"At Last" is Repaired….at last!

Dave and Gail enjoying retirement
(Still Pond on "Believe A Bull")

June 10 - June 14, 2015

On Wednesday, 10 boats leave the marina and head to Atlantic City.  "At Last" remains behind awaiting her repairs.  I decide to do laundry again.  Dave always says "take the opportunity when you have it"….clean clothes are good.  As I am waiting for my laundry, I meet Bob Ciupa who is aboard "D. W. Crow", a Cabot 36' sailboat.  He is Canadian and is a wealth of information concerning the Northern Channel and Georgian Bay.  Bob and his wife have spent the last 6 years traveling on their boat.  They have been to the islands, Europe…Italy, France, Portugal, done most of the Great Loop and are now returning to Ontario from the Bahamas.  I am amazed that all that travel has taken place on a 36' boat….Bob leaves me his info and encourages us to contact him with any questions we might have as we continue on our travels.

June 11, 2015

Being towed from slip

Thursday is finally here and "At Last" is being hauled at 8:00 am!  Mark Schrenk from Mid-Coast Marine arrives promptly at 8:00 and Charlie and his crew from Utsch's tow us over to the lift.

"At Last" in lift

Dave waves after lowering bimini

Zinc has been successfully replaced!

"At Last" being lowered to return to her slip

Dave soon discovers that he will have to lower the bimini in order to get the boat on land.  As soon as we are on land, Mark and his crew quickly get to work.  (We are being charged by the hour to hang in the lift.)  When the boat is hauled, it is immediately obvious that the bottom needs some attention.  Although there are barnacles blocking some of the thru hulls, the rudder and prop could use a little paint and the zinc on the stern needs to be replaced, we are very pleased that the paint job on the hull which we did almost 2 years ago has held up very well.  Dave gets to work right away and successfully addresses all the issues while Mark and his crew replace the stuffing box.  After about three hours of work "At Last" is returned to her slip where Mark adjusts the new stuffing box.  It will be necessary to adjust the box for the first 5 hours to make sure it is dripping water correctly.  Dave and I clean up the boat….it has been a messy job…..settle our bill with Utsch's, and walk to town for a late lunch, early dinner.  We are excited about finally leaving Cape May tomorrow.

June 12-13, 2015

We are up early and leave our slip at Utsch's (after 8 days) and head toward Atlantic City.  We have decided to just do 44 miles today and make sure the that everything is working correctly.  The Atlantic Ocean is calm and we are happy to be on our way.  The weather is warm, but it is a bit overcast.  As directed by Mark, Dave checks the dripping status of the stuffing box once an hour.  It is fine for the first two hours.  Upon checking it during the 3rd hour, Dave needs to make an adjustment.  He uses the tools that he purchased from Mark and successfully adjusts the box.  These adjustments are made while we are underway at normal speed.  So Dave is in the bilge, laying on top of/over the shaft making these turns on the nut on the box in a very limited space, while I am supposedly driving the boat!  When we are about 6 miles out of Atlantic City, Dave makes a final check on the box and determines it needs another adjustment.  Down into the bilge he goes again and suddenly he shouts "Gail, neutral, take it out of gear!!!!" I follow his directions.  While he is tightening one of the nuts, his hand slips and the nut starts to spin off the stuffing box.  He is able to put it back on, but when he tightens it, the box has no water flow at all….very bad….or it has a hairline steady drip.  After about 45 minutes, Dave decides to leave it with the hairline drip and call Mark.  Mark arranges to meet us at the fuel dock of the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City.  He arrives around 12:30 and quickly discovers that during the repair at Utsch's, the melted plastic parts from the dripless had not been flushed out and some of the plastic got caught in the packing.  Mark flushes everything out and changes out the packing.  Then we take a 3 hour ride around Atlantic City and Brigatine Bay.  Dave drives while Mark makes the adjustments on the drip of the stuffing box.  Everything appears to be working great…..AT LAST!  We return Mark to the dock and anchor in Brigatine Bay, near Rum Point.

Our anchorage in Brigatine Bay

Mark is from this area and has suggested we anchor here.  We find it to be a very well protected anchorage.  When we are settled, Dave takes a swim before dinner.  During the evening, we watch as the state police, marine division, tow a boat that is dragging (no one aboard) and also we watch a sail boat anchor and when he decides to leave, the tide  has gone out and he is aground.  Again a police boat arrives and stays with the sailboat until Sea Tow comes to tow him to deeper water.  It takes some time for the boat to accomplish this. Quite the evening entertainment.

View of Harrah's Casino at night from our anchorage

In the morning we dinghy into the small town of Brigatine to reprovision at Acme.  We return to the boat and just relax for the day.  Tomorrow we will head to Sandy Hook, NJ.

June 14, 2015

We are up before first light and head back out into the Atlantic for our trip up the coast to Sandy Hook, NJ.  It is going to be a long day….about 80 miles.  We pull the anchor at 5:30.  It is a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise on the Atlantic

The day is warm and sunny and the water is very calm.  Just the way I like it.  Along the way we see some amazing sights in the water.  There are several dolphins frolicking in the ocean.  We see them throughout most of the trip.  It is so nice and calm that Dave and I decide to sit on the bow.  All of the sudden I see something on the surface of the water.  It is a black tipped shark…..it moves too fast and I am not able to capture it with my camera.  Later I do a little research and learn that this type of shark often lies on the surface if it is attempting to attack a school of fish.  A couple of hours later, I sight a sea turtle swimming close to the surface, but once again, the boat is headed in the opposite direction and I am unable to get a photo.  The cruise remains smooth and steady throughout the day.  Around 4:30 we round Sandy Hook and head for our anchorage.  As soon as we turn the corner, the wind whips up and the water becomes very choppy.  We finally anchor near the Coast Guard Station, but it turns out to be a bumpy night with lots of wind and a lot of water movement.

June 15 -June 17, 2015

We haul the anchor early on Monday morning.  We would like to catch the tide correctly to get through NYC and also we want to try to avoid some of the rush hour ferry traffic.  Unfortunately it is a gray and  overcast day. The tide is with us and we make very good time.  Our travel through the harbor is a lot easier than other times we have been through here.  There is minimal ferry traffic and we only encounter one or two barges/freighters.  The skyline is difficult to capture in the mist and our pictures of Lady Liberty do not do her justice.  We continue up the Hudson with NJ on our left and NY on our right.  No matter how many times we have made this transit, it is always exciting even if it isn't sunny.

Hazy view of NY skyline

Lady Liberty….beautiful even in the haze

Ellis Island

Staten Island ferries passing during rush hour

Today is a very easy ride.  We arrive at Half Moon Bay Marina at around 11:00.  Steve, the dock master is quite the character, but he is very helpful and informative about the area.  There are a few Loopers here.  Spirit, Nearly Perfect, Renegade, and Field Trip, who were in Cape May when we were,

Half Moon Bay Marina

are in this marina as well.  It seems several other Loopers whom we met in Cape May left this morning to continue their trek north.  We spend Monday cleaning up and organizing the boat.  Tomorrow we will rent a car, grocery shop, and do laundry.  Our plan is to visit West Point on Wednesday.