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Friday, May 13, 2011

Back in in Little Rhody

Well I know we have been remiss in keeping you all up to date.  So when we last updated the blog Jen and I had decided to leave the boat in Baltimore for a while so we could fly out to Seattle to take care of work commitments.  So when we returned Jen still had lots of commitments and I recruited Captain Bob from Truform to come with me to get Master Plan back to East Greenwich.  On Wednesday, May 3, we rented a car in Providence and drove down to Baltimore via New Jersey.  The Jersey turnpike lived up to its reputation as a Traffic PIA.  A 6 hour drive turned into 9 hours.  Not a lot of fun.  We spent Thursday getting the boat ready to roll.  This included making a run to the fuel dock to feed the bitch.  This was not a lot of fun my nerves or wallet as it was blowing a good 25 knots in the harbor.  After checking the weather Friday looked good for departure up the Chesapeake the the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal.

On Friday Morning Bob and I spent a very nice day on the water traveling from Baltimore MD to Cape May NJ.   Spending time on a boat with Captain Bob is always an enjoyable and educational time.
   
Baltimore is just North of Annapolis on this map, Cape may is in the Bottom right corner in this map, southern tip of New Jersey 
We made the 110 mile trip to Cape May with Fair Winds and a following sea for most of the Day.  It did get a little bumpy on the bottom half of the Delaware Bay.  This was a good thing as the Delaware has a bad reputation for being a dangerous piece of water.  We settle into a slip at Utch's Marina before sunset via the fuel dock.  I had not filled the tanks all the way in Baltimore as the price of fuel in NJ tends to be lower.  I was happy as the price turned out to be about 40 cents less a gallon in NJ vs Baltimore.  After we settled in we walked across the street for a nice Prime Rib Dinner at Lucky Bones Restaurant.

At this point the weather was looking really good for the next couple of days.  When it comes to the New Jersey Coast, if you get a good weather window, you take it.  It is not that the weather on the NJ coast is particularly bad all of the time.  The issue there is that you are exposed to the north Atlantic ocean with very limited places to go and hide if the weather turns bad.  It is about 120 miles of beach with just a few viable inlets that I could squeeze Master Plan into. 

So with a good weather forecast we headed out Saturday Morning.  We dropped the lines around 6:45 AM and were on our way.  On days that the weather is settled the Jersey Coast is kind of Boring.  It is a long straight passage that takes you out a few miles off the beach.    After looking at the Casinos in Atlantic City there is not much to look at.

  
Captain Bob work his magic with the ladies
We Settled into a nice anchorage behind the break water in Atlantic Highlands NJ.  This is just around the corner of Sandy Hook, the entrance to New York Harbor.  It was great to have the Jersey coast behind us.  After we made sure the anchor was good and stuck we enjoyed a nice dinner of steak and peas grilled on the back of Master Plan.  After Dinner we checked the weather one more time an all looked good for the following day.

On Sunday we weighed the anchor by 7:15 am.  We were in for a beautiful ride through New York Harbor. 
The Yacht EOS gliding under the the Varazano Narrows Bridge
Getting tired will finish tomorrow