East River to Sassafrass River

This tanker (with a tow pushing it) passed us under the Brooklyn Bridge. Tows normally push barges until they go offshore, where they pull them with very long cables.


Lots of helicopters in and out of Manhattan. Mostly sight seeing tours.

After passing under the Brooklyn Bridge, we made a left and shot through the Buttermilk Channel, passed the large ship anchorage, went under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, through NY Harbor and on to Atlantic Highlands.

We did get a good view of Lady Liberty, and were pleased to verify that The Kinder and Gentler One has not yet placed a burka over her face. We can only hope he doesn't stone her for not wearing one.

We made it to Atlantic Highlands by mid afternoon. For all the bad rap New Jersey gets, this area is quite beautiful.

After some long beautiful walks, getting some chores done, sitting through some bad weather and monitoring the forecast closely, we decided on a 3:00 am departure for the 9th of September. Our destination would be Atlantic City, then a day hop to Cape May, then either Reedy Island or somewhere in the Chesapeake.

When we got up to leave at three, the winds were still blowing in the mid to upper 20s, so we rolled over and went back to sleep. If we are out there in those winds it's no big deal (so long as it's not on the nose), but we tend not to leave in those conditions.

We ended up leaving on the following day a little after 10:00 am. By this time we had changed plans with the intent of doing an overnighter with the options of stopping at Cape Henlopen (in Delaware at the mouth of the Delaware Bay), Reedy Island, or continuing through the C&D Canal and on to the Sassafras River which is off the Chesapeake.

The forecast was for 15 to 20 knot winds aft of our beam, which was just about perfect. The departure time was predicated on arriving at Delaware Bay right at the start of a flood tide. We ended up getting there a bit late because the winds were a lot lighter than the forecast. It was still pretty good sailing, but not as fast as anticipated.

It was a beautiful night with some wonderful sailing. The only nagging issue was the knowledge we would arrive at Delaware Bay a bit late in the tide cycle.

The bay was very rough with wind against tide for the first couple of hours. We should have ducked in at Cape Henlopen, but after 2 hours of bashing I was too stubborn to turn around and lose that hard earned ground. OK, water. Then, like magic, things smoothed out and we made great time with perfect weather.


Another shot of the cooler at the nuke plant. On 9/11 no less.

We still had the current with us so we passed Reedy Island, went through the canal, and were anchored about 3 miles up the Sassafras River by late afternoon.

The following day was foggy and drizzly, so we decided to stay put, rest up, and do odds and ends.


This trawler showed up on our second day in the anchorage. They were in Atlantic Highlands when we left.


Amel sailboat at anchor.

Georgetown is a few miles up the Sassafras, and we want to check it out at some point, but that would have to wait.

Among other things, we desperately needed to get our chain regalvanized, so it was off to West Annapolis.

Shortly after going under the Bay Bridge the shackle for the outhaul on the main blew out sending the shackle and the rubber doughnut to the bottom of the bay. When it happened there was a Cabo Rico, also under full sail, about 8 feet off our starboard side. We'll never know if the shackle broke, or if the pin got loose and came out.

After getting settled in, we rented a car, loaded it with 300 feet of chain and a 55 pound anchor, then drove 120 miles to Ashland, Virginia where we dropped off our goods. We really hope we get it back. There is a minimum weight requirement to have this done which is why we included the anchor.

They acid wash the chain first, then dip it in the magic stuff, then either turn it in a drum or put it in a shaker of some sort so that the links don't weld themselves together.

We have Acco High Test chain which is supposed to use the preferred method of galvanizing, but we did not expect to have to redo it this soon. I actually think the galvanizing had mostly disappeared shortly after we arrived in the Chesapeake last year (less than a year old), but it didn't start rusting until this year. Hopefully this time around it will last a lot longer since you're not supposed to regalvanize high test more than once or twice--plus it's expensive.

Oyster Bay to East River

Upon leaving Oyster Bay, we decided to bypass Port Washington and head straight to Atlantic Highlands.

We arrived at the East River right on time to take advantage of the ebb tide. The East River has an amusement park feel to it as the boat shoots through at speeds it's not accustomed to.


Land Ho. Who you callin...


United Nations buildings where we give them lots of money to destroy us.


Gotta be New York City.


More New York City.


One more shot. This has the UN buildings in it.

Narragansett Bay to Oyster Bay

After 3 days of very strong winds and rain, we made a quick return trip to Wickford for cheaper groceries(very close), then back to Jamestown to do laundry before heading to Long Island Sound.

Further south, the hurricanes were line dancing. Earl was in the lead, getting a bit frisky with the East Coast, while Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard had big "hit me" signs on them.


This mama and her babies are adorable. But everything they eat comes back out in semi liquid form--likely on your boat. Only newbie boaters feed water fowl.

We weighed anchor early Saturday morning and headed to the Fish Tail on the eastern end of Long Island, NY. Had it not been for the approaching hurricanes, we would have waited for wind. Although the wind only appeared long enough for 30 minutes of sailing, it was a gorgeous day with perfect temps. The good part of no wind was smooth seas.

We left our anchorage at Long Beach early the following morning and headed for Port Jefferson--also on Long Island. The winds were forecast to be on our nose, but light at 5 to 10 knots. So we shot through Plum Gut and entered Long Island Sound with true wind in the upper teens. This made the apparent wind (wind over the boat) in the 20s.

Early on, we tacked back and forth across the sound which added quite a few miles to the day. We ended up motoring the last bit on a rhumb line to ensure we made it in before dark--although it's an easy port to enter at night. We were just tired and used the dark thing as an excuse. The wind against the tide made most of the day lean toward the miserable side of the scale.

Our plan was to spend a couple of days in Port Jefferson before seeking the shelter of Oyster Bay. Our first day we spent exploring the town of Setauket. This is where we learned to tell the difference between a male and a female crab from a local expert.


House in Setauket.

We met an older local couple at the dinghy dock, where the man was netting crabs that got too close to the dock for their own good. Harvesting females was not allowed at the time, so when the lady asked how you know, the man had the obvious answer. If it's screaming when you pull it out of the water, it's a girl. Men always have an answer. Just ask us.

We had planned on one more day in the harbor so that we could peruse the town of Port Jefferson, but Earl was making better progress than anticipated, and being the nervous type, we headed for Oyster Bay the following morning.

Weatherman, Chris Parker, was predicting (if the hurricane came close) that instead of a surge, the bays on the sound would have water sucked out lowering the depth somewhat. So we made sure we anchored in water that was deep enough to compensate for a bit of a drop.

We secured everything we could but left the solar panels, bimini, dodger etc. on until we were sure we would get hit. Lisa had all our important papers ready to put in a ditch bag--we would have left the boat to fend for herself had Earl decided to confound the experts by hanging a left instead of a right. We seemed to be the only ones in the area that were a bit anxious.

God was watching over us as Earl weakened and stayed on his proper track. We got no wind from Earl, but once he passed a cold front brought us a couple of days of sustained winds in the mid 20s with higher gusts. Thirty knot winds sound sweet when you've had hurricane winds on your mind for a week or so.


Clouds from the front that passed a day or so after the hurricane fizzled.