Thursday May 26: New York City!

 The morning was hazy on Tuesday as we headed out of the Cape May inlet. Weather was for very low winds so it made it an easy decision to travel to Atlantic City on the ocean side rather than on the New Jersey intercoastal waterway.

It's quite shallow and guidebooks tell you that if your boat draws more than 4 1/2 feet don't even think about it! And if you do go, travel only between the time the tide is half risen to when it has half fallen - especially the part between Cape May and Atlantic City.

After 44 miles and 6 hours we spotted the entrance to Atlantic City. The casinos were VERY easy to spot even through the haze.

We scored a great dock at the Aquarium docks just inside the inlet. What's not to like about that? Even included admission to the aquarium :-)

Steve in particular is always a sucker for the fish tanks.

Guess maybe he should have stuck with that Marine Biology major in college .....

Plus he seems to make a pretty good turtle ;-)


After a peaceful night (and a ride around for Steve in search of a few groceries) we were off again early Wednesday morning.

We originally planned to go outside again as the weather was going to allow it but after seeing the waves would be from the East, we elected to just go inside.

This section of the intercoastal is not as problematically shallow as the previous section from Cape May to Atlantic City.

We did though find one inlet in particular that had major shifts in the original route due to the damaging winds and tidal surges of Hurricane Sandy.  It's still very well marked but nothing hardly close to what the chart plotter shows as the way through. Rule Number 1: follow the visual aids - not the chartplotter!! This rule has served us well ....

It's very different travel through the marshes of New Jersey rather than traveling offshore three or so miles - with sandy beaches lining the shores of New Jersey.

Here's it's many, many birds in the marshes along with folks caring for the fishnets in the shallows.


The route inland was a bit longer by 4 miles but was way better than spending 8 hours in broadside swells on the ocean. The most interesting passage is the cut about 4 miles from the Manasquan inlet. Crazy current - fortunately going our way!

Once at the marina at which we were spending the night, things became quite interesting.

This boat had been towed in by SeaTow - and parked in "our" spot. So we temporarily docked elsewhere.

But shortly after we were docked, this boat headed off again. Ok - that was easy!

Not so much. He tried to turn around and come back into the marina. Lost one of his transmissions so had only one engine and ended up slammed against the bridge because of the current.

The tow boat picked him up and towed him back to the spot in front of us - held off of us only by Steve being able to push him off.

Whew. Disaster averted as the damage to his boat was minimal considering the situation.

Time for us to pull forward. Easy. Just to a dock 20 feet forward of us. Into the current. Extra guy from the marina to "help us". Whatever.

So we move forward. Extra guy tells me to slow down. I ignore him. Extra guy tells me again to slow down.

Shouldn't have listened. I know how to dock this boat but thought, well, he maybe knows more than I do about docking in this current. He didn't.

Ripped the railing right off as the end of the open gate caught on one of the pilings.

But they were great about getting someone to look at it. In the end Steve did the work of replacing it as it was at this point a safety issue. Can't have a gap in the railing like that - I would have lasted at best one day without falling in :-)

He stole a stanchion (the stainless steel post holding the railing up) from the back of the boat (to be replaced ???) where it wasn't as critical as right at the gate in the railing.

Good to go! Terrible place to dock though. Crazy current, docks fixed so almost impossible to get off the boat at the low end of the 5 foot tide). And at $3 a foot to boot!!

Next time we'll anchor out ...





Off this morning at 5:45. Really? That really isn't even a civil time to be up and about for retired folks.

But the calm winds were calling as we headed out the the last leg of truly weather dependent travel until we reach Lake Ontario.

Outside as Manasquan inlet is the end of the inside route through New Jersey. Destination was the anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor!

We traveled about a half mile offshore most of the 6 hour trip north to New York. Wasn't hard to spot! Again hazy but perfect for traveling with light winds from the west and 1 foot swells from the south west. Just enough to push us a bit.

Steve spotted the Parachute Jump on Coney Island from quite a distance. His Mom grew up in Manhattan and his family made many trips to New York (with a stop a Coney Island) over the years when he was a kid.

Nice to know it's still there even though it isn't really the original one.








The highlight of course was when we approached the Statue of Liberty!!

It's so cool that we drove right by on our own boat and will spend tonight anchored at Liberty Park to the west of the monument.

Sadly the trees have grown up so much that we no longer have the view we did 5 years ago when we could still see the statue lit up at night. You can't see them in the picture above but there are huge numbers of people lining the several levels of the statue. Coming and going on the Statue Cruise boats. The boats were coming and going constantly.

Tomorrow we head up the Hudson River - two wonderful days of sun and low winds forecast. Should be on the Erie Canal by Monday!

Our route the last few days: