Check the weather this morning and it did not look too bad. NOAA said 2′ to 4′ waves with winds 10 to 15 mph out of the Southwest. I had talked to the Marina Dock Master and he said they deliver boats to New York all the time and as long as there is a westerly component to the wind you can follow the buoy line about a mile or so offshore and have a good ride. We decided to stick our heads out and see what it was like. The water at the end of the jetty was pretty bad but that only lasted several hundred feet. After that we needed to get out another 1/2 mile and then turn northeast. The waves were really from the southeast and they were at least 2 to 4’s with some larger in the mix. NOAA had said 8 second on the wave period (crest to crest) and I think that was pretty good estimate. When we turned northeast to follow the Jersey Coast we had the waves on the stern quarter and things were not too bad. After we passed the second buoy, about 9 miles, things seemed to settle down a little and the course was a little more northerly. We did the cruise on plane and we had a good run. The water just got better as we went along but it was a pretty good ride. The total cruise from dock to dock was 149 miles.
The New Jersey shoreline is developed with most a the shore wall to wall condos and houses. There were some large beaches near the north end but that is a shore line that is about 100 miles long. Lots and lots of people have their place on the water in New Jersey. We traveled most of the time about 1 to 2 miles off shore so it was easy to see the development.
There were a few boats moving North. Most of the power boats were running on plane but we also saw a lot of sailboats moving along at about 8 to 9 miles per hour. There was some commercial traffic on the water and I was surprised at the New York Harbor. First the size because from the entry into the initial channel to the mouth of the inner harbor at the Verrazano Bridge is about 10 miles. Second, there was only one freighter we saw on the cruise in and you can see the pictures of it. The freighter moved pretty quickly in the outer harbor but the pilot barely had him moving in the inner harbor.
We did see 2 different schools of dolphins along the way out in the ocean. I was surprised because I thought they were warm water fish and the water temp was 55. We waited to see if they would swim and jump the wake but neither school showed any interest.
We were disappointed that the weather was as hazy as it was. It was not great for picture taking. We did get some good pictures of the harbor, New York and Jersey City. The most traffic on the River was the ferry traffic and they do not cut any slack for anybody so you need to keep a sharp eye on where they are and where they are headed. They also set up a tremendous wake.
We did pass the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on the way in and got a few photos. They also have cruises to the Statue of Liberty besides all the ferries with people moving from one area to the other.
We are staying at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City because of the great view of Manhattan and there is a ferry dock about 500 feet from our slip. The ferry wake does rock the boats in the harbor but we are in far enough that the rocking is not to bad. Good floating docks and that is needed because the tide is about 4′. We went to the Liberty Landing Restaurant last night and it was good and had a pretty interesting patio area. They have cabanas outside for the patrons as well as the open air tables. They also have a chess board with large pieces. The chess pieces are about 4′ high and it is interesting to see the people playing chess and moving the pieces.
We went to New York today on the ferry and walked parts of Little Italy and China Town. From the ferry we used taxis between the major points and walked the rest. New York is pretty interesting in that it is so wall to wall buildings and they are really old with the fire escapes on the front walls down to the street. The traffic moves but the delivery tracks just seem to stop right where they need to make a delivery and block that land for whatever time it takes and that seems to be SOP. Certainly a lot of people everywhere. We spent about 5 hours away to give Candy a good nap time.