But before we talk about our intended passage let's have a run down on our time in NY/NJ.
Liberty Landing Marina has been wonderful. The facilities are good and we have really appreciated being in a park. It was really easy to get on the bikes and take the kids to the playground or head downtown to get groceries. Their heated club house with wifi and hot showers, as long as you didn't expect to have one first thing in the morning, were a real sanity saver as it snowed a couple of times while we were there.
Transportation to Manhattan can be expensive if you rely on taking the ferry to the Financial District, $7 a person over the age of 5. But if you are okay to walk a little way to the New Jersey Light Rail System you can take the light rail to the PATH a subway line that takes you under the river and connects you directly to the Manhattan subway system. Needless to say the public transportation system in NY is FANTASTIC. The cheapest option for us was buying a family pass, though there are times when kids travel free or families do, there seemed to always be a cheaper way for us to travel so I recommend talking to one of the subway's ticketing agents, they were really friendly and helpful and eager to help us find the cheapest and fastest way to get where we wanted to go.
While in the NY area we visited the Museum of Natural History, Dinosaur Exhibit, Central Park and Time Square, and the NJ Science Museum on Liberty Island. We played at the playground near Liberty Landing Marina quite a bit and cycled quite a bit. We really enjoyed our time in this big city, even with a toddler who still has a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day;)
But we could not stay forever so one chilly morning we woke up before the sun had risen to take advantage of the rising tide to carry us up the Hudson River into Long Island Sound. We were travelling at 11knots at various times during this extremely fast trip up river. It was alot of fun!
And then it was all calm, chilly and clear sunny skies to take us on our way up Long Island Sound.
It took us a few days to make our way through this area before we got to Cape Cod.
Our first stop was West Harbour anchorage on Fishers Island. A decent anchorage for the night, but we could see no where to get ashore for a run around, but perhaps later in the year there are floating pontoons out for boaters to take advantage of.
We needed to pick up some fuel too, but we were so early in the season most fuel docks were not yet operational. We called around and eventually were lead to a marina up the Thames, in New London called, Burrs. It is worth remembering that they are open all year around because they supply fuel to the navy patrol boats who are out on patrol regularly.
When we arrived at the fuel dock/Marina we were received like long lost friends. The owner/manager of the marina was very welcoming and very helpful. We needed to buy a chart chip and he offered to drive John to West Marine and then on to the grocery store to pick up more milk, how I miss our Caribbean powdered milk, just so convenient, never goes off and always there when we needed it. He also let us stay alongside for the night so we didn't have to find somewhere to anchor after we filled up with fuel.The night was calm and chilly.
Unlike our travels in the Caribbean we needed to pay attention to the tides as they would affect our rate of travel by at least a knot, especially when trying to travel back down a tidal river. So after a good nights rest, we waited for the falling tide, which was late morning, and gracefully headed out of the Thames and onward to an anchorage near Wings Neck.
John helmed the majority of the night sail north. It was not a relaxing sail, with fog so thick he could only see a few meters in front of him, fishing boats out to set or collect their pots and then lobster pots to keep an eye out for as well, When darkness came the wind died and in order to keep our speed up through this tidal area we were motor sailing. We certainly did not want to fowl our prop, diving on a fowled prop in the Caribbean is a very different proposition to diving on one in frigid waters.Thankfully John's careful and attentive helming brought us calmly and safely to our anchorage for the night.
In the morning we made way to Onset, a tiny little town that would appear to exist simply for the summer boating industry. We saw on Active Captain that the moorings here can cost upwards of 80$ a night, but we were the only boat in the area and no moorings were laid so we went right alongside at the wharf, where normally tour boats would be docked.
We truly enjoyed our time in Onset. We found a great playground just over the hill from the wharf. There was a clean and modestly priced laundromat near the center of the village, The pizza restaurant was even open and serving. They had a small grocery store that had a little bit of everything but at a price. It was obvious that this town was normally teaming with visitors during the summer months. I am so glad we were here now, I don't think we would have liked the place as much during the summer.
We spent 5 days tide up nice and snug while the winds howled around us, waiting for the appropriate weather window to make our last big jump to Canada. Finally the morning came when it was time to make our leap. We had a small weather window of what looked to be 3 days of South to South Westerlies. Which would suit us just fine. But on the other side of it was a predicted Northerly Gale which looked like it would last for many days. We felt confident this was our window and so we jumped.
We left Long Island sound through the Cape Cod Canal on a crisp sunny March 31st morning. The wind had yet to fill in so we motored. We swooshed through the canal on a falling tide, stately white eider ducks dabbling, runners and walkers, taking their morning exercise unaware of the significance of the passage ahead us, floating past them as they continued on their morning rituals.
Once in the Cape (sails up, engine off) we saw WHALES! Whales ahead, whales to our starboard, to our port, way off in the distance. In our nearly two years of sailing on Dark Horse we had never seen a whale and here they were, though thankfully never so close we felt intrusive. We think they were all minke whales, but they could have been fin whales too, due to the shape of their dorsal fin, behaviour and historical sightings. No matter what kind of whale it was we all had such a wonderful time watching them rise to the surface breath and then gracefully slide back under the dark blue waves. I took it as a good omen for our crossing.
Our trip across from the US to Canada was easy. We had fair winds, from the predicted direction. The swell, while tall, was following us so just pushed us along nicely. We were able to sail with the heating on for a bit, but due to the wind direction we were getting washed with diesel fumes from the heater which made us all feel a bit queasy. so unfortunately we had to turn it off. The kids cuddled under a couple of duvets and continued to alternate between watching movies and jumping around in the cockpit.
As we drew closer to the NS coast the hazard of the lobster pot returned. The wind died down again so our dear old engine was put to use again, just to help us maintain speed, which meant we had to keep a very close watch for the floating lines and buoys as we closed with Shelburne.
We arrived late March 31st and anchored in Rose Bay and a little over an hour after we had dropped anchor an had resigned to bed the wind began to howl. The predicted gale had arrived and we had thankfully read the weather correctly and made it safely to Canada.
Next morning we made our way into Shelburne, and were able to find dockage at the town's commercial wharf. Here we were able to clear into Customs and Immigration and wait out the northerly.
