May 26, 2007

Shorty is in New York City at Liberty Landing Marina tonight. How’s that for a little guy. We are excited to be here. We left Beach Haven Marina at Beach Haven, New Jersey to finish the last forty miles of the intracoastal waterway in New Jersey. It was very hazy with a kind of low fog but it burned off quickly after the sun came up. We crossed the rest of the bay we were on and then went into Manahawkin Bay and next we crossed Barnegat Bay which has been written about lots of times. The fishing boats were thick as flies in the inlet to Barnegat Bay and it is famous for its fishing. We met sailboats, fishing boats and big sportfishermen going through the bay on there way to the ocean. As the morning wore on it became kind of hot and hazy and we were running with the windows open. We went through a short canal at the end of the intracoastal going into Point Pleasant where we met lots of other boats and the wakes and currents were very strong and fierce as the tide was running out to Point Pleasant from the bay. We had intended to stay in Point pleasant and see what the weather would be like tomorrow but we could not find a transient slip on the holiday weekend. Our next move was going to be out on the Atlantic Ocean so we decided to go out the inlet and see what it was going to be like. We got out of the inlet and onto the ocean and lo and behold it was one of those days when there was nothing but swells and boat wakes and very little breeze so we looked at each and said lets go. Our goal was to reach and duck behind Sandy Hook at the top of the Jersey Shore but we let Shorty run at close to eighteen to twenty knots and we were at Sandy Hook in a little over two hours and we could just see the New York skyline through the haze so we said why not. We ran two more hours at that speed and we entered New York under the Verazano Narrows Bridge and whoopee, we had made our first ocean crossing in absolutely wonderful conditions. We next came upon the Statue of Liberty and it was thrilling to view her in person even though from a distance. Then came Ellis Island where our ancestors may have passed through on there way west. Very exciting to see in person from the park at our marina and a fellow pointed out to us where the World Trade Center had stood and that was nice of him to do that. We can see the Empire State Building from where we are and many more things and buildings of interesting shapes and sizes. It is wonderful to think that a boat of Shorty’s size and stature has made it really look easy. We have been extremely fortunate in that the weather continued to be really nice when we needed it.