Sandy Hook

 

hillside homes in The Highlands, viewed from Sandy Hook Bay

kite surfer

     Friday morning we pulled out of Atlantic City and resumed our trek northward along the Jersey Coast.  Our anchorage destination was Barnegat Bay, a fairly easy 20-mile sail.  The southerly winds built up all day long, peaking at 18 knots by mid afternoon – propelling Calmer Waters along quite nicely.  Barnegat was, like pretty much all of our anchorages, very nice, very peaceful, with some small marinas nearby.  There were, as always, lots of fishermen.  And a tour boat.  There was also a guy in the cove kite-surfing, having the time of his life for several hours.

Barnegat Bay anchorage

      Ramon and I are not in any hurry, and if another bay or inlet exists at the about the right distance from the last anchorage, we’ll pull in for the night.  (Neither of us wants to sail around the clock.)  But after Barnegat, we didn’t have that option, so we had to hoof it all the way to our next anchorage:  Sandy Hook, over 50 nautical miles away. 

 

waves breaking under the boat

    But the wind REALLY went for broke that day, holding steady at 18 knots and peaking at over 20.  Even Caribbean trade winds are rarely this strong!  The Atlantic waters got a bit rough, however, and there was  actually some foamy whitecaps.  We put Calmer Waters into a wing-and-wing configuration so we could sail dead down-wind, and absolutely FLEW over the water, hitting over 8 knots speed-over-ground.  (With a little help from the northward-flowing current, of course.)  Add to my sailing bucket list that, on this journey, I have travelled well over a hundred miles on pure sail power.

amusement park on Jersey shore

      Meanwhile, the beaches of the Jersey Coast just went on and on and on.  Some of the coast was developed with little beach communities, some not.  But we could see that every beach had lots of sun-worshippers out on this warm, windy, sunny August Saturday.

      There were lots of powerboats out, too – no other sailboats, tho, other than some little day-sailers.  We also heard some distress calls on the VHF.  When you have lots of boats on the water, somebody will inevitably run into trouble.

      Finally we rounded the tip of the five-mile-long Sandy Hook peninsula.  It’s so named because it’s mostly sand and is shaped like, well, like a hook.  It was a long day of heavy sailing, so we just dropped anchor right inside the “hook”, near Ft. Hancock, where we had some wind protection. 

      Calmer Waters’ 65-pound anchor never fails!  With a muscular windlass, of course, to raise that behemoth.

these boaters put the kids in the dinghy

      On Sunday, we moved deeper inside the protection of the “hook” and the breakwater jetty.  We were adjacent to a residential area aptly called The Highlands, where classy waterfront homes climbed up the hill.  The water was a mecca of activity, with powerboats by the score dropping anchor and tossing water toys and partiers into the nice, temperate water.  There was also a sailing regatta out in the bay. 

mooring field

       There was a good-sized marina there, and a HUGE mooring field where every mooring ball had a sailboat attached.  And some good restaurants, too.  Ramon and I hopped in the dinghy and went ashore to imbibe. A couple of guys with guitars entertained the diners.

stand-up paddle board

       It was, for a change, a relaxing day with lots of downtime.  I checked out the stand-up paddle-board that was stashed below.  After dark, we sat up on the cabin-top and just chilled.

Manhattan, from SeaStreak ferry

       My original plan was to crew with Ramon and his family for about three weeks, as we sail up into New York City and Long Island Sound.  But a death in my family changed everything.  Ramon took me via dinghy to catch the SeaStreak, a massive power catamaran passenger ferry that takes Jersey commuters to the city at speeds of 40 knots.  It was a thrilling ride, and with some awesome views!  From there, I caught a train to Newark Airport, and then a flight back to Houston.

SeaStreak ferry

      And so ends my adventures aboard Calmer Waters.  But stay close to your computer, faithful reader, because there’s always another one right around the bend!

tour boat in Barnegat Bay

fun in Sandy Hook Bay on Sunday

 

view of Lady Liberty from SeaStreak ferry