Sept. 10-14 Poughkeepsie to Atlantic Highlands, NY

We said farewell to cousins Judi and PJ the previous evening after a wonderful meal at the Culinary Institute of America and departed on Thursday. The weather prediction for NY Harbor and the Atlantic coast was for winds and rough seas. We decided to anchor a couple of nights north of NY until the weather improved. Additionally, we had called for mail and that would arrive on Monday at the post office in Atlantic Highlands. So there was no point in rushing. On Sunday, we felt that there would be no problem going through NY Harbor. Two to three foot seas were forecast for Monday. Our plan was to position ourselves so that we could go into Atlantic Highlands Post Office early Monday, get our mail, and head down the coast.

As we approached NY Harbor we heard a Coast Guard announcement that most of NY Harbor was closed to boat traffic because of sail boat races. We were having a hard time figuring out exactly what part of the Harbor was closed. Since no one was stopping us, we continued cruising through the Harbor. We finally figured out what was going on. There was not a race going on. It was a parade of Dutch tall ships celebrating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson River.

We got to the anchorage at Atlantic Highlands in the afternoon. We lowered the dinghy so we would be ready to go into the post office early in the morning. As planned, we got up early, got into the dinghy and headed for the post office. Ollie was happy for the opportunity to get off the boat. We figured the post office would open at either 8 am or 8:30 am. It didn't open until 9 am. We got our mail, without a hitch, and headed back to the boat. Ollie did some fast walking that morning.