Day 33 - Sept. 17

Finally, after a lot of discussion, and an unhelpful call to the Coast Guard, we agreed that Richard was correct with his determination of the best time to go through Hell Gate, and left at 9:00am.  Firstly, the East River is full of garbage, and secondly, it stinks!  Guess it might have something to do with the garbage.

I'm definitely not a city girl. As impressive as the buildings were, and the massiveness of the city, I had no desire to stop and wander the streets.  Give me a quite beach any day.  We did get the mandatory picture of the Statue of Liberty, and a couple of the Empire Sate Building, so I'm good.
The ride through Hell Gate was almost disappointing.  For all the hype about the currents, and my sleepless night, it was a walk in the park.  There were a couple of bumpy spots, but we had worse sailing to Carter's Beach.
Our minor spot of excitement was getting to the New York Harbour and seeing Salvation slow down in front of us, then a phone call telling us they were having engine trouble.  They pulled into a dock and we carried on to the Statue of Liberty to get out of the way of the ferries.  Luckily we heard from them a short while later that they were on there way. Yeah!! (By the way, when they talk about The Staten Island Ferry, there are actually about 50 of them!  And I think they all travel at the same time.  I felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs trying to stay out of their way!)
Got out of the harbour and still no wind....motoring for another day, but made it to Sandy Hook and anchored by 4:00 pm.
35 nm today.

Day 34 -  Sept. 18

Had an early morning today, pulling up anchor at 7:00am. Not a lot of wind with a calm sea and soft roll.  Managed a long, boring day, motoring half of the New Jersey coast, getting as far as Barneget Bay for a total of 50 nm.  I will never want to see New Jersey by car.  Seeing it by boat is bad enough.  Totally flat, and I mean flat.  The highest points are the water towers which can be seen from miles away.  This was a very uninteresting day, so the autopilot went on and I slept most of it.

Day 35 - Sept. 19

What a night!  The predicted gusts of 20 kts did not disappoint.  It was an easy call this morning not to go out.  Winds are 16 - 20 kts with gusts of " I don't want to know".   We put out more rode which puts us fairly close to a dock, but we've been very pleased with the holding power of our anchor, so I think we'll be okay.  At least we can see if we drag any throughout the day.
Two guys are out in the harbour sail-surfing...and can they move.  It must be awfully hard on the arms though.  Not a sport for me.
An advantage to having a day off, we can get stuff done around the boat.  I keep smelling an odour from the head, so gave that a scrub down and Greg cleaned out the bilge.  Picked up TeaTree Oil in New London so I'm trying that as well to see if it will live up to its reputation for removing odours.
Made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today.  Would have been better with raisins, but you have to work with what ya got :)

Day 36 - Sept. 20

Holy Bucking Broncos Batman!  Was that a ride!!  We listened to the weather report this morning,  still small craft advisory with 10-15 kts, and 3-4 swell.  The 'boys' thought it was worth going out the harbour to have a look. HA!  I knew full well that if the seas were good we'ed go, and if they were bad, there would be no way to get back into the harbour, so no matter what they said, we were headed for Atlantic City.  And leaving the harbour, they were bad, but no worries..."I'm sure it will get better as we get out further".... I'm told.   So for the next 6 hours I'm fighting with the topsy turvy seas.  Certainly not the worst we've seen.  I'd say the second worst.  Problem here was we made the choice to do out into it.  Oh well.  We're here safe and sound, no damage done, and another day closer :)
So this afternoon, after our "one day closer" drink, we'll head up to do laundry and showers, hopefully some grocery shopping, and then I've been told the guys are taking us out for supper.  ( Hmm, think there's any guilt there?)
Oh, it was 34 nm today (felt like 70)