Actually we will be in Barnegat Township for a couple nights around the September 15th to 20th time frame. Plans are firming up for our cruise from Tonawanda to Chesapeake Bay via Erie Canal, Hudson RIver, NJ ICW, etc. We'll be buddy boating with our cruising pals from Flagstaff, AZ who are sailing their non-trailerable 31 foot sailboat from the Apostle Islands in northern Wisconsin across Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie to Tonawanda and on down. But the worst thing that can happen to a slow boat cruise is to be forced into keeping to a tight schedule. Our friends have from July 5th when they depart Washburn, WI to a hard end date of October 1st when they have to be back to their home in Flagstaff for some necessary medical procedures that can't be put off. The plan was for them to get to Annapolis then lay their boat up for the winter there, fly back to Duluth, MN, rent a car, drive over to Washburn to get to their own car where they left it at their former marina (they needed to drive from Flagstaff to Wisconsin by car in order to bring a lot of stuff with them), then drive the 1,760 miles back to their home in AZ. That's at least 3 & 1/2 days & 3 nights of driving 500 miles per day from Wisconsin to Flagstaff. They'll need to allow themselves at least a week to 10 days from the time they park their boat, get it put up on the hard & winterized until the time they get home. That means being off the water no later than September 20th. So now the plan is for them to only sail as far as Barnegat, NJ, then store their boat for the coming winter season at Mariners Marina across the bay from Barnegat Inlet & fly back to Duluth from Philly. By ending the trip in Barnegat instead of Annapolis that will allow more time so as to not have to be in such a rush & less hurried so we can see & do more with stops along the way & especially in NYC. That will gain them 5 or 6 days to a week for more in port time or at least compensate for unexpected weather delays.Cape May would be nice. Or Barnegat Bay. Yup, being selfish with locations lol.
We're not tied to that same tight schedule as they are while buddy boating from Tonawanda, so then after the stop in Barnegat we'll continue on our own down the ICW to Cape May, up Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal and on down the Chesapeake for a fall cruise and end up in Seaford, DE on the Nanticoke River in mid to late October before we haul out, rent a car to drive back to Tonawanda to get our own truck & Trailer out of storage, dead head back to Delaware, haul out, & drive home to Phoenix with boat in tow.
