Rum Point Absecon Inlet Atlantic City

Wed, Thur, Friday Aug 29, 30, 31, 2007....Rum Point Anchorage.... SEE VIDEO BELOW

Here is a full update on Atlantic City, RUM POINT anchorage where we still are anchored. The key features:
1. Easy in/out entrance
2. Homemade day markers REDS guide you in
3. The channel has now been dredged due to million dollar plus homes newly built in the cove
4. 5 min across the creek into CLAM CREEK for fuel, water, and pumpout
5. Dinghy dock at Senator Frank S. Farley marina / Trump Casino
6. Great Family owned KAMMERMAN’s Marina and FUEL dock OPPOSITE from Trump.
a. Trump docks = $4.50/foot http://trumpmarina.com/
c. Kammerman’s docks = $2.40/foot
d. Kammerman’s fuel = $2.80/gal diesel
e. Ice cream = $2.00, but boat water is free
f. http://kammermansmarina.com/

Now the update on the anchorage. The anchorage is all 10-12 feet deep at mid tides and the tides are 4-5 feet, so anywhere is good. The bottom is all mud and goo, and you need a deck wash when you haul up chain. The entire cove, creek name? is about 1-1.5 miles deep with canals off the main creek. Homes are new, beautiful, and have 50 to 60 foot POST fishing boats tied up to the back of the homes. The creek / cove has NO PUBLIC EXIT POINT, yet the end of the cove is right at a shopping center with food store, liquor, bank and a burger king as far as we can see from the dinghy. At anchor the small 20 foot ski boats with a child wake boarder or skier behind may circle you for 30 minutes and yes the fast jet ski with a person or tube in tow will also circle you in the cove. They are not allowed to run the creek, 6 knots there, but in the round cove to the right and the left of the creek where the anchorages are, they ski and run full tilt. No big deal because they are small and it is mid week. I bet on Sat / Sun this place would be a full blown race track. For some reason they do not ski or run out the channel and into the ocean or back bays. They like the flat water of the cove, just like we do. By 7pm they are all home for dinner. Yesterday we had 2.

We have been here all day yesterday, and we plan to stay here all day today as we wrap up our week #10 of 10 for Drexel University Graduate school. Verizon broadband is the fastest we have found from Rock Hall to Block Island so we have easy access to the Drexel resources and our classroom boards.

We will move to Cape May, NJ and anchor off the Coast Guard Station for the Labor Day Weekend, and there, we will be thrown out of our bunks at 5am as the fishing fleet departs the harbor. Then by mid day the pleasure boats will be running the inlet and it would be too much to ask for them to slow down as they pass the 10 or more anchored sailboats. This IS the reality of the Cape May anchorage. So that is why we are staying here and working.

Our treat tonight will be a dinghy run over to Trump Casino and a walk around the resort.

2 min Video of the Cove, inlet and anchorage!
(click video TWICE to play)

Sandy Hook to Atlantic City

Tue, Aug 28, 2007...photos, videos and details to follow...

NY Harbor to Sandy Hook

Mon, Aug 27, 2007...Sailing New Your Harbor is an Exciting Experience! What a RUSH.

Newport Marina, Jersey City

Sat, Sun Aug 25, 26, 2007...We spent $2.40/foot for a 40 foot/night for a slip in Newport Marina in Jersey City only to be tossed and turned as the boat rolls side to side due to the water taxis and ferry wakes. The other marinas in the Manhattan area charge $4.50/foot for a slip per night, but this one was only $2.40/foot/night. Why the DEAL? Well this video shows you why the price is so low.

Video of Newport Marina:

We still had a great time especially since our good friends, Tyler, Anita and Mark made a big effort to drive up to New York and sail Manhattan Harbor with us. We sailed right past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as well as under the Brooklyn Bridge and past Battery Park. What a fantastic sail, exciting, good wind, lots of sights, and MANHATTAN off the BOW! Absolutely incredible. One of the best sailing days of the entire summer. There is nothing like sailing past the Statue of Liberty.....noting beats this.....Welcome to NYC.

Running Hell Gate

Sat, Aug. 25, 2007...photos, videos & details to follow....

Waiting in Manhasset Bay

Why move? Why go in cold windy weather? We are staying here in Manhasset Bay, Port Washington NY until the weather improves. We have a great town here with good services, water taxis, city docks, free town morring balls, fantastic town and shops, and the LIRR, Long Island Railroad right in town. LIRR is a 30 min ride to New York City, so yes we are hitting the city from here. Very fun.

Here is the weather report and why we are not heading for Sandy Hook and the ocean.

433 PM EDT TUE AUG 21 2007
MONTAUK POINT NEW YORK TO SANDY HOOK NEW JERSEY OUT 20 NM OFFSHORE
INCLUDING LONG ISLAND SOUND...LONG ISLAND BAYS AND NEW YORK HARBOR

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING

TONIGHT
E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 KT. SEAS 7 TO
9 FT. PERIODS OF RAIN. PATCHY FOG. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.

WED
NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT. WHAT!!..
SUBSIDING TO 6 TO 7 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. PATCHY FOG AND PERIODS OF
RAIN AND DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING...WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.

WED NIGHT
E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KT AFTER
MIDNIGHT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT. PATCHY FOG. VSBY LOCALLY 1 TO 3 NM.

THU
E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6
FT...SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. PATCHY FOG IN THE
MORNING...WITH VSBY LOCALLY 1 TO 3 NM.

THU NIGHT
E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT...BECOMING SE
5 TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 3 TO 4 FT.

FRI
S WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...INCREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

Hell Gate Prep

We are in Manhasset Bay awaiting the tides and weather to make the fast run through Hells Gate on our way to New York City and Sandy Hook, NJ. At first we pulled into City Island and took a mooring ball there only to find the harbor a bit rough with the south winds. So we pulled out and moved over to protected Manhasset Bay and now we are going to explore Port Washington. From the write-up in the cruising guide, this town sounds fantastic! The town has 15 mooring balls and we can stay here for free for 2 nights on the town and after that it is $25.00/night. So for now, we will exlore the town and enjoy the beautiful harbor. This photo is a picture of the chart with Manhasset Bay on the bottom, City Island on the top and the entrance to the east river and Hells Gate on the bottom left. The train ride to Manhattan is only 45 minutes - that is tempting!

10 Videos Added Today

We have added 10 videos to YouTube today, attempting to catch up on our blogging. We have been having some really good sailing days as we sail into Long Island Sound from Block Island. We sailed around Shelter Island. We sailed CT river to Milford. We sailed Milford to Port Jefferson. We sailed Port Jeff to Oyster Bay. ALL UP WIND CLOSE HAULED.

These videos show how nice the sailing has been.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=IslandSpirit35

Currently hanging out in Oyster Bay, NY

Block, Watch Hill, Shelter Island, Milford Ct

Block Island to New London

We left Block in mostly clear conditions and were hit by fog the whole way to the Thames River. We tied up at IP Dealer Hellier Yachts dock in New London – what a great bunch of people. They made us feel very welcome. Congrats to Vin on his retirement. This was a whirlwind tour with a rental car (upgraded to a Cadillac!) for 24 hours. We shopped Defender and West Marine, where Radeen got a cute red folding bike and got the usual groceries. We saw the Coast Guard Academy museum and toured the beautiful campus by car.

New London to Watch Hill

The anchorage and ocean beach at Watch Hill are so great! The little town is charming, too. We enjoyed seeing the antique carousel and walking out to the Coast Guard Station. Sunday we had fun with Jim and Vanessa from IP-420 Windrunner. They met us for lunch at the Olympia Tea Room where Marilyn Monroe worked as a teenager. The St. Claire Annex has been in business for over 100 years and is fun for breakfast and made on the spot ice cream.

Watch Hill to Block Island

Let a new adventure begin! Radeen has not ridden a bike solo since she was 11, so Payne’s dock early on a weekday morning was a good place to get started. By day four, she rode the rough and hilly road to the Coast Guard Station and the next day we rode into busy Old Harbor and had breakfast at Aldo’s to celebrate. Another celebration was dinner with Craig and Debbie on IP440 Charmed in honor of the start of their southbound cruising adventures.

Fun on Block Island

Friends we met at the public library, Norm and Shelley, invited us to dinner at their beautiful home off Corn Neck Road and then took us to a concert sponsored by the Block Island Residents Association called “Blues on the Beach.” We are starting to feel like locals now! A restored Army vessel named “The General” flying a 4 star flag ,had a ceremony each nite at sunset, complete with 3 progressively louder cannons, a fly-by from some sort of fast airplane, a bugler playing “Taps” and a properly lowered flag. We “dressed” the dinghy in bunting and participated in the air horn salute.

Block Island to Dering Harbor, Long Island

A neighboring local boat shared his freshly caught clams with us and we made New England style chowder which seemed so appropriate for our last night in Block. What a dream to be here from July 4th to August 7th with just a few side trips. We departed on a favorable tide with the new Hylas 49 Black Diamond on her shakedown cruise. She is the beautiful new boat of former IP45 Time Bandit owners, Rich, Bonnie and daughter Alex. The sun turned to fog which made for a somewhat stressful trip across Block Island Sound. It lifted as arrived in Gardiner’s Bay and took a mooring ball in Dering Harbor. Jack’s Marine is a fascinating old hardware store with an amazing toy department – worth a tour!

Dering Harbor to Greenport

After a stormy morning, we crossed to Greenport and took a mooring ball in Stirling Basin. What a charming town! The BLISS Rendezvous will be held here next July and we look forward to exploring it more. Highlights included pizza with Black Diamond, a fascinating old department stored called The Arcade, a visit to a convenient and clean Laundromat and a tour of one of 6 wooden Yard Patrol training vessels on summer cruise with cadets from the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Greenport to Sag Harbor

We had a fabulous sail around the western side of Shelter Island to Sag Harbor. A sudden change in the forecast dictated a mooring ball and then we dashed ashore for the Thursday nite Summer Concert series. When we were here in 2004, the local band played patriotic songs; this year “The Cascades” played 50’s and early 60’s. We admired the mega-mega-yachts “Bad Girl” and “ My Iris. ”The really dreadful weather didn’t arrive until Friday, but that didn’t stop us from sharing a lively hot lunch with Al from IP32 Half Moon aboard Black Diamond.

Sag Harbor to North Cove on the Connecticut River

We had a leisurely sail out of Gardiner’s Bay and enjoyed shooting some beautiful photos of IP 32 Half Moon before exiting at Plum Gut. We were looking forward to meeting our Rock Hall friends, Bob and Kathy of IP380 Drake’s Passage. They are amazing - so much energy! They got to their boat in Oyster Bay, Long Island, at midnite on Friday nite. Till they loaded everything and the 2 girls and the 7 month old baby aboard in the pouring rain and high winds, it was 1:30 a.m. They got up at 6:00, left at 7:00 and sailed against a foul tide for 10. 5 hours to meet us for dinner and mini-golf. We were ashore by 6:00 p.m., seated at 6:30 and dinner didn’t arrive till after 8:00. The children were soooo good! Kathy Ann read a book and Alley drew a nautical chart with grass, water, docks and boats. The round yellow object in the corner we all assumed was the sun, till she informed us that it was the compass rose on her chart! After we ate, we played mini-golf till 10:00 and THEN went for ice cream!! Unbelievable day!

North Cove to Milford, CT

We anchored in the Gulf south of Milford behind a curving, mile long sand bar that is bare at low tide and then covered 6 hours later by a 7 foot tide. It was a great place for a swim, a walk on the bar and a chat with the park ranger who drives out to Charles Island. The long harbor was tight with boats moored on floats in the middle, a fast current and lots of boat traffic on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Milford, CT to Port Jefferson, NY

Another great sailing day, this one across the Sound. Port Jefferson is not a very cruiser-friendly place unless you take a mooring ball and use the launch. The fuel dock claimed to have no water, till we found a faucet and used our own hose. The door to the Harbormaster’s two story office is impossible to find. There is no sign to indicated that you are supposed to enter through the electrical closet! The town dock has no dinghy landing and we nearly got a ticket for tying up there since we couldn’t talk to anyone in the harbormaster’s office. Danford’s marina charges $7, not per day, but every time you come ashore. The best part of Port Jeff was meeting Kiwis, Roy and Doon, aboard Bold Endeavour. See their adventures at www.getjealous.com/gonecruizing

Port Jefferson to Oyster Bay, NY

The best sail of the entire summer! The videos show it all! Now we are In Oyster Bay for several days.