August 28. We had to negotiate the currents in Hell Gate this morning on our way down to Atlantic Highlands.

It looked as if the best time to get to Hell Gate would be between 1030 and 1115. We slipped our mooring and motored slowly out of Manhasset Bay at 0845. We arrived at the Gate at 1040 and were treated to a pleasant ride with over a knot push down to the Battery. Then the tide built and we got 2 knots all the way to the Verrazano Bridge.

It was finally a sunny day and the city looked beautiful from the water. The harbor was full of tugs and barges, ferries, water taxis and big ships. The trip was uneventful and over quickly as we arrived in Atlantic Highlands, N.J. by 1400 hours.

We are safely anchored here behind the seawall. We’ll spend an extra day here to await a more favorable tide at our next port of call, Barnegat Inlet.

Sitting here is the Flying Pig, whose crew, Skip & Lydia we had met down in Marathon. They’ve just gotten up here to the northeast to await Lydia’s mom who is flying in from England to join them for a little traveling with them on their boat.

The Flying Pigs came over to the Veranda and spent a few hours catching up with each others exploits. Once again it was a wonderful evening during which we were treated to yet another beautiful Atlantic Highlands sunset. Seriously.

We spent a good part of the next day visiting with the Flying Pigs as well as getting the ten cent tour of their boat. We were both envious of the storage they have on their Morgan 46 footer. Their V-berth is completely empty, enough said. If my Mom were to visit us on our boat she’d have to sleep with the sewing machine on top of the bicycles in our V-berth.

Skip and Lydia are just another example of the couples that we’ve met on the water that seemed as if we had been friends for years, and we probably will be. After a few hours we headed back to the Veranda to turn in a little early to get some extra rest in anticipation of tomorrow’s early departure. The moon rising over the Flying Pig.