NYC, Liberty, Humpbacks, tuna and a turtle

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 15 Sep 2012 00:43

39:30.22N 75:34.30W

 

 

Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed & Thurs – 9th, 10th, 11th 12th & 13th September

 

Sid and Rebecca on ‘Dovka’ sent us an email which was swiftly followed by a phone call from Sid's brother, Len and his wife, Peedee:  they had been instructed to meet us as they live locally!   Despite their having spent all day visiting family in New Jersey, Peedee and Len treated us to a lovely dinner on Sunday evening at their beautiful home, providing the necessary taxi service as well.   They were very good company and their very bouncy chocolate coloured Poodle ‘Zoe’ joined in the entertainment.

 

First thing on Monday we got up early to catch the tide to go into the Town Dock and fill up with water and pump out the toilets, but when we got near the dock we found the wind direction made any manoeuvring impossible, quite apart from the little boats moored nearby which had swung right into the channel alongside the dock.   So we crept round to the marina fuel dock with fingers crossed that we wouldn't go aground - and the mobile pump out man invited us to help ourselves to water there.   So we did and left ASAP before any staff came on duty.

 

We were then approached by the water taxi driver who looks after the town buoys.   He was horrified to learn that we hadn't been appraised of the charges (2 nights free, or 1 at weekends, and then a charge of $25 per night where they move you to another buoy) and was so embarrassed that he decided he couldn't charge us at all!   However, he begged us to let other sailors know about their anchorage and the charges.   We can only say it is the perfect place to stay (very convenient with a large supermarket, laundry, West Marine and lots of cafes and restaurants) even if it wasn't just the very best jump-off place to visit New York using the half-hourly trains that run into the centre of Manhattan.   Plus also there is the perfect cafe/patisserie on the way to the station, the ‘Main Street Bakery’ complete with friendly locals.

 

My cousin Brooke then rang to suggest an earlier rendezvous than originally planned so we jumped into the dinghy and set off by train into NYC for the last time.   We met up for lunch at a famous breakfast restaurant, so we all had breakfast type meals despite it being 1400 hours!   And then went to the Natural History Museum (again) to watch the Planetarium display which was frankly a bit underwhelming, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg and aimed at a younger audience.   It also made me feel seasick.....   But we swung by the gemstones display which cheered Wendy and I up no end!   After that a walk around the locality, seeing the Columbia University campus, St John the Divine cathedral (which is another unfinished construction begun in the late 19th century, but unlike the Gaudi cathedral  in Barcelona, it is a very traditional building but sadly construction seems to have almost slowed to a standstill.   It was very impressive though and almost totally unadorned with the usual tombs etc, and therefore the huge design has even more impact) and the Riverside Church.   We got home well after dark and it was freezing, in fact the whole day had been windy and cold - and we were underprepared for it.

 

On Tuesday ‘Caduceus’ hove into sight, so Martin and Elizabeth came on board for a quick update on the town and local transport;  we did a last bit of food shopping and then Steve and Carol came for supper.   We had yet another discussion on tidal timings for going through Hell Gate which does hold some horrors for navigating:  the tide can be flowing at 4 knots through this narrow stretch on the East River to the east of Manhattan and as the connecting water of Long Island Sound does exactly the opposite (ie it is ebbing as the East River is flooding) it takes some planning to get it right.  In the evening,  we could also see the double laser beams shining up from Ground Zero over in NYC as it was of course the 9/11 anniversary.

 

Time to head south to Baltimore and so we set off at 0630 hours on Wednesday having worked the timings out in three different ways and produced the same answer each time, and glory be, arrived at Hell Gate about right:  even so we were doing 9.5 knots and bobbing along in the swirls of water.   It is pretty amazing to sail down such a narrow ‘river’ through such a famous city, so I snapped loads of shots, including the Statue of Liberty again, but the speed and lurching of the boat didn't make such good pictures as we had captured the previous week from the trip boat.   We were shooed away from the Statten Island Ferry by two high speed, gun toting guard boats, presumably on heightened awareness for the previous day though I hardly feel two middle-aged English sailors racketing along in a yacht constituted too much of a threat.

 

As ever there was no wind and the forecast was from the south anyway so we settled down to a very boring, 20 hour motorsail south down the east coast of new Jersey to the Delaware River.   As evening approached Rob hooked two large fish, each of which successfully got off the single hook lure;  but finally we caught and landed a smaller tuna, not the greatest of eating, but OK for soup.

 

Just at sunrise on Thursday, Rob spotted a Humpback Whale very close to the boat and got me out of bed to see it, which was wonderful and this was quickly followed by a pod of about 20 dolphins cruising by and then as we entered the mouth of the Delaware, the biggest turtle we have seen surfaced twice beside us.  

 

We plodded on up the Delaware River (which is not of the dimensions you might imagine as neither bank is usually in sight from the central channel which is fairly narrow, surrounded by depths of barely 4-8m) against the tide as it was 50 miles to Reedy Point where we hoped to anchor for the night, which would allow us to pick a favourable tide through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal the next day.   We had been assured that the flies are only a seasonal phenomenon - oh yeah?   Eventually the tide turned under us and we just made the very tricky entrance into the anchorage just before sundown.   The anchorage is behind a very small island with a very long, submerged dyke running north and south of it, which gives it protection from the wakes of the passing ships and any bad weather.   A hole has been dynamited in the submerged dyke making a narrow opening into this protected shelter of perhaps only 50' through which you have to ‘ferry-glide’ diagonally, across a tide of 2+ knots.   Rob had been dreading this (once he'd stopped dreading Hell Gate!) but of course performed the manoeuvre perfectly.   Once again information about depths etc. on Active Captain did help our confidence about the whole performance.   Clearly the American boat ahead of us all the way down from New York and up the Delaware River did not have not have our self-belief as they ignored this refuge and were reduced to anchoring outside in the river.  So now we are listening to the tide rushing along the hull and feeling very glad that the boring, hot, fly-bitten passage is almost over - we really are not fans of the Delaware’s wildlife!