Atlantic City-New York City! - May 29-June 2

We pulled out of Atlantic City by 5:30am on Friday for our trek to the Big Apple. What an awesome day! The Atlantic Ocean was very nice to us. We had calm seas, clear blue skies and warm weather. 105 miles and 8 hours later we we entered New York Harbor and were soon welcomed by the Statue of Liberty. What an impressive sight! On the way in we dodged tankers, car carriers, more ferries than you could count and many other pleasure boats. We anchored behind the Statue of Liberty and spent the evening pinching ourselves that we had really come this far. 

On Saturday morning we left our anchorage, cruised around the Big Lady to Liberty Landing Marina on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River where we overlooked the Manhattan skyline. After getting settled, we took the ferry which departs from our Marina to Manhattan. The ferry dropped us off just a couple blocks from the 9/11 Memorial Museum/Park and the new One World Trade Center Tower. We spent the afternoon viewing the massive memorial pools that mark where the Twin Towers once stood and touring the museum. What a sobering reminder of that tragic day.

On Sunday, Bill & Ute Canavan who live nearby, drove over to see us. Sheli met Bill over twenty years ago through the travel industry. Bill has organized and run golf tournaments around the world for the travel industry. We have had the opportunity to participate in many of these events over the years. 

After the nickel tour of the Pura Vida, the Canavans took us to their hometown where we saw their lovely home and golf club. We never realized that New Jersey countryside was so beautiful. What a fun day! Bill is convinced we must keep our golf clubs handy for future tournaments. 

Monday morning we had planned to move on, but the weather was too nasty. Rain! We opted to stay another day. The rain let up in the afternoon so we took the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. At Ellis Island we went to the Registry of Immigrants to look up the information on Steve's father's family arrival from the Netherlands in 1930. After some searching we found the ship's passenger manifest listing the Sterk family. It proved a little difficult since some of their names where changed after entering the U.S.  We toured the building and learned about the process involved for many thousands of immigrants. It must have been a very scary experience. 

Once again the weather was cold and rainy on Tuesday morning. The first mate tried to warm up the cabin, but the heater did not seem to be working correctly. Brrr....  Captain "fix it" crawled down into the bowels of the boat and reversed the hoses to back flush the unit. Success! Once we were warm, we left port and traveled 39 miles north on the Hudson River. It was a rainy, cold, foggy day on the Hudson. The first mate donned her gear from head to toe to go on the bow and drop the anchor in a small cove in Haverstraw, NY by late afternoon. 

 Sunrise departing Atlantic City. 

 New York City on the horizon.

 Being passed by a car carrier.

 The old lady welcoming the young lady!

 Night view from our anchorage.

 New York, New York!

 Manhattan skyline.

 9/11 Memorial Pool/Fountain.  One at the sight of each Tower. 

 Friends Bill & Ute Canavan

 Anybody seen my daddy?  

The Sterk Family:

Grandpa Pieter/Peter

Grandma Anna

Uncle Jan/John

Aunt Anna/Ann

Uncle Gerritt

Dad Sybrand/Sam

Uncle Johannes/Joe

 Salute!

 As sung by Tommy James and the Shondells  "Draggin the Line". A fellow Looper was towed into our marina with one of these 2 inch lines wrapped around their props and rudders. (We took this photo on the ferry.)

 First mate ready for duty!