.  On a lighter note, we enjoyed a Broadway play and visits with friends, along with the sights and sounds of The Big Apple.  One of the highlights was going to a club at the top of 250 Fifth Avenue as the sun was setting.  What fabulous views of a magical city!  Thanks to nephew Russell who lead us there after dinner and the play.

Now the captain of the MollyBelle needs some repairwork to his malfunctioning hip.  The Boston surgeon who was lined up to do the job last year, and who subsequently let him out of it because it "wasn't all that bad" last September, has been on vacation.  So we are awaiting a return phone call from his office in order to schedule another consultation and a date for Capt. Dick's hip replacement!

Looking forward to enjoying cooler days and receiving messages from friends!

FINAL PORT OF CALL

Departing Final Port of Call

Sunday afternoon we cruised over to Red Brook Harbor in Buzzard's Bay at the beginning of Cape Cod, MA, and close to the Cape Cod Canal which we planned to cross on Monday morning on the last leg of our trip to Boston. We tied up at the very busy Kingman Yacht Center where we met some fellow travelers from Boston.  It turns out that Chris and Susan, long time New England boaters, keep their beautiful Sabre at Constitution Marina next to the marina where we will dock the MollyBelle in Boston this summer.  On their way to Nantucket for the holiday week, they shared some boat stories and gave us some very helpful advice about entering Boston Harbor.  Susan snapped some photos of us departing our final port of call on Monday morning.

WICKFORD IS A WINNER!

After an enjoyable cruise from Mystic, we spent last Friday and Saturday in Wickford, Rhode Island, at a quiet marina in this charming small village on the RI coast.  Wickford is located in a protected cove in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay.  It has one of the best and least pretentious collections of 18th and early 19th century buildings. Thanks to Kathy and Jim Matthiessen for recommending this lovely stop as an alternative to nearby Newport where all the transient boat slips were taken because of the popular America's Cup Race taking place that weekend.

 

Wickford Lighthouse

The lighthouse at the end of the point is privately owned and on the market for $6.5 million!

A surprise visitor from Vero Beach came by Saturday morning in her kayak.  Ann Baker, who also lives in nearby Saugerstown, RI, was out kayaking with a friend when they came upon The MollyBelle in the harbor.  I don't know which one of us was more surprised when she called my name and I stuck my head out of the back door of the boat!   

Saturday afternoon Grand Harbor friends, Carol and Michael Corbett, drove over from Westport Point, MA, and took us out to lunch in Jamestown RI.  We had a great time viewing some of the sailboats on Narraganset Bay and taking in some of the sights along the rural RI roads.  We stopped at Dave's Market in Wickford on the way back so that I could pick up a few things for the boat.  What a fabulous grocery store!  Carol and I want to return to Wickford just to shop there!

Ann Baker picked us up at the boat Sunday morning and drove us to Mass at her parish of Christ the King Church in Kingstown.  Their new pastor was saying his first Mass there and he spoke about journeys in his homily.  His emphasis was on the journey of Faith in our lives.  I couldn't help but think about how that applies to our "MollyBelle Journey."  Our visits to the various churches along the way have been very enriching!  Earlier in our journey I took a photo of this prayer at a church in Hilton Head.  I thought it was just perfect for us!