Thursday-Friday June 9 & 10: To & Thru New York

     We left the Glimmer Glass in time for the first bridge opening - 7:00 am - without mishap.  It was a little windy, but we hugged the Jersey shore for the 26 miles to Sandy Hook point and though we had a following sea, it was a tolerable ride along the coast  

We passed this pair of egrets on our way out of the Glimmer Glass.

Jersey Shore.

     It was a different story when we got around Sandy Hook.  The sea was confused - wind and current driven, with a five foot chop.  Dan adds “sloppy”, but points out that we only dipped the bow once.  The splashes from the waves drove us indoors; later we found the entire boat coated with salt.

     We had been going back and forth about destinations - tossing around Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island, where we’d stayed in the fall, Coney Creek on Coney Island, or Liberty Park right in New York Harbor.  Great Kills Harbor was closest, Coney Creek didn’t seem prudent given the forecast of Westerly winds, and Liberty Park offered the best all around protection but was about two hours away.

     We opted for Great Kills Harbor.  It was a very bumpy and wet ride, and we were very happy to drop the hook amongst the unoccupied moorings off the Great Kills Yacht Club.  Dan turned in for a nap, I busied myself with small chores.  We had baked zucchini for supper.  It was a very relaxing evening, welcome after the stressful passaged from the tip of New Jersey.

     Friday we were up and out of there, again off by seven.  It had calmed down considerably during the night and we were hoping to ride the current and favorable tide through the Verrazano Narrows and right through New York City.  The seas were much more comfortable as we made our way toward the city.

     As we’ve seen before, this is a very busy harbor!   Ships were anchored in a long row from the bridge to the entrance of the Hudson river, ferries were criss-crossing the area, and there was a steady stream of traffic coming and going around Staten Island.  Even the helicopters were already out and about.  We timed it all pretty well - we traveled through the East river at up to nine knots.  We were through Hell’s Gate by ten-thirty, well before the tide was supposed to turn.

Some of the ships steaming out of the Staten Island inlet.

Anchored ships in front of the city.

Leaving the city behind us.

     We hugged the NY shore as we headed into Long Island Sound.  The current was favorable, but the winds were starting to pick up again.  It was calmer along the shore.  Fortunately, when the current started to shift, the winds died out.  We made it to Norwalk CT for our anchorage, finding a pretty little spot in the Sheffield Islands.  It was near dead calm, which was a good thing, because the anchor bounced along a couple of times before settling down.  (We found out in the morning it had never dug in - note to self: this is an anchorage in calm weather only!)  Spaghetti for supper.  The perfect meal after a chilly day; today we brought out the hats, mittens, and long pants.