Heading North ~ Chesapeake to Canada
After a break at home welcoming two new grandbabies to the family we returned to the boat in Oxford, MD on June 5th and after a day reprovisioning we started the next leg of our journey.
Boat Move from
Florida to Maryland
As a bit of a catch up, in March the boat was in Punta Gorda on the west coast of Florida. We decided to move the boat via truck on land to Oxford, MD on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
The cost of moving the boat by land was not that much more than moving by water and it was quicker and less wear and tear on the boat.
From Oxford we made a short run to Kent Narrows just east of where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge crosses the bay from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore. We took the opportunity of being back in Maryland to have dinner with some high school friends before heading further north.
On our run up the Chesapeake we crossed the mouth of the Patapsco River where in the distance we could see the remnants of the Key Bridge, which just over two months earlier was struck by a container ship leaving Baltimore Harbor. Seeing the remains of the bridge off in the distance was somewhat surreal as we had passed under the bridge back in October 2023 on our visit to Baltimore.
I remember when the Key Bridge was opened. It was 1977, the year I graduated from high school.
From Kent Narrows we traveled 62 NM to the top of the Chesapeake Bay, through the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal to Delaware City at the top of Delaware Bay. The Chesapeake was a little choppy so we were relieved when we entered the protection of the C&D Canal.
The C&D Canal is only 14 miles long connecting the Delaware and Chesapeake bays however it is a very important waterway in that 40% of all ships that enter the Baltimore Harbor pass through the C&D canal, which is as much as 25,000 ships per year. I suspect ship traffic was light when we were passaging the canal as the access to Baltimore Harbor was still being restricted due to the Key Bridge disaster.
The C&D Canal was original opened almost two hundred years ago in 1829 and was originally private with ships paying a fee to pass through the canal. It wasn’t until almost a hundred years later in 1919 that the canal was purchased by the US government, after which it was widened and fees removed.
In Delaware City we met a number of other “Looper” boats for a mini-rendezvous. It was great to meet with fellow loopers, many of whom we would meet up with many more times on our travels.
We made the decision to delay our departure from Delaware City for a day to let the wind die down as Delaware Bay is notorious for rough seas caused by prolonged winds down the length of the bay. The dockmaster gave a weather report each evening and stressed the affect of wind on the bay’s wave height.
Also know as fetch, fetch length is a key factor in predicting wave height. Wind speed + duration + longer fetch length creates larger waves. The conditions in Delaware Bay often have all of these factors and create seas that are not favorable to boaters.
Some boats did not heed the weather report and were beat up in 5+ foot seas as they headed down Delaware Bay, some to Cape May, NJ others to Lewes, DE. Hearing reports from these boats reinforced the need to always monitor weather forecasts and talk to locals to refine route plans.
Up to this point I relied almost solely on wind forecasts loosely in line a system called the Beaufort Scale, which is a guideline for what can be expected in certain condition. It assumes open ocean conditions with unlimited fetch.
Most of the time we monitor the wind forecast and usually avoid open water anytime the wind forecast is greater than 12-14 knots and for sure if the forecast was 15 knots or greater. Even with this guideline we experienced some uncomfortable sea conditions both in the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and it was not until I learned more about wind and wave Fetch did I understand more the link between wind speed and wave height in a given area.
Fetch Chart
The chart above links wind speed and wave height via the concept of fetch. This chart explains why there is not a direct correlation between speed and wave height, in other words why sometimes there are 1 foot waves with a 10 knot breeze and other times 2 foot waves. https://www.boatsafe.com/understanding-utilizing-secrets-waves/
Delaware Bay to Cape May
As we left Delaware City the seas were calm and glad we waited the extra day for the winds to die.
As we entered Cape May Canal we passed the Cape May Lewes Ferry which brought back memories as I had ridden it many times during my commute between Maryland and Cape May
We spent one night at South Jersey Marina, the same marina I worked on the charter fishing boat Bonita under Captain Dick Weber’s tutelage from 1976 through 1979. We had dinner with Dick’s son and daughter and we spent the evening reminiscing about years past.
This was another example of times on our loop journey we were reminded of past memories and created new ones.
Cape May to New York City
After a great, albeit short stay in Cape May we set out for the 135 NM trip up the coast to New York City and the entrance to the Hudson River. The route for this leg of the loop journey is often debated as the ICW in New Jersey is plagued with shallow water from severe shoaling. Because of this concern and the fair weather report on the day we were leaving Cape May we decided to head offshore into the Atlantic Ocean for the cruise north.
It was a beautiful morning, however, as we approached Atlantic City seas were building making for a less than comfortable ride. As the seas grew past 3-4 feet we decided to change course and transit the ICW from Egg Harbor to Brielle, NJ. We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the area as we wove through Barnegat Bay, keeping a close eye on the channel and depth.
After one night at the Brielle Yacht Club we eased back into the Atlantic for the short run up to the entrance New York Harbor. As we were leaving Manasquan we reached out to other loop boats in the area via Nebo to buddy boat for photos as we pass the Statue of Liberty. Special thanks to Soul of a Sailor for the picture of Odysea II in front of the Statue of Liberty.
It was a bit intimidated as we entered New York Harbor in our little tug as we were trying to hover in front of the Statue of Liberty for photos. The culprits of this intimidation were the countless ferries crossing between New York and New Jersey on direct routes at 10+ knots, which threw off quite a wake. The views and the memories were worth it though.
We spent one night at Liberty Landing marina in Jersey City, NJ, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan so we had an amazing view of the NYC Manhattan skyline. This was our most expensive marina stay so far on the journey, however still much cheaper than a downtown NYC hotel and you could not beat the views.
From Jersey City we headed up the Hudson River past Manhattan on the east and the cliffs of the Palisades on the west. We picked up some family members who live in the area for the cruise north and it became evident quickly that they had never seen their city from the river, which is probably the case for the vast majority of New Yorkers.
We spent three days in Croton on the Hudson and rented a car to explore the area from Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown up to Hyde Park and the Culinary Institute of America.
Even though we were in a protected marina the wind and waves of the river made its way through the marina’s break-wall and rocked us quite a bit. Cruising the Hudson was beautiful and even though it is a river the currents are affected by ocean tides by as much as two to four knots. Because of this it was advantageous to plan our movements northward on a flood tide.
Traveling north from Croton on the Hudson we passed the US Military Academy at West Point. Although we visited West Point 24 years ago on our trip around the US its grandeur seemed much greater from the water.
United States Military Academy at West Point
As we progressed north, we passed a series of lighthouses originally built in the early 1800s. Most have been rebuilt and preserved over the years to their current condition.
As we explored the Hudson, we spent one night each in Hyde Park, Hudson and Albany.
North of Albany we passed through the Troy Federal Lock and Dam, which separates the upper and lower Hudson River. The lock raised 14 feet and was the first of many locks we would pass through on this segment of the journey.
After passing through the Federal Lock, we turned west and entered the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal was completed almost 100 years ago in 1825 to create a navigable route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
At its peak in 1855, 33,000 commercial ships passed through the canal. In the early 1900s the canal was updated to form the Erie Barge Canal. The updated canal opened in 1918, was wider and straighter and the number of locks reduced from 83 to 57.
Erie Barge Canal
What’s amazing is that in addition to the 83 locks on the original canal there were 37 aqueducts that in most cases carried canal traffic over other bodies of water. We passed the ruins of one such aqueduct in Camillus where canal traffic once transited over Nine Mile Creek. This aqueduct has been restored and can still be transited on a side trip off the canal.
Aquaduct across Nine Mile Creek in Camillus, NY
Boat transiting Camillus Aqueduct (https://eriecanalcamillus.org/visit-us/aqueduct/)
The efficiency and competitiveness of the canal faded as railroads became more prevalent in the early 1900s and then trucking took over in the later half of the century. The canal shifted to solely recreational in 1994.
As we met other loopers on the Hudson River and Erie Canal we learned more about the different route options for completing the northern section of the loop. Our selected route would take us through the eastern section of the Erie Canal then north to Oswego, NY via the Oswego Canal and then across Lake Ontario to Canada and into the Trent Severn Waterway.
We met a number of loopers that were traversing the entire Erie Canal to Buffalo, NY then around the US side of Lake Erie and Lake Huron before crossing into Lake Michigan.
Other loopers bypass the Erie Canal totally and travel up the upper Hudson River, across the St. Lawrence Waterway entering the Rideau Canal in Ottawa before joining the Trent Severn waterway west of Kingston, ON.
These different route options are one reason loopers do a second and third loop on different routes. This map from AGLCA helps you understand these various routes.
Great Loop Route Options (https://www.greatloop.org/great-loop-route.html)
Before we turned north on the Oswego Canal we took a side trip to the Finger Lakes, an area where I grew up. We turned off of the Erie Canal onto the Cayuga Seneca Canal and then into Cayuga Lake. We traversed the lake from north to south and stayed at Allan H. Treman State Marine Park on the outskirts of Ithaca, NY. We took advantage of the airport in Ithaca to make a trip back to Texas for a visit with family.
Once we were back on the boat we traveled back up Cayuga Lake and turned west on the Cayuga Seneca Canal to Seneca Falls where we tied up on the town wall for the evening. After an evening visiting with family that live nearby and listening to music in the park we back tracked to the Erie Canal and turned north on the Oswego Canal at Three Rivers Junction. After a night on the town wall in Phoenix we made it to Oswego, NY and prepared to cross Lake Ontario.
When we left Oswego the next morning the lake was calm although there was a 8-10 knot breeze. The crossing from Oswego to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River was about 40 miles and the steady breeze over this amount of open water kicked up a 2-3 foot beam sea that made for a bit of an uncomfortable crossing. We adjusted our direction to try to shift the seas aft, the problem was we had to turn into the waves later to make it to our destination.
As we entered the St. Lawrence River we discovered the community dock in Cape Vincent, NY and pulled in with a huge sigh of relief. Huge thanks to the village of Cape Vincent for investing in this great, welcoming amenity.
After our peaceful stay in Cape Vincent we made the short run to Clayton, NY home to the infamous Antique Boat Museum. The museum boasts over 300 boats and countless marine artifacts. An amazing place to visit if you like old boats.
After two nights in Clayton we had to clear out to make room at the marina for boats arriving for the annual charity poker run. We eased up the St. Lawrence River past Boldt Castle before anchoring in a secluded cove inside Wellesley Island.
We had planned to stop and tour Boldt Castle, however as we approached the dock it was evident a visit was not as easy as we had thought. Tour boats lined the dock to drop off and pick up visitors from both the US and Canada sides of the St. Lawrence River and Canadian visitors had the added burden of needing to pass through immigration. We decided a drive by in the boat was sufficient. We were especially impressed with the castle’s boat house. The history of Boldt Castle is sad and somewhat adds to its interest and draw. Construction of the castle started in 1900 however was stopped abruptly in 1904 when George Boldt’s wife died. The castle sat unfinished for 70 years until the Thousand Island Bridge Authority purchased it for $1 and pledged to use all funds to refurbish the property.
After our peaceful night at anchor we were ready to make way to Kingston Ontario and the next phase of our journey and adventure in Canada.
Since entering New York Harbor we traveled 507 NM (583 miles), met a number of family members and new friends and made countless memories.
Canada and the Trent Severn Waterway are next….