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The weather turned and after a few days of sun we got brave and brought out bathing suits.

We’re anchored off of Ram Island at the mouth of the Mystic River. This is a popular weekend anchorage for people in marinas up the river.  Ram Island is private but there’s a small rock island with a beach that appears at low tide.  Many kayaks and small boats come here for a stopover.  Topaz liked wading here while the girls played in the sand.

These sunny days prompted Genny to break out the wakeboard.  It looks like a combination of snowboarding and water skiing.

While in the Virgin Islands Scott got us going on the knee boards.  He passed on tips from his water ski experience.  Genny wanted to get off her knees and stand up so the wake board was next.  The water here is still below 60 degrees so a wet suit is in order for beginners who spend lots of time soaking.

The first day she flopped and fell and struggled getting up for about 4 tries, then after that up she went and I couldn’t shake her loose.

Monday we headed up the Mystic River to Mystic Seaport Museum.  The first bridge was a rail bridge that pivoted in the center.

The second is a bascule bridge that has been carrying people and cars across since 1920.  This bridge only opens at 20 min before the hour so timing our arrival was important.

The Seaport Museum was just ahead as we arrived. The floating exhibits are docked along the river as well as guest slips.  Wild Horses (W-76) and Race Horse (W-37) are W-Class wooden race boats, probably here for the up coming Wooden Boat show next weekend.

Our dock is just ahead past the Joseph Conrad tall ship.

Moored on the museum grounds made it very easy to explore Mystic Seaport’s exhibits.

The exhibits remind me of a seaport version of Colonial Williamsburg.  The many buildings displayed exhibits like a sail loft, riggers, nautical instruments and black smiths with demonstrations.  The ships also had people explaining how and why things were done on the ships.

This reminded me of a passage in Carry On Mr. Bowditch where he went on errands around the town of Salem and each person thought his contribution to the ship was the most important.  In the end, it takes the builders, riggers, sail makers, navigators and many other specialists to prepare a seaworthy vessel.

Near quitting time the musicians would gather at the gazebo for Sea Shanties.  The sea shanty is a chanting song to provide the men hauling lines with a rhythm.  We learned that a good sea shanty was worth four extra men on a line.  Don also explained which instruments were popular on board and a bit of history about the music and songs.

Just before closing Eric and the kids explored a few waterfront exhibits while I walked my Mom back to the boat.  Apparently they were so quiet the guards didn’t hear them when it was time to lock the doors.  I got security to let them out, and they made friends with the lady who was locked in with them.  See you can make friends anywhere.

The exhibits are too numerous to take pictures of and describe.  Mystic Seaport also offers a sailing camp where children explore the museum, learn to sail in small boats and sleep on the Conrad for 6 nights.

When we were tired of reading signs and looking at old stuff, there was plenty of opportunity for hands on exploration.

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The museum was very ‘kid friendly’ with very few don’t do this or that signs.

There were shops for them to make boats with hot glue and strips of wood and candle making.  Places with games, musical instruments, interactive shows and a planetarium.

At the far end is the shipyard with the Charles W. Morgan getting ready to be launched at the end of July.  This is the last wooden whaling ship in a port that was once home to many.

The Whale Trail charity came to mystic with this 6 foot fiberglass Sperm Whale. This same idea has been used in many cities like Buffalo, Henderson , Anchorage , Seattle , Rochester, and the world wide Cow Parade.

It wouldn’t be a post if Roy’s fishing wasn’t included. Here Roy went wild on Blue Crabs.

It was so exciting he had to train assistants. Nannie got the net and Marie was in charge of checking the other lines.

Roy had out a trap and two hand lines.  The trap simply lays on the bottom with a bit of bait and every few minutes you pull it up to find crabs hanging onto the bait.  The hand lines look like a huge safety pin with a weight.  Pin the bait on and lower it to the bottom.  The crabs grab onto the bait and won’t let go.

Each crab was measured to be greater than 5″ across and checked for eggs on the females.  This crabbing day gave us plenty of lessons learned.  Only take the males, not only is this good for maintaining the crab population, but also the males have much more meat on them than females.  DON’T let the uncooked crabs freeze, their insides become a runny mess, and in order to keep them alive yet easy to handle, chill but don’t let them soak in ice water.

We steamed our catch 6 at a time in a pot of been and vinegar and generously sprinkled them with Old Bay seasoning.

With the easy access to land came an opportunity to dance around with sparklers. There isn’t much of a chance for wild fires on the east coast.  We have plenty of rain, fog, and humidity to keep everything moist, and soggy in some places.

The kids always have their eyes open looking for critters like this praying mantis

How can you go to Mystic without eating at Mystic Pizza?  The walls are covered with Mystic memorabilia and the TV at the end of the room continuously runs the movie Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts. Our surroundings looked nothing like that of the restaurant depicted in the movie, and the waitress said they adopted the catch phrase “a slice of heaven” from the movie.  I just read the Wikipedia description and it says that most of the filming was done in Stonington, CT (our next anchorage).   Last week when we watched Pete’s Dragon about a lighthouse in Maine, I learned that the lighthouse was actually a movie set in Moro Bay, CA.  Leave it to Hollywood to skew reality.

But, Hey, the Pizza was great!

Long Island Sound runs about 100 miles in an east – west orientation with Connecticut on the north side, Long Island to the south and the East River at the western edge.  The eastern end of the sound opens into the Atlantic Ocean, touching Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  After exiting the east river, we selected Bridgeport, CT to wait out the next storm.  The anchorage wasn’t much to speak of, a deserted beach good for Topaz to run and a secure anchorage.  Next we needed to think about our weekly grocery shopping, right around the corner is Housatonic River and the town of Stratford.  Our chart guide gave it good reviews for shopping and boy were they right.

We found a little path along the bank to nudge the dinghy up to for drop offs.  Across the street from the path is a large West Marine, BJs whole sale club (which we’re not members of), and Petco.  The a short walk away is two grocery stores, Walmart (Yippee!!!!) and Home Depot.  We could just live here.  At West Marine we found essential parts Eric had on his list and non essentials like this wake board Genny has been waiting for, and a large fishing net so we can scoop up the sea monsters Roy catches.

The Housatonic River is 139 miles long with five dams producing hydro electricity.  With all the rain and flooding, the river had a constant stream of debris floating out to the sound. One morning we got clobbered by this fence post drifting down river at 1.5kts.

The post got tangled between the hulls and anchor chain.  We were lucky to only be hit by a post once, we saw branches, tree segments, very little trash but mostly wood floating by.

Originally this was supposed to be a quick stop for groceries but we met all kinds of nice people.  Exit Strategy with Tom and Doris came by to say hello.  This is their home town and where they visit family, and their kids’ sports when they aren’t cruising warmer waters in the winter.  Then Roy spotted people fishing on a nearby dock, so he went over to ask the usual fishing questions.  Are you getting any bites? What type of bait are you using? What are you fishing for? Where is the bait shop?  That’s where he met Norm and Lynn in the picture below.  Stratford is their hometown but now they live in The Villages in Florida and come back here to visit family.  Norm and Lynn were so nice to us, they showed us around town, gave us a Stratford history book, offered rides, and took us out for a fabulous Italian dinner.  We hope to meet up with them in Florida in the fall.

Check out this pizza burger Roy ordered at dinner.

Next we made friends with the Pimentel’s.  Yes, another Pimentel family.  They both trace their ancestors back to Flores Island in the Azores which is part of Portugal.  Here’s a link to Rodey’s blog about his trip on Azure II, which is now our Makai, in the Azores.  We met them because as we were entering the river Eric spotted a Leopard 40, tucked into a marina, out of the corner of his eye.  He checked around on the Leopard Catamaran Owners Group message board and found one listed from here and fired off an email.  The girls made an instant friendship with Jeanette, Ken and Beth’s 9 year old.

They are wrapping up the details this summer and will be heading down to the Chesapeake, Florida and the Bahamas this season.  The girls exchanged email addresses and promised to find each other again along the way.

The weather is starting to warm up.  We still wear a jacket occasionally and sleep with a blanket, but finally we can sit out in the cockpit without being bundled up.  Today Topaz is getting her first haircut since the Virgin Islands.  This is a good job while we’re underway to New London.

The New London Ledge Lighthouse shines at the entrance to the Thames River.  This 1909 brick lighthouse was one of the last built in New England.  In honor of all the New England Lighthouses around us, we watched Pete’s Dragon last night.  It’s a Helen Reddy and Mickey Rooney Disney musical set in Maine.

On the way to the anchorage we passed General Dynamics Electric Boat.  It was pretty cool seeing a brand new submarine sticking out of the hangar door.

Bridges cross the Thames to connect New London with Groton, CT.  While the auto bridge is fixed, the Amtrak bridge lifts on request.  The photo below shows the Amtrak bridge closed.

After requesting them to lift it, they slid it up above our mast for us to pass under.

The real reason we came up the Thames was to visit the SSN Nautilus and Submarine Museum.

When Eric and I first met, we were defense contractors with the submarine business. Eric used his Electrical Engineering Degree with a concentration in acoustics to research undersea sounds. I got into it because of my experience in the Navy with SOSUS and IUSS, which is an undersea listening system designed to track Soviet Subs during the Cold War.  This was all very secret when I was in the Navy, but apparently it’s been declassified because you can find information about it all over the internet as well as descriptions of the system at the museum.

Back around 1990 Eric did several acoustic experiments on submarines and came here to the sub base in Groton   to test them on subs.  So, this has long been a destination of his to sail up the Thames to the sub base.

After a long day of hair cuts for Topaz she got a scrubby bath.

The new hard top makes it convenient for her to get up on top and dry herself by rubbing on the main sail cover.  She also has a new ‘crazy dog’ path.  When she gets worked up she runs from the top to the trampoline, that’s probably 40 feet of slippery fiberglass on three levels.
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Friday’s adventure was the Sub Museum.  We tied the dinghy up on the fuel dock at Groton Oil Co. and Marina and began our walk.  The first stop is this WWII Submarine Memorial. There are 3,617 names on this wall as a tribute to the men on eternal patrol.

The walkway is lined with statistics for the 52 submarines lost between 1942 and 1945. The term Loose Lips Sink Ships was used on WWII posters to remind people to be mindful secrecy concerning military matters.  We heard one story about Congressmen May who had been to several military briefings and in a press conference publicized the fact that the Japanese depth charges were missing our subs because they were set to 150 feet while our subs evaded them by staying at depths of 300 feet.  The very next month, we lost 10 submarines because the Japanese reset their depth charges for deeper depths.

A scenic 1.8 mile walk later we arrived at the Nautilus Submarine Museum.  This is the sail of an Ohio Class Ballistic Missile submarine.  If you ask how I got my family to pose for so many pictures, I have to say it’s a miracle.  These kids are masters at uncooperative behavior, only now are the oldest starting to find the ‘uncooperative’ game a little less exciting.  For some reason, when I ask them to turn around for a picture they do it.  Maybe they know their shining face will be on the blog, maybe they don’t know how much I appreciate it, but I’m grateful for their cooperation in photos.

The Nautilus’ original props.  SOSUS showed how noisy the propeller cavitation would give away the location of the new quiet nuclear submarines.  The Nautilus is the first nuclear submarine and since then much work has been done to tame the screw.

WWII diesel submarines were fitted with artillery to protect themselves on the surface.  The engines require air from the surface to run and this left the submarine vulnerable to attacks while they were charging their batteries.

The front walk also displays a Type A Japanese two man mini sub

The dock on the Thames is the home of the SSN Nautilus. She was the first submarine to use nuclear energy to run her engines and systems.  This eliminated the submarine’s need to surface.  She quickly broke all kinds of records like being the first submarine to transit the North Pole in 1958.  The Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 five years before I started studying submarines.

The museum offered a great tour complete with hand held audio phones.

We wandered through the home of the Nautilus’ 11 officers and 92 enlisted men.

It was hard to imagine over 100 men weaving in and out of these spaces under the water.

The museum had several movies and displays with fascinating facts about US submarine history.

Unfortunately, we didn’t give ourselves enough time and rushed through in less than two hours.

The next morning we gave the guy who let us tie the dinghy up a little business at his fuel dock and headed toward the Mystic River.

This whole area is an interesting maze of sailboats, private islands and shoal areas.  The cat-rigged boat is very popular around here.  The main mast is at the bow, it’s often shorter than a usual mast with a very long boom.  This results in a single, short but very large sail.

We’re currently anchored off of Ram Island (not the island pictured above) at the entrance of the Mystic River. It’s a private residence so we can’t go ashore but there is a small rocky island off to the west that has plenty of exposed sand for Topaz to traipse around on at low tide.  We met some nice people over there last night and got a recommendation for Block Island on the 4th of July.

Roy’s Striped Bass. In New York the Striped Bass’ main spawning ground is the Hudson River.  The striped bass was overfished and it’s population was seriously dwindling until strict conservation laws were passed in 1980.  Within 15 years, their numbers increased to a healthy population. This cool length to weight and age chart  says Roy’s 29 inch fish weighed approximately 13 pounds and was 7 years old.  For a view of this years best catches, check out Roy’s Fish Gallery.

So how did he get this big boy?  It started with a trip to the fishing store.  In nearly every town we’ve visited the locals are using some gear we don’t have and Roy has to go add it to his collection.  Here he got a throwing net.  The guy at the store gave him a few pointers, but it was still collapsing before it hit the water.

We went over to a neighbor’s boat and Joe took some time to help him out for a perfect throw.

The net fishermen are catching bunker, an abundant, oily, smelly fish great for bait. Wikipedia says the bunker, aka Atantic Menhaden can filter up to four gallons of water a minute making it a natural check to the deadly red tide.  On that one perfect throw, Roy caught one bunker. He put it on his hook, as directed by a neighboring fishermen and while drifting got a bite.  The bite, however, took the fish and left the head.

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Roy directed me, his driver, to another fishing boat to ask about what may have bit the body off his bunker’s head.  These great guys told us it was probably a bluefish, gave Roy some more bait a few tips and off we went.  Within 5 minutes Roy started calling “Fish ON” and reeling in this striped bass.  I could hear the guys chuckling from across the way because we were trying to the fish into the dinghy with what seemed like a butterfly net.  They told us to just pick it up.  I reached in and grabbed it by the lip with one had, around the body with the other and in it flopped.

Thanks guys!

At the end of the day Roy went back to Joe to thank him for the net tossing tips and to share some of his catch.

Rain Rain Go Away, it poured all day Thursday, but when the sun peeked out on Friday, the kids and I took Topaz ashore and gave Eric a moment of peace.  Liberty State Park was in front of us and an opportunity for a nice stroll.  We walked through a group of 13 American flags to this statue of an American Soldier carrying a Holocaust survivor.  The Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center is on the left and the Statue of Liberty on the right.

The view was so stunning we moved the boat to an anchorage just north of Ellis Island.  Roy gets one last look at the Statue of Liberty which is still closed for repairs from Hurricane Sandy, but is due to open July 4th, 2013.

Eric spotted and identified this plane as we were rounding the corner.  I never would have noticed it was anything but just another plane.  Can anyone identify it?

It’s a B17, like the Memphis Belle,  which was used to drop bombs on Germany in WWII.  I Googled it and sure enough Teterboro Airport had an airshow.  NorthJersey.com posted an article on the airshow with the photo below by Don Smith and Makai is in it!  How crazy is that and I’m sure sailmakai.org readers are the only ones in the world that know this bit of information.  So much for our fame.

The anchorage was wide open, we only shared the space with the Manhattan Sailing Club’s party barge.  The afternoon sun shown brightly on Lower Manhattan.  Hurry get the camera out!

Ellis Island’s buildings are beautiful.  See http://nyc-architecture.com/LM/LM001-ELLISISLAND.htm for more detailed photos of the buildings.  This is a fantastic site full of NYC buildings.

On the left is Lower Manhattan and the right is Brooklyn.

The Manhattan Sailing Club’s party barge is the Honorable William Wall. Which is anchored near Ellis Island for their member’s to share our view of Manhattan. Or is it the other way around, we’re sharing their view.  Eric and I sat on the bow with our Caribbean Rum and cheese puffs having a Gold Star day.  A Gold Star day is one where you don’t spend any money.  We had fun watching all the boats go this way and that.  There were small boats under full sail heeling with the wind yet going backwards or sideways in the current.  Tug boats coming and going, ferries all over the place transporting people and vehicles, and the Manhattan Sailing Club’s launch bringing people in suits out for cocktails.

The sun officially sets at 8:30 but I had to stay up way past my bedtime to get a night shot of the city.  Off on the lower left of the photo is the Empire State Building lit up in Red, White and Blue.

The sailing instructions on our charts said to head up the East River an hour after low tide. We were underway just after 9am and the sun rising in the East shown on Manhattan’s east side for a great view.

I’ve learned from the kids’ public school friends that state history is taught in 4th grade. I’m from Buffalo, NY so I should have gotten New York State history about then, something like 40 years ago.  Well I can tell you none of my 4th grade history helped me with New York geography and history today.  Everything I know came from the internet and the people who present it in an easily readable fashion on Wikipedia. Follow the links I’ve included in the post for more information and photos.

This is my 4th trip to the Big Apple, each with one small memory to add to my collection.  I came in 1970 with my mother and remember seeing Bedknobs and Broomsticks at Radio City music hall with the Rockettes. July 4th, 1985 my mother cut my brother Jim and I loose to watch the fireworks over the Statue of Liberty which was encased in scaffolding for restoration. In 2009 the kids and I did a whirlwind American history tour on our way to my parent’s house in Buffalo.  That was my favorite tour of NYC seeing the biggest points of interest in 2 days. Today’s memory will be of the river tour we took on Makai.

A tiny portion of New York State touches the Atlantic Ocean right here at the mouth of the Hudson river between Connecticut and New Jersey.  Long Island is an easily identifiable island off the coast, but what about Manhattan.  It looks more like the tip of a peninsula with Long Island Sound and the East River on the east side, the Hudson River on the West side, and New York Harbor on the south side.  The only thing that makes it an island is the Harlem river that cuts between the East River and the Hudson River.  So if you lived in the days before bridges, you would have recognized it as a river because you would have to paddle your canoe across, but now with the dozens of bridges and tunnels, in the blink of an eye you can cross back and forth and never notice.

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The first thing we passed across the harbor is the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal.  It’s crazy, this ferry ride is free. The terminal restoration is part of the  Percent for Art initiative which allocates a certain percentage of the project to public display of art.

While sitting on the bow yesterday we saw at least 5 helicopters in the sky at a time. Next we came around the corner and saw the Downtown Manhattan Heliport where the helicopters were taking turns lifting off.

This public heliport is used by the President of the United States, Mayor Bloomberg, site seeing tours and people on business.

Tucked in between the buildings is this cool 47-story condominium yellow checked tower at 15 William St. Unit 19G is for sale if anyone is interested. Delmonico’s is nearby with it’s legacy on William St. dating back to 1927.

South Street Seaport’s ships are a contrast from the high rises.  The seaport boasts the largest privately own fleet of historic ships in the country.

Wow check out this building, it got wrinkled in the wash.  At 8 Spruce St. is Beekman Tower. It’s one of the tallest residential towers in the world designed by architect Frank Gehry. The Wikipedia link shows his many famous buildings, one of which we’ve been to in Los Angeles, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, for an afternoon childrens event on the property.

In the 15 mile stretch of the East River we went under 8 bridges all over 100 feet high: Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, RFK Triborough, Hell Gate, Bronx Whitestone, and Throgs Neck.

Brooklyn Bridge completed in 1883 connects Brooklyn and Manhattan is one of the oldest bridges in New York.

A short distance further is the Manhattan Bridge opened in 1909. This bridge has two levels used for vehicles, trains, street cars, pedestrians and bicycles.

Eric is peaking out from his Captain’s station at the helm to see the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges behind us.
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As we pass Lower Manhattan and the financial district the answer to “Where do all these people live?” comes into view.  The Cooperative Village was part of the answer to turn of the century affordable housing problems.  Completed in the mid 1950s these studio, one and two bedroom apartments provided housing for the working class. EasyStreet.com provides listings to anyone looking to move.

Continuing down the river, the sun was warm and the kids played on the front deck.

More apartments and condos along the river with towers in the background came into view. The Empire State Building is to the left of the apartments and Chrysler Building to the right.  The kids and I visited NYC 3 or 4 years ago.  We spent one night in Times square and walked down to the Empire State Building for a trip to the top.  The view from the boat is much different being able to see the whole building at once.  Walking along the streets was like walking through a forest looking up the trunks of giant trees.

New York’s nickname is the Empire State believed to have been started by George Washington when it was the capital of the United States from 1785 to 1790 and has been the largest city in the United States since then.  The Empire State Building was completed in 1931 and was named after the nickname for the State of New York. It was the tallest building in New York until the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center was built.  NYU Medical center has waterfront property along the East River.  I reminded the kids of the American medical students we saw practicing in the Caribbean Islands and here is one of their options for studying and practicing in the United States.  I wonder which is more appealing, emergency treatment along the East River, or in the jungle of Dominica.

My favorite building is the Chrysler building. I love the sparkling arches.  Completed in 1930, it was the world’s tallest building for nearly a year before the Empire State Building was completed.

This building has been the headquarters of the United Nations since 1952.

The Citigroup Center building, completed in 1977, shines above the brick buildings surrounding it. An interesting fact about the construction is that the builders needed more space and made a deal with Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church on the corner. The offer was to demolish the church and then rebuild it in order to make room for this sky scraper.

Tug boats like the Bruce McAllister reminded us we are still on the water.  I’ve never seen so many interesting tugs in one place.

These crazy fast speed boats were also a feature on today’s river cruise. I couldn’t find any reliable facts about the cigarette boat other than Don Aronow designed them for racing in the 1960s.

Ok, back to river crossings.  The Roosevelt Tramway  crosses along side the Queensboro bridge. It began transporting residents from the newly redeveloped Roosevelt Island to Manhattan in the mid 1970s.  Eric recognized it from the movie “City Slickers“.

The Queensboro bridge was opened in 1909 crossing the East River over Roosevelt Island.

NYPD makes it’s presence on the river as well.

Here we’re passing the Triborough Bridge, construction began on Black Friday in 1929, opened in 1936.  Hell Gate rail bridge in the foreground was completed in 1916 and is now maintained by Amtrak .

We moved along the East River at an amazing 8 knots, that’s 6 from Makai’s engines and 2 more from the current.  The girls sang New York, New York into their flower pedal microphone for most of the way.

Toward the end of the river we saw Rikers Island NYC’s main jail complex, LaGuardia Airport and the Vernon C. Bain prison barge.  This 800 bed corrections facility and according to tug44.org it’s cheaper to send a person to Harvard than house a prison inmate.  They also say that the barge is required to have a mate, engineer and oiler on board at all times.

Our last two bridges are the Bronx Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges.

For all the lack of sailboats we encountered coming up the coast along the Delmarva peninsula, it was more than made up in Long Island Sound.

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At 5am, the sun peaked into our cabin.  Eric and I laid there and listened to the absence of rain and wind, noticed the twinkle of light in the window.  Oh, Oh, lets go! The next storm is on it’s way and if we hurry we can change our scenery before it hits.  We passed the early morning fishermen and pulled out the jib for a downwind run to the Verrazzano Bridge at the Narrows between Brookland and Stanton Island.  Along the way we were passed by the Ferry going 30 kts taking NJ commuters from Atlantic Highlands to NYC.

There are also four major shipping channels coming from the Atlantic Ocean meeting up with the one we used to hop across Raritan Bay all funneling in through the Narrows.  All kinds of stuff comes in, we saw a cruise ship, many tugs pulling barges, and several tankers, all competing for the same channel with us.   How about this freighter carrying wind turbine blades.

The radio was also a constant buzz with all the ships calling each other to ensure safe passing as well as the pilots making arrangements with the freighters.

Next is the Verrazano Bridge.  On the right is Brooklyn, NY and a glimpse of Cony Island.  On the left is Staten Island, NY, separated from mainland New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and Kill van Kull rivers.  The Dutch word for creek is “Kill”, remember the southern tip of Manhattan used to be called New Amsterdam. The Verrazano Bridge is 228 feet high, plenty of room for Makai’s 70 foot mast.

We also saw this beautiful tug and barge.  The Zachary Reinauer has been pushing barges around New York since the 1970.  Follow the link for a photo of her with the twin towers in the background.

The kids and I spent two days in NYC several years ago for just a little taste of what the place is all about.  Since then we’ve been pointing out NYC points of interest in movies and books.  I’m sure there and dozens and dozens but some of the ones we remember are Funny Girl, Hello Dolly, Madagascar, Enchanted, Stuart Little, Spiderman, and books like The Orphan of Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, and The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.

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On this trip we’ll get a great view from the bay and up the East River with a plan to return in the van this fall.

The Staten Island Ferry was also busy this morning. Ferry service dates back to the 1700s and became a municipal service in 1905.

Lady Liberty stands there in the bay greeting everyone as they go about their day.  She was a gift from France, designed by Auguste Bartholdi, in 1886 in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution.

Liberty Island and Ellis Island are still closed for repairs from Hurricane Sandy, but tourists can still get an up close look from the Statue Cruises.  Both parks are due to open on July 4th, 2013.  I Googled around and found some wild hurricane photos of the Statue of Liberty.

Ellis Island is right next door.  Millions of immigrants passed through these doors between 1892 and 1954, my grandmother’s older brother, sister and mother came through here in those early years.

Today it’s just the Mears family on Makai, cozy, comfortable and free as Americans.

So much for history, it’s time to anchor and the rain’s timing was perfect.

Throughout the day we listened to the Coast Guard warning small boats to find a safe harbor from the heavy rain, lightning and high winds.  We did what we usually do in this instance.  Eric works, the kids do their homework, I do a little of everything, and we all eat too much junk food.  Whatever happened to those fresh Caribbean fruits and long swims in warm clear water.

Yipppeee, the Harrison girls have come to visit.  Ginger, Bruce, Amy and Tesse were our neighbors at our cabin in Angelus Oaks, CA for 3 years, but they’ve since moved back to their hometown in NJ.  We sure do miss them in California, but hey, if they lived in California, they wouldn’t have been able to drive to Sandy Hook to spend the weekend with us.

Sandy Hook and the Atlantic Highlands area were devastated by Hurricane Sandy last fall.  They are working hard to put a new marina in.  There are stacks of docks in the parking lot waiting to be put in the water, barges, cranes, and workmen all over the place.  Atlantic Highlands is a beautiful little town, 1st street starts at the water and the ferry landing where commuters travel across the bay to NYC and for about a half mile offers restaurants, shops and the theater on the way to Super Foodtown grocery store. This was a wonderful place to get off the boat after all the days hold up inside the cabin.

The Harrisons came at just the right time, the weather warmed up and dried up for a bit for everyone to sit out side.

Roy went back to fishing.  He catches some of the most interesting things.  This clam wouldn’t let let go of the hook and eventually Roy had to cut him free.

Amy and then Tesse used to baby sit our kids when they were little.  It was a wonderful break to have someone take care of the little cherubs at the cabin while I went on a dog walk or up to visit with Ginger.

One of the things we did on a snowy day in Angelus Oaks was puzzles.  Ginger brought us a cool sea turtle puzzle just the right size for extra evening entertainment.

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The day after they left, the rain came back and we were trapped on the boat again.  The water was the color of chocolate, the rain over filled our collection buckets, a cold wind made us close the windows and doors, trapped inside again.  Bored little girls always come up with something to do.

They got the fruit baskets and played catch with a ball.  Since this could be potentially hazardous to things in the galley or Eric’s electronics on the table, they were put down in a hallway to play.  When ‘catch’ wasn’t fun any longer, playing with the rain can be fun when properly dressed.

As the week wears on waiting for the weather to improve and an ordered part to arrive, regular chores like grocery shopping and laundry have to be done.  Eric dropped us off in one direction for our hike to the laundry and then later in the other direction for a hike to the grocery store.

On the way back from the grocery store the kids spotted a movie theater.  That’s right up Daddy’s alley, he spends too many hours working and on the computer, so when he came ashore to pick up groceries, I switched with him.

Back out on the water, the clam fishermen are scooping the bottom for tasty little bivalves. The fishermen had baskets on super long poles, maybe 20 feet long.  They would push and pull on the pole digging up a basket of clams to sort.

Genny just started her own blog.  To see Genny’s point of view, check out http://sailmakaikidz.blogspot.com/

We didn’t necessarily have Cape May on our list of places to stop, but Beth G. from Long Beach recommended Cape May because she grew up coming here on her family’s summer vacations.  The whole area is really shallow and the anchorage seems to be one of the popular flounder fishing holes.  That brings a two thumbs up from Roy. To catch a flounder you make up a rig with a heavy weight on the line and a live minnow swimming off from the weight, bouncing it along while drifting in the dinghy.  On one of our drifts we passed a lobster shack at the harbor.  Oh yeah Roy, lets go!

This is our first encounter with New Jersey (Maine) lobster.  Luckily we had Barbara and Ted from Rosa dos Ventos out of Vermont with us to teach us how to eat this bug.  After lunch it was back to business.  We found that unless we were drifting in the dinghy, any pole out would would catch a skate all day long.

So much for our good weather.  It seems that out of every week we have a few great days, a few miserable days, and a few days that could go either way.  Monday morning we woke up to the predicted storm and another Leopard Cat in the anchorage.  I sat down to do a blog post and the owner this Cat left me a message to look out for his boat. The delivery captain planned to be there on his way to Maine.  While we hunkered down for a day inside reading, that poor delivery captain went out in the rain, luckily he’s got that cool cockpit enclosure to keep him dry and out of the wind.

When the rain stopped the fog rolled in.  Sometimes we could see land and the channel markers, sometimes we couldn’t.  The boat behind us was always visible but usually shrouded in fog.

But nothing stops the trawlers.  They put their outriggers out and drag the bottom for delicacies such as fluke, flounder, whiting and cod.  I haven’t found a good web site that answers all my questions on trawling, but those boats are everywhere as it’s very shallow for at least 3 miles off shore.

Tuesday was a beautiful day.  Topaz went for a one hour run on the beach, then she took a nap inside while the rest of us packed up and went to town for an adventure.

We walked for a mile and a half down Lafayette Street.  Eric spotted real gas lamps in front of the Cape May Elementary school.

Even though the walk was long, the Victorian houses kept us entertained.  It was interesting to see a remodeled house next to an old tired looking one that needed a new owner ready to fixer up.

Our destination was Shield’s Bike rental.  After some discussion over bike color, basket size and directions to the lighthouse, we were off.

The ride was another few miles out to the point.  We rode single file in the bike lane along Sunset Blvd lined with broad leaf trees and past more interesting houses.  Many of them are summer rentals not yet occupied.

Everyone’s yards and the parks were in bloom. It was a great day for a bike ride.

Finally our destination came in view.

We pulled over along the side of the road for a photo.

But were hissed at by a family of swans.

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The state park had a row of Purple Martin houses.  The Purple Martin is the largest North American swallow and in the East is almost entirely dependent on humans to provide their nests.

At Cape May Point there is also a WWII bunker.  Lewes guarded the entrance to the Delaware bay on the south side of the entrance and Cape May is on the north side of the entrance.  The WWII bunker link also shows the erosion situation in Cape May.

Apparently it’s thought that the errosion is the result of over 100 years of alterations made to the the Cape May area.  From dredging and jetties to the canal being dug to protect U.S. ships from German torpedoes during WWII.

The present Cape May lighthouse is the third in this area.  The first one was discontinued in 1847 when the sea claimed it, the next one was poorly constructed and only lasted a hand full of years.  The present 1859 lighthouse is still operated by the Coast Guard and volunteers run the museum that allows visitors to climb 199 stairs to the lens.

The spiral stairwell was impressive, each stair was lit twisting 157 feet to the top.

The views were great.  Our little Cannon camera did a good job zooming in on the swan family. On one side is the park and bird sanctuary.

On the other side is a town full beautiful beach houses.

On sunset beach lies the remains of S. S. Atlantus, a cement boat, used to transport troops home from WWI in 1918. In 1926 she was being towed to Cape May when a storm hit and she broke free from her moorings and ran aground.  Since then it has been a tourist attraction.

Our last day was reserved for trying to catch the elusive flounder fish.  While I was at the beach with Topaz Roy got his first one, too small to keep but great for a picture.

Next we took the dinghy off in another area.  We caught several rigs lost by other fishermen, building up our supply of weights, hooks and swivels. Roy foul hooked a spider crab.

Then just as we were completely wrapped up in fishing line we were salvaging, Roy got a real bite.  Here’s his prize a 17.5 inch + flounder.

Now that Roy got his prize we could head out.  The Harrison family will meet us at Sandy Hook, NJ but we need to get there before tropical storm Andrea sends her rain up the coast to us. The trip started out slow as we passed the lights of Atlantic City, NJ, dodged the fishing fleet at first light, and then bundled up in our foul weather gear with double sweaters, socks and boots on the wind picked up and we skimmed the calm shallow water at 8 knots towards NYC and Sandy Hook, NJ.

The navigation bouys were a maze designed to keep order in this busy port.  Coming around the corner of Sandy Hook Eric pointed out this green buoy dangerously close to the beach. During our first night at anchor we heard May Day May Day May Day called on the radio and from our warm cozy bed listened to the Coast Guard, Sea Tow and the sailboat Dolphin working to get their boat off the beach.  The many shoals and shallow water we’ve noticed here prompted Eric to sign us up with Sea Tow for assistance if we should have the unfortunate adventure with Makai aground.

On the bright side, we feel very securely anchored here, the storm has been dumping rain on us all day but we’re snug inside Makai with books to read, the sisters created a new game with a ball and wicker baskets, Eric worked on the computer and these two ducks come and visit us for a bit of bread.

Lewes is the quiet little town at Cape Henlopen and full of history.  Lewes proudly calls themselves “The First Town in the First State” being settled in 1631 by the Dutch.  Situated at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, Lewes was a whaling town and trading post in the beginning, then a target in the war of 1812 as well as the site for a fort in WWII to protect the Delaware bay, Philadelphia, and the oil refineries in the bay.

As we turned the corner around Cape Henlopen, a very warm breeze greeted us.  For the day and a half we we spent in the area we wore bathing suits and happily waded along the shoreline.

We took Topaz ashore for some exercise.

Everyone enjoyed low tide.  The critters trapped in the tide pools provided hours of entertainment.  It’s a good thing we went to the visitor center at Assateague and museum in Ocean City to learn about the Whelks and Horseshoe crabs.

An interesting fact about the whelks is that they drill a little hole in bivalve clams and then eat them.  We’ve seen many of these clam shells with a little hole in them and just thought it a convenient shell for stringing but never knew where the hole came from.

The beach is also littered with horseshoe crabs.  The Delaware Bay is an important breeding ground for these crabs  they lay their eggs in the wet sand at low tide where the sun can warm them.

We also found huge clams.

More and More horseshoe crabs everywhere.

Crabs, they were sure yummy in Ocean City.

The most fun was the Atlantic Jackknife clam or Razor clam. They are buried in the sand vertically.  When it senses someone, slurp, it quickly sucks under the sand.  Roy was pretty quick with a strong grip and could pull it out.  Many more live buried under the sand and have a little hole they spit water out of.  We were squirted here and there as we walked along the beach.

It’s easy to tell the difference between the horseshoe crab genders.  The Female is much larger and the males have boxing glove shaped claws in the front to hold onto the female with.
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We anchored just to the west of the Seaside Nature Center, which we didn’t get to tour.

The dinghy ride was almost two miles to the Roosevelt Inlet and up the canal to town.

Along the way we had a peek at the Kalmar Nyckel, a Tall ship built in Wilmington, DE in 1997 to commemorate the  ship Dutch settlers crossed the Atlantic in 1638.

There were many marinas and docks along the canal.  One thing that caught our eye is these little dock side houses.  Each one a unique design, some look like a plain cottage, others with a fancy design, furniture and flowers.

At first we thought they were a weekend cottage to go with the boat out front, but then we noticed the big yard behind it was actually the front yard of a huge house in the back ground.

Next to the town dock where we tied the dinghy up is the Overfalls Lightship.  The docent onboard waved us in for a tour.  We learned that lightships we named after their duty station.  If the ship moved to another station, it would be renamed. Lightships were stationed to mark hazards and also the entrance for the safe entrance to a channel.

The volunteers did a great job restoring this ship.  There were photos here and there showing the restoration project.

The next stop is the Cannon Ball house.  Amy said she’s a decedent of the McCracken family who lived here when it was the Delaware Bay Pilot house.  Pilots were necessary for ships transiting the Delaware bay to Philadelphia and Baltimore.

During the War of 1812 it acquired a cannon ball adding to it’s charm and saving it’s life making the house a historical landmark to be restored and preserved.

We really enjoyed our time here and could have spent a few more days but wanted to get into the protection of Cape May’s harbor before the approaching storm hits.

My Mom left on Tuesday and after a week in Ocean City we needed to get going to the next adventure.  But now the sun is out and Eric hadn’t seen the boardwalk yet, so we took the dinghy across the bay.  I love this candy shop picture, when you walk in there the bright colors just made us want to buy treats.

The boardwalk has been around since 1902.  Amy told us a day downtown wouldn’t be complete with out Thrasher’s French Fries, Dough Roller Pizza, Dumser’s Ice Cream, and Fisher’s Popcorn.  By the time we sampled the first three boardwalk specialties, we had no room for popcorn.

Eric went to the Life-saving Station museum, don’t miss this museum if you visit Ocean City!  The sisters joined him for a little while and said he read every sign including the sand exhibit.  While half the family was in the museum, Roy and I walked along the beach.

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We wrapped up our last day with Topaz and her ‘land buddy’ Maverick playing chase, and enjoying Amy’s hospitality one last time.  Thanks for everything, Amy!  Next stop Lewes, DE.

On the way out the channel, the ever present Coast Guard had two boats stationed to keep boaters along our coast safe.  During our one week stay we were boarded within the first few hours of our arrival and given a list of items needed to comply with safety requirements, and then over the Memorial Day weekend we saw nearly every single boater in the area boarded as well.  Maybe this can be considered the safest harbor in Maryland?

We’ve been busy and the internet has been slow, so here are two new posts.

God blessed Ocean City with a sunny warm Memorial Day.  Boaters were out in full force.  People were in bathing suits but I still wore a jacket.

Apparently, there aren’t any sailboats here.  Whenever I would mention that we were anchored around the corner, people would refer to us as The Sailboat.

Using his new net Roy scooped up a horseshoe crab in the shallow water.

We read a flyer Eric picked up the other day about horseshoe crabs. They were over fished to be used as fertilizer and later bait. Apparently they don’t spawn until they’re 9 years old and can live as long as 20 years, so it will take awhile to find out if their populations are improving after conservation.    Their eggs feed migrating birds. They also play an important role in medical research on their eyes and a clotting factor in their blood.

This guys sounded pretty important so we sent him back.

Memorial Day’s sunshine brought everyone out.

Earlier in the week we met Amy and her Dog Maverick at the the beach and were invited to her family’s Memorial Day party.

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What a great afternoon with her family, extended family and friends.  This was special for us to be part of an Eastern Shore party.  We tasted the most fantastic bbq chicken EVER that her mom made, hung out around the crab table where people took turns smashing, dipping and slurping up crab.

Amy and her Mom live next door to each other and the combined back yard has this heated salt water pool.  The kids spent hours in there and then would all run off to the beach and take a polar plunge into the 48 degree ocean water.

There was also birthday cake and the Ocean City, MD signature drink, Orange Crush.  Wow, that was tasty.  The recipe is the juice of one orange, a shot of Vodka, shot of Triple Sec, lots of ice and topped off with Sprite.

Some of the kids had only seen us come and go in the dinghy and wanted to check out Makai.  So we brought guests out for a tour.  The Cummings family and Hambury family had a tour and sat on the trampoline for a few minutes.  But then we all got cold and retreated back to the heated pool.

What a great time, we will surely be blessed if we meet people like this along the way who are willing to share their family traditions with us.