We Leave Cape May for New York City

Atlantic City- note ocean state

Old Barney- Barnegat Light

We had a good weather window and wanted to run from Cape May to New York City on the outside in the Atlantic Ocean, as opposed to running the New Jersey ICW, which is even more convoluted than the AICW in Georgia and South Carolina, and is notoriously known for extremely shallow water at low tides. With good weather and calm seas, we could run outside in the Atlantic Ocean and not have to worry about channels or water depths. Just set a course in 25-60' water and set the autopilot and travel around 8 knots. What could be simpler? After talking it over, we decided that the seas and weather were cooperative and an outside run wouldn't be bad. Where we had planned on three days to get up the NJ ICW, it would now be reduced to two, as we decided not to stop in Atlantic City, but head for the Barnegat Inlet, then on to NYC.

At Fisherman's Wharf

Roemer Shoal light leading to NY harbor

Verarazano Narrows Bridge

Passing under the bridge

We spent our last night in Cape May and dined at the famous Lobster House restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. We've had some good food on this trip, but this was in a totally different class. The next day we topped off our tanks with low cost diesel ($3.89), and headed for the Cape May Inlet. These inlets are really fun to run when the tide is flowing or ebbing. They can generate 3-4' waves or better which makes getting out on the ocean difficult. Fortunately, we were coming through the Cape May Inlet at near low tide and the waves were not too bad, because it was really close to slack water. Once on the ocean we set a course and started to ride the 70-odd miles to Barnegat Inlet. The seas were good and consistent. The only problem was there were 1-2' running swells or rollers that was making Jane seasick. After about an hour, she went below and laid down to try and cope with the conditions. We passed Atlantic City around noon and around 4:00 p.m. we made the Barnegat Inlet and picked our way through some shoals to get to a good anchorage for the evening.

Going through the anchorage area

First glimpse of lower Manhattan

Hey buddy, wanna buy a bridge?

Lady of the harbor

The next morning we left the anchorage early to make our way to NYC. Barnegat Inlet was less hospitable this morning as we were going out on an ebbing tide and the waves and currents were horrendous. Once we got to the ocean, though, the seas calmed down and we had a comfortable ride. In fact, the seas were even better than our gulf crossing, and we thought that those were good. We passed Atlantic City around noon and made our way to Manasquan Inlet. From here, the AICW ends and all boats heading north must run in the ocean. We had about 26 miles to New York harbor. We passed Sandy Hook, the northern most point of New Jersy, and started heading for New York's lower harbor. We had hazy conditions and thought it wise to stay out of the marked shipping lanes. Our first view of New York was the Brooklyn shoreline and Coney Island. After turning more northerly, we spotted the Verrazano Narrows and the Verrazano bridge. During Capt. Larry's running days, he often envisioned running across this bridge at the start of the NYC Marathon, but never had a chance to run the race. Instead, he had to content himself with driving Bavarian Cream under the bridge. To pass through the Narrows, we had to enter the shipping lane, and we were quite aware that a large ship was hot on our stern and gaining. Once past the bridge, there is a large anchorage area and we picked our way through the ships and entered NY harbor.

Governor's Island

Lower Manhattan skyline

Jane lost her light!

Neeeeew Yoork Ciiiity!

Once in the harbor, everything around us became interesting. We passed the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to port, and saw the East River and lower Manhattan where the financial district is to starboard. We spotted several of the landmark buildings including Governor's Island, the Battery, and the Chrysler building. To port we spotted the Morris Canal and immediately to starboard, missing of course, would have been the towers of the World Trade Center. We saw the Brooklyn Bridge and made our way towards the uptown area where we saw the Empire State Building sans King Kong.

Want to go to Staten Island?

Ellis Island

LA loopers Dickie & Dixie at Empire State Building

What a site! Jane was worried by about all of the boat traffic and water taxis, but Capt. Larry was amazed that the water taxis actually observed the rules of the road and waited for him to pass when he had the right of way. We chugged on up the Hudson and found the 79th Street Boat Basin which is actually the NYC municipal marina. We picked this marina on recommendations from some other boaters as a marina that was conveniently located to many sites. We will talk about the conditions in this marina in a separate posting. Anyway, we got the boat secured and met some fellow loopers and had dinner on the boat before turning in. We were too tired from a long day and it was just too hot and humid to head out that evening.

79th St. Boat Basin at night