Two days of cruising the beautiful Erie Canal, two days of locks. We’ve traversed 8 locks over the past couple of days, 15 total so far. We’re not breaking any speed records, but instead we’re stopping at interesting places, dock walls, and a marina/campground so far. We took time this afternoon to do laundry, walk a few blocks into town and get dinner from a local diner. Our friends back home videocalled us and passed around the phone and chatted with us and it meant the world to us to get to see everyone. We also did a video chat with Richard’s brother and his wife and had a fantastic talk and some laughs. We get to see our daughter tomorrow, if travel plans work out, so we’re super excited to see her and have her travel with us for a few days. ❤️ 🛳️ 

I also have to give a huge Thank You to the Lord. Richard was struggling how to solve a problem with the boat and I heard him talking to himself and getting frustrated, so I prayed “Lord, give him the wisdom to solve this problem and let his frustration be gone”. I was in the bedroom and he was at the table in the galley, and immediately, I mean not even a second goes by, and I heard him say “A ha! I’ve got it!” Thank You Lord for an immediate answer to prayer. Sometimes God takes a while to answer and it seems like He’s not even listening, and sometimes it’s immediate. It’s hard to trust when the answer doesn’t seem to come, or it’s not what you expect, but in moments like we had yesterday morning, there’s no doubt He hears me. I just need to trust Him more in the silent times-trust He’s working even when I don’t see it.

On Saturday, May 23, we left Norrie State Park and headed to Hop-O-Nose Marina. We traveled for 25 miles, 3 hours & 15 minutes. The owner/dockmaster, Sean, and his staff at this marina were top-notch and so friendly and helpful. The restaurant that is right at the marina (Creekside) serves amazing food at a reasonable price. The staff at the restaurant are extremely attentive and have a great sense of humor. It gives off a relaxed vibe and has live music on the weekends. We stayed at Hop-O-Nose on Sunday and watched TBC online church service. We left this morning, Monday, May 25, and headed to Troy Downtown Marina. We traveled for 35.3 miles, 4 hours & 37 minutes. We are docked next to some cruisers who we met at Hop-O-Nose and we have been hanging out and talking with them, and we also met another couple of cruisers who are heading North. They shared information with us this afternoon, as they have already done the lock system. We greatly appreciated their expertise and advice! We had dinner together, and it was great getting to know them. Along our travels up the Hudson, we encountered beautiful, breathtaking scenery that consisted of lush, green trees, steep hillsides, and a multitude of lighthouses. We will stay at Troy Marina tomorrow as well to explore the town and try some of their famous BBQ. The day started out overcast, rainy and cold, but it is now 70° and sunny. We thank the Lord for the safety He has provided so far on this trip and we pray for continued safety as we progress North into the Erie Canal and the lock system. We have been putting pins in a cork-board map we have hanging in the boat to mark our progress, and have included a pic in this post. 

Saturday morning sunrise

Espousing Meadows lighthouse 

Rondout lighthouse

House on an island

Light at Washburn Point

Hudson Athens Lighthouse 

Hudson river

Albany skyline

Albany

Hudson River

Hudson River

Approaching Troy Downtown Marina

Our journey on Monday

We stayed at Westerly’s Marina another day and rode ~6 miles on our bicycles to go to the grocery store and explore. Not a long ride really, but the elevation change was almost 500 ft. Not a problem for Angie on her electric bike, but Richard has now started asking if coffee is really a necessity. Milk & bread were also on the list by the way. 

We left Westerly’s Marina and headed to Mills-Norrie State Park Marina on Thursday, May 21st. We passed by West Point and tried to envision the spot where a 75-ton chain was stretched across the Hudson River to Constitution Island in April 1778 during the Revolutionary War to prevent British warships from sailing up the river. The chain was 600 yards long and each link was ~2 ft long and each weighed over 100 lbs.
This is our favorite part of our journey so far. Mountains are on both sides of the river, lush and green, and steep rock faces meet the river. It was raining for a few hours of our trip, but our upper helm is enclosed so we were comfy. The water was calm and minimal ship traffic. We travelled for 6 hours, covering 45 miles.
We witnessed one of the most beautiful, breath-taking sunsets we’ve seen on this trip. God sure has the most amazing color palette!!
We are staying at the state park tonight also. We rode our bikes on some trails in the park. Angie opting for the paved and gravel trails, Richard opting for steep, boulder strewn trails, which had him catapulting and the back tire wanted to be in the lead. Rocks 1: Richard 0. He’s banged up and has some scrapes but is still getting around, mostly ok. We were wearing helmets so his head is ok. A “before” picture is included but I thought it best not to include an “after” picture. We still have 5000 miles remaining on this trip and I don’t have a dog house on board where I can sleep tonight.

West Point

Possible spot of chain at West Point

Constitution Island

Bannerman’s castle 

Bannerman’s castle remains 

What a monumental (no pun intended) day for us!!! We woke up early and headed into New York, passing by the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, and the Empire State Building. Breath-taking moments for us amisdt the hustle and bustle of commuter ferries, tankers, barges and other pleasure craft. Our goals for today were 1) seeing those 3 icons and 2) not getting called on the VHF radio for being in the wrong place, or just general “get out of my way”. ✅ and ✅. So I’d say we had a very successful morning! We made our way up the Hudson River, passing by tall, futuristic looking buildings as well as old abandoned factories. We passed under the George Washington Bridge, where the Little Red Lighthouse still stands, moved from Sandy Hook in 1921. Children wrote letters to save the icon from the auction block, and it was featured in the children’s book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge” written in 1942. We cruised on and made it to Westerly’s Marina in Ossining, NY. The landscape sure changed heading further North. We passed by the Palisades Cliffs and beautiful countryside on the way here.

We had a very early morning but so worth it to get through the Manasquan inlet at slack tide and not many waves. The Atlantic was calm with gentle rollers. We left with another looper boat, Road to Nowhere, and we both got pictures of the other with the sun rising. They even got a picture of us as we encountered a tanker upon making the turn toward Sandy Hook, NJ. Richard kept insisting he had the right of way, but in this case, size does matter. 🤣. We are anchored for the night at Great Kills Harbor. It is a very peaceful and protected anchorage with a wonderful breeze. There are a couple other looper boats anchored here with us. The Harbor Host, and owner of the marina here, John Calascibetta, is a wonderful resource and very knowledgeable and friendly. We saw the skyline of NY on our way in but it was a bit hazy. We also saw a channel marker on the shore that obviously got moved during the winter. We are leaving out early tomorrow also and cruising up the Hudson past the Statue of Liberty. An exciting time for us!!

It’s been an exciting couple of days. Yesterday morning (Saturday) we left Beach Haven Yacht Club Marina and headed further North along the NJ ICW toward Manasquan Inlet. On our way, we saw some beautiful but skinny waterways. It looked like it was huge, but only in the narrow channel was it deep enough for our boat (3.5 ft draft). Outside the channel dropped to 3 ft then 1 ft to the shore. We went through a railroad bridge passageway and the current was running so swift that Richard had to speed up a bit and we rode it through, drifting sideways on the other side. We also went through the Point Pleasant Canal on the way here, and if you’ve never heard of it, you should look it up for boater bloopers. A lot of boat accidents and boat capsizing happens on this canal. It’s man-made and has high sides, so the currents and boat wakes have no where to go but up, and there are “standing waves” in this narrow canal. Very entertaining and a little bit intimidating. We had a following current so we gained speed, but we were following a police boat so had to mind the gap. We again faced strong currents when coming into the marina and while at the fuel dock, the current was holding us against the dock and it was hard to get free. Jazzy Lady sustained some damage on the rear port-side toe rail when trying to pull away from the dock. Richard tried to fix it once we got into our slip but couldn’t bend it back to securely attach it again. We’ll have to wait until we get into an area where he can repair it. We’re being pushed and pulled every which way in this slip because it’s near the inlet entrance and the tidal change is at least 4 feet. We had a leisurely Sunday morning. Richard made my favorite breakfast of his blueberry pancakes and we watched TBC homecoming church service online. We walked to the inlet to the ocean this afternoon just to check out what we’ll be heading into when we leave tomorrow morning. We’re leaving on a slack tide, so we’re hoping that the inlet will be kind to us. We’ll be heading to an anchorage above Sandy Hook, not far from NY.

We had a pretty quiet day on Thursday, but mentally taxing. Richard spent most of the rainy morning planning our route North on the NJ ICW for the next couple of days. We talked about tides, currents, and timing. The ICW is narrow and winding and very shallow in some places. After planning as much as possible, we took the bikes and rode the Atlantic City boardwalk. It my first time being there and I didn’t know that the boardwalk was wooden slats at angles and we rode for a couple miles with our tires making clapping sounds on the boards. We rode up a ramp and looked out over the ocean that we had traveled to get to the marina we were staying at. A surreal feeling for me.

We pulled out of AC this morning (Friday) and made our way a couple hours up the ICW to Beach Haven Marina. The Dock Master, Tim, and his helper Pat, were such a help with the lines when we were docking, and we couldn’t have done it without them. The wind was kicking and made it hard to get into the slip. Richard spent the afternoon refining our route to go to a marina near Manasquan Inlet via the ICW tomorrow, and talked with some locals here at the marina to get inside knowledge. We traveled almost 18 miles today and are planning for 39 tomorrow (Saturday). We will stay at Manasquan until we get a good weather window to travel in the Atlantic to NY.

Atlantic City boardwalk 

Atlantic ocean

Atlantic ocean 

View looking back to where we had ridden 

Riding bikes in Atlantic City 

Atlantic City in rearview 

Heading out into NJ ICW

Narrow channel with marsh on both sides

Marshes

View of Atlantic City from ICW

Waves in little Bay due to wind

Water on the bow from wave splash

Rutgers University Marine Field Station 

We’ve been doing a lot of bike riding, walking, and eating at local restaurants the past few days in Lewes, DE. It’s such a cute little town with many restaurants and shops. Lewes was recommended by the owners of Delaware City Marina, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The only problem for us was transiting the Delaware Bay on our way in and out. I’m not a fan, and that’s putting it mildly. The highlight of our stay in Lewes was our son, Russ and his wife visiting us on Mother’s Day and staying the night with us. It was so great spending time with them, and I didn’t want them to leave. My cousin Nancy visited and had lunch with us on Mother’s Day as well and we enjoyed spending time with her and catching up. I can’t speak highly enough of Kit, the dock master at Lewes. She is a gem and a sweetheart, and so helpful. We untied lines yesterday, 12 May, and headed to Atlantic City. The winds were relatively calm, except for the opposing wind and current leaving the inlet to/from the Marina. As soon as we rounded the corner to head out of the inlet into Delaware Bay, we had 4 ft waves hitting our bow. It felt like a bronc ride we didn’t sign up for. Once we got through the inlet, the waves weren’t as bad, but did I mention that I really don’t like Delaware Bay? But we did see dolphins!!! That was the top thing on my bucket list for this trip, seeing dolphins in the wild. (The next is seeing the Statue of Liberty from the water). We made it around Cape May and out into the Atlantic Ocean, running about 2 miles offshore. Surprisingly, the winds and waves died down and we were able to have a pretty pleasant journey for a couple hours. Then the wind shifted and Richard fought the wheel for another couple of hours. We pulled into Farley’s Golden Nugget Marina and Casino at 4:30, exactly 8 hours after we left Lewes. We traveled 54 miles yesterday. We’re staying put at the marina today because winds are sustained 16-22 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph expected this afternoon. We’re going to explore a bit here today and check the weather for possibly heading North tomorrow.

We had an early go of it yesterday morning. We pulled out of our slip at 6am and headed to Lewes City Marina, DE. We had a very easy journey for the first five hours as we had a 2 knot current running in the same direction that we were, so we saw a top speed of 10.5 kn on Jazzy Lady, which was fantastic for us because we usually run at 7.5 to 8 kn.  It was very nerve-wracking for me however because the navigation apps were not working. Thank the Lord that the night before, Richard had integrated our route with the chart plotter on the boat. About two hours out from Lewes, DE and the Delaware Bay, the currents started opposing us and the winds picked up a bit and the auto pilot on the boat could not keep up so poor Richard had to hand steer the boat in the strong currents for 2 hours. It was like a washing machine. We traveled for 61 miles, and a little over 7 hours yesterday. By the time we got to the marina, the manager, Kit, met us at the dock and helped us tie up. We grabbed dinner and had a relaxing night on the boat, trying to figure out why our nav apps let us down. Hopefully they are working now.

Today, we walked around the town and went into the many little shops that are here, and took a dinghy ride in the Lewes & Rehoboth canal. We were going 3 knots on the way out and when we turned around, we were going 5 knots which is huge in our little dinghy. We had dinner out again (how could we not, with so many great recommendations in this cute little town) and are now relaxing on the upper deck, watching a couple get their engagement photos taken in front of our boat. A great ending to a great day.

We stayed another day at Delaware City Marina because the winds and currents on Delaware Bay weren’t going to be very kind to us. A few other boats joined us at the marina, having the same thoughts. The owners of Delaware City Marina, Tim and Beth are amazing and so helpful, as well as their marina manager, Captain Charlie Wright, Jr. We had already attended a weather briefing/presentation on how to look up and interpret the data coming from the Delaware Bay Operational Forecast System (DBOFS) but attended today’s also to see if our interpretation matched theirs. And it did!! As an added bonus, Foster Schucker, Harbor Host for the Upper Chesapeake Bay, came and gave the briefing and answered questions. This team can’t be beat! We highly recommend this Marina as a great resource. 

We decided to add a stop between here and Cape May based on the recommendation of Tim, so tomorrow we will be transiting Delaware Bay and heading to Lewes, DE, where we’ve been told has the most amazing restaurants, and not just one or two, but many!! More to come on that!!

We continued to stay at Delaware City Marina, waiting out the strong winds and currents. It certainly wasn’t a good time to travel across Delaware Bay. We continue to monitor the winds and will wait until we have a good cruising window, possibly Thursday. Richard took a bike ride to Fort DuPont, an Army base built here in the early 1900’s. 

He also took a ride in the dinghy on the old C&D canal and had a fun time with the currents moving swiftly in the direction he was going.
The owner of the Delaware City Marina gives a great weather briefing every evening at 4 pm and teaches how to use the Delaware Bay Operational Forecast System (DBOFS) which provides crucial information on forecasted winds and currents, so that each boater can make their own determination on whether to travel the next morning or not.
We had the pleasure of meeting fellow loopers this afternoon and glean some wisdom from their travels, and the motor vessel Timeless and her owner are here docked beside us, and she’s done the loop 12 times so far. What a wealth of knowledge!! Timeless dwarfs Jazzy Lady, but we don’t take it personally because Timeless is a lot of boat to handle and you know they say size doesn’t matter… well, it kinda does to us because Richard and I feel that we have the perfect size boat for us.

We stayed at Delaware City Marina today due to the winds and currents. We did the math and didn’t want to tackle Delaware Bay to Cape May today, and the forecast isn’t looking too promising for the next couple of days either. Strong wind gusts and opposing currents in the direction we’re heading. We watched church this morning on livestream and Richard made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. So yummy and my favorite! After breakfast, we worked on our trip planning spreadsheet, calculating timelines and costs. After frying our brains with that, we took a bike ride along the C&D canal (such a beautiful bike and jogging path) to St. George’s, DE. We stopped for ice cream (imagine that! 🤣) before heading back to Delaware City Marina. It was chilly and windy here but we enjoyed the 11 mile bike ride.

We’ve had two great days of cruising. Yesterday, May 1, we left Georgetown, MD(Sassafras Harbor Marina) at 9:40 and went up the Elk River to the C&D Canal. We docked Chesapeake city Dock at 1 PM. We went 23 miles. I know it may sound corny, but Richard‘s docking skills still impress me after all this time. It was like parallel parking, but against a floating dock, and pivot the boat around and get it up against the dock. He did it with an ease and calmness that I could never match. All I had to do was hop down to the dock with the lines and cleat them before the current and wind took the boat away from the dock again. My job was easy and his was hard. This was also the first day that we met fellow loopers. We docked the boat next to a Ranger tug 31 and talked with that crew for over an hour and then met another couple for dinner that evening who were also doing the Great Loop. It was such a great evening! It was nice getting to know their stories and their backgrounds and their plans for the loop.  Before dinner, Richard and I toured the C&D Canal Museum and walked downtown and stopped by a local artist’s house/studio, and he had painted a picture of a tugboat in it’s heyday, probably 30 years ago, and it just so happened that the day before on the Sassafras River, we had come up upon a old boat yard, and this same boat was pretty much derelict and tied up to an old dock. It was serendipitous seeing the painting of this boat in its prime the day after seeing the old boat, 2 hours away on another river.

Today, May 2, we left Chesapeake City Dock and headed to Delaware City Marina, transiting the C&D Canal. The crew here are extremely helpful and knowledgeable and gave us a tide/current/weather briefing this afternoon so that we would be prepared to head South East on the Delaware River and into the Delaware Bay, heading to Cape May, NJ. We may have to wait a couple of days for a good weather window because the winds and currents are really kicking up around here. We went into downtown this afternoon and got ice cream and came back to the boat and sat and watched the sunset from the upper helm. 

Great Loop - Day 19

We stayed the day at Sassafras Harbor Marina in Georgetown and did boat chores. Richard got the “slimy grimy” granules out and mixed a solution to take the brown water stains off the boat. We worked on it for a couple hours and Richard got all the “grime” off the bow and exterior of the boat while I worked on stubborn stains along the walkways. After a break and a snack, we got on our bikes and rode into Galena to check it out. We stopped at the intersection that George Washington traveled along in 1774 on his way to and from the first continental Congress. He traveled this road on his 8 visits to Kent County. This evening Richard treated me to “date night” at the Kitty Knight House restaurant. The food was so yummy!! The Kitty Knight house in Georgetown played a part in the war of 1812. Catherine “Kitty”Knight saved two brick houses from being burned by the British by pleading for them and refusing to leave. The British spared her home and the neighboring house. Such interesting pieces of history in this small town.

Great Loop - Day 18

Great Loop - Day 18

We woke up to overcast skies and a chilly cabin but the water was peaceful. We thought about leaving to go to Chesapeake City, MD but checked the extended forecast and it was several more chilly and windy days. We decided to stay here at Georgetown. We took a dinghy ride to Sassafras Harbor Marina to check them out and found out we had found a gem of a marina. Fair rates and a marine store that puts West Marine to shame. The staff was so incredibly helpful and Richard was able to get the items he needed to make more repairs. We hoisted the bikes off the boat and took a ride into Cecilton, and stopped by the store and got more coffee pods for the keurig. Richard said it’s really the only time that I’m enthusiastic about riding many miles is for a coffee run. We rode 7 miles and the trip was a success 😁. We’re prob going to stay for another couple of days.. we’re hooked up to electricity for the chilly nights and there are several restaurants with crab cakes within a dinghy ride from here… priorities. Nothing like a Maryland crab cake!

We had a great day on the water, heading from Baltimore to an anchorage in Georgetown, MD. When we left Baltimore, it was 60 degrees and the winds were minimal, so it was such a pleasant crossing. We traveled 41.6 miles today, 5.5 hours. The stats and our path are in the pics. I’d just like to say that Richard has been a trooper throughout this journey. There’s hardly a day that goes by that he doesn’t have to work on something boat related. Today it was the fuel filter because the boat kept having a hard start, and the black tank vent filter. Since starting our journey, he’s worked on the lift pump, installed led lights to aid in cruising at night, replaced worn hoses and connectors, installed a fan in the v-berth, wired the upper helm so the 120v would work off the inverter, and the list goes on. I try to keep him fed, laundry washed, things neat and cleaned up because the Lord and everyone else knows that I’m not mechanically inclined (I do pass him tools when he asks for them and I’m getting pretty good at knowing the right ones now 🤣). I just wanted to give him a shout out because it’s a thankless job. We’ve got an older trawler, so work is to be expected, but from what I understand it’s a common thing with all boats no matter the age. Back to the anchorage this evening, I fished in this little cove, but didn’t catch anything. That’s ok, it’s still very peaceful and relaxing. I put a sun visor on and held a fishing pole and for a moment I reminded myself of my mom because that’s some of my best memories.. fishing with her with her sun visor on, just being content holding a pole.

Great Loop - Day 16

Great Loop-Day 16

What a surprise turn-around for our day. We had a relaxing morning, watching church and Sunday school online with Tabernacle Baptist Church (for our church family reading this…we really miss seeing you! But thanks to those of you who stay in touch with us. We really appreciate hearing from you). After church, Richard made us a late breakfast of yummy blueberry pancakes. Then we planned out our next few legs of travel. After a late lunch, we got on our bikes and rode to Camden Yard where the Baltimore Orioles play, then to the Inner Harbor, and around downtown. What a busy section of Baltimore!! It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at once trying to dodge people, other bikes, and subway trains (don’t ask 🤣). But to sum it up.. what an incredibly fun stay at Anchorage Marina!

Great Loop Days 14 & 15

We’ve stayed at Anchorage Marina in Baltimore for the past couple of days. The serenity of this marina, the proximity to grocery stores, small shops, eateries, coffee shops, West Marine, Ace Hardware, the inner harbor, the friendliness of the people here…. is what brought us back to this marina and what has kept us here for a couple days.. and we extended our stay another night. We’ve walked, and walked some more. We’ve ridden our bikes miles and miles, and yet we can’t get enough of this part of town (Canton). We will make our way North in the next few days toward the C&D canal and Delaware Bay, but for now, we’ve got more eating and shopping to do here 😁😁