July | 2020 | M/V Magnolia

First thing in Branford was to get the “freight” offloaded! Our friends Al & Michele purchased some new to Kindred Spirit “jewelry.” The item was delivered to us in Galesville, MD from Richmond, VA. We had it in the “garage” for safe passage, not it, but our safety….its a FREAKING ANCHOR 75lbs ok? 🙂 We were able to safely offload in Branford along with some social distance hugs!!!

In addition to anchor delivery, the primary reason for Branford was to visit our friend Ted aboard Amici. Ted is a fabulous chef and made these Brontosaurus Pork Chops!! Fabulous! I was also grateful to share in some wonderful comradre over some black-water lines….do we know how to have fun or what???>

Though most people will not recognize but this is the world famous Defender boat stuff store outside of Groton CT. They had just re-opened the store so our visit was fortuitous….there was the lunch of Road-Side Red Hots too!!!!

It was great to catch up with Ted and we made plans to catch up on Block Island in a couple weeks. Magnolia got underway across Long Island Sound to Gardner Bay and area around Shelter Island. We have never visited the area before so we were juiced.

Plum Gut – pretty fast water in here on the tide swings

First stop was Three Mile Harbor. A wonderfully protected harbor far enough inland that she will not be busted open to the ocean during the next hurricane….more on that later…we spent our time trying track down the elusive Three Mile Harbor Wild Chicken…

gotcha!

The area is filled with plenty of beauty and easy to understand why many NYC people escape here.

Even the boats are fabulous….(Greg & Nancy — check this one out!!!)

And this one….oh wait…this is our previous boat, Magnolia-S. She was spotted in Ocracoke, NC and this picture sent to us. Her new owners are wonderful people and are obviously keeping her in fine shape!!!!

Annette even scored a few pieces of Sea Glass.

This store is on the main drag in Sag Harbor. Could not but help think of the Schipani sisters…first sister to read this wins a bottle of Mazzei “Poggio Badiola” Toscana!!!

We were in Cutchogue Harbor for the 4th Of July and treated to a perfect view of their holiday boat parade.

The beautiful Trumpy (no relation) designed MY Freedom (https://www.woodenyachts.com/fractional-ownership/freedom)

So were sitting anchor and this big brother came in dropped the hook next to us… this is a Kadey Krogen 48. Only 6 feet longer but about twice the living space!!!

Greenport Carousel (https://northforkrealestateshowcase.com/greenport-carousel-history/)

As I said at the beginning of this post, we would come back to Three Mile Harbor….I actually meant that literally. As soon as Tropical Storm Fay made herself known we knew exactly where we would be to welcome her. In the end, Fay came and went and all was fine. We never saw more than 30 knots of wind which was just fine with us. I even managed a solid nights sleep. All well, that ends well.

We will wait till Monday to depart for Block Island where we will meet up with some friends….looking forward!

Magnolia was in Galesville for 5 weeks…some ways seemed longer…some shorter. The whole Covid thing and friends facing challenges…well life was getting a bit dizzy. Getting up to Port Washington can sometimes be a weather challenge but we got real lucky. It was 345 mile trip it was smooth sailing!

Magnolia had been sitting at the dock for 5 weeks in the relatively warm water of the Chesapeake so before we head north in the summer we always do a short haul for a thorough bottom cleaning and zink replacement.

It is less expensive to hire a diver but the job is certainly not as thorough and I like to take a look at things with my own eyes.

We literally depart the marina from the travel-lift usually to a nearby anchorage. We like to get away from the dock just to get on the hook to see that everything is working and it really does allow us a bit of time to get our heads back in the game. We wandered just around the corner to the Rhode River dropped the hook and watched the rain come down…and boy did it!

After the showers passed through we opened up boat and in flew a Hummingbird. Though this is no Albatross (sailor superstition says they are lucky) we felt like the cruise was off on a lucky note. Please note we departed on a Friday which by the same superstition is considered an unlucky day to start a voyage….our friend quickly found his way back out and was off.

In spite of the fact we SHOULD know better we headed off Sunday morning to round Thomas Point Light and head up the Chesapeake Bay. The moment we were out I realized we had waves on the nose so we went a couple more miles and anchored in Whitehall Creek. All the years anchoring in the area never Whitehall…All in time for my Sunday talk shows and before the day trippers filled the anchorage.

Monday we wandered up to the Bohemia. Sadly Minx was underway south in the bay so we missed out on seeing them.

We NEVER go through the C&D Canal on a weekend. The weekend boating is just TOO crazy. Going through during the week is a completely different experience! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_%26_Delaware_Canal )

Always admired this house…what a place to watch the boats and ships…yes real BIG ships too!

Approaching main canal channel

Nice, no ships today.

Delaware City, DE: We have never stopped here but on the recommendation of some Pentagon Sailing Club Members as well as a Krogen friend we thought it was time for a change. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_City,_Delaware )

We really came to visit with the Tennar Clan. We were planning to meet in the Florida Keys last spring but no….Covid. Annette and I had been TOTALLY isolated on Magnolia for 8 days so we trying to be safe. It was a lovely afternoon and we even found an outside isolated corner to have some lunch. Thank you again Jack Kathy & Christina for making the time for a visit!!!

So, like we said first visit to this marina and as you can see a long long face dock on a NARROW NARROW channel. I nearly forgot the awesome tidal current that runs through here….thankfully they have the best crew we have met and made it simply!

We still had another day to get a weather window in the ocean so we headed down the bay to anchor in “the best under-utilized anchorage on the east coast.” That’s per my friend Jeff and we agree 100%. Easy in, easy out, wonderfully protected and no washing machine as is Cape May.

If you are going to transit the Delaware Bay, do it fast…nothing to see here.

The below does not show the sea wall we are anchored but the lighthouse above sits on the seawall!

After a peaceful evening we were off in perfect “trawler” conditions! You have to meet the tides just right to easily transit the east river which meant we needed to be at the Battery as soon as we could after dawn.

We had a number fog banks on the passage but none too bad…we have a good radar Note the NJ shore and another vessel off our port side. Many of these boats are fishing and do not have AIS on….be warned.

Our route up the east river towards Long Island Sound.

We approached Ambrose Channel from the south about 3:30 AM with the Verrazzonno Bridge ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verrazzano-Narrows_Bridge ) in the distance.