Monday, 6/1, we continued our trip down the New Jersey coast to the Manasquan Inlet. That afternoon, after several failed attempts to find a deep water dock in Brielle NJ, we were forced to anchor at the end of a small creek amongst a fleet of shrimp boats. The tidal current there was very strong so we set two anchors to limit our swing as the tide changed. We went to sleep listening to the anchor lines groaning until about 9:30 PM when one of the lines finally broke. Without the second anchor there was no way we could stay in that tight location so back out into the Ocean we went in the dark. We sailed south another 35 miles till we rounded Sandy Hook and found an anchorage in Sandy Hook Bay around 2:00 AM. Sleep came easily that morning.
Tuesday we made the short trip out of Sandy Hook Bay, under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, into New York Harbor and anchored in a basin behind Liberty Island the home of The Statue of Liberty.
Thursday, 6/4, after two days of enjoying the sights in the “ Big Apple”, we left early to catch the flood tide on our way to Haverstraw Marina in Haverstraw ,NY. Here Andy, my sister Denise and my brother Kevin and his son, Reese will join us for the trip up the Hudson River. Jay and Linda will leave the boat and drive Andy’s car back to Michigan.
While in Haverstraw we drove to Sleepy Hollow, NY and spent an afternoon touring Kykuit, the estate built by John D. Rockefeller.
Late Sunday morning, 6/7, we left Haverstraw just as the flotilla of replica ships arrived as part of the Hudson Quadricentennail. This is a weeklong trip of replica ships sailing up the Hudson River to commemorate Henry Hudson’s discovery of the river that bears his name. More info is available at the website http://www.exploreny400.com/ . The fleet includes a replica of Hudson’s square rigger the Half Moon. That evening we arrived at Front Street Marina in Newburgh NY , several hours later the anniversary fleet also arrived for the night.
Monday, 6/8, we anchored at Hyde Park Landing and spent the afternoon touring the Vanderbilt estate, another of the many mansions and castles that line this part of the river.
Tuesday, 6/9, we traveled up the river to Kingston and we were able to dock at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. We will have to leave early tomorrow because the Hudson fleet is arriving and evicting us.