6/29/2010 ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS TO LINCOLN HARBOR MARINA

So long, beautiful Sycara, we are off to the Big City!

The Quest left the relatively sheltered Atlantic Harbor and began the last leg of her journey into the “Huge” New York Harbor. We sighted the Roamer Shoal and West Bank Lighthouses before addressing the expansive Verrazano Narrows Bridge. This fireboat welcomed us with a jolly display of water power as we entered the New York Harbor. Thank you Firefighter!

ROAMER SHOAL LIGHTHOUSE

WEST BANK LIGHTHOUSE AT VERRAZANO BRIDGE

FIREFIGHTER

After passing under the bridge we found tankers, freighters, tugs, small craft and ferries galore. Activity everywhere!

STATEN ISLAND FERRIES

TUG-McALLISTER SISTERS

At last, Lady Liberty, in all her glory was standing there! Words just aren’t enough so feast your eyes.

Ellis Island’s Moorish edifice greeted us just as it did the millions of immigrants passing through her portals in years gone by.

ELLIS ISLAND

The old Jersey Central Terminal has been restored but no train service arrives or departs from here because her tracks have been abandoned over the years. This was the gateway out of Ellis Island and the portal to the promised lands of the US for the many immigrants that used the rail services. It is now a ferry terminal transporting passengers to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Liberty Island.

CRR AND NJ TERMINAL

We pulled into Lincoln Harbor Marina and tied up for the next two nights. The surges are incredible, boats shifting and listing, ropes moaning and groaning. It did calm down from midnight to 6:00 AM when the ferries were not servicing the area. It’s like a rough day at sea.

THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING ACROSS THE BAY

6/28/2010 ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS

PASSING JELLYFISH

Our neighbors on the stunning Sycara IV took advantage of the good life and set out for a short brunch cruise this morning. Just too wow!

MORNING COFFEE ON THE SYCARA'S AFT DECK

OFF ON A LEISURELY BRUNCH CRUISE

Timmy, Dan and I cheered Sam on but Andy Murray was on fire and used his “home court advantage” to win the match. Sam starts play at Campbell’s Tennis Hall of Fame tournament in Newport, RI on Wednesday, 7/7/2010. We will be there, court side, to watch and will keep you all posted.

Tim headed back to The City for work tonight and we will see him on his turf Wednesday night. It was a hoot having him here and he says “Hi” to all of you friends out there.

SEE YA WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR DINNER

About 5:00 PM we “battened down the hatches” in preparation for the threatening storm and then just sat back to watch as it petered out to some rain.

We spent the evening watching the first few episodes of the Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Their encounters with the border officials during their motorcycle journey around the world brought back memories of similar delays. We are now hooked on it. Thanks Craig and Alexis!!

6/27/2010 BRIELLE TO ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ

FLITTING VISITOR

Sunday is not a “day of rest” here in New Jersey. The train bridge started opening for impatient fishing boats rushing out for the day’s catch as well as these Stand-Up Paddlers trying to make it to the shore.

MASS TRANSIT RIGHT OUT OUR AFT DECK

YOU KNOW IT'S A LOW BRIDGE WHEN ----

We pulled away from the dock, fighting the rushing current, and passed through the bridge opening on our way through the Manasquan Cut to the Atlantic Ocean. Thinking the congestion and mass confusion of the New Jersey ICW would be absent in the sea, I was startles to see the mass of Sunday Boaters darting about in the foggy morning sea. Unbelievable! We did, however, escape the voracious, green-eyed flies. Halleluiah!

BOATS EVERYWHERE

We cheered on Keola in the quarter finals as we swung into Atlantic Highlands, our days destination. Unfortunately, Keola did not make it to the semi finals but put on a good show. We sure enjoyed watching his heats on the PC. Great job!

The Atlantic Highlands proved to be a well protected and peaceful sanctuary after the surging and raucous Brielle. We settled in and had a relaxing afternoon before heading out to find a restaurant that would be open and let us watch Sam and Andy Murray’s Wimbledon match tomorrow. Success! We are all set up for tomorrow’s match and don’t have to watch it via the PC scoreboard.

During our walk of the town we found this supped up fire truck. Kinda wild.

FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE?

Dan gave “Waiter Tim “a call and he found his way across the Hudson to our dockage in NJ for the night. For all of you that join us yearly for the US Open, you know that Timmy is from Les Halles Brasserie in NYC and treats Sam real well when he dines there. In fact, he treats us all “real well” when we dine there and we hope to be there with Robert and the Feingolds on Wednesday night.

TIMMY AND DAN

We found this beauty docked two down from us when we returned from our walk. The 2009 SYCARA IV is a 151’ Berger and designed under the direction of her owners, Ray and Elise Cantor. She was patterned after the fan-tailed schooners with the elegance of the 1920 presidential cruisers in mind. (Google is a valuable tool for information)

SYCARA IV

REFLEXION AT DAY'S END

6/26/2010 BEACH HAVENTO BRIELLE MARINE BASIN ON THE MANASQUAN RIVER

We cast off by 8:30 this morning and made our exit during high tide to enhance our chances of avoiding the challenges of the extreme shallows here in the ICW.

CAN YOU SAY "TACKY"/

So this is what a lovely summer Saturday looks like on the ICW in New Jersey! There were boats everywhere. Sailboats catching the wind, sports fisherman going here and there, weekend codgers fishing right in the middle of the ICW and super fast speed boats. Lookout, here we come!

CAUGHT IT!

A RIOT OF BOATS

WHAT NO WAKE ZONE?

Dan veered into the Cedar Creek to show me the waterfront house and fishing boat that belong to Scott Wraga (Mike Wraga’s brother) and his business partner, Nick. Dan has been lucky enough to enjoy fishing several times with Scott.

SCOTT AND NICK'S

The Point Pleasant Canal was a narrow and fraught with heavy currant and heaving boat wakes. Dan had his hands full during that short transit to the Manasquan River and the Brielle Marine Basin, our home port for the night. We docked right between the high, Route 35 Bridge and the New Jersey Transit train bridge which went up and down with a loud siren warning.

POINT PLEASANT CANAL

BRIELLE MARINA

ROUTE 35 BRIDGE TO OUR BOW

TRAIN BRIDGE FROM OUR AFT

Mike Wraga was down in Philadelphia to move Lindsay from one apartment to the next and then went to Scott’s. Today was the high school graduation party for Kele, Scott and Kathleen’s daughter, and we were lucky enough to attend. Their home is beautiful, the family and friends welcoming and the food scrumptious. Thank you for including us in your celebration.

MICHAEL SPLITTING MUSCLES AT THE PARTY

DIANE COOLING HER FEET IN THE POOL

I couldn’t resist this Playmobile Pirate Ship photo-op. Robert had one and played with it in our CA pool for years.

"SHIVER ME TIMBERS!"

I also couldn’t ignore the uncanny resemblance between little Casey and our friend and former crew, Reuben. All you who met Reuben, look and compare. Wow!

CASEY OR "LITTLE REUBEN"?

REUBEN OR CASEY IN 20 YEARS?

6/25/2010 BEACH HAVEN MARINA

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU!

Lazy morning slept till 7:00, blogging, breakfast onboard, laundry and light cleaning. Then we had company! Chip and Anharid Edson just happen to spend a week here each summer and this just happened to be that week. They motored over in their new 18’ bow-rider and brought Chip’s siste, Donnar and niece, Aly. Yes, another “small world” encounter. They also introduced us to a new cocktail, a "Dark and Stormy". That would be ginger beer and dark rum and a rather yummy drink.

COMPANY

Our visitors helped us cheer for Keola during his second heat competition. Great job, Keola! He made 2ed place so he advanced to the next round on Sunday. We will be watching again on http://www.surfamericalive.com/
Be sure to look back at yesterday's blog for an added photo of Keola surfing during the competition. Hopefully, a photo of today's surfing will become available for me to add here.

WATCHING KEOLA

KEOLA CARREIRA 2ED PLACE IN 2ED HEAT

When our visitors headed back to their beach house Dan and I took off walking. First we hit the local marine store, next the hardware store and finally the busy beach. The early vacationers were taking advantage of the lovely, warm day. We stopped at the Sea Shell Resort’s beach-side Tiki Bar for a quick refresher then continued on back to the Quest but not before stopping at the market in search of the Stewart's Ginger Beer. Success!

We are enjoying this conveniently located marina with its helpful proprietor and friendly neighboring boaters.

BEACH HAVEN SUNSET

6/24/2010 ATLANTIC CITY TO BEACH HAVEN YACHT CLUB MARING ON LONG BEACH ISLAND

Much going on today!! Richard and Charlene took leave of the Quest this morning and drove to Philadelphia to catch a flight back home to CA. We will miss their company and contributions to our journey. Until next time!

SAFE TRAVELS

Sports reigned high on the Quest this morning. News flash!! Keola won his heat and will continue on tomorrow (Friday). It is so cool to watch the heat on the PC. You could really see just who was catching the wave in the competition and Keola’s interview after his win was super. Can’t wait to watch tomorrow at 10:15 Ca time on http://www.surfamericalive.com/.  This is cut from the Surf America web page:
        Surfing America Boys U16 Round 1 Heat 2 Results - 1st Keola Correira, 2nd Josh Giddings,                 3ed Cameron Richards, 4th Luke Hitchcock.Yesterday at 11:49am

HAWAIIAN STYLE  GO KEOLA!

We also got to watch John Isner (via the Wimbledon scoreboard on the PC) win his marathon, 3 day match and Sam win his second round match too. Great job guys!

Traveling from Atlantic City to Long Beach Island, Dan called Beach Haven Yacht Club for dockage availability. When he gave our name the owner asked if he were related to that young tennis player, Sam Querrey. Small world! We did travel on to the marina but not without coming in contact with the sandy bottom in the channel. This time it was less than 3’! Once again, Dan guided Quest slowly out of the extreme shallows. We arrived at the marina just in time to get tied up and checked in before the skies lit up with a thundering, howling storm. Charlene called to let us know they were still setting on the Philly runway (2 hours) due to wind, thunder, lightning and hail. Well, we didn’t get the hail but it was the worst storm we have encountered yet in our travels.

BEACH HAVEN MARINA

DAN CHECKING OUT THE APROACHING STORM

SCARY SKY

LOOK AT THE WAVES IN THIS LITTLE SAFE HARBOR

ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Once the storm cleared, we walked to Black Whale for a great dinner and a visual recap of the Isner/Mahut match. Dan snapped this record setting scoreboard from the bar’s TV. Too unbelievable! We also sat next to a couple that lives in Waitsfield, VT. The world is shrinking more and more as we travel farther and
farther.

THE BLACK WHALE

WOWSERS!!

A nice after dinner walk brought us to a market with produce, the thing we couldn’t find in Atlantic. The beach is close, the town worth exploring and the fellow boaters most helpful and friendly. We may spend another day here.