Week 55: June 18 – June 23 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

After three days, the wind finally died down but heavy fog moved in. Then, it started to rain. Our plan had been to leave to catch the rising tide but we still had a shot to leave later in the day and make it to Atlantic City before dark. We impatiently waited for the fog to lift. Unfortunately, it only thickened and it looked as though we were staying in Avalon another night. The only positive thing that happened on Thursday was seeing a turtle on one of Kodey’s walks.

Friday morning we left around 5:30am with clear skies but there was a threat of patchy fog. All went well for a few hours when we needed to stop at the JFK bridge due to fog – could barely see the bridge – and anchored for 1/2 hour. Fog cleared and we continued to Atlantic City. We arrived at Kammerman’s Marina at 10:22am, the earliest we ever arrived at a marina for a night. Kammerman’s is a small marina that is still undergoing renovations from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The docks need much work but we were only planning to stay for one night and a small marina works better with a dog. The Golden Nugget is huge and depending on where we may have a slip could be a very long walk to get Kodey to land.

Since the weather and wind looked good for the next four days, we were hoping to be back in New York by Tuesday. Watching the tides and wind for the next few days is critical and it seemed that if we left very early daily, we would have less wind, a few hours of rising tide, then slack tide and would be at a marina before low tide and increased winds.

Saturday morning we left around 5:30am again and while the weather and wind cooperated, it was basically a white-knuckle ride because of the water depth even though it was a rising tide. We arrived safely at Holiday Harbor in Waretown, NJ, right near the Barnegat Light. Upon arrival, we were visited by a gold looper who completed the loop in 2005.

Sunday was another early day since we have found the wind to be less earlier in the day and also less boat traffic on the NJ ICW. We were heading to Manasqaun and the Brielle Yacht Club and arrived around 9:00am. Manasquan is an extremely busy location and we were very close to the railroad bridge at the opening to the ocean where we would be heading the next morning. Lots of traffic on Father’s Day and fairly rocky tied up at the fuel dock.

We woke up to another good weather day and the ocean was magnificent. The railroad bridge was closed so we had a ten minute wait but then it was a smooth ride up to Staten Island and the Great Kills Yacht Club. Because of COVID-19, the yacht club wasn’t really open since New York was just entering Phase II. We spent a quiet day and night on the boat and planned to leave the next day for home. This would be our last night on the loop.

On Tuesday morning we left even earlier than usual – 5:17am. We had a pleasant ride up through New York Harbor with little traffic – a few ferries, one high speed from Atlantic Highlands and a few Staten Island ferries. There were a number of ships anchored in the harbor but we only had one behind us moving towards the Passaic River. We were fortunate to be able to get some great photos of the Statue of Liberty but since we were traveling alone, we were unable to have our photo taken with the statue in the background.

Once we were back on the Hudson River, we felt like we were home even though we still had a number of hours ahead of us. We were back in familiar waters. One of our yacht club members works in NYC and sent us a text that he would be at the Intrepid and will be taking photos as we passed. After a number of photos, we continued up the river only to receive another message to look for him north of the George Washington Bridge. It was very cool to have photos of our last leg of this journey.

At 12:08pm we crossed our wake at Peekskill Light “FL12” and back in our slip at 12:20pm. We were greeted by a number of yacht clubs members who were also prepared to catch lines and help us dock.

After 384 days, we are back in New York. Here is a snapshot of our “loop” by the numbers:
Total Days: 384
Marinas: 111
Marina Nights:293
Miles Traveled: 5,674
Engine Hours: 787.1
Looper Cards: 178
States Visited: 19
Times Grounded: 4
Times Kodey Swam: 2
Highest Temp: 101⁰ Chattanooga, TN
Lowest Temp: 29⁰ Panama City Beach, FL

A Looper Playlist:
Cruisin’ the Great Loop with Susan, Peter & Kodey (the Answer) compiled by our son-in-law Jeff.