Sunday, July 31, 2022

We spent an hour or so this morning planning our trip through NY Harbor (scheduled for Monday).  Lynn had some reservations about cutting through the Harlem River to Spuyten Duyvil, so we decided we would go back around the tip of Manhattan, and then head up the Hudson River.

Our destination today was to be Oyster Bay, but we pulled out of Port Jefferson this morning onto a Long Island Sound nearly as smooth as glass.  A glorious day: sunshine, no traffic, and no swells.  Smooth sailing!  Here’s a shot as we approached the Throg’s Neck Bridge, at the mouth of the East River.

Wait a minute!  The East River?  You thought we were going to Oyster Bay, didn’t you?  Well, here’s what happened…

Although we left late, (9AM), we were abeam of Oyster Bay by 10:30, and we realized that we could shave some time off Monday’s trip by going farther today.  So we cancelled Oyster Bay and booked a slip at Liberty Landing, just across the harbor from Manhattan.

As usual, the trip down the East River was fun…with lots of urban scenery.  Now, we are docked at Liberty Landing, with stunning views of Lower Manhattan.

Tomorrow, we start an exciting new phase – heading up the Hudson River!

ttfn

R&L&G

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

A gorgeous trip today: blue skies, calm seas, riding the inbound tide eastward into Long Island Sound.  We ran along Long Island’s north shore, past towering sand cliffs and rocky promontories.

Port Jeff is a HUGE harbor, miles long and miles across, surrounded by undeveloped beaches.  

We are staying at the Port Jefferson Yacht Club.  I’m not sure about the club facilities in general, but the dock crew is pathetic.  Good thing we can handle ourselves.  

Today, we had to walk about 25 minutes to re-provision the boat.  And wash her down from all the salt spray.  There is really quite a lot of work behind this pleasure cruise.

Tonight, we’re dining at Danford’s, the next-door marina.  Next time, I’ll dock there as well.

BTW, we had a response regarding my post about how I repaired the water pump by rapping it with the flashlight.  Phil, a former TWA pilot, and a friend of ours at Hershey’s Mill, wrote to say that “In the airlines industry, this is known as ‘malletizing’”.   LOL

Friday   July 29, 2022

Hi, this is Lynn posting tonight from Sag Harbor.  

As we were finishing dinner on the boat last night (at Pt. Judith), we watched the fog roll in. Visibility dropped to less than 50 feet; we could hardly see the bow of our own boat!  

Point Judith is a major fishing harbor with a very narrow entry channel, and I was concerned how we would get out in the morning. Radar picks up everything, moving and stable, and in a no-wake area it might be hard to tell the difference. And I doubt that many of the small craft even have radar. So I was very concerned about the risk of collision, even at low speed.

Luckily, we woke up to clear skies and sun and flat seas.  Rod said he had never seen a fog lift like that – it usually takes until almost 11:00 to burn off.  This one just evaporated. We left the dock early to catch the tide; after leaving the dock at 6:20, we were out in the sound by 6:40 running with the wind and tide at 19 mph. By 7:00 Rod had us on autopilot and was reading. 

The seas were flat as a lake – so far a perfect day. With one exception. The water pump on board is acting up. The one that provides water for washing and flushing and showering.  The tank is full, and the filters and pump have been checked. Intermittent water yesterday and this morning, nothing. It’s always something.

Anyway, we had a spectacular trip over to Sag Harbor; we arrived so early that we could not get into our slip.  So we took an hour to circumnavigate Shelter Island, a lovely little bit of heaven sequestered between the forks of Long Island.

Sag Harbor itself is a charming little town on the north side of the south fork of Long Island.  Got it?  Surprisingly, like Nantucket, it has a fierce whaling history.  

We had time for a stroll around town, and we got to photograph Billy Joel’s house!  

BONUS!  Rod fixed the water pump by hitting it with a flashlight!

Thursday, July 28, 2022

That’s what it’s called on the charts: Point Judith Harbor of Refuge.  It is an artificial harbor built for protection of the coastal trade.  There are two entry points through the breakwater – one from the east and one from the west.  Once within the harbor, a narrow inlet leads inro Point Judith Sound, a large a vibrant marine community.

Anyway, I bring it up because it seemed like a harbor of refuge for us today.  We left Cuttyhunk bound for Block Island – only a 2-hour trip, and the sea conditions were pretty good.  But the harbor at Block Island was – once again – too crowded.  We had a reservation at a marina, but we could not even see how we could possibly get the boat into the spot they provided.  We cancelled the reservation with the expectation that we could pick up a municipal mooring.  No luck; all full.

This is the second time I have been very disappointed by Block Island.  Thirty years ago, it was idyllic – like Cuttyhunk.  Now it is simply a zoo.  

So we decided to cut and run.  We remembered that one of the young men we entertained the other night was from Point Judith, and he was bragging about it.  We called; got a slip assignment; and sailed from Block to Pt Judith in less than an hour.  We have been congratulating ourselves on our decision all afternoon, as we sat around the pool and did our laundry (not in the pool). 

Lynn is going to cook dinner on board tonight; then tomorrow, run WSW diagonally across Block Island Sound for Sag Harbor, nestled between the North and South Forks of Long Island. 

No photos today.  We’re just happy to be in a great spot.

TTFN

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Today, we are two weeks into our trip, and we find ourselves in Cuttyhunk Harbor.  Cuttyhunk is the last and smallest of the Elizabeth Islands, an archipelago that trails southward from the “triceps” of Cape Cod.  The harbor is an oblong-shaped “pond” surrounded by land on all sides except for a narrow entrance channel.

Like many of the names around here, the word Cuttyhunk is derived from an old Mohegan name: “Cutie-Hunk”, which women used to describe an attractive warrior.  At least that’s what I have been told…

The trip from Nantucket took less than 4 hours in nearly ideal conditions.  Blue sky, high wispy clouds, and seas 1’-2’.  The time seemed to pass quickly.  It presented quite a contrast to our trip TO Nantucket three days ago:  today we had 20-mile visibility; on Sunday, we couldn’t see anything but fog!

Here’s a view of Gay Head which is on the western end of Marthas Vineyard taken from Cutty.

Cuttyhunk is a hilly little island, with fewer than 30 year-round residents.  In the summer, the population grows to 10-times that, and small gray houses climb the hills.  In fact, there is next-to-nothing to do here, except to enjoy a beach walk along the spits of land that surround the harbor, among the rosa rugosa, with the harbor on one side and Buzzard’s Bay on the other.

Sailors like to stop here because of its simplicity.  No restaurants.  No resorts.  No nothin’.  But the harbor is filled with mooring balls that the town manages and maintains.  So, one simply rolls in, picks up a mooring, and hangs out.  A small boat comes around to collect a nominal mooring fee.  Sweet.  Here’s a shot of the fleet arrayed behind us.

The weather is SPECTACULAR today: 80 degrees with a 9mph breeze.  Heavenly.  I just finished a nap, and Lynn is taking her turn now.  As soon as she rallies, we’ll take Guinness ashore in the dinghy for a bio break.  

As we said, there’s not much on Cutty but some enterprising young folks have a delivery service to the moorings callled Raw Bar. You call on VHF and they deliver to the boat.

Shrimp and fresh oysters from the Raw Bar and then hamburgers on the grill (yummy!)  Again, quite a contrast.  Last night’s dinner at Dune cost ten times more than the Raw Bar. But it was worth it!

A spectacular sunset that lasted for over 30 minutes – hope to get up at 3:00 am to see the stars – there are no street lights or stop lights on Cutty.

ttfn
R&L&G

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Very poor internet connection today. We are safe and sound – will try to post today’s fun tomorrow morning.

ttfn

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Well, the dinghy repair seems to have worked.  We gave the adhesive 48 hours to cure, and it looks like we’re OK.  Fingers crossed!

Today we:

• Pumped out the holding tank

• Topped off the cooler with ice

• Had a great visit from three young men who graduated from marine design school together – one was from Swan Creek Maryland, and he recognized our hailing port.

• Did a final load of wash

• Got the dinghy mounted on the stern

• Went to the beach at Siasconset (Sconset), a quaint little town on Nantucket’s Eastern tip.

Tonight, we’ll have dinner at Dune (also the name of one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies)

Nantucket is as far East as we’ll go this trip.  This has been a fascinating stop.  WE learned a lot about the island and its history.  It’s a special place.

Tomorrow, we start to head west back toward NYC.  Our first stop is Cuttyhunk, in the Elizabeth Islands just west of Cape Cod.  

So far, so good

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Hi everyone…

This special post is brought to you by WHALES!

This past Sunday morning, as we were plowing our way from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket, we heard the Coast Guard on the radio, responding to a report that whales were breaching.  As a mariner, you are expected to report all whale sightings to the Coast Guard, but I had never really heard it done.  

We could only hear one half of the conversation: “Affirmative, Captain.  You are reporting whales breaching.  What is your location?”  We couldn’t hear the answer, but I said, “As soon as he responds, there will be 50 boats in the area.”

We thought no more of it.  Spent yesterday in the whaling museum.  Learned how whaling was America’s first global enterprise, with our ships sailing all over the world.  Seeing that amazing whale skeleton.

Then, this morning, we saw a news feed about a whale breaching and landing on a boat in Plymouth Harbor on Sunday morning at 10 AM!  So cool to have actually heard it real time.

We would have been ”blubbering”if it had been our boat.

Heres a link to the video and news story:

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/video-shows-whale-breaching-off-mass-coast-landing-on-boat-it-was-insane/2787896/

Monday, July 25

Hi, it’s Lynn writing today’s post.

Nantucket is an island formed by rocks and sand -1200 feet deep – left behind by glaciers, and it’s history is rich, having been settled in the 1600’s by folks fleeing persecution by the Puritans in Massachusetts. Empowered by Quaker beliefs and philosophy, women played a big part in the development of business and industry – the major industry was whaling.  

Today was a day of sightseeing starting with the Whale Museum. This skeleton is of a young mature whale, only 45 feet long that washed up on shore in the late 90’s. If full grown it could be as long as 70 feet and weigh 90,000 pounds. 

The boat below it would have been cast off from a larger whaling ship to harpoon the whale and bring it alongside the larger ship to collect the whale oil (spermaceti)  that was used in machinery and lamps until the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859. 

This discovery changed the economy of Nantucket as people left, and it wasn’t until the mid 20th century that developers started restoring the island as an upmarket destination spot for the wealthy. Very quaint and picturesque today with many shops and cobblestone streets. 

We visited the Hadwen House, where there was a beautiful display of Nantucket baskets including a demonstration by one of the docents who also makes baskets. He took his time giving us a complete tutorial on making these baskets and all the work involved. Look at the nesting baskets below designed with scrimshaw – each depicting a different theme relating to Nantucket. 

We’ve had some great meals here so far and tonight’s reservation seems promising too…if only we could remember where we’re going!

TTFN

L&R&G

Sunday,July 24

We left Vineyard Haven at 8AM.  We could have relaxed (brekky at the Black Dog, etc.,) but the weather app told us that the wind and waves were going to build as the day went along, so we left early.

The dinghy glue was still curing, so we had to rig a bridle and tow it.  Here’s a great shot Lynn took as it followed us at the end of two 50ft. lines:

One hour into the trip we hit fog.  Visibility maybe 200 feet.  Thank goodness for radar.  Intense but manageable.

And sure enough, the seas started to build as we approached Nantucket.  Lots of spray over the bow.

But despite all that, we made it with no trauma.  We were fueled and docked by 11:00.  Whew.

The Nantucket Boat Basin is unique…Built on three large piers that jut out into the harbor.  The piers are so large that there are restaurants, and shops, and rental cottages up the center of the piers, with slips on either side.

And there are some BIG yachts here!  Many of them tow a boat the size of ours as their tender.

Tonight, we had dinner at a restaurant called The Company of the Cauldron. Very exclusive… No sign out front…just a cauldron.  Sounds like Harry Potter, doesn’t it?  It looks like it too:

The Cauldron is run by Josef Keller, who – with his brother Thomas Keller – turned the French Laundry into America’s finest restaurant.  Price Fixe.  Menu Fixe.  Tonight: Chicken and Waffles!  Great food and great fun!

Tomorrow we explore Nantucket.

TTFN