Cold Feet, Wool Sweaters and Blustery Winds

The sun is shining, the wind howls through the rigging and the locals say this is all very unusual. A sailing friend on his way north to the North West Passage is convinced to pull into Halifax due to bergy bits off south-east Newfoundland. Other friends who returned to their winter-stored boat in Lunenberg still can’t take the shrink wrap off the boat otherwise the glue used in repairs will not harden.

All of the above have slowed our crawl north to Nova Scotia and our enthusiasm for cooler weather sailing is waning. Our eight years in the tropics is turning us into sailing sissies. Where’s our Canadian hardiness gone? I say “don’t just turn the heater on, turn it to max!”

While I paint a gloomy picture of the north east coast weather we are making the best of it. When we left Norfolk the temperature was in the mid 20s but by the time we reached Cape May the temperature had dropped to the high teens. Still bearable considering the sun shone and the water temperature was in the high teens. But still it did feel a lot cooler.

Business like Connie getting ready to depart Cape May. Note lack of short sleeves and shorts!

Cape May was a bit of a trial – three days ‘on the hook’ in winds up to 35 knots. Dragging anchor, shallow water and no showers. Well, no showers until the third day when we said enough is enough let’s go to a dock. 2 nights and US$239 later we say enough is enough and sail out. Yes, US$120/night and believe it or not that’s a common price for a 38 foot boat in a marina on the east coast. And no clean sheets are provided, no-one turns down the bed in the evening and then on top of that one also has to have the right change to pay for a shower! Should have just checked into a hotel and believe it or not it would have been cheaper!

We like Cape May. It’s an old resort town with a great history, a lovely pedestrian-only downtown and with numerous bicycle pathways to explore and no hills. On top of all this it has a very active offshore fishing fleet.

A myriad number of masts and a constant stream of fishing boats in and out of the harbour

To compliment the fishing industry are restaurants galore serving up great seafood. One of the oldest and largest restaurants is the Lobster House

Yeah, but we had crab cakes

So, on a full stomach it’s time to head north so it’s out of the harbour and under beautiful sailing conditions parallel the coast to our next stop Atlantic City. Atlantic City? Yup…

Our view of Atlantic City

This stop was not really planned but rather driven by weather conditions. What was to be an overnight stop turned into three nights trapped on the boat anchored in a river with a 3 kn current. Having spent all our gambling money in Cape May on 2 nights in a marina and no great music at the venues we stayed on board and, then, on the third morning hurtled out of the anchorage with the ebb current and out to an overnight sail to Block Island. The sailing was great despite the continual drop in temperature. There weren’t many ships in sight other than numerous cruise ships heading in and out of New York. We kept seeing helium ballons floating in the water that must have come from celebrations onboard the cruise ships – more plastic in the water!

Block Island – remote, windy, desolate but come July 4th there are apparently 2,000 boats that anchor in the bay. For us there were three boats. That was the first sign that we were early in the season. The wind howled and it was another 2 days before we got ashore. We took advantage of the opportunity, rented bikes and cycled completely around Block Island. Beautiful landscapes but sad to see there were almost no active farms left on the island. Most land has been bought by wealthy mainlanders using the properties for vacation homes. There were beautiful stone walls that encircled once productive fields but few of the old farmhouses still stood.

A sampling of one of the older properties

The landscape reminded me of Ireland. And I am sure many Irish settled here as this would have been one of the first islands the settlers saw upon arriving in the New World.

Almost every tourist town has one of these

Not my choice for chair colour but….

Sage is on the very right hand side about a mile from the closest landing spot. The bay is peppered with mooring balls

Now we are really feeling the cold. With water temperature of about 14C and 30knot winds we’re screaming ‘let’s go south’…