NY Harbor Vacation - Day 7

Day 7 (Thursday):  I always wanted to circumnavigate... Staten Island.  We have always gone into and out of NY Harbor via the Verrazzano Bridge.  Each time a part of me wanted to go down the Arthur Kill waterway on our way back to Keyport.

So after an extra long conference call, a mad rush to get everything ready and another scrape on the dock trying to get off the dock by myself (I have to read up on that), we got some fuel and headed out.

NY Harbor was choppy as expected.  The weather was great, however, and I got what I feel is my best photo to date of the Statue of Liberty.

Somewhere around Robin's Reef Light (another spark plug light house), we cut to starboard back the Kill Van Cull waterway that leads to the Port of Newark.  Fortunately, there were only a few tugs and barges this morning.  However, we passed a bunch of interesting craft and bridges on the side.

The Bayonne cruise terminal...

Various loading platforms for the refineries along the waterway...

As we reached the Port of Newark, we turned into the Arthur Kill.

Under the Bayonne Bridge, then turned to port after passing shooters island.

Port of Elizabeth...

An old bascule bridge...

My big concern is that the railroad bridge would remain open.

The new Gothels Bridge...

There were various industrial locations we passed (what seemed to be an older tug yard above, and the infamous Staten Island Ships Graveyard, below).

A tug passing the Fresh Kills Landfill...

This clearly is the Olympic torch from the Perth Amboy Olympics...

And of course our sister club, the Raritan Yacht Club in Perth Amboy.

Once we hit Perth Amboy, we immediately saw the Great Beds Lighthouse and headed off towards Keyport.

As we were crossing the bay, I realized that it was an incredibly smooth trip - especially since we could clearly see a chop in the water.  I finally figured out that we were being blown along at just the right speed to travel with the waves.  Turning my head to look behind me, I realized that a squall was bearing down on us.

There's something about traveling to NY Harbor that means we'll get caught in a squall at the last minute.  We were heading to a Realtor appointment and the squall hit right as we were heading into the Keyport Harbor.  Vicky bravely went front and we tried to pick up the stick, but I had to call it off after seeing her move up and down 8 feet or so with each wave during some 30+ knot gusts.   

We motored out to the #3 buoy and tried again after it calmed back down.  This time we were successful and our NY Harbor vacation came to an end.