Saturday morning we left Onset about 7:15. Timed the current through the canal perfectly...we screamed through at 10.5-11.5 knots! Out the other side, and we were looking at maybe 2 mile visibility...light fog, and rain. Got into Scituate about 1pm. We weren't here 20 minutes, and the fog rolled in like pea-soup. Didn't bother putting the dinghy down...we couldn't even see the shoreline.
About 4pm it cleared out, so we went into town for an early dinner. Started out at Mill Wharf for chowder, then moved on to TK Omalleys for fried seafood. Nice to get off the boat.
We noticed when we were coming across the bottom of RI that we had traveled past spring...the trees all along that coast hadn't leafed out yet. But, here in Scituate, most of the trees have leaves on them, so I guess it was just RI that is behind.
Today, Sunday, the wind is blowing 20-25, so we decided to stay put. Tomorrow we head for Portsmouth NH...we're almost home.
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Woke this morning to sunshine...what a surprise! Not predicted. We left East Harbor about 7:15a and bucked the current out of Fishers Island Sound. We were pretty sure we would have some SWELLS when we got out into the open water, since last night at high tide the swells were rolling into the anchorage. We went to bed rocking from side to side.
As soon as we got into Block Island Sound, the swells were as predicted, 5-9 feet...on the beam! That means we rolled all morning long as we crossed the bottom of RI. Once we got into Buzzards Bay, the outer islands blocked the swell and it flattened right out. We put the push on and got all the way to Onset, about 65nm. The favorable current to get through the Canal tomorrow is before 10:30a, so we wanted to be close to the beginning of the canal. If there is fog in the morning, we can wait a while hoping it will lift before we have to leave. Always planning!
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We left Port Jefferson, Long Island, and crossed diagonally across the sound to the Connecticut side, but ended up anchoring in NY...how'd that happen? Well, we are anchored at Fishers Island, which is just 2 miles off the Connecticut coast, around Mystic, but the island is owned by NY. So, here we are still in NY, but only about 20 miles at the most to RI.
Today, the weather was a surprise. After heavy rain and thunderstorms last night, today wasn't supposed to be much better. But, thankfully, we had a day without rain. Well, almost. It didn't start to rain until we were heading into the anchorage. OH, and that's when the fog dropped on us, as well. But, we did have some great sailing today, and we are positioned to get up into Buzzards Bay tomorrow.
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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.
| 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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