New Territory

 
6/2/13
We begin week 19 of our journey and have traveled about 2700 miles.  I can't believe that it is June 2 already.

We finished up the ICW with a bang  in New Jersey!! We have met many wonderful and friendly people along the way but when you hit NJ, something changes(besides the NY AND NJ accents).  There are fewer fancy homes, it becomes more industrial and down home and people are hard working and still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.  The ICW in NJ was exciting because you never knew if you would get stuck or not.  It was more challenging (fun) to navigate.  The tides, the fog, the wind, the depths ....we had to be ultra vigilant. We did bump ground a handful of times and once (Geoff and I told each other later)  we thought we might be calling Sea-Tow.  We also had to wait out some 30-40 knot winds before heading out into the Atlantic, the last 25 mile leg toward the Hudson River.  People keep telling us the weather is sooooo different this year!

We had the perfect weather to make it out in the Atlantic to Hudson Bay.  THANK YOU! Sea-sickness is not my idea of fun and I really wanted to avoid that.  The next day we waited out the fog to head under the Verrazano Bridge to.......NYC!  Unfortunately, as we got closer to the bridge the fog thickened.  Geoff studied the radar below while I piloted and kept a keen eye above and we communicated by walkie-talkies!  It was kind of mysterious and spooky to see this bridge appear through the mists and thankfully the barge appeared on the opposite side of the bridge span!  Then we saw her....THE LADY LIBERTY! Impressive.  We anchored out just behind her and could see Ellis Island, Manhattan, Jersey City.  The Hudson River is impressive.  The tidal influence is very much present all the way to Albany.  It changes very quickly from NYC to beautiful rural countryside with rolling hills.  There is occasional barge traffic along the way. Wonderful lighthouses.

We  picked up Geoff's brother Chad who took a train from his home to a park along the river. He traveled with us for a few days and lo and behold, IT GOT HOT!! Ninety degrees!! Nice work Chad!!  Carol, Chad's wife also joined us one of the nights and we had a wonderful re-connect with lots of laughs.

Many people do the Loop and stay at marinas and visit the cities.  Geoff and I just seem to be enjoying the route, the navigation, the challenges, the scenery, the people we meet, the family we have reconnected with and our time together.  Sometimes I feel a little regret, like I should be doing more (sight-seeing/history-reading), but for the most part shoulds just mess me up!!  Relationships are truly most important to me anyway.

New Jersey

Baby Mute Swans

"Is that the bridge we want Geoff?"

THE BROS

Chad and Carol