Chesapeake City to Home!. Crossing our Wake !

From Baltimore we went to Rock Hall, a free dock to transients.  The weather was  threatening so we stayed in Rock Hall for a couple of days.  We wheeled our laundry a mile into town, bought some groceries and were set for the final leg of our  trip north.

Dedicated to the oystermen at Rock Hall

Bustling Main Street in Rock Hall

High water over the dock we were tied to

We took advantage of a good weather window and left for Chesapeake City right on the C and D Canal.  The C and D Canal cuts through the Chesapeake Bay and brings you into the Delaware Bay which is  the route we had chosen to take. We anchored in their harbor, explored their town, got a good night sleep and took off bright and early the next day.

Chesapeake City Ice Cream

tiny tiny shop

Chesapeake City Main Street

This canal looks like many we've been on but it's only 14 miles long so it's very tolerable.   There's not much to look at as you can see from the picture.

14 miles of straight and narrow

Sometimes you meet a barge

We entered Delaware Bay and were very happy we were able to cross it without any problems.   This is a fairly large body of water and many boats have waited a long tome to cross.  We spent the night in Cape May and left the next day with intentions of stopping in Atlantic City.  We chose to try the outside of the ICW -the ICW tends to be shallow in NJ so traveling a few miles off the coast if  the weather and seas are favorable is  better.  We were doing well as we approached AC so we decided to go to Barnegut Bay.

Atlantic City-not with my money your not!

It was a long day but worth the effort- we were making good time.  Barnegut Bay had a comfortable harbor for us to anchor in so we took advantage of it.  We left the next day thinking we would stop at Mannasquaun Inlet but again the seas were favorable, we were making good time on the coast so we decided to go all the way to Great Kills,Staten Island  to spend the night.

Great Kills is a large salt pond with a couple of marinas, yacht clubs and hundreds of mooring balls, many of which were vacant.  Instead of anchoring,  we decided to hook up to an empty one near the dinghy dock so Buddy could get to shore easily.  As we were sitting in our boat, a man rowed up to us and told us that we were on his mooring ball.  We expected to be told to get off it but instead he graciously told us we were welcomed to use it and even offered to take us shopping if we needed anything!  New Yorkers always seem to have the reputation of being nasty and impolite but this gentleman squashed that image.  I wish I had taken his picture!

Staten Island sunset

  We left Staten Island at 6:30AM, hoping to use the tides and currents to get through Hell's Gate at slack tide. Some fog and clouds made our morning dreary but we were almost back to CT, so we hardly noticed the weather.  New York Harbor is a busy harbor and didn't disappoint us on this early Sunday morning.  Tony M gave my father two toots as we passed Coney Island close to where he was raised and again, two toots, as we passed Battery Park, an area where he had worked. He would have loved to have done this trip-I know he heard us toot!
We crossed our wake at Hell's Gate at approximately 9:30 AM May 22, 2011.  This was monumental for us because it meant we completed our Loop.  We have traveled for 355 days and covered 6454 nautical miles/ 7486.64 statute miles, eighteen states and Canada.  We have experienced so much and have grown to appreciate this fine country we live in.  Our lives will never be the same.

NYC

Cable cars to Manhattan

A Baltimore relative

We arrived at Boardwalk Marina in Stratford, CT late that afternoon, exhausted but thrilled that we had safely accomplished completing America's Great Loop.  We spent nine days visiting with family and friends, catching up on a years worth of activities.  A highlight was spending two days with Lee, Pete's mom, who celebrated her 85th birthday while we were there.  She looks and acts great---Happy Birthday, Lee!

GPS at Stratford-49miles after crossing our wake

Lee Gwyer on her birthday-doesn't she look wonderful!

Tom and Cheryl, Pete and Joanne, Marian and Wally

Thanks for following  our journey only we're not done yet! We have two more months before we can move back into our home so we are going to enjoy the Erie Canal. We have traveled parts of it twice but now we want to complete it from Waterford to Buffalo.  We hope to continue our blog on this smaller adventure.