Night Sail from Manasquan to Atlantic City, NJ

Night Sail

Well Manasquan was not a good choice. We had been warned that it would be tough to find a spot unless you could get on the dock somewhere. Manasquan was a very narrow and shallow mostly catering to recreational power boats and the local fishing fleet. We had no luck at the docks to overnight and the restaurant that used to allow transients if you ate a meal with them, stopped allowing it last year! Drat! Well, we knew this would be a high possibility, so we had already checked the weather to do an overnight passage to Atlantic City "if" we had to. It became quite obvious after one pass and one feeble attempt to anchor, that we would have to do the overnight. This, of course, was not in Kirsten's best laid out "travel plans"!

Even though winds would be on our nose from the south and southeast most of the time, the seas were only 1-3 feet and wind 5-10 Kts. We knew the kids would be able to sleep in this and we would not get beat up too badly in the cockpit. Steve's newly installed and "working!" autopilot would be a great assist too. The sail went off without a hitch...beautiful stars and city lights of Atlantic City kept us entertained. Kirsten would love to say she enjoyed it but her comment was flat..."I could have seen stars and lights like that from an anchor..."

Daybreak at Atlantic City


Day Break


Kirsten trying to wake up before her night "watch" at the helm

Kirsten at beginning of night sail to Atlantic City (staying optimistic...)

Very, very shallow! No good anchorage for a sailboat with a 4'9" draft!

Steve's attempt to find anchorage (basically to appease Kirsten) in Manasquan, NJ

September 20-21, 2009

Manasquan to Atlantic City, New Jersey

Sandyhook, NJ

Sandyhook, New Jersey

We had never imagined that the entire New Jersey coastline would look like this!

Beaches like this just blended one right into another all the way down the coast.

We were 1/4 mile offshore most of the time in only 25 feet of water!

A much different feel to the rocky coast of Maine.

Days and evenings are quite "autumn-like." We were expecting some warmer temperatures by now being this far south but not yet!

Sandyhook was a nice anchorage and we were even able to get feul to move us along to Cape May. We took a little extra time on the hook in the morning too to put the finishing touches on the Simrad Auto Pilot Steve has been working on. After a short sea trial it was deemed DONE!

Yippeeee! Our hands would not have to be on the tiller 24/7 anymore! Freedom! Steve did a great job. It was a much bigger install project than we had imagined. The kids named the new captain "Mr. Simrad." We've started hearing comments like, "Is Mr. Simrad driving today or are you?" "Whose driving? Mr. Simrad?" When watching the tiller under Mr. Simrads control it looks like a ghost is sailing the ship!

View 5 miles after leaving Sandyhook.

Sandyhook and along the New Jersey coastline

Sept 19-20, 2009

New York City, NY

New York City, New York

Well I'd say we'd come back in a "New York Minute!" What a fun city. We are fortunate to have even gotton there as we had transmission trouble just 6 hours from Hells Gate. Hells Gate is a tricky area you have to go through to get into New York City. It is a place where 3 different currents/tides meet...the East River, the Hudson River and the Ocean. Timing into this area is crucial, especially with a failing 30 year old, 13 hp engine! Steve was able to trouble shoot the problem with John Spoford in SW Harbor and his co-worker from Morris, Josh. Thank you both for your patience with our endless questions!

Once in the city we must have walked 20 miles a day if we hadn't walk one. We really got a good feel of the cities layout from underground to over ground! The fact that we were able to share the experience with Nana made it that much better. It was exceptionally fun for the kids to explore new places and share their adventures so far with her. The kids were quite wide eyed with all the skyscrapers and city bustle. It was by far the largest city they've ever seen. Maddie loved the activity and Emma decided the country was best for her!

Riding the subway was a cinch for the kids as they were quite accustomed to what we call, "boat surfing" on deck of Hook. As people all around them were losing their balance they didn't even flinch!

Steve and I had a wonderful "date night" out on the town, thanks to Nana, and boy did we ever see the town...we went everywhere. We started in the Upper West Side at Nana's hotel and took the subway to Greenich Village, from there we took a cab to "High Line" which was an old above ground subway line restored to a walking path to see the city lights. High Line dropped us out into what is called the Meat Packing District which we quickly realized we were no longer dressed appropriately for! What a posh district. After being refused entry into a bar because as the man "snootily" pointed out, "you are dressed to cas-u-al..." we ended up at the top floor of a highrise hotel to try to get an appetizer. Once we received the menu we again realized we were in the wrong location! $250 for a glass of wine! $700 for a bottle! Insane! The crazy part too was that the food looked like it came from "Friendly's!" So needless to say in our "cas-u-al dress" we casually left before the waitress came back! Times Square was where we eventually ended up before calling it a night. We would have loved to explore the Chinese district and Little Italy but our feet had had it! Another trip, another time...


Leaving New York waving goodbye to Lady Liberty

Our grand finale was the Broadway show "Shrek". We all had a great time, plenty of jokes and bodily noises to keep us chuckling all the way to the Bahamas!



These turtles demonstrate the patience of the New York Cab drivers! We saw many a pile up here in the city!


Or this bear???



We spent one afternoon at the Central Park Zoo. It was small enough to do in an afternoon with surprisingly large animals...We were expecting more of a petting zoo! Would you want to pet this kitty?



The big city...




Lovely Horses. We were told 60% of the carriage drivers are Irish and 40% are Italian. They are family owned and run carriages and most horses are bought from Pennsylvania from the Amish (as they are already trained to pull cart).



We chilled out for awhile and played some games at the Chess and Checker Pavillion in Central Park.




It went fast!

Hang on Papa!

Central Parks 120 year old carosel rescued from Cony Island, NY

Beautiful Madeline...

Emma getting inspired by her cartoonist

We took a lovely 20 minute carriage ride in Central Park with our Irish guide and his horse "Joey". It felt great to give our feet a break from all the walking!

Maddie and Kirsten try out the grand piano at FAO Schwartz

You meet all kinds here in New York City!

Can you say "Muppets!"

Touring FAO Schwartz! That's a jelly bean soldier!

"Ground Zero"

We found a 9/11 preview exhibit near the site of Ground Zero that explained the upcoming plans for the "now" contruction site. It will soon be a very nice park to come and remember.

We were touched by all the people around us coming to pay respects...they were from all over the world.

The girls learned of the term, "Sky Scraper", on this visit!

The museum was huge! Over 40 exhibits...

We enjoyed several exhibits while at the museum..."Journey into the Stars" at the planetarium, "Extreme Animals" exhibit, "Dinosaurs", "Ice Age", "Human Origins", and "Oceans Deep".

It didn't take long of city influence to turn our girls into MONSTERS!

The Museum of Natural History.

Thank you Nana!

Kids had a blast at M&M World in Times Square...3 floors of wonderful colorful chocolate!

Times Square! Bright lights, big city...

The Statue of Liberty's seven crown points represent the 7 continents of the world.

We made it up to Lady Liberty's feet! We counted 156 steps!

Replica of Statue of Liberty's face. Face designed after Bartoldi's mother, "Charlotte."

Lady Liberty's Origional Torch

How many Lady Liberty's do you see?

Liberty Island

Lady Liberty stands 305' tall

We'll be done in a New York Minute! One of the many cues we stood in while in New York!

Girls enjoying the night lights of the city, staying up "way, way, way"past their bedtimes.

Captain Henry "on watch"...

Manhattan, NYC

Getting dusk and 2-3 hours to go before reaching West 79th Boat Basin where we'll keep Hook while in New York City.

Typical barge traffic on the East River entering New York, "Hells Gate"

Throgs Bridge, entering into the East River and "Hells Gate".

Engine trouble with New York City only 6 hours away...
Come on "Green Monster" keep on-a-chugging! We need to get us through the currents of "Hells Gate!"

New York City 1 day away....

New York on Horizon, 1 1/2 days away...

New York City, New York

September 14-20th, 2009