After quite a few days of delay in Cape May, the morning finally came to pull up the anchor and start the trip north up the Jersey shore. The winds were still humming along from the ESE but were forecast to turn from south later in the day, drop down, and be that way until late the next day when they’d come back from the East.
I had made the decision to split the trip into two days so my first stop was going to be in Atlantic City. This would make the first day the shorter of the two days it would take me to get to NYC and I was pretty happy about that as I cleared the jetties coming out of Cape May and into a very confused sea with swells and chop running between 4-6′. The chatter on the VHF was from sailboats and powerboats commenting on how rough conditions were and that some of them were going back into Cape May to wait things out.
I decided to press on as the wave action was coming into my starboard quarter and was reasonably comfortable. I even got the chance to go below and make myself an egg and cheese wrap for breakfast so it was either a good ride or I was just finally getting used to it.
As the day wore on and the miles clicked away, I found myself starting to realize that my journey was getting closer to ending then I had expected. If everything went well, I would be back on Long Island Sound in two days and on the third day it looked promising that I’d be pulling into Shennecossett and backing into our home slip. I quickly brushed the thought aside as I still had a lot of ground to cover and it was best that I concentrated on the task at hand.
Soon enough, Atlantic City started to rise up on the horizon so I set a course that would take me into the entrance of the harbor. As I got closer, the winds started to drop and go to the south so I rolled up the sails and fired up the engine. The last time I had passed Atlantic City it had been about midnight on our way south so it was cool to see it in the daytime. As I motored into the harbor, all I could look at was the ferris wheel and the casinos!!
I dropped anchor in about 10′ of water and shut down the engine. The silence of not running the engine was replaced by the sounds of the city so once I cleaned up the boat, I turned on the radio and relaxed. There was a pretty good amount of people on the beach but only 3 boats in the anchorage and that made me happy. I did have to laugh as the winds were blowing thru the city before they got to me and it smelled exactly like the inside of a casino…🤣🤣🤣. Welcome to Atlantic City!!
After a wonderful night, I woke up early to start my long day up the coast. I wanted to cover about 85 miles and anchor in Atlantic Highlands just before NY harbor.
In the picture above, Atlantic Highlands is the green finger of land pointing up. The anchorage I was heading for is on the left side of that finger. It’s a pretty popular spot for cruisers to anchor in. To the north is the Verrazano Bridge that connects New Jersey to Staton Island. Just before the bridge on the right is Gravesend Bay. Pretty busy area too!!
I motored out of Atlantic City into a flat sea with no wind so I set the autopilot and settled in for a very long day. I pretty much had the sea to myself, except for the occasional fishing boat, for a couple of hours and then the powerboats started coming by.
I was making really good time as I had caught a current running north so pretty soon I was going past Barnegat Bay. This was the first course change to start heading towards NYC as the Jersey shore kinda bends around some. My goal was to drop anchor in Atlantic Highlands around 6 pm so I was on time so far.
In this picture, you can see Atlantic City, Barnegat Bay, and NYC so you kinda get the idea of what I’m talking about.
As the day progressed, the winds had started to pick up some from the south and were forecast to turn to the east and build later in the day. I wanted to have the anchor down behind Atlantic Highlands before the winds went east on me cos they were saying gusts in the 20’s and I didn’t want to be outside the Jersey shore when that happened!! One thing I didn’t take into account though was the currents running stronger against me the closer I got to NYC. A lot of water moves in and out of the harbor plus you have all of the flow from the Hudson River to slow you down and that’s exactly what happened in the latter part of the day…right when I didn’t want it to happen. The other thing I didn’t expect was the winds to build into the 20’s earlier than expected and not turning to the east when they did. 😳
I made it up to the turn around the point at Atlantic Highlands around 6:30 pm and as I came around the point, I turned back south to head towards the anchorage. I was now motoring into 20 knots of wind and the waves were very short apart, steep, and big. The other issue was that all of those powerboats that had passed me earlier were now filling up the anchorage. What to do, what to do…🤔🤔🤔. As I had been instructed quite thoroughly by the Pegu crew on the way south, I had put together a Plan B in case things didn’t work out with Plan A. My Plan B was to head to Gravesend Bay, which is more protected in the southerly winds I was experiencing plus had good coverage for the easterlies that were forecast. My biggest issue was going to be getting over there.
I turned the boat around back north to head to Gravesend Bay and the ride was considering better for a bit. I know Poseidon was planning this all along because as I came back around the point, the winds clicked to the east and I headed into the toughest waters of the trip. Between the residual southerly waves, the stuff building up from the easterly winds, the currents coming out of the harbor, and the massive Viking cruise ship bearing down on me, I pushed the throttle to full and held on for dear life!! I had to cross the main shipping channel before the Viking ship got to me so I headed 90 degrees across the channel and called the cruise ship on the VHF to let them know my intentions. They understood and back off on their side until I got past them. Thank you very much Viking cruise lines!! I continued banging my way up the channel and finally rounded the corner into Gravesend Bay and dropped anchor around 7:30. It was far from calm in the anchorage but it was a hell of a lot better than where I’d been!! I got rolled all night from ships going in and out of NY harbor but I didn’t really care. My plan was to head out in the morning to catch the currents up the East River and into Long Island Sound. My next stop will be Port Washington to pick up a mooring ball, get some Carlo’s pizza, and get ready for the last day of the trip…I hope…🤞🤞🤞.
Next up…I just can’t catch a break…😮💨
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Sailing Infinity 