Leaving Manhattan behind was gorgeous. It was a nice sunny day and we were able to get out around noon after spending the morning getting ready. We waved goodbye to the statue of liberty as we passed her by and looked astern to see Manhattan in all its glory. Even though Manhattan is noticeably prettier at night time, there is still a lot of beauty in its grandeur in daylight. We passed by numerous big tankers carrying cargo in and out of Manhattan. As we approached the Verrazano Narrows bridge we started racing a freighter who without a doubt blew by us in two seconds. It was still cool to go alongside it and see how humongous those ships are. After leaving the traffic of New York Harbor, the sea was deserted, of ships and of wind. As we took the turn south to head down the Jersey coast, the wind completely died down, leaving a glassy ocean underneath us. It was a pleasant day watching the Manhattan skyline disappear in the distance astern and the ferris wheels along the coastal towns of Jersey. I had not until now realized how tight the connection is in American culture between beach and amusement parks. The coast is crowded with roller coasters, ferris wheels and all sorts of other neon lit rides that must be a true sight in the season.
Our first destination is Manasquan Inlet, a port that we'd make after dark. Getting into Manasquan was uneventful except for the fact that the first anchorage that we tried didn't look too promising. Getting to where we hoped we'd be able to get more clearance, we touched the bottom and quickly were dissuaded from staying there. A little further in the inlet there was supposed to be another anchorage just past the channel marker. We saw a fellow sailboat at anchor, which increased our hopes of being safe there. We were abl to set anchor without much trouble and after reversing on it and dragging back a bit, we managed to dig our anchor deep enough that we called it a night. Just as we were cleaning up the cockpit, the bascule bridge behind us started closing and we could hear the faint sounds of a train approaching in the distance. Sure enough a train passed by the bridge in a couple of minutes: what a romantic sight! Throughout the night, the trains kept going but our long day had beaten all energy out of us, neither of us were bothered by the noise.