Foggy departure out Cape May inlet. Happy to have a lead vessel.
When you see an opening, take it. Squeeze through it any way you can and continue on. Wed, May 31 was predicted to be very low winds, not the best direction but not an issue. So what frequents New Jersey on windless days? Answer: FOG, and plenty of it.
And when we thought it had departed on those little cat’s paws, back in it oozed, surrounding us like a cool, moist blanket. Even the wind picking up didn’t completely dispel the persistent fogginess. For the most part, visibility was just good enough to safely see ahead as we sped along at 13kts. The morning fog was so dense we kept to a slower 8kt pace for a couple of hours, running radar, two sets of eyes, happy to have AIS and listening carefully to any nearby VHF convo.
Rounded Sandy Hook with no issues and no fog. You may recall years ago we dealt with fog up the NJ coast, getting too close to the channel’s edge at Sandy Hook, and then bam! surprised beach fishermen and us, as we were closer in than we thought. I think we couldn’t see the large buoys and relied on the chartplotter, but the channel and buoys had been moved further away from the growing sandy beach so we found ourselves outside of the actual channel- but only briefly!
We tucked in for the night just behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands, with plans to transit through NYC, the East River and east through Long Island Sound as far as we could get, the next day- Thursday June 1.
Surprise! Morning fog crept in to greet us, then ebbed only to return. Nerves of steel, AIS, our trusty VHF and chartplotter got us through the harbor with ferries, container ships, tugs, small fishing boats and other pleasure craft all messing about as always.
We watched the process depicted below a couple of times; the first happened when before we upped anchor in the morning, and this time was a better view. Clams?
Drop in a big trap thing, pull and drag it, and then bring it up
SeaStreak- called to let us know she’d do a two whistle pass. Invisible until very close by
As we closed in on the Verrazano, the fog lifted for the day- ahhh.
Your consumer goods have arrived!
Joint effort? or Tug rendezvous?
Always an honor and a pleasure
Turbulent water near Hell Gate. The current was with us- against would not be good
Plane makes a very steep ascent on take off from LaGuardia over Rikers Island
We enter into eastern Long Island Sound and decide to keep up our speed as conditions are calm and we want to get as close to Westbrook as possible tonight- ok how about Clinton 2 miles away?
I often check the AIS list to see at a glance who’s out there, but hadn’t looked in a while. Such a pleasant surprise when I looked and saw s/v Amistad headed into New Haven Harbor. The first time we ever saw her, she was being constructed at Mystic Seaport. Laid eyes on her a couple of times since then but never under way. I rushed up to tell Russ and insisted we divert for a photo. The shot below shows the path we were on and how we turned nearly 90 degrees to hunt her down.
Changed course from the dotted line to check out the Amistad, the large triangle.
I took a slew of photos, but the sun was wrong. This was the best one.
S/V Amistad heads into New Haven Harbor
Friday morning we began the long 15 minute trip into what would be our summer home for two months; a blessed slip at Pilots Point Marina. Could I ask for more? I’d better not. But then again, we’d be reunited with Bonny our Mini Cooper, with friends to see, lobster to consume, appoints to keep and all the shopping we cared to do. Oh and those pesky boat projects too.
Mind that sandy point!
