New York City!

It was a very special feeling when we came in sight of New York City.  I have to pinch myself sometimes never imagining we would be here on our boat we brought from California.  Seeing the city, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island as we came in New York harbor was surreal.  We stayed on the New Jersey side in a marina called Liberty Landing.  We had a great spot overlooking Manhattan and the new World Trade Center.  It also was one of the most expensive marinas we have ever stayed.  You only do it once, right?  The good news was that our son Michael and family were flying in to stay with us for a week.  They arrived around 5:00 pm and after settling in we enjoyed the view on top of the fly bridge with some adult drinks.  It was what we needed seeing family again after so long.  Next day we took the ferry into the city, first stop is the 911 memorial.  There are no words to describe seeing these two pools, where each tower stood, that cascade down to a bottomless pit.  Beautiful yet so poignant of a reminder of what happened.  The new World Trade Center is almost completed and is now the tallest building in New York City.  We boarded one of those double decker buses that take you around Manhattan and stop every couple of miles.  You can get off and on at any stop it makes.  We got off at Rockefeller Center and walked over to Times Square.  The good thing is I can say I saw it but couldn't wait to get away from thousands of people doing the same thing.  We boarded the bus again to get back to where we started to have dinner and then head back to the boat.  Next day we woke to rain and waited till 11:00 am before we left again to hit the city.  We went to Toys R Us that has a ferris wheel inside the store.  Carter was such a good boy we got him a toy for his patience of walking all day and never complaining.  If you're five years old, there's not a whole lot of interest in touring NY.  Next day Jan and I watched Dylan.  Mike, Jess, and Carter went into the city to go to the Museum of Natural History and Central Park.  I probably could go into a lot more but it would take forever and I'm sure no one wants to hear details, but if you have never been to NY City I would recommend it.  I know we only saw a fraction but maybe someday we can return and see much more.  Now it's time to head up the Hudson River let Mike, Jess, and the kids experience what we do as we continue our adventure.

Our first view of NY 

The Lady

Selfie

This will be framed and on our wall.

Here we come!

Our view at night from Panacea

On the ferry heading to the city

Jan's favorite store

The other naked cowboy

Wall Street

Beyond words

United Nations

Rockefeller Center

Times Square

Central Park

Just too much to see

Staten Island, NY

We left Manasquan at 7:30 am and headed out into the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a sunny day with little wind and the swells were between 3 and 5 feet, but with a great interval.  We kept the boat on plane and made it into Great Kills Harbor in Stanton Island in 3 hours.  We stayed at the Great Kills Yacht Club.  I think we had a total of seven looper boats come in and they found a place for all of us.  John is a member there and I recognized him from last year when Jan and I flew into Norfolk to attend our first rendezvous.  He was one of the guest speakers and now is a harbor host at Great Kills Yacht Club.  He made sure everyone was happy and even took some of the wives to the grocery store and then picked them up when they had finished.  He also gave us a briefing of the best way to get into NY City and what to expect heading up the Hudson to the Erie Canal.  We all decided to go out to dinner that night and invited John and his wife.  With all the work he did for us we all paid for their dinner.  The next day he took two car loads of loopers to the train station to get to the city.  Jan and I left that morning for New York City in Panacea because our son Michael, Jess, Carter, and Dylan were flying in to visit us for the week.  We stayed at Liberty Landing directly across the Hudson from Manhattan.  What a great view of the new World Trade Center from our boat.

The shore of New Jersey

Sandy Hook 

This whole area was destroyed by Sandy, all the boats in every marina in the harbor  ended up on land

Yacht Club

Cool building on our walk to the restaurant

Looper dinner

Great Kills Harbor

Our harbor host John

Atlantic City, NJ

Well, as I mentioned before we had to go out into the Atlantic from Cape May because the New Jersey Intercostal Waterway (NJICW) was very shallow and not advisable.  However, while in Cape May we started to get conflicting reports of the ICW , that if you left on a rising tide you should not have any problem.  We all wanted to go the Atlantic route but the sea conditions were terrible and the ICW looked like the way to go.  There were several looper boats here at Cape May and one of them left the day before on the ICW and the draft on their boat was four feet.  I called them that evening and they said there was no problem and pointed out some of the areas to be aware.  On a rising tide the next morning seven of us left at 7:00 am and headed to Atlantic City.  It was a good 50 miles and several no wake zones because of houses and marinas.  There were a few areas of concern, like only 2 feet of water below our keel,. but we all made it okay without anyone grounding.  When we all arrived at the Golden Nugget Marina we went up and celebrated our safe journey.  That night we went to the seafood buffet and chowed down.  Loved the crab legs.  After dinner it was back to the boat and to bed.  The next day we went to the famous boardwalk of Atlantic City and walked up and down, basically people watching.  When we got back to the boat it was back to the buffet at the Golden Nugget. After dinner I had to throw my twenty dollars away and then went back to the boat.  The next day our destination was Manasquan New Jersey.  All seven of us looper boats decided to stay on the ICW and not to go into the Atlantic Ocean - again because of bad sea conditions.  We all made it okay but it was a 60 mile day and towards the end several boats were out enjoying the weekend and made the waters rough.  Not like the ocean, but not like the usual glass water of the ICW.  Manasquan doesn't have much and the marina is right on the ocean inlet with every boat going by and rocking you till it was late in the evening, not to mention the train bridge that goes up and down with a siren every time a train goes through.  Sorry, but we didn't take any pictures of Manasquan.  From here we have to go into the Atlantic Ocean to get to lower New York Bay.  We'll be going to Staten Island.

This is our fortilla on the ICW heading for Atlantic City

We all had to have this bridge opened 

The boats behind us waiting for the bridge

Going through a narrow section of homes

Boats in front of us waiting for the bridge

I was told this is something about Jersey Shores on TV

Tropicana on the left

Golden Nugget Marina where we stayed

The infamous boardwalk 

I just liked the sign