Day 375
Bright and early on Monday morning, 09/20/21, we threw off Legacy’s lines and left our slip at Sandy Hook Bay Marina in Sandy Hook, NJ, at 6:40 am, and just as the sun was coming up. Today’s trek would take us outside in the Atlantic Ocean back down to the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, where we’d stayed on our way up earlier this summer. We’d planned ahead for today’s run to be a long one, as we were taking full advantage of this pleasant weather window.
As we left Sandy Hook Bay, we immediately entered back into the Lower Bay of New York Harbor. This early in the day, our waters were fairly calm and we could see the magnificent skyline of New York City behind us, to our north, gleaming brightly in the morning sunshine. Some of the buildings caught the light just right and literally beamed out across the harbor. A truly beautiful sight! It made me sad to think this could be the last time we got to view Manhattan from the water this way.
As the sun rose in the sky, we said goodbye to the iconic Verrazano Narrows Bridge to our stern, as the massive Atlantic Ocean stretched endlessly in front of us.
We passed Long Branch Beach and then North Beach, NJ. The further we cruised from the shore, out into the ocean, the choppier the waters became, and our wave heights increased to 1-2 feet. Worse than the waves were the 3-5 foot swells Legacy was surfing, now that we were well out into the Atlantic. Even though our cruising weather couldn’t have been much better, hours of rolling swells almost always means seasickness for me, which is why I was dreading today’s long run outside. I had already downed my Dramamine tablet that morning, but three cheers for the ginger beer, (which isn’t really beer, and isn’t alcoholic, not sure why they call it beer), and saltine crackers I partook of throughout the day as we bounced along up in the flybridge!
As is quite often the case, as the day progressed, so did the winds and the size of the waves and swells. By just after noon, the waves had increased to 3-4 feet and the swells to 7-8 feet. I was more than ready to reach our destination for the day! 😐
After what seemed like hours, (actually, it was hours…), we finally reached the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City around 3:30 pm. Hallelujah! It was good to see the Atlantic City skyline again – this time to our starboard – and it was refreshing to be guided and assisted into that night’s slip without incident.
Position: N 39° 22.691, W 74° 25.631
Distance traveled: 94 SM
Total distance traveled: 4653 SM
Total marina nights: 351
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28