Atlantic Highlands - still here waiting for weather

The front that came thorugh was mostly wind, just a little rain. There's still a few of us here.

We went to bed with visions of sailing down the New Jersey coast in 5 to 10 kt winds out of the north and 2 ft or less waves. You can imagine my surprise when I looked at the forecast when I got up at 4:30. It had changed to 10 tod 15 with gusts to 25 and later on up to 30 kts with a small craft advisory issued for the afternoon. It looked like we might be able to beat the storm by leaving around 6:00 am and staying ahead of the worst of the winds. However, there's just the two of us and we simply did not want to risk the chance that the storm would suddenly speed up and catch us without any alternative but to soldier on to Atlantic City. There are no inbetween harbor for us between Sandy Hook and Atlantic City.

First time we've seen the sun today

So with great regrets, we decided to stay at anchor in Atlantic Highlands and wait for better weather for the trip south. As promised, the storm came and we're riding it out at anchor with 20 kts winds with gusts to 25. At least we are mostly behind the breakwater given the wind direction so far and it's supposed to slack off after midnight. It's exciting taking Hoolie to shore in such conditions.

We are using up our slack days like mad. Once we reach Chesapeake City, it will be a whirlwind trip south if the weather permits. We will get as far south as we can before leaving the boat somewhere and renting a car for the trip back north for the holidays. We do not want to miss Thanksgiving and Christmas with the kids and grandkids.