June 27th to July 5th, 2009 - GREAT KILLS HARBOR, STANTON ISLD, NYC

We arrive in Great Kills (Dutch for River) Harbour, Staten Island, NYC after two days at sea and take a mooring buoy at the Richmond County Yacht Club. The $225 per week fee includes use of the facilities and the launch service that runs from 8 am to 10 pm (11 pm Fri & Sat).

The entrance Light House at Sandy Hook, welcomes us to NYC. The next day we go by train and Staten Island Ferry to NYC. Our first pictures of the New Jersey and NYC skylines, including the Statue of Liberty.

Father and son re-union. Picture taken at start of July 4th boat trip described below. Many thanks to Joe and Kristen who provided this and the following pictures of the adventure.

The co-captains and guests for the July 4th "3 hour tour" of the South Bay. The guests are; Joe & Kristen, Jeff, Tarin & Frey, Maria & James. We had a great sail from Great Kills Harbor to Sandy Hook, then decided to enter Horseshoe Bay for bite to eat. Just as we were about to drop the anchor we hit an uncharted sand bar and became very stuck. We tried to back off. NO luck. We tried to sail off and only managed to get higher up onto the bar. The boat started to list 15 to 20 degrees to starboard and "bounce" along the bar. NOT good. Called TowBoat US. They arrived inside of 20 minutes. Got towed off. Again the towing insurance paid off. We motored back to Great Kills for a sunset meal and much needed "adult" beverage(s).

Frey through the salt covered dodger, cloud art, Jeff toasting the sunset with his beer. Sunset on Great Kills Harbor.