After a lovely day out on the bay looking at the sights of New York City gently fading away, we entered Sandy Hook Bay, the "jumping off" point to head out down the Atlantic Coast to Cape May. Obviously, a weather window is important for this leg and so we headed for the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club mooring basin for what we thought would be a couple of days to wait out some bad weather. We arrived on Wednesday and are still here today (Friday). It appears that unless this storm system subsides, we will likely be here again tomorrow as well.

Atlantic Highlands is a picturesque seaside town and one that we envisioned travelling through as we planned our journey. While the town does not have a lot of businesses, we find what we need and enjoy getting off the boat for walks. The staff at the yacht club are amazing - very helpful and friendly and club members eager to meet you and offer information. The club has a tender that comes out to pick you up, so we don't have to launch our dinghy to get to and from shore. Very civilized, not to mention a great service when the water is rough. See the above picture

As we watched the weather channel in the clubhouse the last couple of days, severe storms were predicted for the coastal areas of New Jersey and northward. We are safe and secure on a mooring, but there were times last night when both of us were up looking out the ports to ensure that not only were we safe, but the neighbouring boats were as well. Very high winds and torrential rains kept us awake for most of the night. Bits of sleep here and there, but mostly just listening, knowing each other was awake, but not necessarily acknowledging it. We were told that there are actually 3 systems moving along in succession and that they were to go through the area mid afternoon today. Well, it's mid afternoon and although we are not having the torrential rains of last night, the wind is still blowing fairly strong and there are periods of rain. We're both very thankful that we're not still tied up on a mooring in the 79th Street Boat Basin - that would have been UGLY!

We have decided that instead of doing a long day to Atlantic City (after the weather turns favourable of course), we will do an "overnighter" and head for Cape May. We have met a number of other travelling boaters at the club the last couple of days and we've pretty much all agreed that we'll "buddy boat" down the coast - safety in numbers you know, or at least the feeling of companionship at night. We understand it to be an easy sail and it should take about 18-20 hours. By doing this, we likely cut out an extra travel day and will get up the Delaware Bay and through the C and D canal and into the Chesapeake and will make it to the Annapolis Boat Show for Thanksgiving weekend!