Day 6 - Fri 3 Jun 2016
Moored – Port Washington (Manhasset Bay), NY

[photo: celebrating the fascinating history of amphibious planes that used this harbor back in the day]

It was incredibly still and comfortable all night, and having gone to sleep just after sunset near 2100, we were both awake at 0500 and raring to go. We wanted to time the current heading W down the Sound, so we didn’t depart until 0645 in light fog. There were a few commercial and private fishermen out, but that was it.

We saw a few more buoys from lobster pots, but no close encounters. We arrived in Manhasset Bay, hailed the Town Dockmaster and were told to pick up any yellow-topped mooring, free for 48 hours. It really is a boating-friendly town and we have always stopped here to re-provision, thus helping their economy. It was drizzling when Diane had to man the foredeck to pick up the mooring, but she did a yeoman’s job, as usual.

The rain stopped after an hour so I got the dinghy off the davits and setup for travel for the first time. We loaded our cloth and canvas bags and headed to the public dock just a few blocks from the grocery store. We had four bags to carry back, but it wasn’t too bad. Back on the boat, however, it was deathly still and muggy. Diane stowed the new provisions and left out the makings for fresh seafood chowder that I tackled later. Some days so far, heating up the cabin with the galley stove as I cooked was a welcome thing. Today, it was not.

It was a relatively quiet afternoon, but while I was down in the galley hull, Diane let out a loud yelp of surprise and I popped up quickly to see the superstructure of a boat coming toward us at relatively high speed and only feet from us. It turned out to be the local water taxi delivering a notice to us about the mooring field, 48 hours free stay, registration requirement, etc. We both went on deck where Diane politely explained how startled she was. The taxi captain was a young woman who apologized for the scare and we had a nice short chat.

The seafood chowder turned out great and will feed us for another meal, as well. The rest of the evening was consumed with reading, planning, and other communications. We will be here again tomorrow all day and then leave on Sun about noon to time the current down the East River to anchor near the Statue of Liberty before heading up the Hudson River on Mon.