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A sunny day at Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina

The first Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race (GCBSR) was held in October 1990 and is now a yearly event.  Because of their speed, schooners were ideal for coastal sailing and became one of the favorite commercial watercraft in the United States and Canada in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century.  Cargo-hauling schooners regularly sailed the Chesapeake Bay and the faster the schooner the better the price it fetched for its services.  Today the GCBSR serves as a reminder of the trade rivalry which once existed between the ports of Baltimore and Norfolk.

In 1988 Captain Lane Briggs and his Norfolk Rebel, a sail-powered schooner-rigged tugboat, challenged the newly launched schooner Pride of Baltimore II to a race from Baltimore to Norfolk.  The challenge was accepted and in October 1990 the first GCBSR was born with seven competitors.  While cargo-hauling schooners are a thing of the past, there are many schooners in use today as privately owned cruising vessels, state-sponsored goodwill ships, charter vessels and floating classrooms.  As many as 56 schooners have registered to compete in a single race!  All proceeds are donated to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for use in its youth education programs aimed at saving the bay.

While Lazy W was docked in Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina on Monday, October 11^th, the first of the competing schooners were arriving at the docks of the neighboring Baltimore Marine Center.  We soon discovered that on Tuesday Canton’s O’Donnell Square would be hosting “Sail Around the Square,” a party to benefit the GCBSR.  We had frequented many of the fine establishments in Fell’s Point and along Canton’s Boston Street, but O’Donnell Square?? We just had to check this party out!  So off we went to JD’s Smokehouse to register for the poker run.  There were ten bars/pubs participating and each had a designated dealer handing out a playing card in a sealed envelope.  The best five-card hands to arrive back and be opened at JD’s by 8:30PM would receive one of three prizes.  

Neither of us ended the evening with anything even close to a winning poker hand but we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the host of characters hanging out at Looney’s Pub, Nacho Mama’s, Fins, Mama’s on the Half Shell, Speak Easy, Claddagh Pub, Portside, Te Amo!, and Sauté.  Ten pubs in one night!  Whew...

The rain arrived just in time to dampen the Wednesday afternoon Parade of Sail.  The hearty schooner crews left their slips in Canton, unfurled their sails and paraded up to the Inner Harbor and back. 

The weather had not improved much by Thursday morning when the schooners castoff for the starting line of the race, 21 miles south near the Bay Bridge and Annapolis.  We waited at Anchorage Marina for the fog to lift before starting Lazy W’s engines only to find that she really did not want to leave her slip in Baltimore!  Frank spent a few hours in the engine room coaxing her port engine back to life and, despite the delay, we arrived at the Bay Bridge in time to see all the schooners milling around waiting for their 1:30PM start. 

Schooner Sultana approaching the Bay Bridge

Schooner at the Bay Bridge

A dreary day for the start of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

We continued south on the bay another fourteen miles to the Rhode River.  Shortly after dropping the anchor the sun came out and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon anchored among a few sailboats.

What a difference in weather!

The following morning we made the forty-four mile run south to Solomons and up the Mill Creek to a beautiful anchorage at Brooks Cove.  Just before turning up Mill Creek we noticed that the schooner Sultana was docked at one of the marinas and we wondered what had happened to keep her from finishing the GCBSR.  Only later did we learn that of the almost forty schooners that registered to compete in the GCBSR, only fifteen managed to finish the race in the allotted time.  It is hard to sail south in a southerly wind!

The autumn view at Brooks Cove from Lazy W

This anchorage afforded us great protection from the gusty 30 knot winds that were forecast to blow out on the bay so we hunkered down here for another day.  We launched the dinghy and took a short but choppy ride into the docks at the Calvert Marine Museum.  The friendly, hospitable staff was more than happy to share their knowledge of skates and rays, mermaid’s purses, terrapins, river otters and starfish with us on what was a slow visitor’s day at the museum. 

In addition to wonderful displays on the natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay, the Calvert Marine Museum does a wonderful job of relating the history of Solomons Island.  In 1865 Isaac Solomon purchased what was then known as Sandy Island near the mouth of the Patuxent River and proceeded to assemble an oyster fleet and to build a cannery and a shipyard.  His dream of building an oyster empire crumbled ten years later when creditors forced him to sell his island.  It was left to other entrepreneurs to turn Solomons Island into one of Maryland’s commercial hubs of boatbuilding and seafood harvesting.  It is amazing to realize the huge impact that the small oyster had on so many communities along the Chesapeake Bay!

Drum Point Light at Calvert Marine Museum

The wind on the bay had calmed down (for awhile anyway) so we pulled up anchor on Sunday morning.  Heading due east into the bright morning sun made it difficult to distinguish a crab pot marker from a floating seagull so we made our way cautiously back to the Chesapeake Bay where beautiful calm waters awaited us.  Our fifty mile cruise to Pitman Cove near Kilmarnock was smooth and uneventful.  NOAA was again forecasting winds gusting in excess of 30 knots for the remainder of the afternoon and overnight so we let out plenty of chain when we dropped anchor for the day in what we thought would be a well-protected cove.  Were we ever wrong!!

The gusty southwest winds started blowing at 9PM and our anchorage gave us little protection.  We set the anchor alarm but unfortunately it cannot be heard from inside the boat – one of those seemingly minor flaws that was to be remedied before we left Portsmouth in June. Fearing that we would drag anchor, Frank remained at the upper helm all night long vigilantly watching our position.    Luckily we did not have a repeat of our Atlantic City anchor dragging! By 8:30 in the morning there was just a slight breeze and the water was as smooth as glass.  On very little sleep, we pulled up anchor and headed to Portsmouth knowing that we would really appreciate being tied securely in our slip on ‘B’ dock that night!

As we approached Thimble Shoal the familiar naval and commercial chatter came over the VHF.  Outgoing Warship 60 requested that all traffic keep their distance; the Coast Guard informed all that they were repairing buoy 18 on the Elizabeth River.  The navy shipyard and the cranes of the marine terminals were welcome sights.

 

USCG prepares to relaunch buoy 18 on the Elizabeth River

 On Monday, October 17^th, after spending 124 days ‘at sea’ and cruising over 1,500 miles we tossed Lazy W’s lines to the smiling dockhand waiting for us at Ocean Marine Yacht Center’s slip B27.  Rod welcomed us back and filled us in on all the news.  It was good to be back home...

We love Baltimore!

We love Baltimore!  It has been almost 4 weeks since we nosed Lazy W into her slip at Anchorage Marina’s ‘C’ dock and we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  Any boater would appreciate the marina’s ideal location on Boston Street in Canton – a well-stocked Safeway is directly across the street as is the Coldstone Creamery; West Marine is two short blocks to the southeast.  There are plenty of small saloons and a variety of dining establishments hosting well-attended happy hours all within walking distance – we have made a concerted effort to stop in at many of them.  All the while, Natty Boh, the mascot of National Bohemian Beer, watches over us.

 Natty Boh peers down O'Donnell Street

In 1785 Captain John O’Donnell, a merchant seaman, brought his first shipload of Chinese goods to Baltimore.  He bought some land for a plantation here and named it Canton after the Chinese port that brought him wealth.  The 1800’s brought an influx of Irish and Polish immigrants who sought work in the many factories, canneries, shipyards and breweries that had sprung up in the area.  What were once factories are now condominiums, apartments, artists’ studios, offices, eateries and shops.

The old American Can Company site has been transformed into this...

...thriving retail center along Boston Street in Canton

Bo Brooks on the Canton waterfront

In 1869 this was the site of the  J.S. Young Licorice Factory.  A smokestack built in 1883, converted into a working lighthouse, serves as a landmark and namesake for Lighthouse Point, a small shopping center on Boston Street anchored by Baltimore Marine Center and Bo Brooks Restaurant.  On football game days, Bo Brooks serves 50¢ Yeunglings and cheap oysters with a great water view!

The ‘Friday After Five’ promotion at the National Aquarium features deeply discounted $8 admission tickets, so one rainy Friday we boarded an MTA bus in Canton for the ride to the Inner Harbor.  What should have been a ten or fifteen minute ride turned into an hour-and-a-half odyssey as the bus literally inched its way along the congested, rain-soaked streets. Yet we remained undeterred as we sloshed our way from the bus stop on Market Place toward the Pratt Street aquarium entrance.  The rainy weather actually worked to our advantage as it kept the crowds at bay allowing us to leisurely peruse the exhibits within both aquarium pavilions.

 Australian freshwater crocodile relaxes at the National Aquarium

Upside down jellies at the Jellies Invasion exhibit at the National Aquarium

Tuesday’s are Ollie’s Night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards – upper reserve seats for just $9.  So off we went (with 22,000 other fans) to watch the Orioles take on the Boston Red Sox.  While the game did not mean much to the AL East last-place Orioles, the Red Sox were in a wild-card dead heat with the Tampa Bay Rays who were simultaneously playing the New York Yankees.  As a result, there were plenty of vocal Boston fans in attendance.  The game turned out to be the most exciting baseball game I have ever attended.  The outcome was held in the balance until the very last out in the ninth inning.  The Orioles, fighters until the end, left the game-tying run on second base as Adam Jones grounded out.  Red Sox 8 – Orioles 7.  And since the Rays beat the Yankees, the wild card race was still undetermined!  But the following evening the Orioles proved to be the spoilers as they beat the Red Sox (4-3) in another down-to-the-wire finish!  It was all The Baltimore Sun could write about the next day, and the next, and the next...

Frank at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

On another ‘Friday After Five’ we unexpectedly came across the USCG Eagle docked at the Inner Harbor.  While we had seen the Eagle on many other occasions at many other ports, we had never been aboard.  Cadets heartily invited all comers to take a tour and we did.

We watched the Buffalo Bills lose to the Cincinnati Bengals at Finnegan’s Wake in Canton with avid Bills fans Jim and Mary Anne Lancaster before making our way over to the tailgate party at the Ravens M&T Stadium.  A light rain and unseasonably cool temps in the 40’s – kept the crowd away.  But later on the streets around the Inner Harbor were filled with purple-shirted Ravens fans making their way to the stadium for an 8:20 kickoff.  Baltimore teams were on a winning streak: Ravens 34 – Jets 17.

The biggest tourist draw of October in Fell’s Point is the annual outdoor street festival.  The Fell’s Point Fun Festival was started 45 years ago by The Preservation Society as a way to raise funds and draw attention to Fell's Point when the area was slated for demolition due to the proposed extension of I-95 across the Inner Harbor. Had the Preservation Society not been successful in its ten year "road fight," the highway would have demolished the Federal Hill and Fell's Point communities.  Senator Barbara Mikulski played a key role in organizing these communities to rally against the roadway project and eventually both were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fell's Point became a National Register Historic District in 1969 and Federal Hill in 1970.

After weeks of rain, clouds and generally miserable weather that felt as if we were in Seattle instead of Baltimore, the sun came out and we made the best of it.  Long walks along the waterfront Promenade and a guided tour of Fell’s Point with an urban ranger were just the ticket for boaters cooped up on Lazy W for too long.  Our tour guide led us along the historic streets paved with thick Belgian blocks, the former ballast of the many early trans-Atlantic sailing vessels that visited the bustling waterfront piers of this maritime community.  Stories were told of the important role that the local shipbuilders and privateers played in the American Revolution and the War of 1812.  The informative stroll made us very appreciative of the Preservation Society’s successful fight to save Fell’s Point.

This mural at the corner of Fleet Street and Broadway depicts the history of Fell’s Point.  A closer look at the upper right hand corner reveals Senator Mikulski peering out over the scene.

 

While in Baltimore, we enjoyed the company of good friends Rich and Terry Wills (they offered us shelter in Connecticut during Hurricane Irene) and Stu and Carol Wikander (they offered us dockage at their Eastern Shore marina).  Lunch at BOP Pizza in Fell’s Point – great pizza baked in a wood-fired brick oven.

At BOP Pizza in Fell's Point

The Horse You Came In On Saloon

 1626 Thames Street, Fell’s Point

Rumor has it that the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe haunts the upper floors of Baltimore's The Horse You Came In On Saloon, a favorite Poe watering hole and one of the last places he was seen alive.  The saloon also purports to be Baltimore’s oldest continually operated saloon (since 1775) and the only Maryland saloon to exist before, during and after Prohibition.  Of course, we had to stop in with Stu and Carol!

Beautiful weather held out for another weekend and we decided to get a jump on the bicentennial of the War of 1812 by paying a visit to the Flag House/Star-Spangled Banner Museum and Fort McHenry.  Tours of both historic sites highlighted the pivotal role that Baltimore played in this war.

The Flag House/Star-Spangled Banner Museum is located at the home of Mary Young Pickersgill, the seamstress who sewed the 30’ X 42’ flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814.  Her small home was not nearly large enough for her to work on the huge flag so she sewed the pieces in her home but assembled it on the floor of the brewery across the street.  This daunting task was completed in just over six weeks!

 A full-size depiction of the flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill

on the facade of the Star-Spangled Banner Museum.

Notice that it has 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The huge flag was commissioned by Major George Armistead who wanted Fort McHenry’s flag to be large enough “that the British will have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.”  He wanted the stars to be two feet from point to point and the stripes to be two feet wide.  At that time in U.S. history there was no uniform flag code and the flag had the same number of stars and stripes as states in the union – fifteen. (It was not until 1818 that an act was passed providing for thirteen stripes and one star for each state of the union.)  Ironically, the flag was made from British bunting! 

The flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill was forever immortalized by Francis Scott Key who penned the poem, Defense of Fort Mc Henry, after witnessing the unsuccessful British assault on the fort. His relief at seeing the flag still flying over Fort McHenry after 25 hours of bombardment is evident in the words he wrote.  His poem, now known as The Star-Spangled Banner, became our national anthem in 1931.  Ironically, the poem is sung to the tune of a British drinking song of the Anacreontic Club of London, a group of wealthy men who met to celebrate music, food and drink! 

Just when we thought we had done enough sightseeing in Baltimore and were ready to head back to Portsmouth, we realized that the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race is next weekend.  Frank was involved with the volunteer committee on the Portsmouth finish line end of the race for the past two years and now the schooners are due to arrive in Baltimore by noon on Wednesday, October 12^th.  We may have to stick around and join in some of the fundraising activities scheduled in Canton for Tuesday night...

GO BLUE!

Now that we had gotten Lazy W settled in at Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina, we could set our sights on getting to Ann Arbor for the September 17^th football game at the University of Michigan!  It is a 516-mile drive from Baltimore to Detroit Metro Airport where we would meet up with our son Brian and grandson Cameron.  Luckily we can drive the interstates at 7 to 8 times faster than we can cruise on Lazy W so we planned on two leisurely driving days instead of two weeks to get there!

With the majority of driving behind us at the end of day one, we stopped in Toledo, Ohio.  Thirty-some years ago we lived in Lambertville, MI just over the state line from Toledo and while we did not live there long enough to get to know Toledo we knew of a few places we wanted to see.  So our first stop was Tony Packo’s Cafe.  Any fans of the 1970’s TV show M*A*S*H might remember that Jamie Farr, himself a native of Toledo, played Corporal Max Klinger, the crazy medical corpsman from Toledo.  In one 1976 episode, Klinger told a television newsman that “. . . Tony Packo’s got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty-five cents.” 

Tony Packo’s has been in business at this location at the corner of Front and Consaul Street since 1935.  And while the hot dogs are no longer thirty-five cents, the restaurant still attracts quite a crowd. 

Looks are deceiving – the place had a big lunchtime crowd inside!

Lining the walls inside are hundreds of plastic-encased hot dog buns signed by famous visitors to the eatery.  This practice started in 1972 when Tony Packo’s daughter invited Burt Reynolds to eat here and he put his signature on a bun to commemorate the occasion.  Scores of celebrities followed suit.  While the first fifty ‘bun signers’ signed real hot dog buns, it soon became apparent that these commemorative items would have a limited wall life.  The very realistic but fake buns signed since then are made of foam and hand-painted by a Mr. James Sohnly.  Frank Zappa, Billy Joel, Bill Cosby, John Glenn, Pat Benatar, Hall and Oates, Bob Seger, Jimmy Carter – these are just a few of the people who, like us, enjoyed a Hungarian hot dog at Tony Packo’s.

With more than a few hours left before we needed to be at the airport in Detroit, we made our way to the Toledo Museum of Art to sample another of Toledo’s cultural attractions.  After wandering among the works of Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt and Van Gogh, we decided that we had savored enough culture for the day and headed over the state line to Lambertville to check out the condition of the very first house we bought back in 1978.  We seem to purchase properties for odd reasons starting with the house on Sandra Kay Drive – we did not much care for the house itself but the neighbor behind us had ponies and geese and roosters, oh my!!  So we bought it and six months later Frank was transferred to South Carolina!  At the same time the Jeep plant in Toledo closed!  There were lots of houses for sale but luckily we sold the house three months later.  Alas, the pony, the geese and the rooster have now been replaced by other houses.  We were so disappointed that we did not even take a picture.

Brian and Cameron flew to Detroit from Washington Dulles and their flight landed earlier than scheduled.  We headed into downtown Detroit where Brian had made reservations for all of us at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel on Washington Blvd.  This hotel, built by Detroit’s Book brothers, was the tallest building in Detroit and the tallest hotel in the world (33 stories) when it was completed in 1924.  In its heyday, its nationally recognized nightclubs, restaurants and ballrooms catered to Hollywood stars, politicians and athletes.  On May 2, 1939, New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig collapsed on the hotel's grand staircase and decided to sit-out that afternoon's game against the Detroit Tigers, ending his consecutive games played streak.  Along with the city of Detroit, the hotel’s decline began in the 1970’s and it was closed in 1984.  After a $180 million restoration, the hotel reopened in 2008 with the grand hope and expectation that it would lead to a revitalization of this once prosperous section of Detroit.  The hotel is splendid – the area surrounding it is not!

Driving into downtown Detroit along Michigan Avenue is a depressing experience.  Block after block, mile after mile there is nothing but boarded up, graffiti-covered buildings.  The glitzy MGM Grand Casino looms over the roadway as you enter downtown – the only sign of life along this desolate stretch of road.  This was a Friday evening! There were very few cars and just a sprinkling of brave pedestrians on the move amid the darkened buildings. 

After checking into the Westin we went in search of a kid-friendly restaurant.  A block away from Comerica Park and the Detroit Opera House we found Angelina Italian Bistro.  It was 8PM on a Friday evening and the bistro had plenty of empty tables!  The food and service were great.  We were feeling bold after dinner and walked back to the Westin through the eerily quiet streets.

We were up early the next morning for the 40 mile road trip to Ann Arbor.  The four of us, along with 110,000 other fans, converged on The Big House for the noon time kickoff as the Michigan Wolverines hosted the Eastern Michigan University Eagles.

The pre-game scene at The Big House

Half-time

The Eastern Michigan Eagles were first to put points on the scoreboard but their lead was short-lived.  They never scored again and the Wolverines went on to win 31-3.  Not a real nail-biter of a game but the fans remained pumped up throughout!

 Frank, Brian and Cameron after the game

Rather than head right back to desolate Detroit, we grabbed a bite to eat in Ann Arbor and strolled around the campus where throngs of jubilant students still chanted ‘GO BLUE.’

Cameron needed a place to run around and burn up some of that awesome 8-year-old energy.  We returned to Detroit and The Riverwalk, a 3.5 mile riverfront walkway that starts near Joe Louis Arena, past Cobo Hall, Hart Plaza, and the GM Renaissance Center.

Not much happening near the

GM Renaissance Center along the Detroit Riverwalk

Cameron and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

in Hart Plaza

Once again we struggled to find a kid-friendly restaurant in a safe-looking section of downtown.  We were all hungry and tired when we finally settled on Hockeytown Café whose decor was highlighted by custom motorcycles with Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers themes.  We were all disappointed when, at 8PM on a Saturday, the kitchen had already closed and the only thing available was frozen pizza.  And it was not very good frozen pizza!  The place was deserted but a waiter assured us that when there is a sporting event in town there is a 3-4 hour wait for a table?!?!

Both Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, and Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, are within easy walking distance of the Westin.  Rumor had it that, since the Lions had a home game on Sunday, there would be a big tailgate party on Brush Street.

 

The obstacle course was one of Cameron’s favorite activities at the tailgate party and since there was not much of a crowd he got to run it many times!

Cameron gets set to run the obstacle course

at the Lions tailgate party

 And he’s off!

For this inflatable activity each participant is placed in a harness attached to giant rubber bands that are also attached to the wall at the starting line; the object is to run forward and place the Lion’s tail as far down the Velcro strip as possible without being pulled back to the starting line.  Cameron competed against both Grandpa and his Dad.  I think he won every time because the overachieving older guys always wound up sprawled on their butts at the starting line!

We also walked by the Tigers guarding Comerica Park.

Before we knew it, it was time to return Brian and Cameron to the airport for their flight back to Washington Dulles.  A great time was had by all.  And Grandma and Grandpa drove back to Baltimore...

Focus: Baltimore

Finally on September 9^th the winds calmed down and the skies cleared.  NOAA was forecasting great weather for the next few days so we decided to prepare for a run down the New Jersey coast.

The 8:30AM slack tide at infamous Hell Gate forced an early morning departure from City Island.  Lazy W’s chafed lines were a testament to the battering she took at the dock!

 The Throgs Neck Bridge looked beautiful in the early morning light.

 Frank timed our travel through Hell Gate perfectly and soon we were cruising in the East River with a clear, haze-free New York City sky overhead.

New York City from the East River near the bridge to Roosevelt Island

As we neared New York Harbor, the East River became as muddy as the Hudson due to flooding in upstate New York from the torrential rains of Tropical Storm Lee.

The anchorage behind the seawall at Atlantic Highlands near Sandy Hook turned out to be the staging area for Lazy W and about twenty other storm-stranded boats preparing to cruise south.  Except for the noisy chorus of seagulls and cormorants congregating along the seawall, it was an exceptionally quiet evening.

Many of the sailboats pulled up anchor hours before sunrise but not us.  There is always a risk to cruising unfamiliar waters in the dark and as we rounded Sandy Hook we were reminded just how dangerous it can be.  A cruiser from South Carolina had gone hard aground and was getting assistance from TowBoatUS.  Radio communications indicated that an ambulance was needed for a passenger onboard.  Other than coming upon that mishap we found a beautiful morning awaiting us.  And the water at Sandy Hook was the calmest we had ever found it to be.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean near Sandy Hook

We have never had much company on the Atlantic Ocean while cruising the New Jersey coast and we have rarely ever cruised fast enough to pass any other boats.  This day was different!  We were ‘speeding’ by all those sailboats from Atlantic Highlands and made great time to Atlantic City.  However, we arrived at low tide and were not brave enough to make our way through skinny water to our previous anchorage at Rum Point.

An in-water boat show with live music was in full swing when we docked at Farley State Marina.  We were able to snag a slip here because of the bad weather earlier in the week – many exhibitors cancelled their plans to attend the show.  After such a long day on the water we rewarded ourselves with cocktails at the Chart House near the Golden Nugget Casino before heading back to Lazy W to watch the Michigan-Notre Dame football game.  Unfortunately the game was broadcast on ESPN, a channel unavailable at the dock, and so we missed seeing Michigan pull off an exciting come-from-behind win in their first ever night game at The Big House.

On the ten-year anniversary of 9-11 we were back on the Atlantic Ocean heading for Cape May.  As we reflected on our own 9-11 experiences we noticed two small planes flying together off the coast of Wildwood – one pulling a giant American flag, the other a banner “Remember the 2977 murdered this day 2001.”

Cape May is one of our favorite cruising stops and the staff of Utsch’s Marina is always so welcoming.  Their location is within walking distance of the Lobster House where we always pick up fresh shrimp and scallops for an onboard seafood feast.  Once again the lack of cable TV thwarted our attempt to watch football, so we listened to the Redskins beat the Giants, thus knocking Frank out of the NFL suicide pool the very first week of the season:(

The chances of having four great cruising days in a row are slim but we woke up to a sunny, calm day number 4!!  Time to leave Cape May without biking to the beach.  We were on a mission to leave Lazy W in Baltimore while we drove to Michigan for a football game.   We’re off to the Delaware Bay.

We made great time up the bay catching the current and cruising, at times, at speeds of 10.4 knots!!!  And then, just south of the Salem Nuclear Plant, we encountered a dense debris field that caused us to slow to 6 knots as we picked our way ever so carefully through giant logs, 2 x 4’s, and other hazards.  The remainder of the Delaware Bay turned out to be more of the same and the debris was especially dense at the entrance to the C&D Canal.

Trash blocking our path to the C&D Canal entrance

Along the C&D Canal

We had the C&D Canal all to ourselves which made it easier to navigate among the logs floating every which way along its length.  At Chesapeake City we noticed that there was room at the town dock but we remained focused on reaching Baltimore.  Why is there never any room at the dock when we want to stop??  We continued on to the Sassafras River where we spent a quiet night under a full moon.

We thought the Delaware Bay was a minefield of logs and trees but the Chesapeake Bay was even worse.  The VHF radio was abuzz with Coast Guard warnings to use extra caution while cruising the bay – the Susquehanna River was releasing massive amounts of debris-riddled water into the Chesapeake.  Entangled with weeds and scattered among the logs on the mocha-colored water were errant crab pot markers.  We were relieved to finally make it to the Patapsco River and get out of that muddy mess.  As we made our way up the Patapsco River to Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina we passed the US Naval Hospital Ship Comfort.

And so, in record time and with the weather gods smiling upon us, we arrived safely in Baltimore and tied up to our slip at Anchorage Marina.  We had two days to get things in order before heading off to Michigan...

Boating adventure, boating ordeal...

We had an enjoyable visit to the United States Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point.  Since it was Parents’ Weekend, there were many activities on campus.  Frank salivated over the many well-appointed labs in the Marine Engineering Building and at Friday night’s ‘Beat Retreat’ we listened to the academy’s marching band and the Nassau County Pipe and Drum Corps.  We even got to watch a football game as USMMA took on Johns Hopkins University – the result was a disappointing 45-14 loss for the Mariners.
 

Though Hurricane Irene had departed the New York metro area, Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Katia seemed to be intent on toying with Lazy W.  One was due to dump torrential rain and the other was stirring up large swells on the Atlantic Ocean.  We prepared to spend a few more days on Long Island Sound.

Across the sound from King’s Point sits City Island, an appendage to the Bronx.   Surrounded by the waters of the Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay and with Execution Light to the northeast and Stepping Stones Lighthouse to the south, the island sits on the main shipping channel to New York harbor.   Its shoreline is dotted with marinas catering to locals and transient alike.

City Island, just one-and-a-half miles long and a half mile wide, was once owned by the Pell family.  Benjamin Palmer purchased the island in 1761, changing its name from Minneford to New City Island.  His plans to build a city to rival Manhattan never materialized and the community of oyster fishers, shipbuilders and boat pilots chose to call their home City Island.  Once part of Westchester County, the residents voted to become part of New York City in 1896.  And even though it is officially ‘da Bronx’ and linked to it by a short bridge, the island seems a world away from that borough.

The bridge linking City Island to Rodman’s Neck and the rest of ‘da Bronx’

Shipbuilding played a major role on City Island into the 20^th century.  Minesweepers, torpedo boats, seagoing tugs and landing craft were built here during World War I and World War II.  Afterwards, shipbuilders turned to yacht production. Seven America’s Cup winning yachts were born here including Columbia (1958), Constellation (1964) and Intrepid, the last classic wooden yacht to defend the cup in 1967 and 1970.  She was built at Minneford Yacht Yard - the yard closed its doors in 1983 and is now the site of the Minneford Marinas where Lazy W is docked.

With wind and rain guaranteed in the forecast we took advantage of what might be the last dry day for awhile to walk the length of City Island along City Island Avenue.  The southern end was rather deserted considering this was Labor Day Monday in ‘da Bronx’!  There were few clam diggers (aka the native-born locals) or mussel suckers (aka everyone else) to be seen.

Looking south on City Island Avenue

Santa is a year-round sight at Sammy’s Fish Bar and Market

Maritime ‘stuff’ on display on City Island Avenue

 

The northern end of City Island Avenue near the bridge -

does this look like the Bronx??

In 2010 the movie City Island premiered.  Filmed here on City Island, the movie starred Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies as Vince and Joyce Rizzo, true Italian-American clam diggers.    Houses on Horton Street were featured in the film and anyone who saw the movie may remember this location for one of the closing scenes:

The end of Horton Street, City Island

The next day, September 6^th, right on schedule, the rain came!  Strong gusty winds blew!  Lazy W and all the other boats bobbed like corks in a witch’s cauldron, straining the lines tethering them to the docks.  Small craft advisories were posted for the New Jersey coast (where winds were gusting to 20+ knots and seas were building to 10 feet!) through Thursday afternoon.  There is a fine line between boating adventure and boating ordeal.  I think we crossed it!!