A trip through NYC is always exciting, so this trip did not disappoint. Leaving Port Washington is bittersweet, as it’s a lovely town but also has many amenities like a Stop and Shop and West Marine a short dinghy ride away. It also has a nearby train station with direct service into the city. Unfortunately, a look at the next week’s weather told us that we had a small opportunity to have a nice ride down the East River to set up in Atlantic Highlands, NJ for another 2 good weather days outside the Jersey Shore. If we missed this window, we could be looking at a week or longer delay moving south. As we did our navigation preps for the East River we found our first wrinkle; the United Nations was in session, and President Biden was speaking on the day we planned to travel. As the East River is nearly impassable against the current, we had planned to leave later in the day to ride the current down to the battery. However, the security restrictions implemented for the UN, closed the entire East River until 3:00PM. We were also told to prepare for possible schedule changes. We called NY port Vessel Control one more time before leaving to confirm the 3:00 opening, nonetheless, an hour into the trip we heard on the radio of a one hour delay. Luckily we were in a good spot right near LaGuardia Airport to idle for the hour without much stress. As 4:00 came, we started to slowly move south only to learn of another one hour delay. This would put us in NJ after dark, but we opted to wait as we didn’t want to miss the following day’s weather. Luckily the delay turned out to be only 5 minutes, and we continued on. Usually the Coast Guard communications are excellent, but it’s clear that NYC has way too many agencies trying to communicate and none have an accurate picture of what’s really going on. The amount of wrong information shared over the radio that day was amazing.
With the one hour delay, we ended up going thru Hell Gate at near maximum current. A fair current is good but too strong a current can be dangerous for a slow boat like ours. We needed to allow a 80+ foot yacht pass us right before the gate as he couldn’t go any slower, only to watch him heel and spin without control thru the gate right before us. That view sharpened our focus and we got thru safely (albeit very quickly). Entering the battery at the mouth of the river was again ‘exciting’ as weekday ferry and commercial traffic was crazy from all directions. Nonetheless we were able to approach Lady Liberty for obligatory pics as well as amazing views of the southern Manhattan skyline. Our trip into Atlantic Highlands was uneventful and and were able to squeeze into a crowded anchorage for a night’s rest to prepare for a long next day along the NJ coast.
Segment Stats
- Port Washington, NY to Atlantic Highlands, NJ – September 19th
- Traveled down the East River and across the Lower Bay for 40 Nautical Miles cruising for 5 hours 42 minutes
- Dropped the anchor at Atlantic Highlands Anchorage in Sandy Hook Bay