Current Trip
November, 2011
11/14/2011 Go pack Go!
We are on Lanostra in Morehead City, NC watching the packer game.
Lanostra had a great summer in Annapolis. Thank you to all the visitors. It was a fun summer and we are so happy to share Lanostra with family & friends.
Lanostra left Annapolis a few weeks ago for repairs in her home town - Oxford, MD.
We left Oxford on Monday, Nov 7th - Next home port will be Charleston, SC. Weather is great - trip is great - so nice to be truly enjoying Lanostra.
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Posts from 2 years ago.......
July 2
We left Milwaukee Thursday morning - arrived on the Boat and shoved off by 5 pm. We had a 4 hour trip heading north in the Chesapeake Bay.
July 3
We have left the Chesapeake Bay via the C&D Canal and are now heading south on the Delaware River (1:00 PM). We have been in Maryland, Delaware & will arrive in New Jersey in a few hours. A few hours are up. We are on the East Shore of Jersey. Big 4th of July celebration here. Big bands set up right next to our slip. Should make for some great people watching tonight - I think they have some Milwaukee Beer here! Chris and Frank are cleaning up the boat.....they can dance, sing and scrub at the same time!
******It's 5:30 Jersey Time & they have bands at our marina - I guess they play morning to night for the 4th of July! They were so nice to give us the 1st slip closest to the "Party"! Off to New York tomorrow!
July 4
Happy Birthday! We over nighted in a really cute town on the Jersey Shores. We had 3 bridges to open on the Shark river.
July 5
We were off the dock and heading towards Long Island by 6 am! We plan to visit Manhattan Monday morning then head to Boston for that baseball game!
7 PM: We decided to stay closer to Manhattan tonight as we are heading into the city Monday morning. The trip up the east river was very amazing.....it was like going down the Chicago river when we left on the trip. Having Chris on the boat to experience NY City from the water was also fun. I must have taken 100 pictures of the statue of liberty. I promise to post photo's tonight. We are staying at a marina basically in the flight path of the planes at Laguardia Airport. I could watch planes for hours! Love how close they come to us.
So, Chris & I did not want to wait for the cab so we decided to take the subway into Manhattan-we got off in Times Square. Interesting train ride...... After the crazy lady started to sing, dance and play a plastic horn/piano thing I could just picture what was going thru Frank's mind. ? ? What are we doing on a train with other people. Can you guess, we took a cab back to the boat! Chris & I have a car service picking us up in the morning....I'm not going underground again!
It's Sunday, July 12.....Frank's Journal
Before we get started on a narrative of our 2009 Cruise, I thought it best to fill in some blanks over the past two years. As many of you are aware, we began this journey aboard La Nostra in September 2005. Our original plan was to cruise the Great Loop thru 2006 and return to Wisconsin late fall 2006. Well we were way-laid (intentionally) in the Bahamas for the winter of 2005/2006 and we enjoyed it so much we decided to spend the following winter (2006/2007) down there also. Given that decision, we decided to move La Nostra to the Chesapeake Bay area as a shelter during hurricane season for the summer of 2006. We then travelled down the ICW in the fall of 2006 and spent the winter 2006/2007 in the Bahamas. We then returned her to Chesapeake in the spring of 2007. This trip was our last log entry.
2007/2008 found us busy. Ronda's Pilates Studio moved into larger quarters and grew busier. We were married in March 2007. I had a older brother who was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in early summer 2007 and I spent most of the year working with him thru hospitalization and rehab. He was discharged in February 2008 and then re-admitted for another month. It was a hectic year. But we did find time on several occasions to travel to Chesapeake to cruise La Nostra for a week at a time. We've grown very fond of the Chesapeake area. We're comfortable with her location for winter storage. It's a relatively easy commute from Milwaukee. Several airlines have direct flights from Milwaukee to Baltimore. We can be on the boat 3-1/2hrs after leaving Milwaukee. All in all we're very satisfied with the idea of Chesapeake being La Nostra's home for the time being.
But we still have the urge to venture to new areas. Thus the cruise of 2009. This is a cruise with no definitive destination and no definitive schedule. We're planning on heading up the east coast until we want to turn around and head back. And if we like what we find while travelling up the coast, well we might just stop there.!!! So here we go:
July 2, 2009. Oxford, MD to Tollchester, Md.
This was going to be a short 40mi jaunt north on the Chesapeake Bay to have us in position for favorable wind/current conditions the next day on the Delaware Bay. Tollchester is a small marina located on the eastern shore of Chesapeake, about 20mi south of the C&D canal, which is the northwestern entrance to Delaware Bay. We departed Oxford about 500p. What we didn't count on were strong currents flowing out of Chesapeake around our time of departure. This slowed our progress considerably. Also, there were scattered thunderstorms throughout the Bay area. Although we didn't encounter any storms, we did have brisk 25kt winds from the west. Long and short, we arrived at Tollchester after dark. Not my most desirable situation; dark, unfamiliar port, strong winds blowing across the stern. The entry to the marina was about half again as wide as LaNostra's beam. But we made it in uneventfully and 5 minutes after we were tied in our slip a strong thunderstorm hit with 40kt winds. An exciting start.
July 3, 2009. Tollchester MD. thru the C&D Canal, down Delaware Bay, to Cape May, NJ.
The passage thru the famous C&D Canal was uneventful. Under normal circumstances one can encounter huge sea-going tankers and freighters, warships, etc. in the Canal. But given this was the 4th of July weekend, commercial traffic was almost non-existent. We cleared the Canal and entered Delaware Bay around 1100a. The Bay itself is not exceptionally large, about 50mi long and 30mi wide at it's widest point. But the Bay is unique in several aspects. It's quite shallow. With the exception of the main ship channel (which is dredged to a consistent depth of 35 ft) the average depth of the Bay is about 10ft. Additionally, it is subject to extremely strong currents during tidal flow, which can reach up to 5 kts. With this shallow water, when winds and tide oppose one another, the Bay can kick up sizeable waves that can make travel very uncomfortable. The key is to time the tides with the winds. On this particular morning we had brisk 20kt winds from the southwest; it was imperative we have an ebbing (outgoing) tide for our passage. We timed it so everything was in our favor and we had a completely uneventful crossing. We reached Cape May NJ. on the southern tip of the Bay around 500p.
July 4, 2009. Cape May, NJ to Belmar, NJ.
This was a very uneventful day (well almost) travelling along the entire Atlantic coast of New Jersey. I have to say this leg of the trip changed my impression of New Jersey. Prior to this, most of my experiences with New Jersey had been work-related in Newark, Elizabeth, etc. Not exactly the most desirable places. Well the coast is a different planet. Miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches.Several beautiful (and huge) amusement parks right on the beach. Atlantic City with it's boardwalk and casinos. Banner-towing airplanes continuously flying up and down the beaches. It was an American beach holiday for 120mi. Our final destination was Belmar, NJ on the Shark River. It was a strategic stop for timing of the next day's voyage. Belmar is a very pleasant community but it has one surprise for unfamiliar boaters entering from the Atlantic Ocean. All day the winds were gusting to 35kts from the west. When we finally made our turn west into the Shark River, we had those winds right on the bow. Immediately after entering the inlet, there is a draw bridge that will open upon request. The key is to have the bridge notified as soon as you turn into the inlet. This we did and the bridge was open when we arrived. But we had a few other surprises to come. First, we had strong winds on the bow. We had an incoming tide. Tides and winds opposing are not ideal. Then we discovered the next draw bridge was on special holiday hours and we'd have to wait about 20 minutes for an opening. Holding La Nostra in position for 20 minutes with the winds/tides was a handful.
July 5, 2009. Belmar, NJ. thru New York City harbor, East River to Flushing Bay, NY.
I had mentioned in the paragraph above that the Belmar, NJ stop was a strategic one. The currents in the New York harbor and East River can be fierce. as much as 6kts. Timing here is critical also. Depending on your direction of travel, you want to "ride with the tide" whenever possible. It was crucial we leave Battery Park (southern-most tip of Manhattan) by noon for a favorable ride on the East River. We hit the times correctly and it was a spectacular trip. The sky was a crystal blue. The views of the Verrazano Bridge, Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, lower Manhattan, UN Building etc. were unbelievable. I spent a lot of time in NYC when I was working. I knew the city fairly well. But I had never viewed it from a perspective like this. Ronda and Chris had an appointment in The City early Monday morning so we decided to overnight at World's Fair Marina in Flushing Bay, directly adjacent to LaGuardia airport. it was actually a very interesting place. Next to the sight of the 1939 World's Fair. Fortunately LGA traffic ceases at 900p. and given that it was still a holiday weekend, air traffic was light. We took a train into The City that afternoon for sightseeing and dinner.
July 6, 2009. Flushing Bay, NY to Stamford, CT.
Ronda and Chris had an appointment in NYC Monday morning. I stayed back on the boat to tend to chores. They arrived back at La Nostra around 200p and we shoved off towards Long Island Sound. This was going to be an "easy" day as we had no destination in particular in mind; just travel east along the coast until we decided to stop. It was another beautiful clear day. I was amazed as we travelled east on Long
Island Sound how far away one could still see the skyline of NYC. We travelled about 30mi and decided to pull into Stamford, CT.
July 7-8-9, 2009. Stamford, CT to Boston, MA.
No, that's not a typo. We did travel from Stamford to Boston, but not on La Nostra, but by car. We found Stamford a bit boring but a great spot to leave the boat. We had planned on flying back to Wisconsin for the weekend of July 10-13 to attend a friend's wedding, family get-together, and for Ronda to participate in the Pewaukee Triathlon on July 12. Our flight was out of Boston. Since Stamford was boring, we decided to rent a car a few days early and drive to Boston, one of my all-time favorite cities. We had three fun-filled days to touristing, dinners, ballgame at Fenway Park, before departing to Milwaukee early Friday morning.
If all goes as scheduled, we'll be back on La Nostra on July 15th to continue our journey east. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 14th 5PM.....we are updating the web from 37,000 feet! GoGoInFlight on Air Tran! We will arrive in New York City around 7PM! Then drive to the Boat which we left last Friday in Stamford, CT.
July 15
We are back on the boat! We left Stamford, CT arrived in Norwalk, CT - very nice place. Our boat was a dingy compared to the "yachts" parked next to us. We left on Friday, July 17 and are now heading to Mystic, CT. We are watching for a plane that went down exactly were we are one hour ago - New London, CT. We would love to help but see nothing. Our grid coordinates are very close to the location on the radio. Mystic was a very nice place. The plane never landed in the water - I guess it landed with the gear up at it's orignial destination. They really were looking for a down plane! Made the local newspaper.
Sunday, July 19 (6:30 am)
The engines are running and we are moving again. Not sure where we are going - heading towards the cape crossing.
Wednesday, July 22
CHRISTOPHER HEPPE'S 24th BIRTHDAY!!!!! Happy Birthday Chris.........I love you! Mom
Thursday, July 23
We are in Salem, MA. It's raining and the tieds are so crazy. You must check out the photo's. 12 feet swings. When the water goes away we touch the bottom! When the water comes back we rock like crazy! Off to watch Forest Gump. It's been raining too long and we need to get off this boat!
FRANK'S Journal on the 2nd leg of the 2009 cruise:
After a 5 day return trip to Wisconsin to take care of "stuff", Ronda and I flew back out to NYC on July 14 and rented a car for our return to La Nostra, which had been parked in Stamford, CT. Here's our progress:
Stamford, CT to Norwalk, CT.
This was a short afternoon cruise. We arrived in Stamford late on the evening of the 14th. We spent the morning of the 15th provisioning the boat for an early afternoon departure, mainly to just get out of Stamford. As you recall from our previous posts, we found Stamford quite boring. The trip to Norwalk was only 15 mi. but at least it was some different scenery and surroundings. Norwalk has an interesting part of town called
"SoNo" for Southern Norwalk. It's a trendy place of dining and drinking establishments, trendy shoppes, walk-ways, etc all in the old restored warehouse area of town.
JULY 15
Norwalk, CT to Mystic, CT.
From Norwalk to Mystic is about an 80mi cruise. We left Norwalk early in the morning and arrived in Mystic mid-afternoon. The entire trip was along the northern shore of Long Island Sound. As you progress east along the Sound, you need to start being mindful of tides and currents. Both increase substantially as you move to the eastern end of the Sound and it empties into the North Atlantic.
Mystic is a fascinating place. It's has a beautifully restored whaling village complete with sailing ships, boat building facilities, whaling museum, and all other related industries used in the whaling trade of the early and mid 1800's. Mystic was the whaling center of the country at that time. It's also the home of the famous Mystic River highway bridge. See "photo albums" for pix and comments on the bridge. It's fascinating.
JULY 17
Mystic, CT thru The Race, Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Canal, into Cape Cod Bay, and Plymouth, MA.
I had mentioned earlier about the tides and currents increasing as you head east. This was our first encounter with planning for this phenomena. As you exit Long Island Sound and into the Atlantic, there's an area of opposing tides called The Race. One tide is emptying from The Sound and another tide is rushing in from the ocean. It meets with all sorts of crazy currents, waves, etc in the middle of nowhere. Timing thru this area is critical for slow or under-powered boats. We had no worries but it was an interesting encounter nonetheless. You could not take your hands off the helm for a second or you'd be spun around like a top. And then it's gone.!!
The trip up thru Buzzard's Bay is very similar to the trip down Delaware Bay. It needs to be timed so that winds and currents do not oppose one another. We had both in our favor for 95% of the journey. The other 5% was interesting. As we approached the northern end of the Bay conditions were changing and they change very quickly. It would not have been a pleasant journey had we been in those conditions for 4 hrs. Waves were about 4-5 ft, right on the bow, and a very short period (distance between waves). it was a very wet ride. Fortunately it was only 5 miles to the Cape Cod Canal.
The Cape Cod Canal cuts across the Cape Cod Peninsula, dramatically shortening the trip into Cape Cod Bay and on up into Massachusetts Bay. It was built in the mid-1800's and improved over the years. The canal is 11mi long and can have fierce currents on either end. Timing here is critical also. The USCG maintains all canal operations. Once you enter the canal you must complete your journey thru in 1-1/2hrs. There's no turning around in the canal and no stopping. If you have a low powered boat and cannot complete the trip in the allotted time, a canal control boat will tow you thru....but you pay for it. The canal is used by huge ocean-going ships and thus the reason for the time restrictions. Our trip thru was uneventful. We enjoyed the calm waters after the 5 mi pounding we had in Buzzard's Bay.
Upon exiting the Canal you are now in Cape Cod Bay. It was a short 12mi trip to our next stop, Plymouth, MA. It had been a long day on the water.....110mi in 10hrs.
What can you say about Plymouth.?? This is where it all began. It was ironic in that we arrived in Plymouth on the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I couldn't help but think that 389 yrs ago when the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, for all intents it may as well have been the moon. The marina we stayed in was literally right next to Plymouth Rock. I cold toss a stone off the bow of the boat and hit it.
We stayed in Plymouth for a few days to wait out some rain. We did rent a car one day and drove out to Provincetown, MA on the Cape Cod Peninsula tip. Very interesting town; sort of the east coast version of Key West. In Plymouth we encountered another "down east" phenomenon....fog.
JULY 19
Plymouth, MA to Salem, MA.
The majority of this trip was made in fog and the first 3 hrs in 5-6ft ocean swells. La Nostra rides this stuff out pretty well so it wasn't uncomfortable but navigating in the fog was similar to flying IFR....you learn to trust your instruments. We chose to stay well offshore as we knew we were going to be crossing directly thru the main shipping channel into Boston harbor. There's big stuff coming thru these lanes and you need to keep out of their way. I wouldn't even consider making this crossing in low visibility without radar and we have a good radar unit and are comfortable with it's use. Fortunately we encountered no moving traffic....just a couple of HUGE container ships at anchor awaiting their turn into Boston.
Salem is a unique town in that it's best known for House of Seven Gables, various witch museums, etc. But it also was a major shipping port in the early years of our country's history. It's also where we had our first experience with the huge tidal swings that become common as we progressed northeast. The tide swing here is 10.4 feet. Portions of the bay literally empty. And six hours later they fill again. It's incredible.!!
See the pictures in the "photo albums" for examples in Salem. It was here that we experienced our first "Nor'easter"......an intense storm system that sweeps in from the northeast bringing gale-force winds and incredible rain. Salem experienced 5" of rain in 12hrs. It was "sit-on-the-boat time." Between the tides, the storm, and the rain, it was interesting.
JULY 19
Plymouth, MA to Newburyport, NH.
This was a relatively short (35mi) trip but required three major tide timings. First was thru the Blymann Canal. This canal starts at Glouster MA harbor (remember "The Perfect Storm".????. It was filmed in Glouster). It then cuts thru the Cape Ann peninsula and up the Annisquam River, saving about 15 mi off the trip around Cape Ann and the open North Atlantic. We were encouraged by several people to take the Canal even though conditions around The Cape were favorable. It's a beautiful 2 mi trip but had hordes of weekend boaters everywhere and many doing stupid things. Timing of the tide thru the canal is crucial or you'll be fighting an opposing current all the way thru.
Upon exiting the canal you enter Ipswich Bay, famous for it's clams. It's a relatively short 12mi cruise to the Merrimac River inlet and Newburyport. But it ain't so simple. The Merrimac inlet can be treacherous because the currents run up to 5 kts. Entry into the inlet at full tide is not recommended. We had to throttle back on our trip across Ipswich Bay to arrive at slack tide....the transition time between high and low tide. Additionally, we had to travel about 3 mi upriver to our marina. It was important we time our arrival there at slack tide as well. Everything worked out well and it was an uneventful entry and docking.
The marina operator complimented us on our timing. "You're not going to believe this water in 1/2hr" he said to us. It was unbelievable.!!! In the time it took us to take a shower, and get registered, the river turned into a torrent. The current flowed at close to 5 kts. See the pix in the "photo albums" for an idea how fast it was flowing. I couldn't imagine trying to dock LaNostra in those currents.
Newburyport looks to be a beautiful town. Methinks we'll stay here for a while.
JULY 26,27,28
Newburyport was so great we stayed for a few days. The currents ran next to our boat at 4.5 knots.
JULY 29,30,31
We were in Kennebunkport, Maine. Very beautiful. See the photo's of Frank hanging out with George Bush's secret service at the boat dock. We went to Portsmoth, NH to see the moving UNDER OUR SKIN. Chris' Dr. Raxlen is in the movie and he answered questions about the movie and Lyme Disease after the show. Chris was diagnosed with Lyme the day before. I was very scared to see the movie because Chris is sick and he does not feel good. Chris is living the movie right now.
AUGUST 1, 2
We were finally able to get moving again and are heading towards Stamford, CT.
AUGUST 3
We invited Mary Bowen to our boat for lunch! Mary is a Pilates Elder and trained with Joseph Pilates. Mary has visited our Pilates Studio so it was fun to see where Mary lives, teaches Pilates and spends time on her sail boat. I was able to spend 3 hours with her on Tuesday and guess what we did! PILATES!
AUGUST 5
We are heading to Wisconsin.
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