Long Island Sound to the Chesapeake

Remember Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"?   The Gold Coast described in the book is the north shore of Long Island east from New York City for 30 to 50 miles.  Manhasset Bay, Huntington, and Northport are just a few bays lined with mansions of the rich and famous.  It is impressive, and one of the best, most prolific, boating venues we have witnessed.   Big houses and big boats are the order of the day!!!

A "Summer Place" on Long Island

Each bay has hundreds of mooring balls

We bounced our way from bay to bay as we made our way east from NYC along the New York shoreline, then crossed the Sound to Connecticut.  There we visited small towns such as Branford, Essex, and Noank/Mystic.   It was impressive how much these folks love the water and their boats.  There is a massive amount of sailboats and powerboats in every harbor.   They utilize the mooring balls with with most bays having a mooring field of over a 100 boats.  The city or a marina will utilize a launch in each bay that takes a transient out on a mooring ball into shore.   That is a great service.  

The waters are beautiful, but this time of year you really have to watch the weather.  We spent one very uncomfortable afternoon banging into 3-4 foot waves on the nose.   That is not a fun way to spend your day.  It was also interesting to try to navigate in the thick fog.  We left Noank thinking the morning fog was lifting.   No, we found ourselves in thick dense IFR conditions.   I had the radar on, our AIS transponder, the chartplotter,  and Shelley looking out, but I still felt lost.  It is a very uncomfortable feeling, but I guess you would have to get use to it if you lived here.  We made it back safely to New York City and then on south around New Jersey.   Even though we had just come around New York last month, it is still an impressive journey.  

The United Nations building on the East River

The Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges on the south end of Manhattan with Lady Liberty in the distance

One last drive by as we head south in Rock Chalk

The weather gods smiled upon us as we had two very nice smooth days that allowed us to scoot right down the New Jersey coastline to Cape May.  Getting two consecutive days of low winds, low wave heights, and no strong currents is unusual but we took advantage of it.  First to Manasquan, NJ, then we made a long day of 85 miles to Cape May.  A third day of good weather followed that, so again, off we go.  Shelley and I seldom let any dust gather under our bottoms, thus today we had another long day up Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.   Guess what it does, ....yes it connects the two big bodies of water.   Miracle.    Actually built in 1806, the canal is 14 miles long, about 400 ft. wide, and deep enough for big ocean going ships to transit.  OK, 1806.   Not alot of machinery then.  They dug this thing by hand.  My back hurts thinking about it.  

We have made great progress over these last few weeks, and are early for our deadline in Baltimore on Sept 23.  (Is anyone surprised by that????)  We are  flying home in a few days to visit family and friends, so my next post will be after we get back at the end of September.   Rock Chalk

Marc

New York City--Round 2

It was late August, and we were just starting to see some colors in the trees.  There is mist in the Catskills to the west of the Hudson River valley as we made our way south toward New York City.  The weather was cooperating and we had a very nice trip down the river.  

I had been planning for days to take a different way around the island of Manhattan, as we are headed east out Long Island Sound.  There is a low railroad bridge over the mouth of the Harlem River right at the junction of the Hudson.  All the books tell you that the bridge opens on demand.  The Harlem River runs around the Northeast side of Manhattan and joins the East River at Hell's Gate.   Hell's Gate is known for its very strong currents, so all the advice we had was to hit Hell's Gate at slack tide or with a favorable current.   Knowing that it would take us an hour and a half from the Hudson to the East River, we had to time our departure from our marina 20 miles up the Hudson to hit everything at just the right hour.  And we did.

Just one problem.  As we got to the Harlem River bridge exactly on time, I called the bridge tender on Channel 13 of the VHF, who quickly informed us that they did not have sufficient personnel to open the bridge on demand.  The next opening would not be for 4 hours!!!!   So quickly on to Plan B.   We continued south down the Hudson to the Battery at the bottom of Manhattan, then turn left and go back northeast up the East River and through Hell's Gate.  So off we went.  Luckily the view is spectacular.

The George Washington Bridge looking south down the Hudson

The Freedom Tower is now topped out at 1776 ft.  

The United Nations Building from the East River

The end result was a nice trip around Manhattan and another chance to see this beautiful city from the water.   It took a bit longer, but we were still able to hit Hell's Gate at a favorable time to make our way through its strong currents.  It starts at Roosevelt Island in the middle of the East River, and then shoots you out into Long Island Sound at LaGuardia Airport.  I have flown into New York for years for business, but this was really a special way to see the city and its airports.    

Roosevelt Island splits the East River into two channels.  Texas proud in NYC

Hell's Gate's current shooting us out to Long Island Sound

The next leg of our trip is into Long Island Sound and explore a whole new cruising area.  We hope to spend a couple of weeks off Long Island NY, and the Connecticut shoreline before we need to get south.  I hate deadlines on a boat, but we have to be in Baltimore by Sept. 23.   So we will see how much of this next waterway we can explore.  The navigation will be challenging this time of year, as fog is common.  So we will have to be on our best "game" in navigating our way through the Sound.  Marc

Stepping Stones Lighthouse at the junction of the East River and Long Island Sound

Fog in Mystic, Connecticut.   About 100 yards visibility.   We're not going anywhere