After spending an amazing week in NYC seeing friends and the sights, it is time to return to more traditional cruising.  With 9-12’ seas predicted along the New Jersey coast due to Hurricane Helene, we head for the protection of Atlantic Highlands just inside Sandy Hook, NJ.  We plan to wait here until the seas are more manageable. 

Atlantic Highlands is known as a protected anchorage, although wrecked boats in the harbor serve as a sad and chilling reminder of the risks of life at sea.  I meet a man removing his personal property from a wrecked Beneteau.  According to him, a convergence of weather systems including the effects of Hurricane Ernesto created a freak storm that caused 28 boats to break free of their moorings.  All but 3 are total losses.

The town itself is a cruiser’s dream… within walking distance of a free dinghy dock are a playground, laundromat, hardware store, automotive store, marine supply, post office and supermarket.  Fish are jumping around the boat every night.  The harbor is filling up with cruising boats from around the world.  We meet a nice couple from Nova Scotia who are refitting a Gulfstar while underway (even have a small machine shop on board!).  While doing laundry Megan meets cruisers from Scotland and New Orleans.  The couple from New Orleans is also on a boat named Grace although they didn’t name her.  Having lost their last boat to Hurricane Katrina just weeks after renaming her, they decided not to change Grace’s name.