Saturday, October 5th
Weather was pretty nice today and the batteries were staying charged with good winds and lots of Sun. Three boats had moved from the spot I really like to anchor so we had our daily anchor drill and moved about 300 feet behind the breakwater. Now we were protected from just about every wind direction and most of the ferry wakes.
Just before noon, we dropped the dinghy, lowered the outboard from the stern rail and went into town. Yea! After 4 days of not getting off the boat, we were both ready for a change of scenery and a little exercise.
We tied up at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina dinghy dock, deposited our trash in the dumpster (always a priority on a cruising boat) and walked through the marina to downtown. The area seemed a little more run down that the last few years but it was a nice day for a walk and we did a little sightseeing through town. The movie theater is still open and we're planning on seeing a movie there in the next few days. Today we wanted to keep walking for a bit.
A short time later we walked into the Super Foodtown for a few fresh fruits and veggies we were getting low on. The store was very nice but the prices were about 20-30% higher than Catskill. We ended up with three small bags for $75.
It was about a mile back to the dinghy and no problem with the extra load of groceries. We trucked the groceries back to the boat and enjoyed a quiet afternoon as the winds were finally dying. Around 4pm I decided to break out my guitar and Laura joined me in the cockpit for cocktails and music. Dinner was burgers on the BBQ (first time I've been able to grill in several days because of the winds) and we watched the second part of Lord of the Rings on the new computer.
Sunday, October 6th
No anchor drill this morning! The boat is now in one of the best anchoring spots in the harbor so we are staying here for at least a couple more days.
It's a beautiful morning again with a few clouds that are supposed to clear up later in the day.
Last Spring, on our way north, we met a couple in Great Bridge (south of Norfolk) who were pretty new to sailing and working their way north on a 44 foot Catamaran. We tied up next to each other at the free dock and invited Annette and Noel over for cocktails on Second Wind. They became instant friends and Laura stayed in touch with Annette over the summer. Over the past week, they have been sailing in Long Island Sound and pulled into Atlantic Highlands yesterday. We actually met them at the fuel dock as we were coming back to the boat with our groceries. They were just leaving the fuel dock so we helped them tie to a mooring which they had reserved. We made plans to get together soon. Ok. That's the background.
Today, we took the dinghy into town and Noel met us with his car at the dinghy dock. We learned the last few days that they had a house on the hill in Atlantic Highlands. Laura had been talking to Annette and they invited us up for brunch. "Also bring your laundry", she said.
It was a great brunch and a nice reunion with friends. We sat, ate and talked for a few hours while reviewing our sailing histories and future plans. Then we all took a walk around the Highlands for about 3 miles up and down the hills. We were pretty pooped after getting back to the house (not much exercise in the past 10 days) and I'm glad it was a little cool out plus we had walked a couple miles yesterday to loosen up. Annette took us back to the dinghy dock (with a clean two loads of laundry) and we spent the rest of our day on the boat at anchor. We finished up Lord of the Rings and started The Hobbit.
The weather forecasts for this week look pretty bad. There is a sub-tropical low forming off the NJ coast on Tuesday / Wednesday which will be bringing high winds from a Nor'easter along the coast. Tomorrow, I'll check the forecasts again and decide on one of three options. Right now the forecasts are showing 30, 40 and possible 50 knot winds for Wed, Thur and Fri. Our options are -
1. Stay where we are at anchor. We're pretty protected in this spot and the holding in this harbor is excellent. But I'd be worried about the low coming closer to shore than the current forecast and seeing 50-60 knot winds while anchored. Once you are in that stuff and things go bad, you can't try to move somewhere else.
2. Try to get a mooring in the harbor. We wouldn't move very far for a mooring but it might be worth it for peace of mind. These moorings are hurricane rated and the only boats in the harbor that survived Hurricane Sandy were on the moorings. Problem is all the other boats heading south are backed up here and the last few days no moorings were available.
3. Go back to Haverstraw Cove where we were a week ago. This is a coastal storm and the winds even 50 miles inland are much less. Plus that cove had excellent holding and 360 degree protection from waves.
Monday, October 7th
The wind forecasts for this week have gone down a bit and now show top winds in the 30-35 knot range. Winds have been that high in the past week we've been here and, even though the boat is moving around a lot, we've been safe. But, I've learned not to bet my boat on the forecasts. They can change quickly.
So, we decided to not stay on the anchor for the storms this week. I'll call for a mooring this morning for the next 4 days of storms and if there aren't any available, we head back up river.
I called the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club who manage the moorings and left a message. A short time later they called back to say no moorings were available. While I was on the phone, I heard someone talking in the background and the gent I was talking to said, "It's your lucky day. Our harbormaster just told me he was hauling out his boat tomorrow and you can have his mooring." Yea! We don't have to go back up river 50 miles! The mooring they gave us is only about 300 feet from where we are anchored. I was hoping it was farther into the harbor but at least we'll be safe and I won't worry about the anchor pulling up if the winds really "blow like stink".
I was getting restless so got out my list of boat projects. We finished all the critical ones before leaving Catskill so were now down to low-priority items. I worked a few projects in the morning and Laura dug out one of her (3) sewing machines to fix my sofa cushion which keeps falling over on me. She then decided to sew a few other things - maybe something Fall-like for Annette and Noel? We're supposed to get together later in the week for cocktails and we might be heading down the coast of NJ together. I'll bet when the weather breaks and the seas finally calm down, there will be a mass exodus down the coast. We're planning on maybe Monday (a whole week from now).
We ended up staying on the boat all day working small projects and watching a few movies. Now on the Daniel Craig James Bonds.
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