July 1, 2014:
1424…
But first, the numbers (for two days):
Day 15 – Cape May, NJ to Jersey City, NJ, 124 miles, 7.33 hours (including NYC touring time)
Day 16 – Jersey City, NJ to Oyster Bay, NY, 34.7 miles. 2.5 hours (you’ll see why in a moment)
Okay, 1424. Well, in the year 1424 King Wladislaus III of Poland was born. And, according to the all-knowing el Goog, Angel Number 1424 is a message from our angels that they are currently assisting us with keeping our thoughts light and positive (who knew!?). But 1424 is also the number of miles we’ve traveled since we left Blowing Rocks Marina in Jupiter, Florida, sixteen days ago. To me, that’s a pretty large number! And we’re not home yet.
Yesterday was pretty thrilling. Leaving Cape May around 6:40 AM, we ran the inlet with some pretty wild currents and standing waves, knocking Sequel’s nose one way then the other and giving us a bit of concern about what the Atlantic would hold for us. The sport fisherman ahead of us was pounding through the swells with spray exploding up over her bow. Uh oh… But then we were through and to our relief the seas were slow gentle rollers that never gave Sequel a shudder or crash. We ran north at our full cruising speed of 2200 RPM, giving us about 19.5 knots and we never throttled back until New York Harbor. The seas got pretty confused as we neared Manhattan, but I mean, who’s surprised. Nothing moves slowly in the city that never sleeps.
It was great running into (not literally) the city – watching the skyline grow, seeing the Lady appear, marveling at the scope of the new Freedom Tower gleaming from the area that had brought both Amy and I such personal pain. Amy worked at the Financial Center and we both lost friends on that fateful day in 2001. But here we were, arriving in the city where we had met fourteen years ago on a blind date – and arriving in our own boat, experiencing it from an entirely unique angle. Awesome!
So we toured around for a bit – dodging high speed ferries, tour boats, sail boats, megayachts, jet skis, and security vessels of all shapes and sizes – and then eventually feeling our way into Liberty Harbor Marina on the Jersey side of the Hudson. We’d been calling all the way up from Cape May to try to secure a slip, but Amy was getting a voicemail message that they were CLOSED Sundays and Mondays! What?
Fortunately someone did answer hours later, although Amy got, “please hold” and after waiting for an eternity she hung up and tried again.
“Please hold.”
Aargh! Again, after an eternal hold Amy hung up. A third time was the charm.
Amy: “Hi – I was wondering if you had a slip available for tonight. Possibly for two nights (more on that in a second)?”
Wanda (I just made that name up): “Yes”
Amy: “Great, so what kind of a slip is it – side tie, back in, …?”
Wanda: “I don’t know anything about the marina.”
Amy: “Oh, okay. Well, do you know what side we should rig?”
Wanda: “No, go to C55″
Amy: “Um, where in the marina is that?”
Wanda: “I don’t know anything about the marina. Go to C55 and park it there.”
Amy: (I’ll delete her internal discourse) “Okay, thank you.”
So… Yeah, it was an interesting place. And not even (really) a city view because it was tucked behind a large apartment building. And the place was a bit of a dump (sorry LHM, but it was).
Still, we were in Manhattan (kinda) and it was a good feeling. And then Deborah, Amy’s sister, came for a visit. We chilled on the boat with margaritas, caught up, and then took the dinghy out to dinner (and no, I didn’t actually take the dinghy out to dinner. I may like our RIB, but not THAT much).
Great Night.
Now I’m back to today. We left Manhattan behind this morning after fueling up (choke), and have gone as far as we can go. Literally.
We are at a mooring in Oyster Bay on Long Island, and, as you can see in the picture below, our electronic charts go no farther. We’ve known about this predicament for a while – there was a miscommunication and we didn’t have the final chip for our ‘plotter to get us home from Long Island Sound. So long story short, Peter to the rescue again. He is overnighting us a chip to this marina and it should be here tomorrow morning. Cutting it close, or perfect planning – you choose.
That’s it. Tomorrow I want to chat a bit about our thought process for go / no go with regards to mother nature – as there will need to be some decision making in the very near future.
But before I forget – I wanted to give a shout out to our friends Deb and Scott. Deb, thanks so much for looking after our garden! And I wanted you to know that in Annapolis we saw these huge chicken statues all over the place during our cab ride to Whole Foods (like the cow statues that were in Boston), and I got excited to get the camera off the boat and take a video of me saying, “Hello Chicken!” to one of the six foot tall cluckers (inside story), but to my chagrin the art installation didn’t extend into the waterfront area at all.
Still – Hello Chicken!
To see more Sequel, visit John’s website here.
