Sleepless in Manasquan and other highlights

With a good weather forecast, we departed Cape May early on June 18, a beautifully cool day with light north winds. We rolled out some jib and had a great ride up to Atlantic City. "Sammy" the tillerpilot really did his share that day. We opted for Gardiners Historic Basin, so that we could easily get our friend Colby ashore and go for a walk. Up and away early the next morning, headed for Manasquan. This is a very busy inlet, lots of fishing boats, and recreational boats, especially on a weekend. We arrived at 3:00 on Saturday afternoon: not a good plan. Our plan was to anchor at "dog beach" as we have done before. On this beautiful, hot, sunny Saturday afternoon, the boats were like ants moving all around the inlet. In the past, we have "hunted around" a bit with the depth finder to find a good spot to drop the hook. This time, we went to the spot we thought we had anchored before, put the hook down and made sure it was set. Whew! Colby was in a hurry to get ashore, so Dick put the dingy in the water and took him to "dog beach." Well, by the time they returned, we were aground, and only 2 hours after high tide! With all of the activity, we had not done our usual careful job of anchoring. Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting! We decided that we would just wait for high tide, and we should be able to get off by ourselves. High tide would be 2:30 AM. OK, cook dinner quickly before it becomes too difficult, sit on the rail for a while and wave at all of the people who pass by on their boats. A few asked if we needed food or water! By low tide, we were at a heel of 35 degrees...very uncomfortable. We rested for a while, and waited for the tide to come back in. About 2:00 AM, we were upright again and we started working to get ourselves off. Dick tried to winch us out with the windlass, and Karen was at the helm, assisted with the engine. We moved an inch or two, tried again, another inch or two, but we finally decided we weren't going to be able to get off under our own power. The hide tide at 2:30 AM was not quite as high as the high tide in the afternoon, by a few inches. So we called BOAT US, and asked for a tow. Within minutes, we were floating free once again! This was the same BOAT US operator who had assisted us back in October in the same inlet! Very professional and helpful. So we re anchored in deeper water, to regroup and rest a bit. By 5:00 AM the fishing boats were underway, and in this narrow channel were were rocking and rolling. We were underway soon after.

The plan had been to return to the anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty, which we have enjoyed before. However, we had received a call from Brian and Deb, whom we had met at Utsch's, saying that the whole area around the Statue was closed off because of the Red Bull Air Races. So on to Plan B: some other folks had told us that Great Kill Harbor on Staten Island is an excellent anchorage. A little out of the way, but we decided to check it out. Only 35 (nautical) miles from Manasquan, but we needed a short day after our sleepless night in Manasquan. This was a very good stop; excellent holding, a good dinghy dock, and a nice place to walk. We certainly slept well that night!

As we were leaving the channel at 7:30 the next morning, a fishing boat passed us: it was Norman, whom we had met a couple of times while he was visiting our friend Rick Kelley on Lake Champlain. Norman lives in New Jersey, and we had told him we would call when we were on the Jersey coast. On the phone the night before, he had told us he would be fishing in Great Kills Harbor the next morning! The timing was perfect!

It was a long slog to Haverstraw that day, 51 nautical miles, with the tide against us most of the day. Our lowest speed of the day was 2.8 knots, but by the time we reached Haverstraw we were up to 6.0 knots. About a half mile from Haverstraw Marina, at 5:00PM, we ran out of fuel!! ARGH!!!! So Dick quickly added diesel to the tank, and we motored to the fuel dock, where we topped off. The fuel dock was very busy, and it was 7:30 by the time we got to our slip, exhausted. Did we mention that it was 90 degrees and humid?

We slept in the next morning, and it was almost 9:30 by the time we were underway. Tide was against us again this day, but our lowest speed was 4.2 knots, better than the day before. Some rain on and off, hot and humid, then thunderstorms forecast for the evening. We picked up a mooring at Hyde Park, and once again our enclosure was an asset, as we had dinner in the cockpit during a downpour! This would be a good spot to return to, as it is walking distance to the Roosevelt Historic Site and the Vanderbilt Mansion.

On to Riverview Marine Services the next day, arriving at noon. Another 90+ degree day, and very humid. UGHH! And an unpleasant surprise: our mast crutches, which we use to hold the mast on the boat while we motor up through the Champlain Canal and back to Lake Champlain, were gone. When one has the mast stepped on the trip south, one stores the mast crutches at the marina, with no guarantees. It is an honor system. Well, someone obviously needed our mast supports, and took them. Fortunately, there was a boat at Riverview when we arrived that had just come from Chicago, through the Erie Canal. Sue and Leo are headed south with their Westsail 32, and do not intend to return. So they offered us their mast crutches! Thank you!! Only minor modifications were needed to make them work for us. We enjoyed some time chatting with Sue and Leo as we all took some breaks in the shade while trying to work on our boats. They were rigging to head south; we were de-rigging to head north on the canal. Thursday morning we finished de-rigging, the mast was down and we were underway by noon. We really appreciate the skill of the staff at Riverview.

Thunderstorms were threatening for the afternoon, and we listened to the weather radio to track the progress of the storms. Once when the skies were really dark and the wind picked up, we picked up a mooring at Castleton for a few minutes. When the conditions quieted down, we were underway again. Later as we entered the Port of Albany, it started to rain, so we hugged the bulkhead, and kept moving. Through the Troy Lock at 6:45; just as we exited the lock, our friend Larry called to see where we were. Larry lives in Waterford; when we arrived at the free docks at Waterford, Larry greeted us and helped us with our lines! Great to see a familiar face! We walked to a nearby pizzeria, and brought pizza and wings back for dinner in the cockpit. Thanks Larry!

This morning, our son Emil picked us up, and drove us to Queensbury so that Colby could see his vet! Colby had developed a skin condition which we wanted checked out. Back to Waterford, lunch with Emil, and he was on his way. We are happy to be here in Waterford, and will probably stay an extra day. Three days from here to Van Slooten Harbour Marina!!