1629 Statutory Miles Covered/ Day 126 & 127 - The Big Apple

Cape May to Atlantic City

We left Cape May on 6/11/15 and had the best ride to Atlantic City. We were 1 1/2 to 2 miles off shore big sun and a light breeze. It was just perfect. After a short while you could see the skyline of Atlantic City in the distance. So different from the miles of beach houses and beaches that we had for the first few hours. The only problem was that the city looked like it was right there, just around the next corner for 2 more hours... AC was a one night stop and we didn't leave any of our greenbacks at the casinos.

Atlantic City to Manasquan

From AC to Manasquan Inlet was a 6 hour ride. Again, we had pretty good water and weather conditions.  Not quit as flat as cape may to AC but still a fantastic day in the water. Manasquan is a huge recreational boating area with sport fish as far as the eye can see. The Marina is located on a part of the inlet where there is a train bridge that has to be closed every time one of the commuter or Amtrak trains passes through. In our short 12 hour stay we saw no less than a couple dozen. Do you know how strange it is to see a train pass by the bow of the boat about 10 feet away???

On to the big apple

Waited until slack tide to leave our tight quarters and not have to fight the 10 knot current. Yep, I said and meant 10 knots!!!   The entire exit took about 15 minutes and in that time we dealt with a train bridge lift several jet skis, a 5 kt current in the inlet and a boat who decided to drop anchor and fish in the channel that was about 3 boats wide to begin with lined with rocks on each side. Whew!!!!!  Glad we're finally on open water with no worries in site. 

That's when it seemed like it was a little foggy out, strange for 11am.  The 3 mile visibility turned into 2 and then into less than a half mile for the rest of the 5 hour trip to Manhattan. We were fortunate to catch up with Conch Quest, who we had met the night before and go into NYC harbor together. You know when you loose one of your senses the others are heightened. We could hear everything around us. Commercial vessels announcing their arrival or departure in the Ambrose Channel, we could hear them sounding their horn in the fog, we could see large blobs on the radar and then a few minutes later we could feel the wake they left behind. A couple of times as the fog lifted some we could see large container ships as close as 1/4 mile away at best. Made us stop and go WHOA. We ran the outside edges of the commercial channel and they were in it so never any danger but ominous none the less. 

As we neared the city and land the fog lifted quickly and there it was!!  First the Verrazano Bridge, Brooklyn next on the left, Manhattan skyline starts to grow bigger and clearer and for the grand finale.... Lady Liberty. WOW. I'm on overload. 

 Click here for all the pix