The sun came out! We haven't seen the sun since last Thursday, and that was pretty sketchy, but today, the clouds broke apart and the sun came through. It's about time. We were definitely getting cabin fever.
We had a short day planned today. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to be pretty strong, but in the right direction, so we can move on, but the conditions in Block Island Sound are supposed to be pretty rough, so we don't want to get out of Long Island Sound until Friday. So, today we moved just 35 miles to Port Jefferson. We were here by 1:00, so we got the dinghy in and went to town. Port Jeff is a nice little town...seems touristy, but I'm not really sure why. There is no beach or any thing else that's obvious that might draw tourists, but that is definitely what the crowd of people walking the streets looked like. We walked the streets with them, then stopped for a late lunch (that means I don't have to cook supper).
The car ferry comes by where we are anchored about every hour or two, but it's not close enough that we feel a big wake. We were a bit worried about that when we dropped the anchor.
Tomorrow we hope to get to Fishers Island, which is right at the very eastern end of LI Sound. On Friday, the conditions in Block Island Sound are predicted to be much calmer, so we can head for Buzzards Bay...we are FINALLY getting close to home.
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| From Manhasset to Atlantic Highlands |
This morning we woke to rain...but no fog, so we were 'on' for the trip through the city. We didn't want to get to the Battery, which is right at the tip of Manhatten, until 2 hours after low tide...1:30pm. That way, we would have a favorable current up the East River, and close to slack tide at Hell Gate.
So, we picked the anchor up about 9:30, headed into the fuel dock, took on fuel and water, and we were out of there by 10:15. With a 2 hour and 45 min. ride to the Battery, we should be just about perfect. As we approached the Verrazano Bridge (the entrance to NY harbor), the fog seemed to be dropping on us. It was hard to tell what the visibility was, but we couldn't see the skyline of the city...so that seemed bad. But we pressed on. Turned out that we probably had at least a mile of visibility, so navigating through the harbor really wasn't a problem. The traffic actually seemed far quieter than any other time we've been through, and we had no surprise tugs coming around the corner at Hell Gate, so it was a pretty easy ride through the city.
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| From NYC |
This is the only pic I took...just so you could see how dreary it was! The pic above is from the fall.
We continued into Long Island Sound about 10 miles to Hempstead Harbor, which is on the NY side of the sound. We are tucked in behind a breakwater, with a really pretty park right in front of us. We'll probably end up sitting here tomorrow...the winds are supposed to be 20 with gust to 25 out of the NE...yech!
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We left Atlantic City at 6:15 this morning, and pounded through a few swells getting out the inlet. Once we got away from the inlet, the swells flattened right out, and we thought 'This might not be a bad day'. We thought wrong...by 9am it was drizzling, 50 degrees, and foggy. Not pea-soup fog, but fog. Only 9 more hours in these conditions. It was damp and cold, and not much fun...but we arrived at 5:45p, got the anchor down, went below where the heat was on, and poured a glass of wine. A good ending to a crummy day.
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Left Cape May at 7:30 this morning, and had a pretty short day up to Atlantic City. It was overcast when we left, with light winds and some pretty uncomfortable swells. About 2 hours into it, the swells began to subside, so the rolling around wasn't too bad. We did get rained on before we got here, but it was just a passing shower. All in all, not a bad day, but we've had plenty better!
Two days ago, while we were sitting in Cape May, it finally had to turn the heat on in the boat...I'm awfully happy we have it!
This is the first time we've come into Atlantic City and didn't tie up at the Trump Marina. There is a nice anchorage just off the inlet, but the channel markers to get into it aren't usually in place in the late fall or early spring. Lucky for us, they're in this time, so we were able to safely get into the anchorage. There is a sandy shoal that juts out into the opening, and we never wanted to take the chance of running aground trying to enter.
Tomorrow morning we plan on leaving here by 6am. It's at least a 12 hour day up to Sandy Hook.
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Oh, how I would love to be in Sandy Hook now!
Jack and Sue
Yesterday morning the wind had backed right off, so we were able to get the dinghy in the water and head into shore. Alan did some boat maintenance first, but by 11:00 we were off the boat. We dinghyed into Utsch's Marina and tied up there, and they also let us leave a couple of large bags of trash in their dumpster! Called for a taxi to take us to Walmart...a 10mile R/T...$23...to pick up my $4 prescription!! After that we went out for lunch at the Lobster House. We also needed to pick up a few groceries, so we were off in search of a food store. The first thing we came to was a WaWa, which is like an On the Run (gas station store). We were able to get the basics there, so by 3:30 we were back on the boat.
The wind was supposed to shift during the night, so Alan wanted to re-anchor. All the boats that were here Wednesday were gone, so we were the only one left in the anchorage...plenty of room to re-anchor. Of course, we had a hard time getting it set...tried 3 times. Finally got a good hold...but of course, once you've dragged somewhere, you're really nervous if you're going to hold in big winds, which is what was predicted for Thursday night.
Well, it's now Friday morning, and the winds haven't really picked up yet, but we are supposed to have 20-25 by noon, and the seas outside are 5-7 ft, so we'll be sitting here another day. Sounds like tomorrow we'll be able to get up to Atlantic City. Five other boats came in late yesterday afternoon, and they all seem to be staying put today also. I guess we'll have company up the Jersey coast.
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