Day 5 - Thu 2 Jun 2016
Anchored - Eaton's Neck, NY

[photo: diver Duane checking the running gear in rather chilly water]

The overnight was beautiful, with stars visible even when competing with the numerous lights around the harbor. We both slept very restfully and awoke eager to check out a new spot.

I had decided to run the mere 22nm at slow speed today and therefore did not want the tidal current against us. That meant leaving at 0600, but we are up with the light anyway at 0500, so that was not a problem at all. This is the third time we have been in this harbor and the only time we did not have to worry about the huge ferry as we entered and exited the channel. The ferries were still there, but the timing just worked out.

There was surprisingly more wave action then I had anticipated given the low wind strength forecast, but it was behind us and not uncomfortable at all. The unfortunate part of this short passage involved a lone lobster pot buoy that I saw too late in the waves. I immediately shifted to neutral on both engines and the buoy went right between the hulls, but I did not see it pop up astern of us, and that is very disconcerting. We carefully went down the stern steps of each hull and could not see a buoy or any lines anywhere. I went back to the helm and applied a quick burst of reverse just in case the line was wrapped and maybe it would be freed.

Feeling and seeing nothing, I engaged each engine one at a time in forward idle and could not feel anything really wrong, but your mind starts to play games and you wonder if that little vibration or sound was always there or the result of this occurrence. I tried to feel the response of the engines to my throttle adjustments and watched the temperature gauges as I slowly increased power. With nothing but nagging thoughts, we proceeded at somewhat reduced engine RPM and boat speed to our destination just 2.5 hours away.

I had hopes of beaching the bow of the boat and being able to stand in 3 feet of water while reaching down to carefully inspect. There was no section of the beach that looked possible to do that as it was a very steep drop, so we moved to what seemed a good anchor spot. I lowered the dinghy with the hope I could lie on it and reach down far enough to feel the prop shaft, but that was folly. I would need 4 foot long arms to do that.

Diane offered to get out my thick wetsuit and mask. I agreed that was the only way to be sure, but elected to see if the forecast clear skies and warmer temps showed up later in the day, as it was barely 0900. After procrastinating until noon, I bit the bullet and got in the water. The water temp was near 60F and even with the wetsuit it was a chilly adventure.

The great news is that I found no evidence of anything on the props or rudders. We also got an unusual photo for the blog. Having done that, I can travel with confidence that all is OK, rather than just assuming. Let's hope that is the last encounter with something that affects our running gear. The Erie Canal has much debris this time of year so we'll just have to be extra careful, and lucky.

As we sat in the cabin with the wind blowing harder than forecast and colder than hoped, we suddenly got rocked somewhat violently by a big wake. When we realized the offending boat got no nearer than a half mile to us, I decided this location was far from ideal. The shape of this area would appear to magnify and reflect the wakes, making them worse than normal. From the charts, there is a very small, protected area that houses a tiny Coast Guard Station and one private dock up near the entrance off Long Island Sound, and I decided to chance there would be room.

Getting the anchor up took a while since it was well set and the wind and waves were moving the boat around a bit. A short 20 minutes of motoring later, however, we were anchored in that wonderful little cove. The large trees were blocking much of the wind and there was less than 3 inches of ripple on the water. The main negative is if we were to swing 180 degrees, we would be aground at low tide. Given the bottom here, I doubt that would be a problem. The end result as of mid-afternoon was that it was suddenly a delightful stop instead of a major disappointment.

After lots of reading and more trip planning, we enjoyed the chili I made a few days ago. The heat made me start sweating so I excused myself to the flybridge to eat in a semi-cool light breeze. No one needed to muster from the Coast Guard Station, so we were the only ones here and with no traffic it was fabulous.

Tomorrow, we will make another short run to Manhasset Bay and the town of Port Washington. We plan to spend two nights there on the free moorings, get some things we didn't realize we needed, and get more fresh provisions. It will be a good time to exercise the dinghy, too. We are on track to start up the Hudson River in three or four days with a nice flooding current at a good time in the morning.