September 26th- Port Washington, NY to Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Over night we had another heavy squall. One of the windows leaked so I have another project to keep me busy. We had good protection in the Cove.

Today we headed down the East River through New York City. As usual it was an exciting ride down the swift current. Evergreen topped 9 knots through Hell Gate. Another reason for spending an extra day or two in Port Washington was we were waiting for the UN to wrap up their big meeting. When in session the Coast Guard shuts down parts of the river, making transit difficult. The only security zone was around the aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elisabeth.

Much of the day had a gusty wind blowing between the sky scrapers. We get a little stressed out about the passage through NY and down the New Jersey coast but the day went well.

1st bridge. Throgs Neck

Rikers Island prison ship. Looked empty. Last trip we saw people walking around.

United Nations

HMS Queen Elisabeth

Last Bridge. Verrazzano

Goodbye NY

We anchored in Atlantic Highlands at the end of the day. Tonight we are preparing for the trip down the NJ coast. We hope to make it half way, to Barnegat Bay. The inlet is tricky but we’ve done it twice. We practiced hauling the dinghy up on the fore deck of Evergreen. Tomorrow we’ll haul her up on deck after I take Oliver on his AM commando raid. We plan on doing all this around sunrise. Should be exciting. I do not like towing the dinghy when we are off shore. So far it has worked out but problems can arise and it slows you down.