After listening to the weather forecast and checking out the conditions where we were anchored, we decided to head out at 7:30 a.m. This allowed for an easy departure through the bridge that had been a bit tricky as we entered (slack tide).
Once we were out in the ocean things settled down to a gentle roll. The skies were threatening and it finally started to rain mid-morning. We sighted NYC around 9:30, but still had 4-5 hours to go. The wind picked up significantly as we approached Ambrose Channel, but even more significant was the current we encountered. We averaged only 4 knots the last part of the trip – fighting a 3-4 knot current and 20 mph wind on the nose. I swear that the bouys were going faster than we were. We passed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which connects Staten Island on the west with Brooklyn on the east. We made our first sighting of the Statue of Liberty a little after 1:00 p.m., about 6 miles out.
During this part of the journey we encountered many barges, freighters and ferries. However, there wasn’t much recreational traffic … just a few sailboats. We dropped anchor just off of Liberty State Park. We are the only boat in the anchorage and it is good to get out of the current and wind.
Linda is making spaghetti for tonight and we are even having a salad with it. We are finally getting to a point where we can actually see what is in the fridge. Still have some Bon Voyage cake and some of Grace’s baby cheese cake thingy’s left (boy, they are really good!!). Then we might even be able to start building up our ice supply.
We plan to leave around 7:00 tomorrow morning to take advantage of a flood current to get us up to Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton, NY. It has received several recommendations from other Loopers and a quick conversation with Steve (the manager) seemed to bear that out.
Gerry & Linda
Some of the big guys we encountered.
The Staten Island Ferry
Lady Liberty with our AGCLA burgee flying
A little closer shot of Lady Liberty
Small boats playing in the anchorage
A short video of our approach to NY harbor.
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