What a day. We had a beautiful morning. I watched the fog roll off the water and then the haze start to burn off as the sun came up. We cast off from the mooring and headed down the Hudson River. It was kind of sad to leave New York (I can't believe I said that). For all it has wrong with it, there's an awful lot that's right with it. A melting pot that really works to form a booming metropolis that has something for everyone.

Going past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty was quite an experience for me. I couldn't believe how choked up I got passing those places. Places of hope, of new beginnings, for so many people. I could only imagine how people coming to this country might feel at entering NY Harbor and seeing Lady Liberty for the first time after hearing about it - her torch gleaming in the sunlight... A new life, new beginning in a country where you can become whatever you strive to become without the government saying "No - you must be a bricklayer, you were born into that caste" So many have died for our right to be free to choose. So many do not appreciate that, or what they have here. I cried and couldn't voice the emotions that sprang from me as I snapped picture after picture...

Coney Island, Riker's Island, the NY City Sky line all grew smaller and I said goodbye to New York. It will probably be a long time before I see it again. I'm so glad that Wayne and I got to share this time here together. It means a lot to me - China Town, Central Park, the Subway, 5th Ave (yes I felt frumpy with all the fashion palettes and pencil thin women strolling by - but I felt loved too), Broadway, the deli's. Thanks for a great time N.Y.

The harbor was packed with freighters anchored all over, barges, tugs, and cruise ships, weekend boaters. What a madhouse trying to get out of the harbor. So much humanity in the water and surrounding it!

We set anchor, after topping up our fuel and water and pumping out, inside the break water of the Atlantic Highlands. It's funny because I was just thinking about some of my students while making dinner and the phone rang. I thought it might be Penelope or Stephanie but it was Nate (also Allie, Tiffany, Todd and I'm not sure who else). I had to laugh because I thought of him and Allie yesterday and how much they'd like parts of NY... It was good to hear them & I hope all is well with them. I hope that someday we'll get to meet up! Todd is supposed to be going to N. Carolina?

Well tomorrow is the day we'll start our trip out to the Atlantic and around the Jersey shore and back in around Cape May. It will be a long one. From here we calculated it's about 133 miles and at 5-6 knots per hour it will take us about 25 hours solid to make the trip. If we leave here around 11am then we should get in at noon the following day (Tuesday) and if we get hung up anywhere we should still get back in during daylight hours. I should add here why we're going outside around New Jersey as opposed to staying in the inter coastal waterway. Our boat has roughly a 52 ft high mast and a depth below water of almost 6 ft. The Inter-coastal waterway along New Jersey has a couple bridges that we can't get under (now that our mast is back up) and the ave. depth of the water there is 4 ft in some places (which isn't deep enough for our boat). Therefore we must leave the shelter of the Inter-coastal waterway.

Okay, BBQ pork chops, stir fried zuck/peppers/onions in a wine & butter sauce with some sour dough bread and wine for dinner... and a good rest up for tomorrow (weather permitting).