Reunion Voyage: Point Pleasant to NYC

Nice home on the Point Pleasant Canal

The Point Pleasant Canal can have a strong current, so we checked the tide tables and departed 7:15 and caught the end of the falling tide. The Conrail Bridge in Manasquan was closing as we approached, the bridge tender was quite helpful the passenger train cleared in about 5 minutes and the bridge was opened for us to pass. Shortly after we heard the siren for the bridge closing again and a second commuter train passed. We entered the ocean and found 1 foot rolling waves, very smooth very manageable, just what we wanted.

Beach Homes and calm waters, perfect!

The Jersey shore is lined with colorful beach homes and long sandy beaches. There is a river directly behind the beachfront homes and we found a large heavily wooded park on the other side of the river. Yes, we have x-ray vision. Actually, we often google areas we travel to see the bird’s eye view of the area. It is especially helpful prior to entering a new marina to get a lay of the land and/or water. Out towards the end of Sandy Hook lies Gunnison Beach a nude beach, from a half mile out we did notice there were no colorful bathing suits and people appeared to be all the same color, hmmm! We also were pleased to spot a whale, at first Carol thought it a large dolphin but when it breached we knew it was a whale, what a great sighting.

Manhattan and the Freedom Tower

From Sandy Hook we could begin to see the skyline of New York City and the new Freedom Tower completed since my last passage in 2012 very exciting. It will remind all of us that lived through the Twin Tower disaster of the resiliency of America. The harbor is quite busy, with catamaran water taxis, car ferries and container ships along with barges, tour boats, towboats and recreational traffic, very interesting. We are anchored behind the Statue of Liberty near Liberty Park in a protected anchorage.

The Verrazano Bridge is spectacular, 1.3 mile span, 6 lanes on the upper deck and 6 on the lower deck wow what an engineering feat. Of course the feature of the day is the Statue of Liberty, a relief for us after spending 3 days in New Jersey! Just thing how happy our ancestors were after traveling for weeks in a cramped ship and our grandfathers when they returned from WWI.