Mattituck was a very peaceful anchorage. We are not entirely used to setting the hook (anchor) and completely trusting that it will hold. So, notwithstanding that it was a completely still night, I rose several times to make sure we had not dragged anchor into the very large, sport fisherman (a big powerboat) docked to our stern. I certainly should not have fretted 'cause when we weighed anchor this morning, it was well hooked into black, smelly mud.

We got underway a bit late, around 7:45, for a longish run to Oyster Bay. Back out the sinuous creek but much more confident on our way out (even though out depth sounder kept beeping telling us we had less than 8 feet of water (our boat needs 5)) - more on running aground in a later blog.

What a spectacular day. By the time we got out into the sound, we were stripping off heavy sweatshirts, taking down some of our bimini (this is not a misspelling of bikini - it's the enclosure around our cockpit) and generally warming up. As we progressed up the Sound we ran into more and more boats of all kinds, including a tug boat towing four huge barges. This guy and I were on what's called a "collision course". There are various ways to figure this but the radar (even though visibility was great) is the easiest. You put a marker on his "blip" on the radar and if the bearing does not change but the range gets closer, you're gonna collide. That what we saw so I called him. In the usual professional terms, he said he saw us and he'd keep to our stern. Sure enough, he took his huge cargo off to our stern and there was no issue.

As we progressed up the Sound, there were more and more boats of all descriptions. We started into Oyster Bay around 2:30 and called a fellow who I had contacted through the internet forum dedicated to boats like ours. I had got invaluable advice from him about the installation of our windlass (remember the powerful motor and winch used to bring up and down our anchor). His boat is in this spectacular harbour and he was around to meet us.

We pull up to the fuel dock, and Ray (the owner of the sistership to Sea Sharp, Excalibur) was there to greet us. As has been our experience to this point with boaters, he was a wonderful guy. We fuelled and watered up and rented a mooring; he came out with us. We exchanged lots of boat stories and he gave us advice for our intended transit tomorrow of Hell Gate and East River. I went with him to visit his boat and he gave me a drive to the grocery store. A very interesting and engaging fellow; we won't forget Ray and Excalibur!

Back to Sea Sharp for a great supper and relaxation. This harbour is interesting; there are two very large sailboats on the dock. One huge (100 feet or more) and the other a large racing vessel. Both are owned by a rich guy, the owner of the Nicks. On the Island coming into the harbour is the home of Billy Joel! But, we don't feel out of place.

On our way in we could clearly see the skyline of Manhattan. Tomorrow should be interesting!!!