Atlantic Highlands NJ

We are in Atlantic Highlands NJ, just inside an area called Sandy Hook.  We are staged here to wait for a weather window to take us offshore to Cape May and the Delaware River.

We left the Thimble Islands on Wednesday 9/2/15 with plans to stop for the night at Port Jefferson on Long Island.  With the winds on the nose we decided to change our course and move further west to Huntington Harbor.  If we have to motor we might as well get as far each day as we can.  This is the payback for the leisurely downwind sails we had going east, now we need to go against the prevailing winds.  Last time we went all of the way into Huntington Harbor to anchor but this time we stayed at a nice pond off of the entrance with about 12 feet of water and protection from all directions.  We saved several hours by not going into the harbor and we had better protection.  In the morning we took our chances with the tide and motored out of the pond, with about 3-4 feet of water under the keel and headed back to Port Washington.

The trip to Port Washington was uneventful, no wind and flat calm water.  Once into the Bay we picked up one of the moorings and settled in.  Friday we were planning to take the train into NYC but just as we got ready to get into the dinghy it started to rain.  We called off the trip and spent the morning on the boat.  In the afternoon we went to town for groceries and then back to the boat to relax (nap).  I wasn’t too sure about going into the city on a holiday weekend but Saturday morning we decided to go anyway.  We caught the train in then took the subway to the South Side Seaport.  There is a ship there called The Peking which is rather famous.  It is one of the last of the steel hulled clipper ships.  We had seen a movie about the ship and took the opportunity to go aboard for a tour.  Once we finished there it was pass lunch time and I wanted to go back to Katz’s for another pastrami sandwich.  Instead of catching the subway we walked there.  This took us through Chinatown and the Bowery.  I really like walking around in Chinatown, everything they sell there is so interesting.  At Katz’s there was a long line but it moved quickly and we got to know a nice couple from Boston and had lunch with them.  From there we went to the 911 memorial and then down to Battery Park to see the new carousel.  We have seen a lot of carousels this trip since many towns have them but this was the firdt with fish instead of horses.  From there it was subway to Grand Central and a walk to Times Square to watch people.  From there we walked to Penn Station for our trip back to Port Washington.  A lot of walking but there is a lot to look at.

On Sunday morning I took the dinghy to a marina to buy some gas and get advice on where to anchor.  Port Washington offers free moorings for 48 hours and we were beyond that.  We needed to move off the ball or start paying.  This is a no-brainer for me, I am a cheap sailor.  We dropped the mooring and moved up the bay and anchored.  We had a lot of company, this being a holiday weekend, and a lot of locals take their boats to the area and anchor and raft up for the day and play in the water or just kick back on their water loungers.  The entertainment at the end of the day was watching a sailboat drag their anchor.  Normally this would not be funny but these guys deserved it and they didn’t cause any damage.  When they came in he chose the spot, told her to drop the anchor, backed up and at some point yelled for her to cleat it off.  I doubt very much that he actually knew how much rode he had out and what his final scope was  (how much anchor line in relation to the water depth).  Then three friends came out to tie up with him and spend the day.  Mid-afternoon the wind shifted 180 degrees and the tide came in, an additional 7 feet of water.  The wind shift meant that the pressure on the anchor was wrong and it would have to either hold as is or turn itself around and reset.  The extra weight from the boats rafted together and the extra depth from the incoming tide caused the anchor to come loose and could not reset.  Four boats tied together floating away.  It was quite the fire drill watching them scramble to get everything disconnected and the floating toys brought aboard.  Karma will probably get me for laughing but I’ll take the hit when it happens.

Monday was a quiet day, Cori took the Kayak to town and I chilled out on the boat.  We planned to leave on Tuesday but stayed another day to give us better currents while going through NYC.  We went to town to send off some mail, do a little shopping and have lunch.  Then it was back to the boat to get ready for the next day.

We got up early get started, we had a schedule to keep if we were going to make the trip down the East River.  The currents in the area called Hell Gate are severe, running over 4 knots at its highest and there are only a couple of times a day when you want to pass.  We made it through Hell Gate with only one problem, the autopilot locked up and would not let me steer when we had to make the dog-leg turn.  Quickly dropping down below to turn it off solved the problem.  What caught us by surprise was the current and sea-state after that.  The river splits when it gets to Roosevelt Island and with the wind on the nose we had 2-3 foot waves to beat through, not something I was expecting.  Going with the current pushing us an extra 1.5-2 knots it was a rough ride.  Once past the island things calmed down again and we had an uneventful passage down the harbor and across to Sandy Hook.  We proceeded down to Atlantic Highlands and dropped anchor behind the seawall.  Since we got such an early start we still had a lot of the day left so we took the dinghy to town.  After wandering around for a while and nothing else to do we stopped at a barbecue place for a couple of orders of ribs.  Once out of the restaurant we hurried back to the boat to get things closed up before the rain arrived.  It rained most of the evening and off and on during the night.

This afternoon we took the dinghy back to town for lunch at the bagel shop, bought some fresh roasted coffee from the coffee shop (fresh out of the roaster) and a trip to the grocery store for some eggs and a few other provisions.  It has been raining off and on during the afternoon and evening and is supposed to continue into the weekend.  We are staying here until we get a good forecast for the trip offshore to Cape May and the Delaware River.