Day 5 Sandy Hook, NJ

This was a lazy morning and cold. Frost formed on the hatches for the first time. We slept until 7:30. The plan was to leave after 8:30 to get the Southwest current along the sound to City Island. Today we planned to travel about 35 nautical miles so we could take our time in the morning. Peter filled the water tanks and washed the decks, which were covered in salt from our rough crossing to Block and Shelter Island. Jane worked on yesterday's blog and cleaned a little below. We left the marina at 9:45AM and had a current all the way to City Island. At noontime we saw the skyline of NYC in the distance and excitement started to build. Once we were close to City Island Jane hailed on the VHF for a mooring. There are no moorings, only slips. Welcome to New York!
As we pondered what to do we heard 2 sailboats just ahead of us ,on the VHF who were planning to go through the city. The East River at Wall St. was closed until 7PM and again 7AM tomorrow for security reasons. That would have given us a big problem getting through tomorrow so after chatting with one boat we decided to followed it (s/v Auto Voyager) all the way through the East River, Hell Gate, and New York Bay to Sandy Hook. We've made our first acquaintance along the route South, Judy & Bob. Thanks so much for your advice today!!!
The currents going through the East River and Hell Gate section were very strong. Our boat maxed out at 13.4k, which we have never seen before! Because of the security restrictions on the East River we did not meet any large commercial tankers passing to Long Island. That made our trip easy and more enjoyable! Jane managed to take the wheel for about an hour trying to maneuver the currents and all the ferries and water taxis. The waterway is just as busy as the streets in NYC. We crossed under 10 bridges along the way. Only 1 bridge had to be raised because we could not pass through the west side of the East River near Wall St. and the UN.
There was so much to see that we could not begin to describe it all. So we have added lots of pictures. New York is awesome from the water!!!

The pictures are in order of our passage. The East River, NYC skyline at Newark Airport and under the bridges, Hell Gate (where the East River turns and the Bronx River joins it), The UN and Empire State Bldg., Lady Liberty, and the end of Manhattan where the World Trade Center Stood.