Atlantic Highlands, New York lower harbour

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Tue 12 Jul 2011 23:33
40:25.078N 74:01.82W
 
Wednesday 13th July 2011
 
Distance run: 179 nmiles
 
Anchor up at 0730 on Tuesday to catch the tide for an overnight run down the Delaware Bay, round Cape May and out into the Atlantic for a run up the New Jersey coast and into New York lower harbour.
 
It was a fast run down the Delaware with a fair tide most of the way that saw the SOG reach 9 knots for some of the time.  Oh that we could do that kind of speed normally!
 
Boat speed 7.49 knots, Speed over the ground 9 knots, with 14.5 knots of wind over the starboard quarter- a lovely sail.
 
We reached Cape May at the turn of the tide, but the sea was not too bubbly over the shoals and we were soon heading up the coast.  As night fell, the lights of Atlantic City could be seen for miles, but the call of the casinos was not very loud for us and the wind and tide were being kind so we were happy to sail on by. 
 
By mid-morning we were heading into the lower harbour at New York, but as the city is still some 15 miles on from the entrance, we could only just make out the buildings of greater New York in the distance.
 
A first glimpse of New York in the distance.
 
We rounded Sandy Hook and picked up a buoy in Atlantic Highlands on the New Jersey coast,from where the lights of New York winked at us in the distance.  We took the water taxi ashore (included in the extortionate price of the buoy!) and had a shower and a wander around town. There wasn't much to see as this is what they call a 'bedroom community' - a place where the commuters from New York City live. We hoped to eat in the yacht club but they had an event on and were not serving dinner,so we found a little cafe for an early supper and then had an early night to catch up on sleep. Overnighters tend to make us more tired as they are not long enough to get into a pattern of sleeping in watches.  We wanted to be wide awake for the sail into New York Harbour tomorrow.