We're at it again!
- aandgleger
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Happy Tuesday morning (9/23/25)! As I begin to draft this post, we are cruising north-northwest up the Delaware Bay! But I am getting ahead of myself, let me back up.
In my last post, Gerry and I reached mile marker zero in Norfolk, VA, and I was heading home to help a friend who was expecting her second child. I will come back and tell you about our amazing summer, but for now, I'll discuss the first few days of our trip south and our plans for the next few months.
On Sat 9/20, we completed our final Cortina cruise (I will write a separate blog about that fun work this summer) and were packed and ready to depart Ram Island YC first thing Sunday morning. Thank you, John (club Dock-master), for letting us stay on the dock the last week to prepare! We pushed off the dock at 6:30 am and ran 118 miles west down Long Island Sound, around New York City, and picked up a mooring at Richmond County Yacht Club in Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island, NY. The wind was behind us and the current with us, so we made great time. We were fortunate enough to see Ava and her Rutgers University sailing team off Kings Point as we cruised by.
This is the 4th trip with AdventureUS through NY. We traveled under 10 different bridges, starting with the Throgs Neck Bridge and finishing with the Verrazano Bridge. A couple of points to mention: we did not see the Seaplane approach, but we heard it as it landed a couple of hundred yards away. And the NYPD approached with lights blaring to ensure we avoided the UN Security Zone.
As we have experienced before, once we were under the Verrazano Bridge, conditions deteriorated, so we were happy to be heading west and tucking into Great Kills Harbor. We headed to https://marinacafesiny.com/. No happy hour as it was Sunday, but the atmosphere and crowd were fun… we thought we were in an episode of The Sopranos!
Back to the boat on the club's sinking launch…, we relaxed and went to bed early. The alarm went off early again, and we departed at 6:15 am with first light. We were heading another 120 miles down the New Jersey shore to Cape May. The wind was light with 4-6 foot swells from the East, so we stayed offshore, and conditions improved the further south we went.
We pulled into Cape May Canal around 2:45 pm. I was happy to stop moving! We tied up at https://southjerseymarina.com/
We have stayed here before; they have great floating docks, fuel, and pump-out facilities at every slip, as well as amazing showers and restrooms. We were next to Sol Shine, a massive yacht that operates regularly with one of its three owners on board. The Crew was super friendly.
We ate Chili on board, walked around, and had a cocktail at https://thelobsterhouse.com/
And met some super nice people. Again, we were up early, at 5:30 am, and off the dock at 6:30. Our plan for today is to sail 115 miles to Annapolis. The challenge is that we have to go north up Delaware Bay, west across the C&D Canal, and then south down the Chesapeake Bay. The wind and current are with us as we head north, but we will have to see how heading south is; the wind may be on our nose!
So what is our fall plan?
I found out this Spring that Ashley, my replacement when I left my job last summer, was pregnant, and the company was trying to figure out what to do. As the company has been so good to me for over 20 years, I decided to offer to cover her maternity leave. They jumped at the idea!
I will be taking a train from Norfolk, VA, back to New London on Tuesday, Oct 7, to return to work temporarily. I will be in my office in East Hartford one day a week and will work 30 hours per week for the remainder of the year.
I was the Director of Human Resources for Aldin Associates/Savin Brands. We were a diversified retailer that operated as a gasoline distributor, owned one gas station, and managed 8 Wings Over restaurants and 10 Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurants.
AdventureUS will spend November and December on the East Coast of Florida in Daytona at https://halifaxharbormarina.com/
Gerry has a few different friends to assist him in bringing the boat down the ICW to Daytona for the end of the year.
Our plan is to spend January in the Keys and then spend February in the Bahamas for three months. Again, that is as far as the plan goes!
Until next time!