Day 370
We left Half Moon Bay Marina on Wednesday morning, 09/15/21, in calm but hazy/foggy conditions. Well of course those were our conditions, since this was the day we’d scheduled to cruise back through New York Harbor! 🙁 I decided it was pretty clear the Universe had no intention of allowing us to clearly view the Manhattan skyline from our own boat, since we were plagued with haze on both passes through the area…
Cruising southward on the Hudson River, we once again passed Ossining, Archville, Sleepy Hollow, and Tarrytown, NY, only this time from the opposite direction. Soon we crossed back underneath the Tappan Zee Bridge, everything around us shrouded in fog. Not a decent picture to be taken…
We passed Dobbs Ferry, Hastings On Hudson, and Yonkers, NY, before passing back underneath the George Washington Bridge. The sun worked hard to appear, but could not win-out against those low, pesky clouds. As we neared New York Harbor, the Hudson River widened and the waves increased to just under one-foot in height, making our cruising waters choppy, but not uncomfortable.
We passed Washington Heights, Upper Manhattan, Harlem, and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, me almost in tears because – once again – my picture-taking conditions were so severely hampered. Steve decided that – given the weather forecast – today’s haze must be AGAIN caused by residual western forest fire smoke that had drifted eastward. I thought to myself, “REALLY, Universe?”
Around noon, the fogginess subsided, but the air remained hazy, and – just like last time – we could only make out silhouettes of the skyline. As we neared the expansive mouth of the Hudson River, where it enters the Upper Bay of New York Harbor, the waves increased to between 1-2 feet, now accompanied by intermittent swells, since we were so near the Atlantic Ocean. I ran down below and swallowed a Dramamine tablet, as my stomach and ocean swells do not play well together.
As we passed Manhattan, the haze lifted enough for me to get a few sharper pictures of the NYC/Jersey City skylines. Since we again were traveling without any Looper buddy boats, we had no one to take a picture of Legacy passing back by Lady Liberty, so Steve found a live EarthCam online, from which we got a long-distance pass-by picture. Better than nothing!
The Harbor was busier today than the last time we passed through, with freighters, ferries, container ships, and a few pleasure boaters cruising all around us. As usual, Captain Steve expertly maneuvered us through all the activity without a single hitch. 🙂 It was surreal to think that we were actually floating out in the center of New York Harbor like we belonged there or something! 🙂
This time the striking Verrazano Narrows Bridge was more visible to us, as we crossed underneath it from the Upper Bay into the Lower Bay. By this time, the waves had increased enough that we were once again riding that “low-energy bucking bronco.”
We were casually bobbing along in the Harbor when, all of a sudden, we saw something large and dark-colored rise up out of the water less than 100 yards in front of our boat. Steve got a better look at it, as I heard him say, “…is that a dolphin? What IS that…? OH, it’s a WHALE!!” What???? I glanced up long enough to see this really large black hump descend back into the water right in front of us. That’s right, folks – a real, live whale had surfaced right in front of our boat right there in New York Harbor, in less than 25-feet of water depth! For most of the morning, we’d been noticing huge, swirls of schooling fish swimming all around our boat, right at the surface of the water, and had decided they must be attracted to some sort of insect that was hatching and falling back into the water, upon which those fish could dine. In a very “circle of life” type moment, as the massive schools of fish were partaking of their meal, a giant whale rose to the surface, opened its great mouth and scooped up a few hundred of those fish for its own meal! So incredible to witness! We were both in a state of simultaneous shock and awe, as it began to sink-in just how close that monstrous mammal had surfaced beside our boat… 😐 A few yards north, and it would’ve surfaced right underneath Legacy’s keel! We both shuddered to think exactly what would’ve occurred, had that been the actual case. Yes, Legacy is a fairly sizeable vessel, but we knew she would’ve been no match for that whale. We could’ve easily capsized right there in NYC Harbor! 😐 THANK GOODNESS that didn’t happen! HOLY CRAP. I spent the next thirty minutes scouring the waters all around us in hopes of seeing that whale surface again, so I could get a picture this time, but it was not to be. Still – what an incredible experience that had been! I decided that missing out on perfect picture conditions of the skyline might have been worth it, for the chance to actually SEE a whale, in person, and in the wild! Thank you, Universe! 🙂
Our adrenaline levels finally waning, we eventually reached Sandy Hook Bay Marina at 1:15 pm that afternoon. A nice little marina and easy to get into, it was surrounded by upscale, three-story condominiums. Once tied-up, plugged-in, and showered, we walked up to the marina’s one restaurant, which is called One Willow. The atmosphere, service, and fare were all top-notch, and when we received our bill, it was obvious One Willow restaurant is quite proud of itself! 😐
After dinner, back aboard the boat, we realized that – while Sandy Hook Harbor Marina is picturesque and convenient, it is not at all protected, so we ‘lived on a roller-coaster’ for pretty much our entire stay there. 🙁 YEEHAW…
Position: N 40° 24.665, W 74° 00.002
Distance traveled: 58 SM
Total distance traveled: 4559 SM
Total marina nights: 346
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28