We are still here at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ.
It’s a beautiful marina in the shadow of Lady Liberty. From the boat you can see the NYC skyline of lower Manhattan.
View of the Freedom Tower from the Boat
Kelly stayed behind while I took an Uber to the market to purchase turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing for Thanksgiving. Much to my chagrin the market that the marina recommended was an Asian market and it seems Thanksgiving was nowhere to be found. I must have spent 10 minutes staring at the store’s spice display rack trying to find Cumin, Sage and Rosemary.
Where is the Sage?
After coming home to the boat defeated we decided that we’d go out in Jersey City for a drink or two. The marina manager told us about a great place called White Star Bar and it was just a short ferry ride away. So off we ran to catch the ferry. We no sooner boarded the ferry and it pulled away from the dock. We heard the loud bow thruster spin us around 180 degrees. Suddenly the ferry lurched forward and docked on the other side of the channel 50 feet away. We were told to pay our $2 & exit. It was then that we knew our NYC water taxi experience had been ripped from us.
Picture Shows How Far the ferry Ride Was
We hurried down the cold street in wearing the warmest clothes we have aboard. There are no ski jackets or gloves aboard Simple Life. The bar was warm and we enjoyed dinner and drinks. Though they got Kelly’s Captain/Diet Pepsi/NFL (No Freaking Lime) wrong TWICE. Once it was scotch & Pepsi and the other some vanilla liquor & Pepsi. The waitress could not explain it but we were just happy to be in off the cold street.
As for getting further South… The active gale warning has given way to a gale watch for the waters off Manasquam River Inlet.
Forecast for waters 25 NM South of NYC
With this in mind we’ll be checking the forecast tomorrow as well as the real-time buoy data. Fingers crossed that we can again make our way South to warmer weather.
We left Morris Cove Anchorage at 5:30AM. It was dark, very dark. We had woken up around 4 AM. I had pulled up the anchor, spun the boat around and MV Simple Life started going bow up, bow down. I thought… the winds were not supposed to increase until Thursday afternoon (per the NWS – National Weather Service Gale Warning). In the words of Gordon Lightfoot, “The winds of November came early”. We used our searchlight to spot the buoys on our way out of New Haven Harbor’s channel.
Jay Marques, you asked for video in addition to photos so these links are for you.
Sorry, that video is the lightest of the three I recorded. With the winds out of the south it meant that the 16 mile fetch of water from the NY side to the CT side was making the CT side of the sound lumpy. I heard the VHF radio crackle alive with a tugboat captain complaining that the winds had been honking all night long. Here is a video after the sun came up and we were slogging our way South across Long Island Sound from New Haven, CT to Long Island’s Huntington Bay area.
When Kelly & I first met I had a 1998 35′ Beneteau 352 Oceanis ,S/V Saltyhacker, (I’ll upload a pic of SV Saltyhacker later) that had only a dodger (the see-thru plastic and canvas that covers the companionway opening into the boat. We sold her to a great couple from Canada and bought a 2001 45′ Hunter 450 Center Cockpit. (I’ll upload a pick of SV Skull & Swords later, promise). The Hunter was owned by friends of ours who were living aboard her in Exuma Key, Bahamas and ever since we’ve said someday we’ll spend a few months on anchor there. We loved the Hunter for it’s liveaboardness; for it’s fully enclosed cockpit and interior space but Kelly would often quip that unless we are sitting in the outside cockpit you don’t get to enjoy the scenery. So we decided to buy a new boat that met our mutual demands. Kelly wanted a boat that was easier to move around in (Kelly has a habit of twisting / breaking ankles when underway or simply aboard). After spending 10 hour days at the helm outside and often cold, I was fancy on an enclosed pilot house. In the video above you will just have to imagine as the cold sea spray is hitting the pilothouse windows that I’m sipping my coffee in my PJs at the helm (smile).
Todays trip looked something like this..
As you approach the East-end of LIS you enter into the East River that takes you from the Bronx to the Statue of Liberty. As many times as we have made this trip we still find ourselves taking pictures of the scenery as we go down the river. Below are some of the photos we snapped along the way…
After going by Riker’s Island Jail you pass the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center. This is a 47,000-ton, five-story barge with 800 beds spread over 16 “dormitories” and 100 proper jail cells. At 625 feet in length and 125 feet wide, it also holds a gym, a basketball court, a library, three chapels, a rooftop exercise areaBrooklyn Bridge – built in 1870Whirly Birds buzz the East River and land just North of Battery MarchWater Taxis are everywhere and as a captain you must be alert and ready to dodge them
We timed our trip down the East River to make sure we caught favorable currents that saved us easily an hour during our transit. After arriving in NYC harbor we hailed Liberty Landing Marina and requested our slip assignment. The wind was gusting but an attendant met us at the slip and caught the lines that 1st Mate Kelly threw to him.
MV Simple Life tied off at Liberty Landing Marina
Tomorrow we’ll take the water taxi and find somewhere to grab a IPA & Capt-Pepsi -NFL (No-Flipping-Lime) & a bite. Tonight we’ll just relax 😉
MV Simple Life 
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