Haverstraw Cove to Atlantic Highlands, NJ (Day 6)

We slept in a little later this morning as the low tide was around 9am and we wanted a little more water under us when leaving this cove.  Just before 10am, we had the boat ready, pulled up the anchor and motored out.  There was only about 1/2 foot of tide but it was rising so, if we "rubbed", it wouldn't be for long.  No problems going out and we never saw less than 1 foot under the keel.

The tidal current was with us for as few hours as we motored south toward the new Tappan Zee Bridge and New York City.  I knew this would change and we'd have 3-4 hours of slower ride before it switched back around to helping us near the George Washington Bridge in about 20 miles.  No problems motoring down the river other than the western hills funneled the west wind up the river from the south - right on our nose.  The west wind forecast, and my hopes of sailing this day, were not to be.

We've been watching them build the new Tappan Zee Bridge for the the past 3 years.  It looks like they have now removed all of the old bridge and it's 99% complete (there are still some work barges attached to the new bridge).  Here is a nice picture of the Tappan Zee Bridge lit by the Sun.

Storms in the area seemed to be following us all day and we passed south of several around NYC.  My timing worked well as we were doing between 7.5 and 8 knots through the harbor.  The place was crazy with ferries all around us.  At one point I was being passed by 5 ferries at once which rearranged everything down below in the boat.  But, we had a great view of Manhattan. 

After looking on ActiveCaptain for alternate anchorages besides Atlantic Highlands, I decided to check out Great Kills Harbor which had good reviews.  We had never been there before and would arrive just before sunset which I thought would let us anchor when we could see everything.  The reviews on ActiveCaptain said there were many private moorings in the beautiful harbor but a few places to anchor near the north end.  A storm approached as we were entering the harbor and it was dead, low tide.  Not the best scenario for entering a new place.  But, it stopped raining a short time later as we motored by the many marinas.  As we approached the northern part of the harbor, we could see there were no open areas left.  The entire harbor was filled with private moorings - most of them empty.

Laura took this nice picture of Lady Liberty while we were bouncing around from the ferry wakes.

Sometimes cloudy, stormy days give you a beautiful sunset.  This was just as we were entering Great Kill Harbor.

Now you might say, "Why not pick up a private mooring if nobody is using it?"  The problem is you don't know what's holding it to the bottom or what chain / line the mooring is made of.  It could be something as tiny as a little danforth anchor for someone to tie off their 16 foot runabout.  Plus, private moorings are almost never inspected.  They rust and rot and wear when folks don't want to spend the money to take care of them.

We decided to leave the crowded harbor and motor-sail to Atlantic Highlands where we had been many times before.  It was dark by time we were back into the lower harbor and I navigated by RADAR and our chartplotters.  No problems other that a squall that came through with 25-30 knot winds.  But, after over 80,000 miles on the water, I saw it coming and we had already pulled in the jib that was helping us along.

It was 8pm before we motored behind the breakwater at Atlantic Highlands.  Our RADAR is very helpful navigating "close in" around anchorages.  I can drill in all the way and it shows all the anchored boats and channel markers.  It also makes it easy to spot "holes" in the anchored boats where we might drop our hook.

This time, there were no holes.  I tried a few places and even tried closer to shore but "bumped" over a sandy spot so left there quickly.  We eventually had to anchor to the east of all the other boats which was very exposed to north winds.  This was the most boats I've ever seen anchored here.  I can always find a protected spot out of the waves and ferry wakes.  Not this time.

After anchoring, Laura and I were so tired we didn't even have dinner.  Navigating and anchoring in the dark through two ship channels takes it toll and we hit the sack early.  Tomorrow we will try to rent a mooring here behind the breakwater for the first time.  They are $55 per night (most expensive moorings we've ever seen) but will be worth it with the storms scheduled for Thursday and Friday.