Atlantic Highlands, NJ - at anchor

Nice day, nice sunset at Atlantic Highlands

We made it! After digesting all the misinformation and comparing predictions, we finally settled on our old standby, Grib. The NOAA coastal forecast predicted small craft advisory winds and waves starting at 2:00 pm but Grib didn't see those winds. Who to believe? Finally we went with Grib and left Atlantic City Friday morning at 4:45 am. It was still dark out and Ann helped me avoid the buoys that were not lit. By the time we got out of the inlet, sunlight started to filter down and we could see well enough to avoid crab pots although we didn't see any the entire way up, don't know why.

As we motored north (wind on the nose, of course!), the weather worsened behind us but we were able to stay ahead of it. By noon time, NOAA changed their own forecast to agree with Grib by delaying the small craft advisory from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm although it's to be in effect until Sunday afternoon. This experience has further reinforced our belief in using Grib as our primary forecasting tool for making outside passages. You too can use Grib by downloading the free program for your PC (or iPad) that goes after the Grib data (free) and then displays it in graphical format for easy interpretation. Included are displays of wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, wave height and direction, precipitation amounts, barometric pressure (and probably a few other things I've forgotten) every 3 hours overlaying a map of the area of interest.

We're now anchored in Atlantic Highlands which has lots of empty moorings at $50 apiece. There's lots of room to anchor and besides, who wants to pay $50?? Tonight we're the only boat here, not many made the trip north I suppose. On Saturday we're headed for Haverstraw Bay and the next day on to PYC.