From Leaving the abacos
First, let me tell you what a small world it is. Sunday evening as we were sitting in a small anchorage just inside the Atlantic City inlet, after an overnight trip up from Norfolk, I said to Al, "I don't care if it isn't even dark, I am going to bed at 8:00". It was just after 7:000 when I said it. Well, we hear a boat come into the anchorage so Al looks out a port to see what's going on. He says, "you'll never guess who just anchored!" He was right. BUT, when we left Maine in October, a couple at our marina left the same day, but their plans changed during the course of the winter and we never knew where they ended up. Well, it turns out they ended up in Colorado...no, not in the boat. They left the boat in Delaware and just recently came back for it a couple of weeks ago and started heading back north. So here they were right next to us. I of course had to invite them over for a drink and to catch up, so I didn't make it to bed by 8, but that was ok.

On Sunday morning, we left Atlantic city and did the long slog up the NJ coast to Sandy Hook, just outside of NYC harbor. It took us 11.5 hours...hand steering in a sloppy following sea the whole way, as the autopilot shit the bed yet again.
From Leaving the abacos
This morning, we headed up to the city, in a thick haze. THe sun tried to poke through, so it wasn't a bad day, but not a great day for pictures. The boat traffic was pretty quiet compared to other times we've gone through the city...and the best part was we had a Coast Guard escort up the East River and through Hell's Gate! Well, what happened was a CG cutter was behind us, so they called us on the radio to say they were going to pass us. We pulled over and slowed down, and after they passed us they called us back. They told us that they were going to slow their speed down because there were 2 tugs with barges heading towards us and they didn't want to meet with them in Hells Gate, so we just followed behind them, and after the tugs went by we got through Hells Gate with no other traffic to worry about.

Spring time on the upper East River
From Leaving the abacos

We continued on into Long Island Sound, and we are currently anchored in Oyster Bay, at the western end of the Sound.