Day 371 – 374
We spent four days in port at Sandy Hook Bay Marina from Thursday, 09/16/21, through Sunday, 09/19/21, waiting for weather conditions to calm down out in the Atlantic Ocean. Winds and waves were way too high for safely cruising “outside”, so we stayed put. During that time, we relaxed on the boat (well, I SAY relaxed, even though that’s not the easiest thing to do when your boat is rocking in its slip 24/7…)
Like so many of the marinas we’d encountered in the northeast US, Sandy Hook Bay Marina does not offer a courtesy car to its guests, so we had to Uber everywhere we went outside of walking distance. One afternoon, we Ubered to a highly-touted restaurant on the waterfront called Proving Ground for our early dinner, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Another day, we Ubered over to nearby Middletown, NJ, to a Sports Clips so Steve could get a much-needed haircut. While he was in the barber’s chair, I scurried across the strip mall parking lot, where I’d spied a storefront with a sign that read J&M Italian Bakery. 🙂 Needless to say, I couldn’t pass that up, so I purchased two pieces of – wouldn’t you know it, at an Italian bakery – German chocolate cake that looked Heavenly. After Steve’s haircut, we had to Uber to the grocery store over in Atlantic Heights, NJ, so I carried that box of cake like it was precious jewelry all through the store as we shopped. That’s one thing about Ubering multiple places, there’s no leaving found items out in the car while you run from one place to another… it must all stay on your person, wherever you go. Fortunately, my efforts weren’t for naught, as that cake wound up tasting just as good as it looked, if not more so!
We soon noticed an inordinate number of rather loud, northeastern-accented, cigar-smoking fishermen at this marina. On Saturday night, the 18th, the sport-fishing boat slipped right beside us was filled to the brim with these raucous men. We were grateful they weren’t blasting music out at top volume, but that boat was party-central until at least 2:00 am on Sunday morning, with everyone aboard drinking, laughing, and talking over one another. In most marinas, boats are squeezed into narrow slips that are sandwiched one on top of the next, so there was literally only about 6-feet of separation between Legacy’s aft-berth and that sport-fishing boat’s cockpit. Throughout this adventure, we’ve discovered just how obtuse and/or inconsiderate people can be toward others… 🙁 These men were there to PARTY on their boat, and they didn’t care one bit that they were surrounded by boats with people aboard them trying to sleep and live a halfway normal life. After all, it WAS Saturday night. Who sleeps on a Saturday night?? Most fortunately for me, the ear-plugs I wear to sleep at night kept me buffered from all the noise, but Steve said he got to endure it until the wee hours of the morning. FUN…
On Sunday, the 19th, we walked back up to One Willow to enjoy a nice, leisurely brunch. The weather was lovely, but very breezy, so even though we’d wanted to eat al fresco, we changed our minds at the last minute and asked the hostess to re-seat us inside, instead. We felt like two old curmudgeons after that. Good grief, how embarrassing…
Position: N 40° 24.665, W 74° 00.002
Total marina nights: 350
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28