Days 315 and 316:

We are up and out of Cape May early this Sunday AM, unfortunately missing the Cunninghams (who are on their way down Delaware Bay today) by one day. We just need to keep moving northward.

The wind is supposed to be Southeast but of course as we get out the inlet it is right on the nose again although light. We drone our way along as we have done on average for 50 miles every day. The plan is to go into Atlantic City and on to Manasquan tomorrow and then to Atlantic Highlands, Sandy Hook the next day. However we get to Atlantic City, the day is young, and we decide to go for it to Barnegat Bay where we stayed on the way South. S has checked with SeaTow re: conditions in the inlet and it is pronounced fine.

The wind clocks around finally, picks up considerably and we can motorsail. By the time we get to the Barnegat area it is blowing 20+ which is good, as the tide is against us for much of the afternoon. We pull into Barnegat Bay and anchor out after a 10-hour day. We are pooped. This was like crossing the Steam, time-wise. Have a Sat night cocktail, dinner and crash early.

Now that we have covered half the NJ coast, we decide to get up early and head for the "top" of the state. We start up Katannah, get the anchor up with the windlass and up come two 3/4" pieces of cable with the anchor! This is a first. No cable signs or markings on the chart. Steve hops in the dinghy and is able to get them off. This was VERY lucky for us. Otherwise we'd be calling SeaTow or TowBoat for the first time. Phew.

Out the inlet and off for Sandy Hook on a gray, drab day with no wind to speak of. We power the whole way and get to Sandy Hook and decide rather than going all the way around the hook and up into Atlantic Highlands to head on over to Coney Island where Steve has gotten us a spot in a marina. Goodbye to New Jersey!

Negotiate our way through the myriad buoys in the entrance to New York Harbor before the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge and cut across to Coney Island. I've been to a LOT of marinas on this trip, but this one takes the cake. The marina "office" is a trailer sitting upon gerters and there is a barbed-wire fence surrounding the whole place. No hot running water in the showers, you get the picture. And for this they charge $2/foot! Oh well, it is an experience, the people here are actually very nice (if you can cut through the Brooklyn accent) and we are positioned now to get to the Battery and up the East River tomorrow more easily than if we were in NJ.

Steve decides, however, to leave his Red Sox hat off here in Brooklyn...just for good measure. And just before retiring, Steve decides to put the companionway screen. When I ask why as there are no bugs to speak of, he says he had been watching some feral cats climb a wall nearby earlier and they weren't just taking a walk. After water rats no doubt. Okay, now I am not going to sleep very well. Time to leave this joint!