Bahamas Bound - Hudson River & New York City

As we head down the Hudson River we feel so thankful to be able to cruise through such beautiful surroundings. With the Fall colours shrouding the mountain range and trains running though the valleys next to the river, we feel like we are in an old fashion movie. 

Our first anchorage brought us up a narrow creek to Saugrities, NY which opened up to give a few boats some swing room. It was a little foggy the next morning in the creek when we headed out which we thought would burn off quickly. However, when we entered into the Hudson we quickly ended up in the thickest fog we have ever cruised in. We couldn’t see 3 boats ahead of us and the 2 boats lost sight of each other and the shoreline. That brought on a little bit of an erie feeling :-) We relied on our radar and GPS but still over corrected on the wheel with not having a visual reference.

None of us have ever visited Manhattan before so we were all quite excited to try and find an affordable way to visit downtown NYC.  We decided to stay at Half Moon Bay marina about 25 miles North of NYC and get a train downtown. To take a marina on the NY side would cost about $6/per foot and $4.40/per foot on the NJ side. The manager at Half Moon Bay gave us $1.50/per foot a night and we stayed 2 nights.

We got on a train first thing in the morning and enjoyed our day in New York City. Check out our video as we go to the 911 Memorial and Times Square.

Bahamas Bound - Lake Ontario, Oswego, & Erie Canals

This is it, the beginning of what we have planned for years is coming to pass. There were times we thought this day would never come, but it has. This is the start of an adventure of a life time. 

For those of you who don't already know, we are heading South to the Bahamas for the winter and are travelling with a lovely couple - Barry and Diane who will be travelling in their beautiful trawler. We are excited for the adventure and are so happy to have to opportunity to share the trip with such amazing people.

The plan was to leave on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to head out across Lake Ontario and start our journey down South. With all the weather changes due to Hurricane Matthew, we had to leave a little earlier due to winds coming during that weekend. We said good-bye to all of our family and friends, did last minute provisioning, errands, and then were ready to head out on our long awaited adventure.

The anticipation of an early rise to cross Lake Ontario, sleep was hard to come by. I couldn't wait to get the engines started and get moving. It was a beautiful sunny morning and Lake Ontario was fairly good to us with 2-3 ft waves being the majority and the occasional 5-6 footer to keep things interesting.

At Oswego we checked into customs and got our cruising permit - something we didn't know was actually needed as we had thought a decal was all that was required. Canadians cruising South - make sure to get one.

We cruised though the Oswego Canal in a day with only a small alternator problem where we found our batteries low at the end of the day. With the help of our mechanic extraordinaire and cruising buddy, Barry, the problem was quickly mended, at least temporarily. - Thanks Barry - you're awesome!

There was a spatter of Fall colours thoughout the NY canal system which is breathtakingly beautiful. We wake up every morning with a feeling of great excitement as to what the day will bring and what is out there to explore. New experiences, new challenges, and new friends around each corner.

For the next 4 days we cruised through the Erie Canal, we spent 1 evening at Herkimer, NY which is a great place to provision and get most any supplies you would need. The next stop was at Riverfront Park in Canajoharie, NY which also had some shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed a quiet evening at Lock 8 which had an amazing walking/biking trail which ran along the canal system. We enjoyed the next 2 evenings at Waterford Visitors centre which provides power and water. This quaint little town provides 2 grocery stores for provisioning, and a beautiful relaxing walking trail along the canal.

Check out our video below which covers the week going down the NY canal system and make sure to join us next time as we head down the Hudson and go to New York City!

We have been getting reports of no sound on the video on some mobile devices. If you experience this issue, just try the video on another device or a laptop. Sorry for the inconvenience. We are attempting to figure out why.

Thank-you to all of you who are following along and supporting us along the way. 

An Amazing Summer and What Lies Ahead

The crisp Fall weather has finally arrived bringing beautiful sunny days followed by short cozy evenings. It's hard to believe we're on our way heading South for the winter, with a few days already into our journey we are so excited for what lies ahead.

As we think back of all we've done to get to where we are now, we can only say that it is the best decision we've ever made! We've never regretted for one moment giving up our land home and possessions to live on the water. There is nothing like being on the water for us - contentment to the fullest. It was a lot of hard work to get here for sure but as the saying goes, "You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination". 

We've had a fabulous summer in Gananoque, ON. We got to enjoy beauty of the 1000 Islands and spend time with family and friends. We accomplished some projects, had a few mishaps, and worked to help cover some of our trip. Press play on the video below for the recap of the summer.

Thanks to all of you for following along on our journey. We really appreciate all of your kind and encouraging words. 

For those who may have missed our finale episode of the North Bound Series in the Spring (sorry we didn't do a blog post for it), here is that video as well. 

North Bound - Cape May, NJ to New York, NY

We enjoyed our time on the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay and it was now time to head out to the Atlantic Ocean to go from Cape May, NJ  to Atlantic City, NJ. This was the first day the C-Shel has been out on the ocean so we were very excited to get a chance to spend the day cruising the open waters. It was finally a beautiful sunny day, we had 1-2 ft swells and the boat danced gracefully. It was just breathtaking to be able to feel the ocean's movements and we also saw a lot of dolphins.

We arrived in Atlantic City late morning which gave us a full afternoon & evening to enjoy the area. We anchored in Brigantine just north of Atlantic City. This was a nice anchorage with a great view of Atlantic City. You can fit a lot of boats here and has quick and easy access on and off the ocean. We took out the dinghy to explore, checked out a near by beach and enjoyed some needed relaxation.

The next morning we were up first thing in the morning to head out on the Atlantic towards New York City. It was a beautiful 6am departure along with many boats having the same idea. The next days ahead were calling for high winds & rough seas so this was our only window of opportunity to get off the ocean and into the Hudson where the high winds wouldn't delay us. 

We saw lots of dolphins again along with a few whale sightings as well. By mid afternoon the temperature cooled downed and we had a following sea of about 3 ft all the way into New York. As we entered New York City the weather got even more colder and very foggy so we really couldn't enjoy our entrance into the city as much as we would have with a nice sunny day. We anchored off Ellis Island which gave us an amazing view of the city. The only downfall of the anchorage was the wakes from the boat traffic. I think they may have been worse than anything we've encountered during the past 2 weeks. 

It was just amazing to look out our windows during the evening and see the city lights of Manhattan.

NORTH BOUND - Solomons Island, MD to Cape May, NJ

After 2 days in Kilmarnock, VA we headed for Solomon's Island, MD. It was a beautiful sunny day and there could be nothing better than being on the water. The first night we enjoyed an anchorage off Zahniser's Yachting Centre and took out the dingy to explore Solomon's Island. We then stayed at a dock at ZYC for the next 2 days as there was a small craft warning on the Chesapeake so we thought we would stay to check out the town. We enjoyed bike riding around the Island, a nice lunch overlooking the bay, and did a little shopping.

The next morning was rainy but we had light winds so we headed back out into the Chesapeake with a planned destination of a quite anchorage in Still Pond. The day was cool and we had great seas most of the time other than about an hour of a 2-3 ft chop. Because of the Northernly winds we didn't want to anchor in Still Pond which forces us to go into Still Pond Creek which we found out on Active Captain is tricky to get into. We successfully got in and enjoyed a very peaceful evening, enjoyed the wildlife and got a very good nights sleep. Check out the video below to get more details on getting into this beautiful anchorage.

We woke up bright and early to catch a good current in the C&D Canal. It was a great decision as when we got pass Chesapeake city we were flying at 10.5 knots. In the video, Shel tries to explain his rational around his timing of the C&D Canal and Delaware Bay to ride the current. However, the info was not totally correct. It might be better to reference this Timing Your Passage article. The weather that morning was again cool but we had calm seas which made the passage through Delaware Bay a breeze. Delaware Bay was literally flat. We arrived in Cape May, NJ late afternoon and anchored off the Coast Guard Station. It was a busy anchorage with a strong tidal current which had us changing direction throughout the night. It was also off the channel so we would get wakes from passing boats.

Stay tuned as on the next leg of our trip North as we head out out to the Atlantic Ocean cruising into Atlantic City and New York City.

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