MD, DE, NJ & NY
16 May 2012
12 May, Roger left the boat for a shuttle ride up to Philadelphia Airport where he met his family; they're spending time with Karen's family and showing off the grandkid. Dean and I made an early morning departure from the Chesapeake City Dock and continued eastbound through the C-D Canal, then into Delaware Bay and south. I posted several pics from the run down the bay on FaceBook. Something I didn't expect, was the Cape May channel. Down at the end of Delaware Bay, rather than rounding Cape May, NJ up into the Atlantic, there's a short canal cut through to an inner bay which among other things, includes the USCG East Coast Training Center. My old Banzai Bozo mate, Jim K trained there many, many, many years ago -- did I mention it was a long time ago? -- as did his daughter's husband Jeff. Through Cape May and early evening out into the Atlantic.
Dean and I split the night up into 2-hour shifts, alternating napping and watching, going sea buoy to sea buoy up the Jersey Shore, admiring the lights and occasionally playing a bit of Dodge 'Em with other coastal traffic. 10-15 knot winds on the stern or quarter and 1-3' seas made for a very benign passage. We rounded Sandy Hook into what is essentially outer NY harbor, tying up at Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina about 0900 Sunday 13 May.
My cousin Pete's whole family -- Jo, Carl, Maggie, Cee-Cee, Jackie and Laurie -- who live nearby, as well as my brother Tom and cousin Steve (Pete's brother) all stopped by the boat, and we had a nice evening. Cousin Steve, you may remember, has a family in Dumageite, Negros Island, Philippine Islands; there are photos on the blog back at 29 Feb '08 - 3 March '08. Steve has a business in NJ which he works part of the year, the remainder spent with Connie and the kids in PI. They are currently building a house there on property they own. Steve is dreaming of a "cat boat" to either ship or sail to PI.
Monday morning 0600 14 May, Jubilee departed Atlantic Highlands with Dean, brother Tom, cousin Carl and me aboard, heading up through NY harbor and past one icon after another -- Verrazano Narrow Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Manhattan skyline, the new World Trade Center, Sing Sing prison etc, etc. I've posted quite a few photos of these on the DavidEllis Nagle Boat page of FaceBook. We started with high overcast skies, but further up the Hudson River, well beyond NYC, it started to rain, very much in earnest by the time we tied up at Half Moon Bay Marina, Croton-on-the-Hudson.
We were met, in the rain, by John & Carol (and Steve the harbor guy) members-in-waiting of the Joy Duck Club. I saw their boat under construction at Seahorse Marine last March, when David and I were there doing inspections on his DD462 Shearwater. John has made some pretty major changes to the boat, including moving the bulkhead between the galley and aft cabin back and having a stern-thruster built into the swim step. A quick visit with Dean, John and Carol and off to the local Amtrak station for a commuter run down to Penn Station NYC. Whoa, talk about stepping from one world to another -- the serene cruise up the Hudson to the bustle of train station, subway, and Manhattan sidewalks was a bit dizzying (I need some foreplay here!) Tom, Carl and I ducked into McSorley's Irish Pub (oldest such in NYC) to soothe my nerves. We did serious damage to their stock of ale, and also to a couple of New Hampshire physicians celebrating their 13th anniversary -- kids! Upon being thrown out of McSorley's (only kidding), a cab ride brought us to the Sea Streak high speed ferry back to Atlantic Highlands and Tom's car. A long, but very interesting day!
15 May, brother Tom and I hung out, something we haven't done in many years, and it was great. Tom is 13 years younger than me; I'm the oldest, and he's the youngest of 8. Though we have the same parents and siblings, our perceptions of our childhood, are very different (and very much the same). We hung out in Killkenny's, McGovern's and the Spanish Pavillion. We don't seem to do the local pub thing well in CA; I know it's 'mother's milk' for my friend Mac in AUS; but it's definitely alive and well in Newark. At McGovern's, one of the owners being a Newark fire-fighter, and former rugby player, we had a great time trading cop-fireman insults and other such banter. Turns out the other brother-owner is married to a Nagle from the old country, and her brother, Mike Nagle, also works there and has an interest in the business. I was in there 5 minutes and felt entirely at home.
It's 16 May, as I'm writing this. Tom and I will head into NYC this evening to meet Kate, a member of our extended family, who I haven't seen since she was at SRJC. I'm looking forward to re-connecting with her. Tom's great friend Louie, also a NJ lawyer, will hopefully join us. I anticipate a fun night. I miss Dorothy, Rusty & Rascal; wish they were here to experience all this. Dorothy though, is hanging with daughter Kate, who has an appointment with a C-section next week. I'm looking forward to meeting DJ!
Tomorrow morning, Roger and I will hook up at Penn Station NY, and take the train back up to Jubilee, getting underway later in the morning. The adventure continues....