2022: NYC East River

 26 August 2022

Depart: Port Washington mooring ball 9:50

Arrive: Home, Rumson, NJ 3:00

Distance: 43 nm

Clark said that if we left Port Washington around 10:00 a.m. that would put us at Hell Gate for the trip on the East River at a good time to catch the current with us. We got underway shortly before his target time.

It has been a number of years since we traveled in Long Island Sound and down the East River. I am always confused by the bridges on the river because there are so many. This time I wrote down the names as we passed under each one.

On our way home today, we passed under the following bridges:

Starting from Long Island Sound, 

   Throgs Neck Bridge

   Whitestone Bridge

   Hell Gate Bridge

East River Bridges

   RFK Tri Borough Bridge

   Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge

   Williamsburg Bridge

   Manhattan Bridge

   Brooklyn Bridge

Leaving NYC ...

    Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

and Entering Monmouth County NJ ...

   Highlands Bridge 

   SeaBright Bridge.

I must admit I got "snap happy" with the camera, but the trip through NYC on the East River was so much fun. No matter how many times through here, with a favorable current and nice weather, the  trip is exciting. We got the quick tour as, with the current taking us along, we were "flying by" at almost 12 kts. That's almost 14 mph! 

Stepping Stones Lighthouse
on Long Island Sound

Throgs Neck Bridge - First bridge of many

US Army Corps of Engineer Vessel

Rikers Island

Rikers Island

Rikers Island

Hell Gate Bridge

RFK Triborough Bridge

Picking up speed as we travel the river!

Wouldn't be NYC
without the "Circle Line" tour boat

Queensboro Bridge coming up

Queensboro Bridge

Queensboro Bridge

I noticed some pretty unusual architecture as we floated by.

UN Building

Bent building connected to "twin"

ConEdison Plant

Bike / Walking Trail along river

Williamsburg Bridge

Wobbly? architecture

NYC Water Taxi

Brooklyn Bridge

Building with a fat belly

Manhattan Bridge

Staten Island Ferry

Ferry Terminal

Freedom tower

Statue of Liberty

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

We had pretty warm temperatures today. Clark and I discussed anchoring out at Sandy Hook for one night before coming in - perhaps to catch a breeze as we knew there would be little to no breeze in our creek. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for later, thunder storms, made the decision for us. We would go all the way home and run air conditioning on the boat to keep cool. 

As we approached the SeaBright Bridge, we noted that the tide was going out and we might be able to squeeze under the bridge instead of waiting 40 minutes for an opening. Clark lowered the radar tower and then climbed out the side of the boat to lower the antennas. Whenever he stands out there 12 feet over the water on a ledge 4" wide holding on one-handed with his fingertips, I hope and pray no boats go by and make a wake! 

We got home at 3:00. Clark went up to the house and turned on water and hot water, and did all the other things that need to be done to bring the house back into daily operation. I stayed on the boat to get things organized ready to be taken off the boat tomorrow. Before I could move back into the house, I would need to run the vacuum cleaner and dust to make it less of an allergy-producing environment. That work could wait for a day.

Home on our creek

27 August 2022

I worked at it all day long to take things off the boat. Because of the "flooding" experience as well as having had company on board for weeks, I had stacks of laundry. I had "hidden" portions of it to make space. As I dragged laundry up to the house, I kept remembering more hiding places. It took me two days of almost constant running of the washer & dryer to get it all done. 

Besides laundry, I had food to bring up to the house from the fridge, cupboards, and my "pantry". I made so many trips with it all. I did not have to worry about a lack of exercise as we transitioned venues!

Of course we had things to fix on the boat when we got back. The list is never-ending.  Clark keeps a running list of things to address on the boat as they present themselves. This time, for example, the dinghy lift was on the fix list.

2022: Long Island Sound

 23 August 2022

Depart: New Bedford, Mass mooring ball 8:37

Arrive: Montauk, LI NY anchorage Montauk Lake 4:45

Distance: 63 nm

When we woke this morning, we discovered that our New Bedford mooring ball woes were not yet over, birds had occupied the bow of our boat since dawn and left their evidence behind when I chased them off the boat.

Our stateroom is directly below this portion of the boat. I thought there might be an issue as I heard the pitter patter of little feet over my head. I never dreamed it would be as bad as it was. It was just too nasty up there to ignore it. I insisted Clark go up and use the salt-water washdown to remove the worst of it. Normally we only pull that out to hose down the anchor line as it comes in.

We had overcast skies as we left Massachusetts and headed for Long Island. We had hoped to see a friend in Rhode Island but he was away in the Carolinas and not available as we passed by.

A trip of 63 nm at about 8 knots takes about 8 hours. As we approached Montauk at the tip of Long Island, we once again reached for the cell phone cameras.

Caravans / Trailers parked on beach at inlet

Clark decided to drop anchor in Montauk Lake.

Pictures taken in Montauk Lake ...

Trawler

USCG

Shellfish Nursery Zone

Sunset at Montauk Lake

24 August 2022

Depart: Montauk Lake anchorage 7:50

Arrive: Port Jefferson anchorage 3:45

Distance: 61 nm

Before leaving Montauk Lake, we grabbed a few more photos of the area and then we headed out the inlet to travel on Long Island Sound.

I saw a fishing trawler surrounded by sea gulls and was happy they were busy and not chasing us.

Better him than us

Multiple balloons floating by

Montauk to New London, CT ferry

Long days on the water get tedious after a while, so I was more than happy that we had the anchor down mid afternoon. Clark promised a shorter "hop" for tomorrow. Yay!

Views from the anchorage at Port Jeff ...

Sunset at Port Jefferson, LI NY

25 August 2022

Depart: Port Jeff anchorage 8:50

Arrive: Port Washington Mooring ball 1:35

Distance: 37 nm

Before leaving the area, we did a little exploring of an area set aside for mooring balls.

Sign says mooring for registered owners only

Lots of moorings - not so busy today

Two-way traffic here with ferries to CT

Car-carrying Ferry 

We found it a bit nippy out on the sound today.

Approaching 1:00, we could see Port Washington in the distance. 

Execution Rocks

We picked up the mooring ball quickly and found we had time on our hands to go into town to walk around. The friend we came to see here is still working and could not meet us right away, so we went exploring on our own. The mooring ball for the night was free. The trip on the launch into town cost $8 per person each way. 

We had three recommendations for breakfast with our friend Dave tomorrow morning. With no better agenda, we decided to take a walk and check out the venues. That gave us destinations and things to look for. Our first stop however was to the "Douglas and James" ice cream store recommended by the launch captain. Although it was cool on the sound, it was shorts weather on land.

Our walk took us past a boat with a dummy captain. The dummy looked like Popeye!

The walk through town was pleasant. We walked between 2 and 3 miles as we explored. We got just past the train station before we found the last of the 3 breakfast place options. Then we turned around and headed back to the town dock.

We passed a school building with a park next door. Lots of children were out for recess / play time. A few little ones came up to the fence to say hello to us.

Non-working clock at the park

Mural along the way

Sunset Park - near town dock

We caught the launch and returned to Sunset Delight. No sooner did we step foot on board than our friend called to say he got out of work early and could meet us on shore. We decided to wait to see him in the morning.

Sunset at Port Washington

26 August

Port Washington, LI NY

Yesterday, we made plans to meet our friend Dave for breakfast today before he went to work this morning. The plan was to meet at 8:00. We found a big snag in that plan. The launch service did not start until 8:00, and that was just when the captain came on duty. We would have to call for the launch at 8:00 and wait for him to arrive then drop us off on shore. 8:00 looked a lot more like 8:30. 

Dave told us to review the menu at a restaurant and tell him what we wanted. He would buy the food and meet us at the marina where he keeps his boat. The marina had a floating barge with picnic tables under cover of a tarp. Sounded like a good plan. 

The launch captain turned out to be someone that our friend Dave knew. Instead of Clark acting as a go between, he gave his phone to the captain to talk to Dave and find out where to go to meet him. Before we could be dropped off, however, another boater wanted to be picked up to get his dog off the boat for a walk. Since it was only for a dog walk, the launch captain said he knew a good place and took the man and his dog to a dock that looked relatively unused but near a good area to walk a dog.

When the launch captain finally dropped us off at our chosen destination, Dave was waiting with food and drinks. We ate and talked and he gave us a tour of his boat. All too soon, it was time for him to go to work and us to leave to catch the current at a good time at Hell Gate for our trip home.

The launch captain picked us up where he had dropped us off at the marina. As we exited the launch, he reminded us that the fee was $8.00 per person each way. I reminded him that we gave him $20 when we got on the first time and got no change back. Unlike yesterday when a different captain was on duty, this one did not write down that we had paid both ways. He just, without looking at it, stuffed the bill in his shirt pocket. Fortunately, when I told him that it was a $20 we had given him, he said, "Okay, thanks" and accepted that as fact. I wondered when we paid if it would be an issue that he never acknowledged how much we gave him.