Yesterday, Jule III left Cape May and headed to the north
shore
of Long Island via New York City. It was an overnight passage along the
north Jersey coast with little weather or traffic until we approached
the New York Harbor. The night was clear and the current favorable
until it turned foul around 0900 today but it was a necessary evil for
us to meet Hell Gate at flood current.
The current was almost 2 kts as we passed under the
Verranzano bridge leading to NYC's inner harbor. Wow, there were really
big boats everywhere; a far cry from our last visit 5 years ago. Of
course we had to pass by Lady Liberty and say hi. Still the current was
against us. We are getting a bit tired and we have several hours to go.
The Manhatten skyline is impressive but we still miss the Twins. One
Trade Center is not the same as the Twins. The drive up the East River
was impressive. At least now we have no current but the raging Hell
Gate is not raging. What is up with that? As we made the turn past the
Harlem River, we managed to squeeze 2 knots of current in our favor.
Ann was disappointed that the Gate was not very hellish.
We followed the Mystic bound SV Cutting Class into the
municipal mooring field at Port Washington. We had to pick one of the
yellow balls as the others belonged to the cranky Yacht Clubs (so we
were told). It was a bit nasty out as we tied up so we decided to stay
on board until tomorrow.
Wow, what is that? We were sipping on a nice drink
when we saw something floating in the bay. No, not floating but
swimming with antlers. After a review with the binoculars, we
determined that it was a deer. A quick Google indicates that they are
good swimmers so he was not in distress. Still he had been swimming for
many, many, miles. When we reported it to the folks on shore, they were
very excited. Apparently there are not many aquatic deer on Long Island.
Matt is in charge of the town's mooring field. He is a
great source of local knowledge about the town and the harbor. He is also the chief launch captain for the harbor. He was quite excited about our deer. Nice guy. In fact everybody was friendly. Lots of places for provioning and there is even a West Marine. Amazing place!
Ayhan's Med restaurant is a jewel in
this town. Actually there are three Ayhan's within one block in the downtown area. They all look good but we tried the fancy one. Atmoshpere, food, and Ayhan were great. We went there three times. Can't wait to go back. Go cbeck it out..
;
