Balloons and Fog on the Atlantic 40◦27'.832 N 074◦00'.571 W

Well we made what is essentially our last Atlantic Ocean voyage. Leaving the Golden Nugget Marina at 0527hrs, we had the New York Sky line in our sights by 1630hrs. When we left this morning, the sun was shining and the wind was dead calm, however about 1 hr into our travels, and 3 miles out from the shore line, a fog settled on the Atlantic and dropped our visibility to just a few feet.

At one point there was a fishing boat directly in front of us. We could see it clearly on the radar, about a ½ mile out,  but could not  see it by sight. Jim started to hail the boat on the VHF to ensure he knew we were there and could see us. He did not respond and he changed course, heading right for us! Jim hailed with a little more urgency in his voice, but still no answer. All of a sudden he popped out of the fog, heading right for us at 26 MPH. He was a few seconds from hitting us when he finally noticed. Despite the fog, he was close enough that Jim could see his face. Jim raised the microphone of the VHF, pointing at it and uttering a few choice words that I cannot put in print. Aside from this near miss, the rest of our day was uneventful. Somewhere around 1100hrs, the fog lifted and we could finally see a few miles all around.

This is about the time we started noticing the balloons. We did not count them, but I would guess somewhere around 15 or more where seen along the way. Apparently someone had a party yesterday and then just dumped the balloons off the boat.  Had I known we would see so many, I would have gotten the gaff out and started picking them up. Maybe we could have had our own little party!

Now although New York city is in our sights, it will  be 3 days before we are actually  in New York. We are currently in a place called Sandy Hook New Jersey, directly across the bay from New York Harbor. We plan on staying here for the next few days as we wait out another weather system coming through. There's not much to see on these New Jersey shores, so we will take the next few days to perform some needed maintenance and cleaning. To prevent from boring you to tears, I will not blog again until Mother's day. Since that is the case I must take the chance now to wish our baby Stéphanie a happy birthday. Her B-day in on Saturday the 9^th. Yes our children are only 5 days apart in birthdays. What can I say, August was vacation month!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweetheart. We love you and  we'll see you in 6 sleeps. Can't wait! 

I also want to extend a Happy Birthday to my sister Marie-Anne, who's B-day happens to be on the same day as Stéphanie. Love you too sis, and in your case, we'll be seeing you in a few weeks. 

Good night all