After an 11-hour day heading south on Delaware Bay, we had a calm comfortable anchorage at Lewes Point. Lewes Point is at the end of the bay on the Delaware side behind a point from the Atlantic. It also happened to be around the corner from President Biden’s summer home. It was interesting to hear the coast guard on the radio, warning boats away from the security perimeter!
We got a mid-morning start out into the open ocean and ran up the coast of New Jersey. We encountered just enough wind to get our screecher (a light wind headsail) up for a bit, but had to rely on the motor for the whole trip. There is a joke about this that is too true:
What’s the difference between a sailboat and a power boat?
A sailboat uses its engines to move only 90% of the time.
We were underway overnight — a 25 hour trip in all. We trade off shifts so that we each catch a couple of naps overnight. It’s very peaceful being out on the ocean at night. We use our eyes, radar and AIS to watch for passing boats, which are mostly commercial fishermen and cargo ships. Over the course of more than 100 miles, we saw about a dozen other boats.
At 10:30 in the morning, we came into New York Harbor under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Lots of ferries, helicopters, commercial ships (both anchored and on the move), and great views of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Jersey City.
We had studied the charts and talked to other cruisers. It seemed likely we could find an anchorage by the Statue of Liberty for great views, and a good setup to time the tides for the run up the East River, and it really worked out!
We found a good spot just south of the statue. It was a little rolly during the day as tour boats came by, but we were treated to a front row seat of the statue with Manhattan as a back drop. We also got to watch a regatta in the harbor. As evening came the waters calmed and we had a delightful, calm night at the feet of Lady Liberty. Anne even took a dip.
Anchoring can be magical like this. The view was so amazing that we kept waiting to be told to move — it was almost too good to be true.
