I can't carp about Chestertown

We've cruised up the Chester River, which extends eastwards from Chesapeake Bay, to end up here in Chestertown MD. I remember writing that Essex CT was maybe the prettiest town I've seen but we have another candidate here. Very historic with some beautiful houses and brick buildings.

I had been thinking about how slow things were around here as we are several weeks post-season, so imagine my surprise when we arrive in Chestertown for day 1 of their annual Downrigging Weekend, a gathering of several tall ships and celebration of the end of the boating season. Read more about it here:

http://www.sultanaprojects.org/downrigging.htm

But let's back up to see how we arrived here. On Monday we took a break from gunkholing to visit Rock Hall MD. We anchored in nearby Swan Creek, and dinghied in to Haven Harbor Marina where they were nice to let us use their dinghy dock and walk into town. Riggs and I had an excellent lunch at the Harbor Shack, right on the harbor, then walked all over Rock Hall. Later I went solo to a grocery store there and bought some supplies.

Tuesday we cruised south to Queenstown MD, at the mouth of the Chester River. The entrance to the cove there was challenging but worth the effort, since the cove had a nice sandy spit for Riggs to run on, and the small town was very charming. Around here you see lots of history of both Revolutionary times and also Civil War times.

Wednesday we cruised farther up the Chester into Langford Creek, to anchor behind Cacaway Island. Really beautiful with scads of canadian geese (in transit) and eagles, plus the local foliage is near peak in color. Today we went further up the Chester, which is very rural with spectacular waterfront farms.

I had been told not to miss Chestertown, and I now know why. Its a lovely town, with well-preserved old sea-captains homes, and an old-time brick downtown. That we arrived in time for this tall ships gathering is a bonus. After touring the waterfront and downtown areas (If pee-marking is valid then Riggs now owns this town), we were heading back to the park where we had tied our dinghy and noticed two fellas fishing from the bulkhead, So we met these nice retired guys, Franklin and Craig (I think), who have perfected the art of shoreside fishing for carp. They each have a lean-to to sit under, and a bracket that holds two fishing rods, each with electronic sensors to announce when they have a bite. They use some sort of corn as bait. They apparently regularly reel in 10-20 lb. carp, which they take a picture of and then release.

Riggs entertained the three of us with his amazing ball chase-and-retrieve skills and occasionally a fish-alarm would go off. At one point I was offered the chance to reel in one of the behemoths and you see the results above (I'm the one smiling). It was all great fun.

We'll hang here to enjoy the festivities tomorrow, including fireworks (probably directly above Spray). Then we'll gunkhole our way back down the Chester River.

Gunkholing

No its not a nasty medical procedure, it is instead the art of cruising in shoal waters, anchoring in small coves that are difficult to enter. This is what Riggs and I have been doing in the upper Chesapeake over the last few days.

Our story picks up last Tuesday, near Cape May NJ. We got an early start down to Cape May and through the Cape May Canal, which cuts into Delaware Bay. Everything I've read and heard says 'watch out for Delaware Bay' as it can be quite rough. So as we emerged into a 3-4' chop, and couldn't see the other side of the bay (its quite wide there), it was a little intimidating. But it was a warm sunny day, the wind soon abated, and we had luckily timed our run with a favorable current. It got quite calm so we moved upstairs to the flying bridge and worked on our suntans as we motored up the bay (Rigg's nose is quite black now). We made such good time that by 3:30 we were entering the C&D Canal, which is sized for large ships, passed through part of the state of Delaware, and anchored in Chesapeake City MD in time for pizza and beer at the Chesapeake Inn (we dined al-fresco so Riggs could partake too).

Thus a major milestone was achieved. Instead of 'racing' southward, to get through the 'big water' sections while dodging the gales of fall, we entered Gunkhole Mode. Wednesday morning we leisurely explored the interesting town of Chesapeake City, and then unloaded my little yellow canoe to explore up a beautiful meandering creek. We pulled anchor at about noon, and cruised for a couple hours down the remainder of the C&D, then the very upper Chesapeake, then turning east and cruising an hour up the Sassafras River, dropping anchor in the mouth of Woodland Creek (in about 5 feet of water).

Another new aspect to this Gunkhole Mode is that the great ATT internet service we enjoyed since leaving Maine is now much reduced. This is a rural area and I typically get '1 bar' of service, which usually kicks me offline after a minute or so. So blogging, etc. is a pain.

Woodland Creek was a great anchorage. Ther were only a couple of houses in sight, and there were several small beaches to visit, plus uninhabited Daffodil Island to explore. We dinghied a mile farther up the Sassafras to see the towns of Georgetown/Fredericktown only to discover that there were no actual towns there, just six humongous marinas stuffed with thousands of boats. It boggles the mind to think what July 4th weekend must be like around here when all of those boats head down the river. Now its post season, so they are all buttoned up. One of the marinas let us tie up to their dock and walk around for awhile, which Riggs appreciated. Upon returning to Woodland Creek, Riggs had fun swimming after his beloved tennis ball.

Thursday morning we again got the canoe down and paddled up to the head of the creek. Really beautiful and apparently popular with duck hunters (many blinds). We explored Daffodil Island and Riggs swam again. Then back to Spray for lunch, a little boat maintenance, and some reading. All in all, a nice day.

Friday morning we motored back down the Sassafras and down the Chesapeake to Still Pond Creek, a cove on the east side of the Chesapeake. It was a narrow and shallow inlet, but we fit and again anchored with about 2 feet of water beneath our keel. In the dinghy we visited the sandy spit at the entrance to the creek, and explored nearby Churn Creek.

Saturday a strong south wind came up, and we left Still Pond Creek for the next cove going southward, Worton Creek, only an hour cruise or so. The bay had a nasty 4' chop that we nosed into, resulting in much spray on Spray. Worton Creek has a couple of marinas, but the one store here was out of milk and beer, and supplies aboard Spray are getting low.

Saturday evening a front came through, complete with thunderstorms and heavy downpours. It was no nasty I had to lay out the astroturf (tm) for Riggs. Today its crisp and clear, the wind has shifted to NW, and we'll do a short cruise to yet another gunkhole, Fairlee Creek. Tomorrow we'll head for a real town, Rock Hall MD, where we can load up on groceries. Until then, we're enjoying being in Gunkhole Mode!

Free at Last!

Riggs and I were trapped near Atlantic City for 5 nights and 4 days. Two sequential Nor'easters swept by with much rain and gale-force winds. And cold too. We tried escaping on Saturday, by creeping down the 'inside' (NJ ICW) path, but we only got a few miles before encountering a railroad bridge with 5' clearance that wasn't opening due to high winds and tides, so we had to turn around and return to the 'Brigantine' anchorage near AC.

It did get worse on Saturday, to the point where it was too treacherous to take the dinghy to the beach, so Riggs had to learn to do his business onboard Spray. I laid out a square yard of astroturf (tm) on the rear deck (the poopdeck?) and, after holding off an amazingly long time, Riggs finally performed every 'number' in his repertoire.

Sunday was still nasty, but was made much nicer by a visit from my niece, Dr Michelle Homsher. She works at CHOP (Childrens' Hospital of Philadelphia) as a researcher. She drove down to deliver a backup computer shipped by my friend, Ken, and also some great apples and some NJ cranberry wine (I'll have to work up some courage - or desperation - to crack that open). I braved the waves to dinghy to shore to meet her and we had a nice Italian lunch together.

Finally, today we had wall-to-wall sun! After a quick beach run, we confirmed that the railroad bridge was operating, pulled anchor, and hit the NJ ICW. It was an enjoyable, meandering trip, with challenging currents, many drawbridges, and shallow depths. We did get stuck for 1/2 hour or so near Hereford Inlet. Had to wait for the tide to lift us off the mud. No big deal.

We're anchored in Sunset Lake, a couple of miles north of Cape May. Tomorrow we'll get an early start through the Cape May Canal, then up the dreaded Delaware Bay. This will set us up to enter the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday. Yay!

How to repair a computer

So my Acer netbook had died and I had to move my internet access to an antique Dell laptop that had insufficient memory to use the important ActiveCaptain site and could not accept my digital photos. Here's how I solved the problem:

- Arrange for good friend Ken Goldsholl in California to Fedex an older computer of his to my niece's address and arrange for said niece (Dr. Michelle Homsher) to meet with me this weekend.

- Only after this process is well underway, get online and Google 'Acer Aspire One is dead'. Find instructions on how to reload the BIOS code to the Acer.

- Spend 4 hours attempting to reload BIOS code to the Acer. It finally works!

So I'm back in business with two computers, and a third one on the way. At least I'll get to see Michelle, hopefully on Sunday.

We're still hunkered down in Atlantic City. The wind has moderated to around 20 knots and the rain is light. I probably should have resumed southward travel today. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be somewhat worse! Yikes!

So now that I can deal with photos again, here's the first Pelican we saw, proof that we are not in Kansas anymore!

From one skyline to another

Since my last post Riggs and I have traveled from the Big Apple to the Big Casino, and are now anchored off of Atlantic City NJ, hunkering down for some upcoming nasty weather.

Monday's sprint through NYC was a trip indeed. We caught the tidal current in the East River just right, and were flushed from Throgs Neck to the south end of Manhatten in an hour or so, with a max 5 knots of current pushing us in the Hell's Gate area. Not much traffic (one tug pulling a barge against the current - I guess this gives them better control) until encountering a swarm of ferries near Wall Street. They zipped by on all sides as we puttered through. We swung close by Liberty Island to snap some pix of the copper lady, then down through Verrazano Narrows to end the day's cruise in Atlantic Highlands NJ.

I met with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim for supper. It was great to see them and catch up on family news. Thanks Ann & Jim!

Tuesday we made an outside run of about 45 miles in the North Atlantic. The wind was from the west, off the land, so we traveled as close to the beach as possible (about 1/2 mile), and the travel was OK. We pulled into Barnegat Inlet under optimum conditions (it can be bad there on an ebbing tide) and anchored nearby. I used the bigger CQR anchor since there was a strong NW wind that night. The anchor performed great.

Wednesday morning we looked out to the ocean and didn't like what we saw. The surf out there looked like a mountain range in the distance, so we traveled the 'inside route' on the NJ ICW to bring us here to Atlantic City. Its a much longer, slower route to travel, but quite interesting. Shallow water (typically 6 ft deep or so, Spray needs 4 ft) and narrow channels kept me on my toes, and the route meanders all over the place. We coule see the AC skyline the whole way (looked like the Emerald City) but we often weren't pointed towards it. Spray bumped the bottom once, and we paused to pull free a stuck sailboat (nice guy from Bucksport Maine of all places), and we dropped anchor in this great cove at about 3 pm. There's a good beach nearby which Riggs appreciates, and a great view of the casino buildings and their night light shows.

There's a gale warning up for tonight, and much wind predicted over the next 3 days, so we may be here awhile. I'm sorry about not posting any pictures with this entry, but apparently my small netbook computer, into which I could easily load pictures, has died. I'm now using my navigation computer, an old Dell laptop, for email and blogging. I've got to find that USB cable to connect the camera to this computer.

Except for the nasty weather, all is well here.

Big day tomorrow!

Start spreadin' the word... Tomorrow its New York, New York.

We're bobbing at a mooring in Manhasset Bay, ready to dive into the East River. The timing of our passage vis a vis the current is critical. The fastest part of the East River is Hell's Gate, where the Haarlem River comes in, and has a 3-4 knot current, eastwards on the flood tide, westwards on the ebb. We'll be going west.

The current will be in my favor (ebbing) between about 5 am and 11 am tomorrow. So we need to get an early start, which is why we are here in Manhasset, within sight of the Throgs Neck Bridge, the eastern end of the East River.

We had an enjoyable 2 days in Northport Harbor, anchored 1/4 mile from the house I grew up in. Walking the old neighborhood was a time trip. The hills seemed smaller, plus the whole neighborhood has gone quite upscale. It was sort of a bummer that I couldn't legally land the dinghy anywhere near the old neighborhood as its all private property with private docks. The neighborhood assn. has its own dock and there I met resident Ed Thompson, who gave us permission to tie to that dock for our exploration. Thanks, Ed.

This morning we left the old neighborhood at sunrise, since we needed the high tide to get out of the head of Northport Harbor. After 1/2 hour we dropped anchor at Asharoken Beach for two beach runs and breakfast, then headed west in LI Sound. It was a 4-hour cruise, into stiff wind, to Manhasset. En route we had our first views of the Manhatten skyline.

At first light tomorrow (after a quick beach visit for Riggs), we head out, to pass under the Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Triborough, Manhatten, Brooklyn, and Verrazano bridges, and end up at Sandy Hook, NJ. I'll take a bunch of pictures.

Roll n Rock

This entry concerns last night's anchorage in Joshua Cove, which you may recall was exposed to some 1 ft. or so rollers from the SW. At first it wasn't so bad since the wind kept Spray sort of aligned with the waves, but then the wind disappeared, and Spray aligned herself beam-to the waves, which were of a period close to Spray's natural roll period.

So as I was trying to fall asleep, it went like this:

roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll ROLL ROLL roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll

and repeat. The big ROLLs were sliding things around in cabinets and making a racket, so it was impossible to sleep.

In the absence of wind, why did Spray align herself beam-to the waves? Here's my theory: If Spray is aligned bow-to or stern-to the waves, she rocks (fore and aft) rather than rolls, and her propeller moves up and down through the water. I think that produces a twist on her to turn her beam-to the waves. When she rolls (side to side) with the waves, there is no such propeller motion and no twist. So the stable postion for her is beam-to the waves.

So I got up and put my stern anchor in the dinghy, rowed it down-wave a hundred feet or so and dropped it in. Back on spray I tightened up on that stern line so Spray was forced to point directly into the oncoming waves. Now she rocked a bit but did not roll, and the rocking was quite tolerable.

The moral of the story? A little light rock makes for a better night than a hard roll.

On the move again

We spent 3 nights in lovely Essex CT, moored in front of Essex Yacht Club. After Monday's iPhone debacle, Tuesday was spent with my sister-in-law Connie. After lunch aboard Spray we went to the ATT store in nearby Old Saybrook and did a deal where I now have a 3G Aircard for my laptop computer,and a basic flip-phone for calls. Connie had to run to L.I. to visit her mother but my sister Marsha and her husband Dennis drove down for supper at the Black Seal in Essex (thanks guys!).

Wednesday started rainy and ended very windy, so cruising was postponed. Instead some boat chores, a few long walks around Essex (how can a 1 qt dog like Riggs pee out 2 qts of markers?), and finished with Connie picking us up for a hot shower and laundry, then a great Italian meal at Cafe Allegre in Madison (Grazie Connie).

Wednesday's big wind lasted all night and into this morning, so Riggs and I decided to delay departure until mid-day to allow things to calm down in L.I. Sound. The morning was productive in that I finally installed a depthfinder in the lower (salon) helm station. I tried something tricky which was to splice both upper and lower depthfinder cables to the same sonar transducer, with an on-off-on power switch that ensures that only one depthfinder is powered at a given time. Amazingly, it works pretty slick.

The bad side of waiting until mid-day to leave Essex is that we had to fight 1-2 knots of incoming current as we went down the CT river, and then had to fight a knot of east-flowing tidal current as we headed west in L.I. Sound. Spray is slow enough already. The good side of waiting is that the waves from the big winds of Wednesday had a chance to subside somewhat. It was a bit rough but the waves were on our nose and we only went about 15 miles to our present anchorage in Joshua Cove, just west of Guilford, CT. We're protected from the (dimishing) NW wind but there is still some 1 ft. rollers from the SW that are gonna make this a rolly night. Spray is the only boat in this large anchorage and we're surrounded by beautiful homes.

Tomorrow we'll get an early start, crossing the Sound with a destination of Northport Harbor, the body of water I grew-up on (well not actually grew-up but you get the idea).

Up the River

...the CT River that is.

Its been a while since I had proper internet access to post to the blog and much has transpired. I'll summarize quickly: From York Beach ME we had a long Thursday to end up in beautiful Cohasset MA (south of Boston). Mass Bay was kinda rough. Friday brought us to the Cape Cod Canal which, with a 3 knot tail-current, we whipped through in less than an hour (Spray making 10-11 knots over ground!), then on to anchor at Westport MA. Saturday was a downer for 3 reasons:

- Brother Steve disembarked so that he could travel to Germany on business

- The weather sucked (mucho wind, mucho rain)

- No travel accomplished (see above for reason)

Sunday was nice and Riggs and I motored in the sun for only a half-day to end up in Pt Judith Pond, RI. A nice anchorage, two nearby islands for Riggs to check out, and time to lower Spray's mast so the anchor light bulb could be replaced (took 3 hrs - that mast is heavy!).

Today was nice but there was a west wind that caused 3-4 ft chop against Spray's nose. Wasn't too bad so we pushed for Essex CT which is 3 miles up the CT river. My brother had arranged for a mooring at the Essex Yacht Club. We reached EYC against a strong river current and also wind and I was a little concerned about being able to grab the mooring without drifting back. That's probably why I sort of lunged at the pick-up buoy which caused my iPhone to leap from my shirt pocket into the aforementioned CT River. Its in 10 ft of water somewhere below Spray's bow (which is secured to aforementioned mooring).

If you have any idea what its gonna cost me to get a replacement iPhone or terminate my contract, then you understand what motivated me to don swim fins and mask and go diving in the murky brown current - alas to no avail. You can't see anything down there plus the current could have carried off the phone. Since I do have WiFi here I even emailed my buddy Ken and had him repeatedly call the iPhone, thinking I might hear it ring. Nope.

You readers may want to buy some ATT stock. They are gonna make some money off me.

I just took Riggs for a well deserved walk. Essex CT has to be one of the prettiest towns in the USA. The local church had just completed a 'blessing of the pets' service so Riggs got to meet many dogs (and goats too). I hope to meet my brother's better-half, Connie, tomorrow (if she'll check her email) and maybe visit an ATT store. It could get ugly.

Tentatively we continue westward in LI Sound on Wed. LI Sound is .... LONG!