I am already starting to plan our trip up the Delaware....
04 October 2022
• Onset Mass
by Michael and Barbara Turney • Windy, Rainy, Cool
...and we haven't gotten out of Long Island Sound yet?! How cracked is that?
I must say that if you have to get stuck somewhere, weather bound, there are lots worse places than Onset MA. This is a nice place. It is only that being stuck on board in the wind and the rain is really starting to get OLD! I am listening to audio books; I am reading real books; we are listening to music; Barb is knitting herself in circles; and it is still getting old. Still, we are safe. We are warm. We are dry.
I had planned for Block Island for Wednesday even with shitty weather with a fallback to Cuttyhunk. That would have cut the trip to the city by1/4. Doesn't seem like a big thing but when we get to the city I would like to be able to take Ghillie ashore and have some rest myself before the trip down the Jersey shore. If we get there to make the tide through the East River we will probably stop at Great Kills to let Ghillie relax and to let me get some rest. Otherwise we will anchor at Port Washington. Sadly, those big plans are unlikely to happen. The wind shows absolutely no signs of letting up, at least not significantly and we can't even get our inflatable into the water. Sigh! The plan is more likely Thursday to Block Island, Friday an attempt at a long, long day to Port Jefferson, and Saturday to Port Washington if the East River currents don't favour us or Great Kills if they do. Then a reassessment for the net step. All the other boats here are planning for a Thursday AM departure so we will too.
Tomorrow, for sure, we will still be here. At $35/day this is a great deal. Can't complain. Especially with free shuttle. When I tried to tip Karl, the coxswain, he declined! Astounding! He even went to bat for us with the town to get them to keep the launch operating while we were here. There are three Canadian and three US boats waiting out the storm as well and perhaps more over at PIYC and Safe Harbor Marina. We have no idea what their plans are other than to hunker down for a bit although the harbour master says that he thinks that they are all planning the same as us, a Thursday departure. The crew of one of them has even gone home for a while.
We have been in touch with our friends aboard Makaan who are 154 miles ahead of us near Sandy Hook. We are hoping to buddy boat with them if we can catch up but they may choose to not wait and make a wake.
Great Kills sounds awful but it is really just a Dutch description for Great River. We have been in there once before on the recommendation of Bob and Hilde on Ombre Rose and quite liked it. On that visit we even scored a free mooring as the fellow in charge didn't have his receipt book with him and as he said, "Today is your lucky day!"
On another more positive note, we have made contact with the SSB for the first time. Hurrah! I haven't wasted our money. We got on the Cruiseheimer Net this morning and chatted with the web controller who was in Mathews VA.
A little later than usual, we made breakfast for ourselves for a change, we called Carl and the launch out to fetch us ashore with the Ghillie Dhu. We took the opportunity to pick up a few things from the hardware store for our friends and to get a few more things from the Town "Market" just to add something different to our diet.
While were ashore rain was added to the wind so I rather expect that the trip down LI sound will be a damp one. Karl had gone out into the channel to pump out some boats at a different river and he tells me that the waves were over three feet high with a very short period. It only took to look at him to see that he was soaked! Nope. Nope. No moving onward until all that settles down.
Comments