Southbound Sailing

     Southbound! And sailing! Wow!

     We are off the coast of New Jersey as I write this. Close enough to get a wi-fi signal. And we're sailing.

     We had a slightly rough first few days after leaving Mystic. Big head seas to Mattituck and then way bigger following seas to Oyster Bay. Decent speed however.

     From Oyster Bay we went through New York Harbor to Atlantic Highlands, NJ. NYC and the East River - Hell Gate passage was mostly uneventfull for a change. only one stop to avoid a ferry and one log that went between the hulls without contact, or even being seen.

      

     Freedom Tower under construction. We had a great view of it from the anchorage at Atlantic Highlands. This isn't that view.

     We stayed a few extra days there because of offshore head wimds and pretty big seas. There was also a major front forecast with storms. The storms just missed us but the winds didn't. Heather took advantage of this delay to take a ferry from Manhattan to stay with us for the weekend. Yay!

     Now we have relatively small waves but they'll likely get bigger later. The wind will shift to on the nose later, too. We are on a very long passage. It's one we haven't done before at all at once. We are going (hopefully) from Atlantic Highlands all the way to the C & D Canal in one shot. It's at least a 30 hour trip, maybe more. We'll be going around Cape May in the dark. Risky? Maybe a little. We'll write if we don't make it. Errr... maybe not.

    

     Roosevelt Island Tram over the East River.

End of Summer

     Wow! It's September and I haven't updated this blog since May. A little bit has happened since then.

     We did a lot of work on the house and listed it for sale as mentioned in the previous blog but we also spent all summer continuously updating, repairing and replacing stuff. Major $$$. The good news is that less than a week before our departure for winter we are getting an offer we can accept. That's also bad news because, as I said, it's less than a week before departure.

     We got a little bit of cruising in this summer since the trip to Hamburg Cove for Memorial Day. We went to Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island for a rendezvous with the squadron. We did a one week cruise of the Buzzard's Bay area with Heather and Luca aboard. There was a solo long weekend at Montauk and then the season finale at Watch Hill, RI for Labor Day weekend. Above is a photo of a Portuguese Man O War jellyfish off one of the Elizabeth Islands (Cape Cod). We've never seen one this far north. Actually we had never seen one until we cruised to Florida. This big one could be fatal if you got up close and personal with it.

     That's it! Not much traditional boating. Being liveaboards makes it all different.

     I will be updating this blog on a more regular basis after we get underway and head south.

     Until then...