“Why do they call New Jersey the Garden State?”…
Odysea II is waiting in Oxford, MD for our exhausted bodies to climb board after an 8 hour weather delay out of Houston. We don’t mind ‘waiting on weather’ (WOW from this day forward) for a day and cruise to Kent Narrows for a fabulous dinner with friends Janet and Rick, before entering Delaware, our 8th state, at the C&D Canal.
Delaware City was a pleasant surprise and our first experience with the friendly active community of fellow looper boats.
The captain makes a wise decision and we take another ‘WOW’ day allowing us to experience the friendliest church so far on our journey.
I must confess any presumptions of New Jersey, our 9th state on this journey, was formed in my psyche from multiple viewings of the movie, Miss Congeniality. When Victor Melling asks the question in the heading above, Gracie Hart snidely remarks, “Because ‘Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State’ wouldn’t fit on a license plate?”
Needless to say, this view as we leave Delaware Bay is no surprise as we cruise into Cape May, NJ to spend some time reminiscing the captain’s old stomping grounds when he worked on a charter fishing boat.
After a lovely visit with dear friends…
favorable weather for cruising up the coast nudges us to grab an early breakfast…
where our server plays the ‘do you know’ game with the captain and we learn she was working at this coffee shop way back in the day when the mates would grab breakfast on the mornings their fishing trips were cancelled.
We wave to Atlantic City as we keep moving north…
until the wind begins to pick up, giving us another nudge into the ICW at Little Egg Harbor.
It was here, amongst the beautiful coastline, my paradigm shift occurred. New Jersey is beautiful.
There are swans!!! My sincere apologies to the great state of New Jersey for my narrow minded judgement.
After a night docked at the Brielle YC, we say good-bye to the Atlantic Ocean. Odessa II does not seem sad about it.
We enter New York Harbor to the tunes of New York, New York and have buddy boats in place for the iconic photo…
building our excitement and pulling our eyes away from the skyline as Lady Liberty comes into view.
Boat traffic is lite, but the ferries are NOT messing around as the captain maneuvers across wakes as we get into position.
Money shot ✔️. Thank you buddy boats.
We pull into Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City for views of the Manhattan skyline as the sun goes down.
In the morning, we head north up the Hudson River through state number 10.
Thanks for following along!
~ First Mate