The maw of the beast

 10/12- We spent some time last night talking about our plans for the trip. If we were to stay here we would probably be here a week before the weather turned so we were a little bummed at how long this is taking. As I lay in bed this morning I got to thinking why not just go now. After checking the weather we decided why not. The winds look favorable if a little strong but what the heck. I quickly dumped some more fuel in and away we went. We had to leave quickly in order to get the tide right through Hell Gate, a notoriously bad spot in the East River. 

   It turned out a bunch of boats were leaving with us so I guess I made a good choice. We flew down the river. It wasn't too bad until we reached Hell Gate. We went through this bend in the river at 11 knots! Even after that we cruised down the river at around 9 knots being bounced all around by the wakes. As usual New York was a malastrum of boats and helicopters. We finally got to turn off by Governor Island and it became slightly calmer. Once out in the Hudson we motored around all these freighters that were anchored and waiting to be unloaded or loaded. It was the first time for Alayne to be under the Verazzano bridge. We have both been under all the major bridges in New York.

      We were still doing 8.5 knots all the way into Sandy Hook or Raritan Bay( I think). Anyway we motored north in the bay and anchored in a place called, I kid you not,Moonbeam Great Kill. Its a nice little bay filled with moorings but they were far enough apart that we anchored just off a nice beach. We asked about a slip here but the price was $11.75 per foot which made it $426 a night!! No wonder no one comes here. Still it's a very protected harbor completely surrounded by dunes. Off down the shore hopefully tomorrow!!

10/13- Happy Birthday to Alayne. It should be quite the birthday! We lazed around in the morning as we didn't want to leave too soon. As we would be traveling all night we didn't want to get there in the dark. Trouble is we were just too anxious to sit still. So around ten am we hauled up the anchor and away we went. We tried sailing a little but the wind was too light. The tide was with us though and we blew across the bay at 9+ knots rounding Sandy Hook and on our way. We tried sailing again as the wind had picked up from the north but we ended up doing only around 3-4 knots. This with the forecasted storm and our anxiety to get there, we just put the sails away and called on our hero, Mr Perkins.

The wind and the swell made using the autopilot difficult so we ended up just steering by hand. It was a gorgeous day to cruise down the shore. One thing I noticed is the lack of critters in the water. In Maine we walkways see seals and porpoises and the occasional whale( I know there are no whales in Maine) but here it's nothing but birds. Speaking of which we had a little hitchhiker for a while. A little sparrow of some kind took a break as we moved along.

We got to the Barnegat Inlet around sunset which was spectacular by the way, and the wind just died right out. As we turned the corner the swell died down enough to put on the autopilot. This is Alayne's first overnight and my first with my own boat. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening as we sailed into the dark.

We were making such good time that we ended up having to slow down quite a bit. As it happened we were within a couple of miles of the inlet when we just put the motor on idle and sat there in the dark waiting for the sun to come up. I didn't want to try this entrance in the dark. Finally the sun peeked over the horizon and we started motoring in. We saw our first dolphin as one came out to greet us.

We entered Cape May harbor and looked for a place to anchor. The anchoring spot is small and it was crowded. After dropping the anchor and pulling it up 3 different times we called it quits and motored over to the marina. We got a slip at Utsche's which was quite reasonable. Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy so we will probably just stay right here. Kudo's to Mr Perkins and all his hard work. Now we get to finally celebrate Alayne's birthday.