After almost a year and over 5000 miles, iFloat floats past the Statue of Liberty
Sunrise in New Jersey and we were up and got underway. There was a good weather window for us to make the last transit of the open Atlantic, and we wanted to take advantage. One thing we always try to do is to get underway early when we are on big water. No matter what the weather forecast says, things are calmer in the morning and winds pick up as the day goes on.
Doing the loop provides lots of challenges. Physical, logistical, and psychological. Recently we have been facing the challenge of fear-mongering. We use lots of information sources when we plan our hops, including social media posts from others who have transited previously. These are great sources of info, but sometimes the info is slanted a bit too much to the scary side. Most of the way we have been able to ignore the fear-mongering, but the passage through New Jersey became a challenge of over-coming fear.
As we approached Delaware and New Jersey, the tone of the info we were exposed to was one of "you can only go outside on the Atlantic". Fair enough, but good weather windows on the ocean don't come along every day. Transiting Delaware and New Jersey in one go was possible, but we did not want to do that. We do not enjoy the grind of long passages, and doing this area in one shot would mean two really long days, and missing out on seeing lots of things. We could do the transit in a series of shorter trips, but each one would involve transiting an inlet. These areas have reputations for shoaling, rough water, and crazy local boaters.
New Jersey has an intracoastal waterway, but the word we had on that was that it was not well-maintained, and that our boat's draft was too deep for us to attempt it. This was unfortunate, because taking the ICW through New Jersey would alleviate issues with the Atlantic. We would minimize the number of inlets we had to transit, and by staying "inside" we would not be as dependant on weather for travel windows.
So, we studied the charts and researched the route. We were fortunate that a couple of New Jersey loopers posted harbour guides right before we were going to transit the area. These guys had good intel about the ICW, and some tricks for safely transiting it. At about the same time, two other loopers did transits of the ICW, and posted their GPS tracks online. We were able to download these and use them like a Bob's track during our transit.
Now we faced our last three psychological challenges. The first was the Point Pleasant canal, which has a reputation for rough water. You can see many youtube videos of boat fails in this canal. The word on the looper pages was ONLY GO AT SLACK TIDE. Well, we decided we were not going to wait for slack tide, since we wanted to get on and off the Atlantic early. Since it was early in the morning, we would not have traffic issues, so we figured that we could handle any waves or current (the biggest danger on the water is other boaters).
Our trip through the Point Pleasant canal was smooth as glass. We were on a strong ebb tide and got a push of about 4 kmph, but since there were no other boats around, there were no waves. The sides of the canal are straight metal bulkheads, which reflect waves. Heavy traffic would set up reflecting waves which gives the canal its rough water. No traffic = no waves.
Next, we had to pass under a railroad bridge. The word online was that the bridge was narrow and dangerous, the bridge could lower at any time without warning! This made no sense to us, but this is the info we had. The bridge opening was narrow, but we made it through fine. The only challenge was a couple of fishing boats who looked like they were going through with us. We slowed to let them go first and no problemo.
Dolly passing under the railroad bridge. We were being pushed by a current of about 4 kmph, which makes handling a bit tricky. We had to be careful that there was no other boat traffic when we went through.
The third challenge was the Manasquan inlet. Supposedly this was rough and dangerous. Again, smooth as glass. We ran into some standing waves where the ebb tide current met the ocean, but this was no worse than many wakes we have gone through. Before you knew it, we were on the open Atlantic.
The ride was smooth. The water looked like glass, but there was an underlying swell to the water. We slowly gyrated up and down, even though no waves were visible. The water got rougher near Sandy Hook, as the water got shallower which stacked up the swells a bit, but this section did not last for very long.
We pulled into Great Kills harbour in the early afternoon and tied up to a mooring ball, which was one of the easiest moorings we have ever done. The yacht club that administers the mooring balls had a shuttle service, and would pick you up at your boat and drop you off later. Really nice.
Trish of Madi Hati is a professional drone pilot and took this photo of us on the mooring at Great Kills. She also took the money shot at the top of this post.
Another view of us in the mooring field.
Here we are riding the shuttle from the mooring field with Roy and Trish of Madi Hati, and Maria and Steve from Dolly.
We went for dinner with the crews of Dolly and Madi Hati at a local Italian restaurant. As it turned out, ALL the restaurants in the area are Italian restaurants. Dinner was a bit expensive, but we all wanted to celebrate having passed another challenge. From here on we do not have any big barriers to overcome, and the next three weeks should be smooth sailing (we hope).
Steve took a screenshot of all the AIS targets in New York harbour. Each one of these is a boat, and this is not all of them. Only commercial boats are required to use AIS, many pleasure craft do not.
We got underway around 8 the next morning. We wanted to arrive at the Statue of Liberty around 10 in the morning to take advantage of the best light to get a photo with the statue. The first hour was pretty simple, as we just crossed a large bay, but as we approached the Verrazzano bridge things got more complicated. Traffic picked up significantly, including container ships and fast ferries. We were also fighting a strong ebb tide current which slowed the boat by over 5 kmph, a big deal when your normal speed is 15 kmph.
Our view coming into New York harbour.
We linked up with a couple of other looper boats, and all five boats took turns in front of the Statue of Liberty to get photos of the statue with our boats. By this time, the harbour was really rocky. There was absolutely no wind, all the waves were generated by boat wakes. The harbour was FULL of shipping of all kinds. Ferries, cargo ships, pleasure vessels, work barges, you name it. We made it to our slip at Liberty Landing marina shortly before lunch time.
Here we are fighting the current on our way past Lady Liberty.
Cruisin by the statue.
Our initial plan was to just take a break, but Maria and Steve of Dolly were going into town and invited us to go with them. We took the ferry over to Manhattan and visited the 9/11 memorial and the Freedom tower. We then all took the subway uptown. Steve's brother was visiting so Steve and Maria went to see him, while Louise and I went to Times Square.
Part of the 9/11 memorial. The site is smaller than I imagined it being, but still very powerful. 9/11 was one of those days you remember your whole life, and being here brought a lot of it back. The white building in the background is the Oculus, which was a transport hub for many subway lines.
Looking up to the sky along side the Freedom Tower.
Inside the Oculus they had a large train station, with connections to lots of different subway lines and light rail lines. This building was amazing, and very well laid out.
Selfie near a weird statue outside the Occulus.
People doing yoga in the middle of Times Square. This place was off the chart.
Things you don't see in Canada.
These photos do not do it justice. Times square was packed full of sights, sounds and smells. New York smells like weed EVERYWHERE. I thought there was a lot of cannabis smoke in New Jersey, but it was nothing compared to the Big Apple.
Amazon delivery van in downtown New York.
Lots of tracks underground on the subway system.
Back on the boat, we had some dinner and went to bed early, as we were both tired after a long day.
Our view out of the back of the boat. Absolutely spectacular.
From a slightly different vantage point, this one from the flybridge.
Next morning we took the ferry back to Manhattan, then took the subway to 50th street. From there we walked to Trump Tower, then down Billionaires Row before going to Ellen's Stardust diner for lunch. This place was over-the-top tourist trap. Flashing light, confetti, and the wait staff sang broadway songs the whole time we were there. The food was twice the price of what it should have been, but I guess you pay for the experience.
Bunch of goslings drinking beside the marina office.
New York was full of random stuff. This guy was a youtuber who walks around with a backpack full of cats. Sponge Cake, the orange one on top has an instagram account.
Gothic church on 5th avenue.
Yeah I know, but we just had to see it.
5th Avenue was full of super-high-end stores. Cartier, Rolex, Tiffany's etc.
Louis Vuitton building on 5th avenue.
One of the super-narrow buildings on Billionaire's row.
We saw this flatbed semi parked along a city block. They people working nearby all had shirts that had "NYPD Counterterrorism Squad" on them. Yikes.
They had a huge Lego store near 50th street. One of the displays.
Sitting in a taxi in the Lego store.
Non-stop landmarks here. We were just walking and we passed by many places we have heard of over and over again.
We went for lunch at Ellen's Stardust. Had to wait in line for a bit, but we ended up with a good seat.
One of the waiters singing. They had various places around the restaurant for them to sing.
Top-down view of the Stardust. We were packed in pretty good.
Back on the boat we took some time to watch the set-up for the Sail-GP. This is a super-high end sailboat race, all carbon-fibre and cutting edge high-tech. We timed our visit right, as we got a front-row seat to the action. The marina was right beside the "pits" and they were constantly using big cranes to haul in and haul out racing boats.
We had a ring-side view of the Sail GP pits. It was set up to look like the Formula1 pits.
These sailboats were uber-high-tech. The sail is actually a wing, with flaps and everything. Here you can see a view of the inside of one of the wings. It was packed with servos and machines.
A view of some of the electronics inside the Sail GP boats.
The Sail GP boats were carbon-fibre catamarans, with sails that were more airplane wing than sail.
Here they are lifting a Sail GP boat out of the water and into the pits for servicing. This happened non-stop during the time we were here.
The pits were located across the walkway along the harbour. When they lifted the boats like this they had to shut down the walkways under the crane.
They used big RIB boats like tugs to bring the sailboats back and forth from the pits to the race course.
One other thing that we lucked into was Pokemon Jersey Go Fest. This is a huge event for people who play Pokemon, and the event was being held in the park right beside the marina. As part of the event, there were special Pokemon available in Manhattan the day before the event. So, we booked tickets on a hop-on-hop-off tour bus. When we arrived to take the ferry across to Manhattan, the wharf was full of nerds. There were lots of other people heading over to take advantage of the event. Once we got to the other side and on the bus, the traffic was horrible, so the bus travelled all around Manhattan at just over walking speed, which is perfect for Pokemon. Louise rode down below and caught-em-all while I rode up on the deck and took in the city. By early afternoon we were both sun-baked, so we headed back to the boat and promptly we both fell asleep.
Go Fest was slated to start at 9:00 the next morning, so Louise got set up with all her devices and some Gatoraide, which I toted around in a backpack. The event was right beside the marina, so we did not have far to go to nerd-out. The park was full of people walking around with their phones catching Pokemon. And this was a Friday! We walked around the park for the next five hours enjoying the event. Louise had me playing on an extra account for Jeremie who she met years ago playing pokemon. I had no idea what I was doing, and a lot of the time could not see my phone screen in the sun glare, but it was fun.
Nerdin out at Pokemon Go Fest.
Pikachu.
Posing with one of the Pokemon.
One of the power-ups at go fest.
Back on the boat we had some drama over power. When we arrived at the marina our power pedestal was not working, so the dock-hand told us to tie to the pedestal beside us. Well, the owner showed up a couple of days early and needed his pedestal, so we had to call the marina to figure it out. They ended up plugging us into a pedestal across the dock, which made quite a mess of cords on the dock. I don't think the other slip-holders were happy.
Boat name of the day: Waste Knot. (pump-out boat)
