Organized Chaos in New York Harbor

Sunday, September 25, 2016

We had a lovely, quiet night in Haverstraw Bay. We got up around 7:00 and had breakfast, then got into our engine checks.

Dave and Nicki left Haverstraw Bay around 8:10. We are going to try to meet up at Atlantic Highlands anchorage in Sandy Hook (at the south end of New York Harbor).  It'd be nice if we can stick together all the way to Annapolis. I think they want to do that, too.

We lifted anchor and were on our way by 9:00.

I discovered a fabulous app for Tides and Currents. It's called 'Tides Near Me'. It takes the guesswork out of the whole tides and currents thing, and automatically finds the tides and currents near us. Hallelujah!

When we went under the Tappan Zee bridge there was a ton of work going on. They have been rebuilding it since 2013 so there are cranes and barges everywhere. There have been three serious boating accidents here since 2013, so we were very careful going through. I called in on Channel 19 to let them know our route and they approved.  I also called a tug to ask about his route intentions.  I'm getting quite comfortable on the VHF radio, which is good because I'll probably have to use it often in the coming months.

By 10:30, our boat speed was 7.3 and our SOG (speed over ground) is 9.1 and got as high as 9.3 shortly after. By 11:50, we're seeing 10.4.  Wow!  Gotta love an ebb tide!

At 11:30, we were approaching the George Washington Bridge and could see the New York skyline behind it.

Sensory overload as we crawled closer to New York Harbor between the George Washington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge--tugs, cruise ships, helicopters, sailboats, ferries, power boats, freighters, SeaDoos, barges--you name it, it's in New York Harbor.  Big wakes and waves, too, that get us rolling.  Iconic New York stuff we've seen include the Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and......   How am I supposed to take advantage of photo-ops when we have to have our eyes peeled for big, huge boats running right at us?!  Don't they know I'm a tourist and I have tourist's rights to gawk?  Guess not.

For the boaters out there, I've taken a picture of our chartplotter as we were going through this area.  All of the little black triangles represent large ships or yachts with AIS (Automatic Identification System).  Lots of them.  Then, add in the hundreds of other water vehicles who don't have AIS systems and you'll get an idea of how busy this harbor is. It is a Sunday, which may explain why so many recreational watercraft are on the water.  Once we went under the Brooklyn Bridge, the boats spread out a little more and we could just mind our own business on our way.

By 1:20, the tide had turned. We had a boat speed of 7.0 and our SOG is 6.9. Bummer.  By 1:50, our

boat speed was 7.4 and SOG was 7.0.

Another first: RC Wings is in salt water.

We arrived at Atlantic Highland Harbor at 3:15 and then had to hold our position in the channel for over a half hour to get to the fuel dock. Grrrrrr. A trawler was taking up the whole dock and taking FOREVER to get filled up. Then, after that long wait, their pumpout wasn't working. Aaaarrrrggghhhh!

We finally anchored at 4:15. At least it's a shorter day than the last few. Also, Simpatico and Off Duty II are anchored with us. Bonus!

We have travelled 735 nautical miles so far on this trip.

Dave and Nicki came over shortly after we anchored so we could plan our strategy for going to Atlantic City.  Often, this is a staging area where boats wait for a weather window before leaving. Luckily for us, it looks like tomorrow will be just fine for our departure. The wind is relatively light and the waves should be small. The wind picks up later in the day with super high winds the following day, so we are going to leave at 5:00 am tomorrow morning so that we get in around 4:00 pm. It's about 65 miles away.

We had a quick pork souvlaki wrap supper, did our engine checks, and went to bed.