July, 21, 08 Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey

Arrived here on Sunday morning 9 a.m. after leaving Hampton, Virginia on Friday the 18th of July at 8:15 in the morning. Gordon got a surprise when he got the anchor up-as it was tangled with a "line and a bag of clam-shells". He had to lean over the rail and clip the line with a large pair of cable cutters as I held the boat steady until the muddy anchor was cleared and cleaned up. This small task to about 45 minutes! Once the anchor was cleared we headed out the channel to be greeted with Navy ships, container ships and commercial fishing vessels. It was a very calm sea with little wind.

As we headed up the coast the wind picked up and we were able to sail with 10-15 knots of wind. At night we had some shipping traffic and the following night we were along the shipping channel along the Jersey coast. So the radar was used to follow the traffic and keep watch on the barges and fishing vessels. We passed Atlantic City at about 6 p.m. and the city shimmered in the haze and heat. It was nice to have a breeze to keep us cool. As the wind picked up, the waves of a following sea made the ride a little rocky. The large sailing genoa sail was full of air and our speed was over six knots. We needed so slow the boat down as it would have us coming into Atlantic Highlands at 4 a. m. So we took down the genoa and sailed with the main sail with one reef. This allowed us to "slow our speed". At night the wind lessened and we were cruising along at 4 knots, when it slowed to 3 knots, we put the engine on to give us enough speed to get us into Atlantic Highlands at a reasonable hour. As always when we approached NYC the shipping traffic was busy with Cruise Ships, Barges, Tugs, and many, many pleasure fishing craft trying to "catch the big one "and keep cool on an already hot morning. We sailed around Sandy Hook- which really is a lovely white beach with cottages and condos in the background and New York City with its sky line just north of the "hook".

One of the many Navy ships heading out to sea. As we listened and watched the shipping traffic a air craft carrier came down the channel but we were too far away and off the shipping lanes to get a picture of it.

After the sun set, the sky was a beautiful red and contrasted against the dark blue sea. We saw several dolfins as we sailed up the coast, a sea turtle heading south, and three small sting rays. A few birds thought we were a "fishing vessel" as they tried to hover over the sails and mast, thankfully the mast and rigging kept them from trying to land on the boat!