Last night we found Scales the restaurant dock we tied up to was closed so we walked a 150 feet behind Scales and had a great burger and some beers at the Back Bay Ale House in Atlantic City. Got back to boat at about 2200 hours and went right to bed. I guess we were tired after the long day or maybe it was the burger and beers.

We did not set an alarm and got a slightly later start than planned but we we free from the dock and underway at 0800 hours. We had the current with us as we left the inlet but once out into the Atlantic we lost all the boost in speed and cruised along steadily most of the at between 6.9 and 7.1 knots.

As we approached the inlet into Cape May we started getting some help with the flooding current… got up to almost 9 knots going through the inlet and maintained over 8 knots all the way through Cape may and into Delaware Bay. Then we lost our speed boost… we still had a flood tide but we also had a 20-25 knot NW wind directly on our nose and it was blowing straight down the Delaware Bay stirring up a good 3-4 foot chop… slowed us down to between 6.8 and 7.0 knots. It did improve the farther we went up the Bay as the waves decreased in size… soon we had a good boost and ran at over 7 knots consistently all the way to the Cohansey River.

We turned to starboard and entered the Cohansey River at just before sunset at 1800 hours. The Cohansey twists and turns like a snake and can have a wicked current. This time we had little to no current as the it wa just beginning to a switch from a flood to and ebb tide. Takes 30 minutes to go up the river and to the marina where we docked.

At approximately 1830 hours we docked at a boat yard between Greenwich Boat Works and Hancock’s Harbor Marina… not sure what the name of the place is… there was no one around and no power on the dock so I imagine this is going to be a FREE night. Our location is N39°22.662’, W075°21.

We traveled today for 10 hours and 30 minutes covering 74.32 nautical miles averaging 7.08 knots.

Set the alarm for 0500 hours in order to get an early start and catch the ebb current out of New York Harbor. However, we did not get away as quickly as planned… pulled the anchor and was underway at 0645 hours. We still caught a good boost in speed for the first couple of hours… made out of Ambrose Channel and heading Sandy Hook before we lost our boost from the current. But the 8.5 to 9.5 knots for those couple of hours was very nice.

Sunday and the fishermen were out in large numbers today… along the Jersey shore it was like a slalom course zigzagging around all of the boats and they don’t seem to try and get out of your way at all. Most of them are trolling and will pass right across your bow and then they hail you on the VHF and yell at you for not altering your course.

Forecast for today was for 3-4 seas, west winds 15-20 knots, gusts to 25 knots… exiting New York Harbor was a little rough but once we got further south and along the Jersey shore the conditions settled down… the 3-4 seas was an ocean swell and we were close enough to shore that the west winds were not stirring up any waves over a foot or two so the ride was much better than we had anticipated.

Destination for the day… Atlantic City… a long day.

After a very calm day of cruising we arrived to Atlantic City and docked in Gardner Basin… N39°22.578’, W074°25.274’ at approximately 1945 hours. It is a restaurant dock so dinner will be out tonight.

We traveled today for 13 hours covering 89.58 nautical miles averaging 6.89 knots.

We departed from Oyster Bay, NY at approximately 1040 hours. We planned our destination for the day to be New York City… anchoring behind the Statue of Liberty in a small anchorage area adjacent to Liberty State Park.

We departed late on purpose so that we would have favorable currents through the East River and Hell Gate. It switched from flood to ebb tide at approximately 1430 hours at Hell Gate… leaving after 1000 hours would put us at Hell Gate at approximately 30 minutes after the tide switched to ebb.

We arrived to Hell Gate at 1506 hours and we were already getting a 1.5 knot boost in speed and soon we were going 9 knots down the East River. It’s really nice when you get a boost of speed like this and I was not even running at cruising rpm… we should have been going about 6 knots at the rpm I was running and we were doing 9 knots… very nice!

Being Saturday the boaters were out and playing… saw too many boats to even begin to recount them now. One thing was nice was that we noticed a lot of boats that were doing as we are… heading south to warmer weather. I imagine the further south we see even more cruisers headed south.

Wind and waves were not an issue today… we did see winds up to 30 knots but they were not creating any waves to speak of… 1-2 seas all day… well almost all day. When we got to New York Harbor and the Hudson River the waves did pick up but not from the wind…. From the boat and ship traffic… it always seems to the case in this location.

We pulled past the Statue of Liberty and into our anchorage area and who did we run into but one of our winter neighbors from Punta Gorda. Dick who was our neighbor almost directly behind us at Fishermen’s Village… can’t remember his last name… but there he was aboard his 34’ Marine Trader. We swung along side and exchanged some hellos and small talk… sure was nice to run into him. He is headed back to Punta Gorda again this year. So I am sure our paths will cross again as we travel south.

We anchored at approximately 1630 hours at N40°41.763’, W074°03.875’. There is a boat ramp just west of us that has a floating dock. Makes it real handy to go ashore and walk Beecha.

We traveled today for 5 hours and 50 minutes covering 36.65 nautical miles averaging 6.28 knots.