After the small and rather quaint town of Atlantic Highlands we traveled south and made the jump into the open Atlantic Ocean. Here I should confess that this has been a bit of a fear of mine. What will it be like out in the open water? I’ve tried to ignore it and down play it but here finally it was time for me to actually have to face my fear.

It’s been kind of like a fear of flying. How exactly can you take a trip to Hawaii if you won’t get on the airplane? So I’ve known in the back of my brain that you can’t get to Bahamas without going into open water. But frankly I’ve been ignoring it.

Turns out that wasn’t the bad part. The 3-mile trip from Atlantic Highlands to the point of Sandy Hook was rougher than that to Atlantic City. In fact when we got to Atlantic City I was still game to go to the next port since the ocean was so calm. However the weather prediction was for increasing wind and coordinating waves so we decided we should stick with the plan and go into Atlantic City.

We anchored out due to the high cost of dock space but got permission to take the dinghy into Trump Casino and Marina docks. It was everything Atlantic City should be glitzy, with a capitol “G”. But in the end, three days later I’m sad to say that there hasn’t been a port I’ve been happier to see in the rear view.

The only area to anchor is along side the bridge and on nice days there was an insane number of power boaters zooming by trying to catch fish. There were dozens of boats all willing to zip by us within feet and send us rocking all day long but worse than that was that the tide and the wind were both strong and opposing seemingly all the time. For the three days that we anchored in Atlantic City we seemed to be in constant and perpetual bob mode. It got so bad that Nicole couldn’t eat or drink without throwing up so we went in to Trump and got a room. In her defense it wasn’t just the waves, because of the wind and rain on the second and third days it was impossible to spend any time on deck so we were all more prone to being seasick.

Who knew that if you wanted to dock it was $2 foot (our boat being 47ft means it’s nearly $100 night) and then you still are staying on the boat but getting a room was only $50 a night. So we stayed the night in the Trump Tower and walked on the Boardwalk, which was fun for the kids. We went to a shop called “It’s Sugar” and the kids had fun picking out candy from an amazing variety of sweets.

Still Atlantic City is without a doubt my least favorite stay on the trip so far; there is no good way to get around unless you are gambling. There’s nothing really to do in the casinos unless you are gambling. The food was overpriced, hard to get to and not of very high quality. I was disappointed with nearly every meal and really couldn’t wait to leave, except of course that it meant we had to go back outside… and because Boyd said this would be “the big jump”.

Since the ferries did such a wonderful job of waking us up on Wednesday morning we decided to go directly to the Statue Of Liberty ferry landing in Battery Park. For us it was a short and pleasant walk along the water. What a wonderful, beautiful day it was. We were able to take the first ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. Walking onto the island as the first group of people was an awesome opportunity. We went directly to the statue museum and were some of the first people up to the pedestal.

I’m not sure how other people experience New York City but for us there were no lines no crowds and the weather couldn’t have been more fantastic. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. During our trip to Ellis Island I found record of my Grandfather’s (on Mom’s side) entry into the United States in 1907.

Even though our trip has only been a total of about 3 ½ weeks it has often made me think of the origins of our great country. As we came through Long Island Sound and Nicole and I read about Plymouth Plantation and how that boat arrived in December and the Pilgrims had to create completely. Thinking about how cold it might be in another month and about how daunting the task of setting up entirely new houses in New England in the winter would be especially without a Home Depot. Just the effort required to cut down trees and make them into homes makes me appreciated the tenacity of our predecessors.

To realize that the first settlers, the pilgrims. had to endure sometimes more than 40 days at sea to find themselves in New England rather than in Virginia as they expected, in December no less. Some of my father’s ancestors came across on the Mayflower and both of my mother’s parents came through Ellis Island. It does make you appreciate what the history of our great country has been.

Our day at the Statue of Liberty and at Ellis Island was a great opportunity to remember and reflect on the efforts of all the people who came before us and built this great country.

And then we were off to Atlantic Highlands a small protected breakwater town in NJ. It was an inexpensive stay (which helped us recover from the costs of NY City. We did laundry, bought groceries and refueled.

There are things that just change when you make the final move from land based to water based. For me one of the most dramatic is my feeling about public bathrooms. I have to confess that the tide of opinion has rapidly and dramatically reversed it’s self for me when it comes to the role of the public bathroom.When we were a land based family I was a reasonable mother and like all other “good” mothers encouraged my children to “go to the bathroom before we left the house”, in some cases as you mothers out there might recognize even adding the words.. “I don’t care if you don’t think you have to, just try”. Public bathrooms were a thing to be avoided. If the need arose suddenly, while on a trip away from home, I would give my children that look and we would look with much prejudice for the least offensive public restroom available.

Criteria for a “good” public restroom include but are not limited to finding the proper type of establishment. Restaurants with low traffic or Boutiques that would allow for the unpredictable bladder of children in spite of signs that said “no public rest room” were the most desirable. Restrooms of gas stations and the mall.. no matter how seemingly sparkly they might appear were to be avoided at all cost.

Now, well now all of that has changed. In fact just recently at a port of call where we tied up to the dock of a local restaurant that was closed for the season I sent my children to scour the establishments parking lot and perimeter. “Looks like there might be a public park over there, see if there are any unlocked restrooms” I called to them as they scurried ashore.

So, what has caused this dramatic reversal in my personal hygiene standard? Well, when it comes right down to it public restroom vs. boat head it is a simple and single factor. All land-based toilets, no matter how low on the desirability scale have a single redeeming quality. Once used, you get to leave it, flush it and not think about it ever again.

No matter how sophisticated the boat head, whether it’s on the standard fishing boat or the nicest sailboat it demands thought and attention. Oh perhaps on some captained mega yacht where the owner is not the captain, cook or chief bottle washer this may not hold true, but all the other boat owners out there must agree with me. Once you go you have to know… that it has to be dealt with at some point. Flushing it overboard is not an option unless you are a fair bit off the coast and so comes the dilemma. If you have a holding tank, which most boats do there is the ever gnawing knowledge that you’ll need a pump out station at some point.

This may seem a simple proposition to a land based person. Flush the toilet, it goes to the holding tank, pump out the tank on the next trip to shore. Well that’s not exactly how it works in the real world of boating. The pump out in my home port (which will remain nameless at this moment) has been on the fritz since it was installed some three years ago. If you see a pump out icon in the cruising guide that only means that there a possibility of disposal of your, well, crap.

There may or may not be a charge, there most likely is, if it’s working. There may or may not be someone to collect that charge. Even on a good day in the middle of the week and when the harbor master or dock master should normally be there to collect their fee you may or may not be able to find them. Often, especially in November as it is now harbormasters and dock hands hours are dramatically reduced, either by their employers or by themselves and they are as hard to find as hens teeth.

Once located and paid for pump out stations are a mixed bag, does the dock support the size fitting your boat requires? Will the nozzle fit into your boat’s pump out fixture snuggly? All cruisers know that if it doesn’t there will be a mess of unsightly and smelly proportions. Even if all of the stars align and you are able to find a nice pump out with a locatable person to pay there are still more considerations, how deep is the water next to the dock? Can you get in at any tide or only when it’s high tide, you could be required to wait up to several hours to access the pump out depending on the draft of your boat. And friends, most “nice” pump out stations have see through nozzles so that you can monitor the progress on the pumping out. Can you say ewww?!

Perhaps you are wondering, isn’t there a better way? What about other types of boat heads? There are other types, composting, incinerators and such but the fact remains, if you put it in there at some point you will have to deal with taking it out again. And so, perhaps now you can understand how the sage advice from a cruising mom has changed 180 degrees from “Are you sure you don’t have to go before we leave home” to “Are you sure you don’t have to go before we get back on the boat.. there’s a perfectly good outhouse right here?”!

It seems somehow fitting that the entry to New York City should be something dramatic and as we left City Island and rounded the first bend going under Throg’s Neck Bridge the entry to a section of water known locally as Hell Gate was exciting for more than one reason. I wish that I could post all of the photos that Paul and I took going down through Hell Gate and through the East River. Many of you have been to NY City some, I know have even lived there but the feeling of moving down the East River at 10.5 knots with the city bustling along not the least bit interested in our progress was phenomenal. There was some traffic on the East River but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. The current was incredible but we had (after much discussion) nailed the timing and the current worked for us boosting our normal 6.5 knots to nearly 11. The kids and I had a great time sight seeing from the deck watching all of the helicopters and sight seeing boats and pointing out the different buildings. “You don’t see that in Maine” was the most common comment.

We had decided to try to stay on Manhattan Island, expensive as it was going to be it would allow us access directly to the city and in doing so save us the time and expense, not to mention hassle of getting to NY from any place else. With that goal in mind Boyd brought us under all of the bridges around the tip of Manhattan, past the Statten Island Ferry terminals and into this Marina called North Cove.

Truly guys, it should have been called North Cove Olympic swimming hole (except as in most of NY you would not have wanted to swim in it). When Paul and I rigged to go in and we started to make the corner into the entry I thought there was no way. I don’t think the entry was more than 50 ft across and the waves, between the confusion of the swell there at the tip of the island, and the wakes from those ferries, wow! We surfed through the entry way at a good 5 knots and slid into a slip like Boyd’s been doing it for 100 years. I have to tell you, I was some impressed! I guess truth be told he has been doing this a long time, but not with this boat, and not in those waters, and not with me watching. It was exhilarating. When we were all tied up and jumped off onto the dock. Well, you just looked up into the financial district towering above you. People were walking, jogging, running in the plaza, there were women and men hurrying by dressed in their business attire. It was sooo New York.

The kids were beside themselves and who could blame them. There was a nostalgia for me since I’d lived in NY city for a short time in my pre teens but it was so big any memories I had only enhanced the experience. Boating into New York City… we hadn’t been at the dock more than a few minutes when Boyd reported that we’d had our first request for a charter. That’s NY for you. I guess one of the “suits” who saw our boat wanted to have us take him on a tour of the harbor.

Deciding to take advantage of the brilliant day and our adrenaline we registered and closed up the boat. It took us just a few minutes to get out to “the street” and we were off on our adventure to the Empire State Building. We took the subway (another one of those you don’t see that in Maine experiences) and without much difficulty located and toured the Empire State Building.

Just a quick couple words about that, if the person that you are with should say, oh I don’t know, something like “when we get close we’ll be able to find it, we’ll just look up” don’t believe them. Looking up in NY City is like looking up in the Red Wood forest of California. You just see the trees that surround you. Now, don’t go looking for anything with me because for the entire time (up until we actually entered the Empire State Building) I thought we were looking for the Chrysler Building which I had seen from the East River and proclaimed to the kids to be the Empire State Building. Can’t, apparently take me anywhere. Word two about this, it ain’t cheap. Now I know why my parents never took me to any of the landmarks in NY. Eighty bucks got us most of the way up, but there was no wait, the weather was BEAUTIFUL and it was a huge rush. The kids loved it, we looked all around, saw the bridges, Central Park, Lady Liberty, the harbor, everything. It was without a doubt worth every dime.

Returning to the boat we found it amazingly completely intact. The only security that the “Marina” had was a single line with a clip run across the top of the ramp and a small hanging sign that said “no entry”. We decided, based on those dang ferries and their incredible wakes which kept the whole marina bobbing, to go out to dinner and found a cute little Mexican restaurant just a block from the boat. The four of us ate for less than $30 and it was delicious!

I have to admit that once we got back to the boat, tired as I was I was a bit concerned about the whole bobbing issue but we all went down below and went to bed. I know the ferries stopped at some point and so did the bobbing, I really couldn’t tell you when. I was out, and so was everyone else. They did restart at exactly 6 am!

After nearly a week at Port Jefferson we finally left. It was a nice place to visit and we were able to reprovision quite thouroughly, more importantly we stayed safe from the worst of the effects of Ida. But it was time to go. The ladies at the local library recognized us because we were spending so much time there and we were on first name basis with the girls at the front desk of the Marina. I have to say though, that the internet was nice (even though you had to go to shore to get it) and the shower were hot and clean and even better “free” once you paid the $10 day.

But off we went to City Island making progress once again south more or less. Our accommodations at City Island turned out to be a rather run down dock across from a shooting range. It had a local white swan who was working on taking over the world and the dock manager “JR” lived aboard one of the small fishing boats with his cream colored something-poo named Chia.

Johnny B’s Marina (should have been our first clue don’t you think?) had no internet but we did fill up our water tanks and wash down all of the decks. We also met up with our friends from S/V Sea Schelle again and had a nice evening. Nicole played with the girls and we shared diner, which is always nice. It’s reassuring to know that there are other cruisers still making their way down the coast and we aren’t the only ones this late. Almost perhaps, the only ones, but not the only ones…

With not much to do at City Island we discussed the many pieces of advice on how to get through Hell Gate into New York City (down the East River) and moved on.

So everyone wants to know…how bad is it? The storm, the weather, the waves, and the wind it’s all over the news. Right now we are just getting lots of rain and wind here, mostly rain. When we saw what was coming we decided we’d stay put. We haven’t even left Port Jefferson. It does seem as though all of the rain will never stop. It doesn’t help that some of the deck fittings that had to be redone didn’t get their final allotted doses of caulk in the rush to leave Maine and so our decks (freshly re-cored and re-laminated) are leaking in strategically obnoxious places.

We really don’t have too many spots but they do seem to be in places that are designed to most annoy. There’s one over Paul’s V-Berth that seems to be coming in from the chain locker that is probably from the new anchor windlass. Another one is over the pull out settee in the salon, of course. Nicole’s stateroom is dry and there don’t appear to be any leaks over the main cabin bedding but we do have one just over the little rug on the way to the aft head; that one was not fun to find this morning!

All things considered, the rain won’t kill us and the moisture will eventually have to end. We are hoping that will be tomorrow…, which I think will still be before we all grow mold. That puts us on course to leave here on Monday almost a week after we arrived. Much later than we anticipated but considering that the winds even where we are on the edge of the storm have topped 37 knots in the harbor and the waves “outside” are being reported at 15-20 I think we’ve made the right decision.

When the Coast Guard contacted us on the VHF night before last and told us that they were coming into the harbor to anchor and asked us where we might thought would be a good spot to anchor I took it that it was R-O-U-G-H outside. I don’t think the Coast Guard usually does that. I’m pretty sure they’d usually go back to their home dock. They were also reporting a sunken ship in the entrance of a Connecticut side harbor. They just left this morning and they were about twice our size. More news soon.