The next leg took us out for our first trip on the ocean, and we had been giving this quite a bit of thought. Our route took us from New York City along the New Jersey shore, past Atlantic City where we could stop for awhile if weather dictated, and then around to Delaware Bay and Cape May or Cape Henlopen.
Originally we had planned to stay in New York City a while longer, but the weather forecast was very good for the next couple of days, before a stronger cold front was forecast to approach, so we decided to leave early Sunday morning. This decision made our trip a little longer than we might have liked since we left directly from 79th Street instead of staging at Sandy Hook or Great Kills Harbor. 
Looking out on the receding skyline of lower Manhatten, gazing over at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty were remarkable sights.Of Ellis Island, one of the websites says, 'Ellis Island is a symbol of America’s immigrant heritage. From 1892 to 1954, this immigrant depot processed the greatest tide of incoming humanity in the nation’s history. Nearly twelve million landed here in their search of freedom of speech and religion, and for economic opportunity.
We had hoped to anchor near the statue for a night, but as our itinerary changed we were happy to settle for this view.The coastline of New Jersey is beautiful as mile after mile of sandy beach rolls by. Late in the afternoon we were joined by a stowaway, a pretty little bird who flitted
around the boat and sails for quite some time – in fact much, much too long if you were to ask Corinne.All too soon the day had faded and a bright ¾ moon came into view. It was dark, we had a long way to go, we were out in the ocean, and it was remarkably serene and peaceful.
As blackness settled in, we could see the neon glow of Atlantic City in the distance. What amazed me is that it took most of the night to come up to this landmark, pass it and see it recede in the distance. If we looked at the ruffle of our wake it seemed that we are flying along, but to watch our movement past this landmark we were moving unbelievably slowly.
We had some fun sailing, especially through the night, lots of motoring, and were very relieved, and tired, as we dropped anchor in a harbor of refuge at Cape Henlopen. We had been traveling for 28 hours, covered 176 miles and were ready for a nap.
