New York and New Jersey

I am not sure what tops my excitement this time. Traversing wildly through the middle of New York City or seeing Duke have friends come visit!!!

We stayed in Port Washington for a night waiting to go through the East River and the notorious Hell's Gate. We had to time the tide and current right or we were going to have problems...

While in Port Washington we had the most frightening thunder and lightning storm we ever experienced and it continued for 3-4 hours. We were huddled up like sitting ducks on the boat waiting for the next lightening bolt. It was an experience I could have gladly done without.

So the next morning we got ready to go for water and diesel when what should be approaching our boat was mamma swan and 4 of her babies. Honest to god with hundreds of boats in the anchorage it was Dukes boat she wanted to visit. Maybe she received a message from his previous friend!!!! You can imagine Dukes crazy excitement. He was barking while mama was hissing and the babies just looked around oblivious to everything. It was hilarious 🤣🤣.

Anyway off we go to Hell's Gate and the East River. There were not only boats going everywhere but our boat was sliding, bucking and speeding. We got up to 10.4 knots. From our standards we were flying!!! Just say it was an experience of a lifetime. We went through almost all of the Burroughs of New York City, saw hundreds of planes landing, went under numerous bridges and my favourite was when we sailed right next to Lady Liberty. I was speechless!! It was amazing.

Unfortunately we were expecting bad weather and we had to keep moving so we stayed in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. We got up 3:30 am to start our journey down the coast of New Jersey and spent Friday night at The Golden Nugget Atlantic City watching all the high rollers gamble away their money. It was entertaining 🤪🤪. Off we go again.