Day 5 - Monday, September 30, 2013 - Forked River to Atlantic City

We left the dock at 9:00AM and arrived in AC at 12 Noon, just in time for a buffet lunch at the Golden Nugget Casino.
We are docked at the Senator James Farley Marina, which is right across the street from the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, which is right next door to Harrah's Casino and Hotel. Here are a few pictures from Atlantic City before lunch.

The Atlantic City In-Water Boat show was over yesterday and I figured they would have room to stay, and I was right. Out of 640 slips, only 385 are filled year-round, and the rest is for transients and boat show guests. They charge $3.00 a foot for nothing but a parking space and the closeness of Atlantic City.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Dottie's Birthday and we will go to Cape May, NJ for the day.

Day 4, Sunday September 29th, 2013 - Forked River, NJ

We spent today just doing nothing, no cruising or going anywhere. You see, if you don't know NJ at all, we are right across the bay from Tom's River......where Dottie's parents and relatives live.


Dottie's father picking us up in Forked River to go shopping.

so....my father-in-law picked us up to go food shopping and then to a discount marine store, which ws no really discount at all.

After shopping, Dottie did all the laundry and then we went to dinner at the marina's restaurant with Dottie's parents and cousins Jeff and Helene Roscoe.
Dinner was fantastic, and hopefully someday the resturants we now frequent in and around Upstae, NY will be similar.

The Tiki Hut Bar at the Marina

They have a bar down here called the Tiki Hut which also serves lunch, which that too was terrific.

Sun setting at the Captain's Inn and Marina, Forked River, NJ

Day 3 - Saturday, September 28th, 2013 - Manasquan, NJ to Forked River, NJ

We had left Manasquan at about 9:00AM and arrived in Forked River, NJ at about 3:00PM. I was chatting with a fellow boater this morning and he said that NJ should be our worst experience as far as running aground goes. Although magazines and others say it will be in the Carolinas and Georgia. It is just devastating what Super storm Sandy did, especially down here.

The trip from Manasquan to Forked River was uneventful after the first two hours, and I'll explain why. 

We ran aground in Manasquan AGAIN. Buried in the soft sands of NJ, but this time, we got buried hard in the sand. We waited for the Towboat US like about 20 minutes and by the time he got ready to tow us a bit, the tide rose enough to free us and on our way we went.
Let me tell you, the best thing I ever did was sign up for Boat's US unlimited towing package, because I got my money back yesterday and on Friday 9 fold. You see, a soft-grounding cost just a tad under $500.00 each time, Friday's bill was $467.00 and the same for Saturdays bill.......so I definitely did the right thing.

The weather today was another hit....mid 70's and low 80's with 100% sunshine. In fact, they are calling for that same type of day tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ( although, the temps may rise to mid 80's) Thursday and Friday.

We are docked at the Captain's Inn and Marina in Forked River, NJ. The reason we picked Forked River was so my mother in law and Father in law who live about 5 minutes away in Bayville, could have dinner with us on Sunday, along with Dottie's cousin and her hubby Jeff.

I met a guy by the name of Peter James who owns company called The Big Pond Boatworks. www.bigpondboatworks.com and he is going to single hand it to Key West aboard his 52' sailboat, Viewfinder......what nice guy he was and we are supposed to meet up again in Norfolk, VA. Every boat he builds, he builds from the hull up, and his wood craftsmanship is second to none. Simply beautiful boats, with beautiful lines.

We will leave here on Monday and if it is calm enough, we are going to take the outside passage( in the Atlantic Ocean) south to Cape May, if not, we will remain inside (ICW) to Atlantic City. Both Dottie and I are looking forward to visiting Cape May, as either of us have been there before.

MORE PICS TOMORROW

Day 2 Friday, September 27th, 2013 - NYC to Manasquan, NJ

Well, being our first day was uneventful, lets see if today is the same.
We left Liberty Landing Marina


The fuel dock at Liberty Landing Marina in NYC as we were leaving

at about 9AM and arrived in Manasquan, NJ at 4:00PM, a run of almost 60 miles, however it was not completely uneventful.
We were supposed to follow some friends, (Roger and Dorothy Hayes aboard SLOW CHURN) of ours to Manasquan, however they travel about 2 hours earlier in the AM than we do.....so, we decided to meet at Manasquan. Mistake #1......

Our welcoming committee at Hoffman's Marina.....what a beauty!

The trip through Lower NY harbor is a maze of buoys , ferries and freighter's, but after about an hour of not knowing where we were heading, and watching our charts and e-charts we figured it out. I have to say one thing for captains of ferry boats....they suck!! They try their best to come as close as possible and have their wake rock the crap out you. They are the most rude and obnoxious bunch of boat captains we had ever met.

We headed down the New Jersey Coastline finally getting a response from the Manasquan Coast Guard on the VHF radio. They gave us our position and then told me to hang a sharp left and we would see the inlet.....they never said it was the Manasquan inlet and it wasn't. I listened and they were wrong....MISTAKE #2. Never listen to anyone!!
We lazied up the Shark River through two draw bridges and a railroad bridge with no sight of Slow Churn, so I called Dorothy on the cell, and she said they had just entered Manasquan and that they had just gone through the railroad bridge.....:Where are you"? she asked. I was getting more and more pissed, because as far as I am concerned when I ask someone for help, either they give it or they don't. and I kept telling Dottie, "Wait till I get Roger" "I am going to yell and beat him to a pulp".I WAS PISSED!
We tied up at the first marina we saw and we asked someone why the Manasquan Inlet was not so busy, his response was "this is not the Manasquan Inlet, it is the Shark River Inlet, Manasquan is about 5 miles south of here."..so we had lunch, re-couped and headed back out into the ocean, turned right (starboard) and headed south.
After about an hour, Manasquan came into view.....I was boiling inside ready to attack Roger for not waiting for us earlier in the day.

(You see, Roger and Dorothy come from Toms River, NJ and live aboard full time on Slow Churn. If anyone knows NJ it is them.
We have gone out of our way numerous times to help them out, lending them our car and whatever it took to give assistance. However, they could not do the same for us, but that is a whole different story, that I will not get into here.....)



Some sport fishing machines we tied up in front of....

After heading through Manasquan inlet, Dottie points and says there is the Point Pleasant Canal, so I throw a hard left (port) to enter the canal and then... BOOM....nothing. I had run aground in the soft, white sands of NJ. The Coast Guard answered me on Channel 16, saying, "We can see you captain, but we figured you knew what you were doing"......a few hours earlier giving me instruction, although wrong, on where the Manasquan Inlet was located.
So after waiting about 30 minutes for the BOAT US Tow Boat to arrive, and free us, which I must say they were very helpful, we were on our way again.....pulling into Hoffman's East Marina at exactly 4:00 PM.

An un-eventful day ??....to say the least, eh!

Tomorrow we head to Forked River and Bayville, NJ on our own.

Day 1 Thursday, 09/26/13 - Stony Point, NY to NYC

Competing with a freighter on the Hudson River

Well, at least on the River, the Hudson River that is. We left Patsy's Bay Marina in Stony Point this afternoon at 1:45 PM (we had to wait for a tide high enough to get us out) and arrived in the Haverstraw Marina to buy some fuel at 2:00PM. Let me tell you something about a small marina, like Patsy's Bay....there is nothing like it... the owner, Mike was as hospitable as could be always asking if what we needed from them, and the manager Jim Tammen was fantastic and very helpful. Last year, after being hit by Superstorm (Hurricane Sandy), they just bounced right back, rebuilt and are on their way ONCE again. Jim wished us well, and the we hit the throttles and left.


I thought we were going to see prices in excess of $5.00 per gallon for diesel fuel, but instead the fuel was $4.40 per gallon. I took on exactly 100 gallons of diesel (as I only had about 60 gallons left from last season, and we hold about 310 gallons) and we shoved off at 2:30 PM.with 160 gallos of diesel in the tanks.

Ahhh....the Tappan Zee Bridge

The weather was beautiful, sunny and cool, the highs only in the mid-seventies. We followed the Hudson River south until we arrived at Battery Park in NYC, hung a sharp turn to starboard (right) and we tied up at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ at 6:30PM.

And the workers that make bridges.....as they are building the Tappan Zee 2

Now, Liberty Landing Marina is in a class by itself.....any marina who charges a transient rate of $4.40 a foot per night is in a class by itself, but just about all of their income goes to advertising. And for some reason, most boaters heading south stay here. Maybe it's the draw of the Manhattan skyline or bathrooms that attracts all the transients. Dottie and I were both raised in NYC, and find nothing super, except for the boater's lounge and bathrooms, about this marina.

After tying up and putting things away, we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner of sausage, creamy macaroni with a garlic parmesan sauce and dessert, aboard the boat.

I was exhausted and hit the pillow by 8:00PM. Tomorrow it is onward to Manasquan, NJ and then to Forked River, NJ

Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City charging $4.40 ($167.20 per night) per foot, and gives you nothing but beautiful views of Manhattan. RIP OFF to Say The Least.



The George Washington Bridge welcome all travelers along the Hudson River to NYC....

Finally....It has been a 3 year preperation!!

Well, here we are, September 25th, and as promised, and we are shoving off in the morning.

We made the trip to Stony Point via car. We had left Clyde at 9:20AM and arrived here at 1:15 PM. The only thing that did happen was:

 I ran out of gas in the van. Dottie and I were shooting the shit and not paying attention the fuel level, ligt or gauge. and all of a sudden, about 1 mile from our destination, the car just quit. I did a bunch of exspearlitives and then realized it was nothing major.....we we were out of gas. We sat on the side of 9W Southbound for only 10 minutes when a real nice guy asked if we were ok.....Dottie explained the situation and lo and behold he said well, I have a five gallon reserve that I keep in a portable tank in my truck......he ran to the truck, got the gas and a funnel and we were off after giving him a $20.00 dollar bill as our way of saying thanks. He took it and then we drove about a half-mile to a Gulf station, fillered her up to the tune of $73.00 bucks!and off to the marina we went. We had heroes for lunch, and then unpacked the car and put everything away in the boat.

At 6PM we went to a nice Italian restaurant called Babes.....there I had calamairi and shrimp fra diavalo and dottie had shrimp parm......both of us agreed it was a delisious meal, and well worth the few bucks we spent for it. It is bedtime soon and tomorrow AM we leave for the Florida Keys.....after filling fuel and water tanks and doing a few odd jobs on the boat.

September 25th .....we will resume this blog

We will continue our blog on September 25th when we resume our trip to the Florida Keys.

Stops will include, Leg 1- NYC, Manasquqn, NJ; Forked Rive Atlantic City, NJ; & Cape May, NJ

Leg 2 - Delaware and Maryland
Leg 3 - Virginia, Washington, DC
Leg 4 - North and South Carolina and Georgia
Leg 5 - Northern Floida to West Palm Beach
Leg 6 - West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach......ananananand.......................KEY LARGO

Our final destination.