A Strange but Beautiful Life

Wow, where to begin? It is midnight and I am motoring south with REBOOT bound for Ocean City. The sun set into a red sky and the sliver of a crescent moon rose to take its place. The sky is coal black, and the stars are shining their hearts out. As we left Atlantic City astern at dusk, its pink lights made it appear as if it bloomed right out of the ocean. As I watched I noticed a large fireworks display going off somewhere near the city. Maybe it is because I am sleep deprived but it all just seems so beautiful, I have to stop and reflect on how lucky we are to be living our lives this way. And "this way" can be pretty strange. For example...
The last time I blogged we were in New Bedford. Well we left there at 7 pm and sailed for Groton in the distinguished company of REBOOT and POWMIA. Along the way we encountered heaving seas in 30 kt winds and a passage through a place called The Race. On one side of The Race is Fisher Island and rocks on the other side only a few hundred yards away (but it seems like feet), and the whole Atlantic Ocean seems to want to squeeze through it during the tidal cycle. We got there at dark, the tidal current running with us, the wind against us, and the seas standing. The engine was revving, Maggie was at the helm, and I was on the deck taming the sails. It was ... exciting. We arrived in Groton at 9 am, tied up to the dock, had several drinks with our traveling companions, then went to bed at 2pm. I woke up at 6pm with a slight hangover, watched a couple of movies with Maggie and then went to bed - again. Not a typical day - unless you cruise.

Along the East River

When we left Groton, we sailed overnight down Long Island Sound. A gentle beam reach all the way down took us to our next anchorage in Hempstead Harbor. There, Maggie disembarked for a trip back to Toronto, so now it was just Sophie and me. Meanwhile, POWMIA took off on his own because he did not want to wait. After a couple of nights at anchor, REBOOT and H2OBO departed for New York Harbor. The trip took us down the East River with Manhattan to starboard. With Roger, a native New Yorker, as my tour guide on the VHF, the trip was magical. (Sorry you missed it, Maggie.)

Obligatory shot of Lady Liberty

Once we got out into the harbor, we just kept right on going with the intention to make it to Atlantic City and to get past the New Jersey coast as soon as possible. The weather did not hold up and we were sailing close to the wind, so we cut in toward the coast and Barnegat Bay Inlet. We dropped anchor in the lee of the break wall that sticks out into the ocean at around 1:30 am and crashed.
Up at dawn after a few hours of sleep, we set off for Cape May, which forms the eastern side of the entrance to Delaware Bay. We were thinking that we would round the corner and head up the bay, through the C&D canal, which goes to the top of the Chesapeake Bay. This detour adds 150 nm. to the trip but avoids going outside in the ocean, and the weather has not really been favorable for offshore passage making. En route, the winds died, the engines came on and we changed plans, again.
We motored right past the Delaware Bay, and as I write this at 1 am, we are 5 hours away from Ocean city where we will drop anchor and get some rest - maybe. It is after all, only 70 miles further to Norfolk where we plan to stop for a few days to get some rest and take care of some stuff.
At sea, I use the short wave radio to down load weather data, email, post blogs and even have a chat with my mom via a patch to a land line provided by a kind and helpful ham radio operator. It is slower that broadband internet, so I will have to add pictures later.
I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but whatever it is I say "Bring it".