Hudson River Trip - Day 6

We woke up at Liberty Landing Marina still kind of tired from the heat the day before.  We decided we would head back to Keyport and perhaps do a day or two of simply sailing around the Raritan Bay.  So after a boat-cooked breakfast (eggs and sausage) and some refueling, filling water tanks, etc., we shoved off, took one last look at the Morris Canal and headed out past the old train station and south into NY Harbor.

This time - for the first time - we encountered Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty in relatively calm waters.

We bid goodbye to these famous landmarks and headed into the harbor.  I'm always amazed at how fast (relative to Seas The Day) things move around here.  I glanced back and noted a SI Ferry was underway - way back at The Battery - then glanced up and here it was... right behind me.

We did toy briefly with the possibility of heading over towards the Port of Newark and taking the back way home via the Arthur Kill (the tidal straight that separates Staten Island from NJ).  But I couldn't confirm that some bridge construction was OK to pass, so we opted for the NY Harbor/Verrazzano Bridge route.

It was a hazy day and looking beyond the bridge, I could barely make out Hoffman and Swinburne islands, so I was a bit worried how visibility would be, but it turned out OK.

We passed under the bridge...

... and after passing Swinburne Island, we turned towards Keyport.

Here we realized that "Hey, we have sails... we don't have to listen to this motor all the time", so I went forward and got things ready and we unfurled the Genoa and Mainsail.

This lasted about 15 minutes as we watched the wind die down to 3 knots or so...

We knew there might be storms approaching later, so we turned on the motor and spent the next couple of hours crossing Raritan Bay.  As we started getting near the Keyport #1 buoy, I noticed some  clouds in the distance that soon became more ominous. Eventually, I could see rain over by Staten Island.

Then the squall started crossing towards us...

Ruh Ro!

Soon we were in the squall...  winds gusted up into the high 20s/low 30s knots and (most worrisome),  visibility dropped to 100 feet or so.   This was not helped by the rain pelting my face and the sunscreen running into my eyes.  We were pretty stable as long as I motored into the wind, but the wind kept shifting directions.  I was incredibly glad that the chart plotter functioned like a champ through all this - we were close to Keyport and I knew there were some shallow spots in our general vicinity.  I tried to drive us out towards deeper water whenever I could.

The whole thing lasted maybe 15 or 20 minutes.  I've always enjoyed watching these squalls come across the bay from our condo.  This was a different experience... not bad... a bit worrisome... but kind of interesting nonetheless.  I do need to read up a bit on what exactly we should do in this case.

Once it cleared, it was a short ride to our mooring ball.  As usual, all boat trips end at the Keyport Yacht Club bar... here we enjoyed some drinks with John as the sun set behind us.

OK... that's not exactly the ending.  In the photo above, I'm drinking cranberry juice and seltzer because the trip actually ended first at Integrated Medical Alliance where it was confirmed that I needed some antibiotics.  Unfortunately, what was prescribed is not compatible with being in direct sunlight, so we decided to skip the remaining two days of sailing and return to Delaware... after the sunset, of course.