As I look back on the 2015 cruise and my overreaction to cruising in the ocean, I remember feeling guilty over wanting to leave and fly home, rather than continue out in the Atlantic. To my surprise, that eleven-hour cruise on a glassy Atlantic Ocean was glorious.
We sailed along, just offshore, enjoying the scenery we passed. But when we finally turned into Raritan Bay, the wind had built and we were in for a short rough ride. Three-foot waves and troughs in rapid succession, tossed us around like a ball at Yankee Stadium. I had to sit below in the salon where the motion is less. Captain Mark had to stay on the bridge and drive.
We tried to anchor in front of the abandoned Sandy Hook Coast Guard station, a really interesting place with vintage buildings. Too rough. So we upped anchor and headed for Staten Island’s Great Kills anchorage and almost didn’t find a spot, the site was that crowded.
The next day we paid for a slip in the Great Kills Yacht Club which is where a lot of people doing America’s Great Loop stay. The organization had a port captain there who answered Looper questions and gave an orientation about what was coming up. The best part? We made a lot of friends, some of whom we would meet again in other places.
On our extra weather day in Staten Island—yes, it continued to blow— we took the ferry over to New York City, toured Central Park, Wall Street, and the 9-11 Memorial site. In the afternoon we got tickets for Wicked and got the ferry back in the early evening.
When we started out again, we entered the Hudson, passed under some famous bridges, and were on our way to new adventures, this time in rivers and lakes.
One of our new friends took pictures of us in front of the Statue of Liberty and emailed them to us.
The rest of the Hudson River was an adventure all its own. More about that next week.
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Wow, I love this episode! It’s very interesting