Discovering New York… - By Catamaran, How Else?

With our B2 visas obtained, we were heading up the East Coast of the USA after three months of wonder in the paradise islands of the Bahamas.
Saint Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, Beaufort - names that evoke Victorian or colonial architecture. Everything is green, peaceful, and calm: Scarlett and Gone with the Wind seem close at hand, bathed in the sun and warmth of the spring. Anchorages are easy, and there are few long-term cruisers. We could almost settle down here, savoring the languid tranquility of the Southern states.
The locals are wide-eyed at the audacity of these French people who have come from so far away - they are kind and welcoming. The states pass by in succession: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, then North Carolina. Before our bows, the


































dreaded Cape Hatteras is finally rounded without incident - a stroke of luck.
Ile de Rey reaches Norfolk, Virginia, and effortlessly crosses paths with aircraft carriers and other warships. The US Navy ships respectfully call out to us on channel 16: “Do you want to pass starboard to starboard or port to port?” - we are truly impressed…
Then Delaware and New Jersey watch us sail by, and we’re still the only boaters on the water. The landscapes have changed, concrete jungles have sprouted along the coast, and modernity seems to have taken over. Our stops are now purely technical before we finally reach the Big Apple, the highlight of our summer journey through America.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the Unmistakable Gateway to New York

The temperature swings from 90°F to 62°F (32 to 17°C), with sunshine and gray skies playing hide-and-seek. What remains constant, however, is the extreme humidity: laundry takes over 20 hours to dry.
And on a beautiful June morning, we set off from Sandy Hook, a long peninsula located at the northern tip of New Jersey. After a few hours of sailing almost due north, we glimpse the Verrazzano-
Narrows Bridge through the mist, which we unfortunately have to motor through - under sail would have been truly magnificent. The green and red buoys marking the channel clink under the rolling waves, reminding us that New York can disappear into the fog (40 days a year on average). As usual, navigating the buoyage requires a bit of mental gymnastics since, in the USA, as in the Caribbean,
the red and green colors are reversed compared to Europe. Before the bridge, the famous attractions of Coney Island rise up to starboard, then we finally pass under the
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the unmistakable and colossal gateway to New York – a few figures to convince you: the structure is 13,704 ft (176 m) long, 693 ft (211 m) high, and provides clearance for ships with a clearance of up to 228 feet (70 m). Here we are, entering Upper New York Bay. To port, Staten Island is mostly green, and houses are somewhat hidden away, while opposite, Brooklyn displays its skyscrapers, and we can already make out the eponymous bridge. In the distance, to the left, the commercial port ...