We farewelled New York and followed the Hudson River towards the Atlantic Ocean. Our plan was some beach time at Sandy Hook however the weather wasn’t favourable so we anchored across the bay, behind the breakwater, near the town of Atlantic Highlands. It was a well-protected anchorage not far from the marina and dingy dock. We went ashore to explore the town. It wasn’t the typical tourist town that we had become accustom…no ice cream or souvenir shops. It did had a “drive and park” station for the ferry commute to New York City We enjoyed the walk to the local supermarket where we picked up a few provisions before returning to Aura. The next morning in light winds we motored passed the sandy shores line of Sandy Hook with Brooklyn and New York City in the distance.

Atlantic Highlands

Sandy Hook

The entrance to Barnegat was said to be challenging with a long entrance that at times is impacted by shoaling and waves when there is wind against tide. It was uneventful. We anchored for the night and had a visit from a few locals, a neighbouring yacht and two guys in power boat who were keen for a chat.

Barnegat

Our next hop was to Atlantic City where we anchored outside 2 large casino hotel complexes. This place had the feel of the Gold Coast but it was really broken. We went to shore with Tim and Nancy (Larus) and walked the famous boardwalk. Several of the huge casino hotels close to the beach had permanently closed, the board walk was wide and empty. We walked another kilometre before we reached a number of hotels that had remained in business. This place was lashed by hurricane Sandy and it really hasn’t bounced back. We felt sorry for the residents and comments were made that anybody who was able to leave had already done so…

Atlantic City

Another day another passage…this time we managed to sail with the wind directly behind us. We had originally planned to anchor for the night at Cape May but we continued on as we had such a good breeze, we set the whisker pole and our sails ‘wing on wing’. With a small following sea we passed Cape May and crossed the mouth of the Delaware River and anchored off the beach at Lewes. There was a bit of wind forecast the following morning so we did not have to worry about getting around the cape into the Delaware. From Lewes it was a straight forward sail straight up the river.

That night we hosted a few quiet sun-dowers on Aura with Tourterelle and our new friends from Maddy and John (Indy). We had a great night but had an early start as we had 50nm to cover while the current was flowing up the river. (We did take a few photos of Bob and friends on his yacht Seas the Day. Bob please confirm your email address).

Lewes

The Delaware is a busy river system that services industries and ports near Philadelphia. We saw plenty of big cargo ships making their way up the channel. We had a fast sail with good wind coming from 60 degrees…Aura’s sweet spot. With a favourable current, we averaged over 8 knots, faster than the other boats that were motoring. We passed the nuclear power station and noticed that the size of the sea gulls where considerably larger. Not sure if it was coincidental but why spoil a good story. We crossed the “Kerpa’s Dike” at through the channel and we’d only recommend this for a shallow draft yacht or at high tide. The dike runs for several miles just below sea level. That evening we anchored behind Reedy Island so that we could make an early morning passage through the canal. We had a lovely view of the power station chimney that glowed in the dark. Not quite the Statue of Liberty but it was something different.

Delaware River

We had another early start so to time our departure near high tide while being able to pick up a favourable current through the canal. I set our alarm for 5:30am...only to discover that it was totally dark, not even a glow on the horizon. By about 6:10am we could at least see the anchor so off we went. We followed Tourterelle out towards the canal as this area can shoal.

The canal was very quiet. We were the only two boats on it for most of the way. No commercial vessels to fight for space with. The winds were very light so we just glided through with the current. There are plenty of interesting bridges on the way and the canal is fairly windy so plenty to keep us occupied. Once out of the canal, we put the genoa out and sailed down to the Sassafras River. A tropical storm was planned to form and move along the coast so we found a lovely protected anchorage and caught up on some much needed sleep. After 5 days, we had finally made it to the Chesapeake.

C&D Canal

So back in the Atlantic, then the Delaware and now the Chesapeake