Monday 28 August – Liberty State to Sandy Hook, 18 miles, 3.25 hrs, 2.2 engine hrs, 5.5 knots average speed.  Total Miles: 7627.9

Bloody Engines!

The sun was shining and a nice breeze blowing when we departed Liberty State anchorage, along with White Ibis. 

Once in clear water, next to The Statue of Liberty, we hoisted the sails.  We kept the motor on tick-over as there was an enormous amount of traffic – barges being pushed by tug boats, fast moving ferries, cargo ships, cruise ships, sailing boats and motor boats. 

We negotiated these with a few alterations to our course and headed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  Once clear of the narrows, with wind at 15 knots we put the motor off.  The wind was very fluky and at one stage dropped to 5 knots knocking our speed down to just 2.  I went to put the engine on to assist us but it wouldn’t start.  We tried to start it with the generator running, no joy.  We weren’t too concerned at this point as this had happened fairly recently and was solved easily by wiggling the relay.  Not this time!  I couldn’t believe it.  My heart sank. Ken tried for at least 2 hrs to get it going, cleaning/checking connections etc. but to no avail.  I had a go to give him a break from hanging upside down in the engine bay; no joy.  We were just a couple of miles away from our destination sailing along at a good speed as the wind had picked up, so would be arriving soon and needing our engine.  Plus, thrown into the mix, were two enormous war ships ahead of us that we would need to manoeuvre around to get into the anchorage.  Eventually Ken managed to get it going.  We were extremely relieved, but still had a massive argument as I blamed Ken for not ordering a new relay!  Of course he told me there was nothing stopping me ordering one!!  I was well and truly stressed out.  I couldn’t face going through another unreliable engine saga every time we moved on somewhere new.  We anchored successfully and I spent the afternoon drinking vodka to drown my sorrows!  White Ibis invited us for dinner which was a much needed distraction and would stop us hissing at each other!

The next two days we were holed up due to very strong Easterly winds.  Luckily we had both calmed down!  It rained and blew so we stayed on board mainly passage planning our next few destinations.  I felt sick every time I thought about the engine and moving on. There wasn’t anything we could do until we could get a new relay or relay box delivered from the UK (depending on what the manufacturers advised); not always easy when we don’t have an address! We would just have to rely on ‘wiggling’ for the time being.

White Ibis at Anchor in poor visibility

We managed a trip ashore when the rain stopped, to provision and have a quick look around Sandy Hook.

Anchorage behind breakwater at Sandy Hook                      Tow boats in Sandy Hook Marina

Thursday 31 August – Sandy Hook to Reedy Island, Delaware River – 159 miles, 33.16 hrs, 19.9 engine hrs, 4.47 knots ave speed.  Total Miles:  7786.9

We hoisted the mainsail whilst still at anchor, in case our engine failed!  It actually started and ran well.  Once clear of land we had a cracking sail South along the coast approximately 3 miles off shore, with White Ibis in convoy.

                    Fishing in Sandy Hook

Overnight was so busy with shipping – tugs manoeuvring barges and oil rigs, fishing vessels, cargo ships, pleasure craft – I didn’t even have time to listen to a pod cast!  Atlantic City was very brightly lit with its fair grounds and casinos.  We could hear the lively music 3 miles off shore.  On arrival at the massive Delaware River entrance, early the following morning, the wind had increased to gusting 30 knots and was unfortunately on the nose.  The waves were steep and close together.  With the motor on high revs. we were only averaging 2 knots.  It was wet, miserable and very uncomfortable and we were guzzling fuel, but we were keen to get up the river for shelter, another 50 miles!!  We weren’t even certain we would make it before nightfall!  Fortunately, in the lee of the land the wind dropped and sea flattened and we made good progress anchoring off Reedy Island for the night, behind an old, partly submerged dyke.

Saturday 2 September – Reedy Island to Still Pond Creek, Maryland, via Chesapeake and Delaware Canal – 36 miles, 7 engine hrs, 5.14 knots ave. speed.  Total Miles:  7823

We weighed anchor in the pouring rain that looked set in for the day.  There was a constant flow of shipping up the river and along the wide Chesapeake and Delaware canal, mainly cargo ships and tugs pushing barges.

Tugs and barges in the Delaware River

There were many bridges to pass under but all with plenty of clearance and the rail bridge was raised so we could continue through without delay.

                       Lifting Bridge Mechanism                                                 Enough clearance, though it didn’t look it -duck!

Tug and barge in the river                                                                            

The advantages of ‘driving’ when it’s STILL raining!!

Our initial plan was to moor in Sassafras River, however there were literally hundreds of fishing pots very close together covering a massive area at the entrance and it would be a big detour round to avoid them so we continued on to Still Pond, the next creek along.  We still had to negotiate a massive field of pots but it was worth it.  Eagles were circling, deer drinking at the water’s edge, fish jumping and it was wonderfully calm and peaceful. 

Very still Still Pond!                                                                                         White Ibis anchored in Still Pond

Sunday 3 September – Still Pond to Back Creek, Annapolis, Maryland – 26 miles, 6 hrs, 4.2 engine hrs, 4.33 knots ave speed.  Total Miles: 7849

Today was much brighter with some sunshine and warmth.  We motored some and sailed some.  Chesapeake Bay Bridge was very spectacular and the bay was full of boats racing, of all shapes and sizes.  A wonderful sight as we skirted around the edge of them. 

Back Creek looked fairly narrow, marinas along either side.  Under the Harbour Masters instructions we anchored in what looked like the middle of the channel!  It was particularly busy due to being Labour Day - bank holiday weekend.  Bill and Jade moored White Ibis in the marina and Aura (Kim and Simon) anchored next to us.

We hired a car to take Bill and Jade to Baltimore Airport and with Kim and Simon, making use of the car, we provisioned, had our cooking gas tanks filled, visited the yacht chandlers and of course the wine shop!  We also drove the area looking for other potential anchorages should we need to move.  We were monitoring hurricane Irma who had already devastated Saint Maartin and was making her way towards the East coast of America.  Back Creek was a super anchorage, local to marina facilities, dinghy docks, Annapolis town, East Port Yacht Club and the bus stop to West Marine chandlers!  It was a great central location for Ken, as I was due to fly back to the UK for 3 weeks.  Ken was attending Annapolis Boat Show whilst I was away, so ideal for that too!

On return to Lady Rebel we had a ‘notice’ to move as we weren’t 75 feet away from the nearest private mooring – a ‘rule of the road’, (despite being told by two Harbour Masters that we were fine!).  Lady Rebel had swung and we were just inside the limit.  It took us 4 attempts to re-anchor, partly because the sea bed was like slurry/very soft mud in places and didn’t hold the anchor and partly because being such a narrow river it was hard to be 75 feet from any other boats/private moorings.  We have a measuring device that tells us distance from objects making mooring easier; we’d have struggled to guess it accurately, it was that close!  The following day we received another notice, this time saying we were not 200 ft from a public dock (meaning the fuel dock).  We very politely questioned this as the fuel dock is actually a private dock, so the 75ft rule applies.  We really didn’t want to move again as would struggle with where to go, the anchorage being so small, plus it was an ideal location.  Fortunately we were left alone!

Whilst sailing around the UK, back in 2016 and again in Portugal before we crossed the Atlantic, we met a couple who were also cruising and had a house in Annapolis.  We’d kept in touch and on arrival at Annapolis, Sue kindly took us on a tour of the area, introduced us to some local marine businesses, East Port Yacht Club and Davis Bar; a very nice local restaurant, right by the dinghy dock!

During the next few days, whilst keeping an eye on various hurricane movements, we did a walking tour of Annapolis, frequented East Port Yacht Club, fixed the windlass remote, installed a battery monitor, scrubbed the waterline and completed the installation of the solar panels. 

We had sundowners with friends on various boats moored in the same creek and visited new friends we had made. By this time hurricane Irma had also devastated Barbuda, the BVI’s and Bahamas.  Hurricane Jose was following closely behind and was becoming a potential issue, moving Northwards up the US East Coast.

La Mischief arrived into the anchorage and we hired a car for a day to Washington DC.  A wonderful City.  We visited Capitol Hill where we watched Congress and Senate meet.  We visited the Air and Space Museum and drove the Mall observing many famous landmarks.

Capitol Hill, the seat of US Government                                                 Opposite Capitol Hill

The above selection of images, inside Capitol Hill

    State Library

    State Library

Air and Space Museum

Rockets                                                                                                                Flying Boat

                                                                                                                                Wright Brothers

Kirpa then arrived at the anchorage finding just enough room to moor.  We had a fabulous evening in Annapolis at a charity event for the Maritime Museum, dancing to a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, who were excellent.

We had escaped hurricane Irma, Jose and Lee, unlike many of the Caribbean Islands and Florida and now hurricane Maria was posing a threat.  I was concerned that Ken was going to be on the boat for 3 weeks on his own, whilst I swanned off to the UK, and would struggle should he need to move to outrun a hurricane. Fortunately it looked like hurricane Maria would turn East into the Atlantic and miss the Chesapeake area.  We would hope no others came along, for everyone’s sake.

On Tuesday 19 September, we hired a car and Ken drove me to Washington Airport for my 3 week visit to the UK.  On route we calculated the number of states to date:  Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Delaware and Maryland!