May 26, Saturday - Day 29:  After the long trip up to Sandy Hook on Friday we took it easy on Saturday.  We put Ricky-Dink in the water and took a ride into town.  It didn't take long to tour the entire town of Atlantic Highlands.  Later that evening we were eating dinner on the aft deck talking about trying to meet up with our friend Linda, from Houston, who was visiting New York City with her daughter, Ashley,  over the Memorial Day week end, when Jim had a brillant idea!  Why not see if Linda and Ashley want to jump on an early ferry to Atlantic Highlands and then ride with us into New York Harbor??? So, at 8:00 on Saturday night we called Linda to pitch the idea - they loved the idea and just needed to know where to catch the ferry.   Within minutes we found a ferry that left somewhere in Manhattan at 8:00 am and arrived somewhere in Atlantic Hightlands at 9:05.  We weren't sure where the ferry dock was, or if there was a place to take Rickshaw to pick them up - but hey - if the ferry can dock there we should be able to pull in there too - right?  Another adventure - !

May 25, Friday - Day 28:  To make up for the day we lost working on mechanical issues we set our alarm for 5:00am (first time we have set the alarm in months) and pulled the anchor at 6:00am.  Our destination was Sandy Hook, New Jersey - just 15 miles from New York City - but 84 miles away - off shore.  Our time to destination - 11 hours!  The day started with great visibility and smooth seas but half way up the coast - the FOG dropped down.  The visibility was 100 feet at times.  Our eyes were glued to the radar and the AIS and whenever we knew another boat was nearby we sounded the fog horn.  It was exhausting.  Unfortunately the fog was no better when we reached the channel into Sandy Hook.  We entered the harbor by spliting the difference between the two blobs on the radar (the green and red buoys).  The fog was so thick - we never saw them!  We continued making our way down the channel - Belinda watching the radar, Jim the chartplotter and both looking over the bow into the whiteout.  Two hundred yards from the anchorange we broke thru the fog and it was clear skies and sunny!  We looked back and the fog was like a white wall behind us.  Jim said "Well, if you start shrinking we'll know why"
;-)    The anchorage is delightful - there is a big hill to the south and the houses cascade down the side overlooking the bay.  We plan to stay here until Sunday morning.  It is only a three hour trip to the marina in NYC and the family doesn't arrive until 9pm. 

May 23, Wednesday – Day 26:  The trek from Cape May to Atlantic City was marred with mechanical concerns.  The port alternator was running hot – so to make sure we didn’t damage it we turned off the port engine.  The starboard engine can provide 85% of the speed of both engines so we were only slightly delayed – but the port engine powers the stabilizers.  The stabilizers are an added feature that not all trawlers have – they  are fins that protrude on each side underwater and they greatly minimize the roll of the boat.   THANK GOODNES we encountered no waves today to need the stabilizers– so we were pretty lucky.  We arrived in a Atlantic City later than we wanted – but luckily the anchorage – north of Atlantic City was huge and there was plenty of room for us.  We had hoped to dinghy over to some of the other boats – especially the ones with Looper flags, but unfortunately we arrived too late for happy hour.  The Atlantic City skyline was very pretty at night – one large building was a lighted billboard with animation.