Arrival In New York Harbor!
One of the original objectives of the early part of my cruise plan was to sail in to New York Harbor. I don't know what it is about that idea - but it is just something I think is pretty cool and I made it a goal of the early part of the cruise.
The original idea was to leave Miami and head offshore - get out of the hurricane zone and make my way up the Atlantic East Coast. So arrival in New York was a logical milestone and a destination that once achieved would then allow me to slow the pace of the cruise and enjoy New York and destinations East of there (more on that part later).
In my previous post you may recall we were in Cape May, NJ. This was our final stop before a planned overnight sail with arrival in New York.
We left Cape May last Sunday after waiting out one day of rain and one day of heavy winds. We left early in the morning but there was still some strong north/north-east winds which were blowing directly from the direction that we needed to go. There was also some pretty big waves - in the neighborhood of 4 - 6 feet. But, we had waited long enough and were anxious to get on our way to New York. Well - sometimes plans change... After about 2 - 3 hours beating in to the north winds and big waves we looked at each other (some of us with a somewhat greenish-greyish tint to our faces) and knowing it was supposed to keep blowing for several more hours before calming down - we did an about face and nearly flew downwind back in to Cape May. It turned out to be an excellent decision. We anchored in a nice little anchorage and enjoyed the rest of the day. We had a cookout on the boat and got a good night sleep and left for New York the next morning in much more settled conditions.
On our way to New Your we motor-sailed for a while then a nice breeze picked up from a more favorable direction and we were able to sail all afternoon and overnight til our arrival the next morning.
It was an awesome sight when around 2am in the morning the lights of the city and the lights of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge began to show themselves above the horizon.
We actually arrived a little bit ahead of schedule and were cruising in to what is called 'The Narrows' by early Tuesday morning.
This was quite a 'nostalgia' trip for me as this was the area that I 'worked' when I was a Coast Guardsman back in the 1980's.
We passed under the Verrazano Bridge and then continued up in to New York Harbor with the highlight of our cruise passing by the iconic Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Approaching the VZ Bridge
Lady Liberty
Carolyn's Imitation of Lady Liberty
We tied up at Liberty Island Marina which was on the New Jersey side of New York Harbor. It was a short ferry ride across to New York City where the ferry landing was right at the foot of the Freedom Tower. In New York we enjoyed walking around the city and seeing some of the amazing sights and landmarks. We ate Pastrami Sandwiches as big as our heads at the famous Katz Deli.
Celebrating safe arrival in New York (hot and sweaty version) 10:00 am
Celebrating safe arrival in New York (cool and in style) 1:30 pm
At this point of the cruise I take a moment to reflect on highlights of the cruise thus far.
I've been to the following cities: Key Biscayne, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Cape Canaveral, Fernandina, Savannah, Charleston, Southport, Wrightsville Beach, Morehead City, Norfolk, Cape May, and New York. In transiting these cities I've been underway at sea 21 days including 8 overnight sails.
Highlights of the trip so far include:
The original idea was to leave Miami and head offshore - get out of the hurricane zone and make my way up the Atlantic East Coast. So arrival in New York was a logical milestone and a destination that once achieved would then allow me to slow the pace of the cruise and enjoy New York and destinations East of there (more on that part later).
In my previous post you may recall we were in Cape May, NJ. This was our final stop before a planned overnight sail with arrival in New York.
We left Cape May last Sunday after waiting out one day of rain and one day of heavy winds. We left early in the morning but there was still some strong north/north-east winds which were blowing directly from the direction that we needed to go. There was also some pretty big waves - in the neighborhood of 4 - 6 feet. But, we had waited long enough and were anxious to get on our way to New York. Well - sometimes plans change... After about 2 - 3 hours beating in to the north winds and big waves we looked at each other (some of us with a somewhat greenish-greyish tint to our faces) and knowing it was supposed to keep blowing for several more hours before calming down - we did an about face and nearly flew downwind back in to Cape May. It turned out to be an excellent decision. We anchored in a nice little anchorage and enjoyed the rest of the day. We had a cookout on the boat and got a good night sleep and left for New York the next morning in much more settled conditions.
On our way to New Your we motor-sailed for a while then a nice breeze picked up from a more favorable direction and we were able to sail all afternoon and overnight til our arrival the next morning.
It was an awesome sight when around 2am in the morning the lights of the city and the lights of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge began to show themselves above the horizon.
We actually arrived a little bit ahead of schedule and were cruising in to what is called 'The Narrows' by early Tuesday morning.
This was quite a 'nostalgia' trip for me as this was the area that I 'worked' when I was a Coast Guardsman back in the 1980's.
We passed under the Verrazano Bridge and then continued up in to New York Harbor with the highlight of our cruise passing by the iconic Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Approaching the VZ Bridge
Lady Liberty
Carolyn's Imitation of Lady Liberty
We tied up at Liberty Island Marina which was on the New Jersey side of New York Harbor. It was a short ferry ride across to New York City where the ferry landing was right at the foot of the Freedom Tower. In New York we enjoyed walking around the city and seeing some of the amazing sights and landmarks. We ate Pastrami Sandwiches as big as our heads at the famous Katz Deli.
Celebrating safe arrival in New York (hot and sweaty version) 10:00 am
Celebrating safe arrival in New York (cool and in style) 1:30 pm
At this point of the cruise I take a moment to reflect on highlights of the cruise thus far.
I've been to the following cities: Key Biscayne, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Cape Canaveral, Fernandina, Savannah, Charleston, Southport, Wrightsville Beach, Morehead City, Norfolk, Cape May, and New York. In transiting these cities I've been underway at sea 21 days including 8 overnight sails.
Highlights of the trip so far include:
- Making 10 knots in the Gulf Stream...
- Taking on water out in the Gulf Stream and the pump not working!...
- Overnight sails and the midnite watch
- Close encounter with a submerged jetty
- Seeing tons of dolphin
- Sunsets
- Sunrises
- Beautiful day sails with calm blue ocean waters
- Lightning Storm at sea at night
- Big waves off Cape Hatteras
- Discovering and Exploring all the new places I've been to
- Swim call out in the ocean
- Losing my propeller in Cape May
- Finding my propeller in Cape May
- The exploding headlamp!
- Arrival in New York Harbor
- All of my awesome crew: Rich and Kendra, Rich Z. Carolyn and Phil
- Seeing family and friends along the way including mom...
- Missing Janet
Onward to Long Island Sound as we leave New York City. More on the L. I. Sound in next post...
Fascinating!
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