Long Island Sound (again)
Catacaos
Graham Shaw
Thu 30 Sep 2010 20:23
Two weeks since the last blog, and what a lot has happened! From
Gloucester, Massachusets, we headed south to the Cape Cod Canal. This
short-cut has no locks, but does have extreme currents due to the difference
in tide height between one end and the other, meaning that you have to get
the timing just right. Which we did, and as we were making about 11 knots
over the ground we decided to press on to Newport, Rhode Island. We
anchored in our usual spot off the Ida Lewis Yacht Club just before
midnight. Somehow Lucas manages to sleep through the noise of the anchor
going down, despite his cabin being at the front of the boat!
This is our third visit to Newport, and it is one of our favourite stops in
the States, as evdienced by the fact that we spent twelve days there this
time.
Everything is very familiar, and very convenient there: good supermarkets,
good playgrounds, good wifi - all the things which are important to cruising
folk. And then there is the Armchair Sailor - one of the world's best
bookstores, and of course, the Seamen's Church Institute, where you find the
best laundry in the whole country, and a very good breakfast. They are
always very welcoming there, even to heathens like us!
Then it was time for the Newport Boat Show, so we obviously had to stay a
little longer. After going to this show last year, we knew what to expect.
Despite being determined not to spend much money, we hadn't got beyond the
first stand (booth, as they call them here) before we had spent five hundred
dollars! This was for two aluminium (aluminum to our American readers)
folding bicycles, to replace the standard ones which have to live on deck
(because they don't fold), which have now become so rusty as to be
unrideable, not to mention the mess they make on the deck. The new bikes
are so much more suitable than the old ones, as they are easy to stow in the
dinghy when we go ashore, quick to assemble (a few seconds), and seem
perfectly capable of towing the trailer which Lucas sits in alongside the
groceries, etc. I think we've already used them more times than the
previous ones had been used in the last six months. Unfortunately we
haven't taken any pics of them, so that will have to wait for the next blog.
Newport, as ever, has been a very sociable stop. We caught up with old
cruising friends John and Caroline on Discovery Magic(
http://blog.mailasail.com/discoverymagic ) and Andy and Sue on Spruce (
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/littlegreenboat/ ) [sorry guys - by "old",
we obviously mean "long standing"!], and met some new folk - Bert and
Marlena from Hamburg, Germany, on a converted MFV called Heimkehr, and Pete
and Raewyn from Auckland, New Zealand on Saliander. Apart from Spruce we're
all heading in the same direction, so will meet up again further down. Andy
and Sue are shipping Spruce back to Europe, having decided they want a
bigger boat to do some more extensive and longer-term cruising, so are
putting the little green boat up for sale and hope to find a bigger one to
set off in again very soon. If they get their skates on, they may be in the
Pacific at the same time as us next year.
Saturday before last, in a typical burst of spontaniety, Lorraine's Mum,
Bronwen, booked a flight to come and visit us. Two days later we rented a
car and drove to New York to pick her up. We have not had visitors since we
were in the Caribbean, so it is good to have some more company on board -
particularly for Lucas.
Eventually we prised ourselves away from Newport, and set off with a
favourable forecast in the general direction of New York. We entered Long
Island Sound, and spent the first night on a free (yes, really) mooring at
Old Saybrook in Connecticut, then across to Port Jefferson, New York, on
Long Island itself. Next, a short hop to Oyster Bay with the Coastguard
broadcasting wind warnings on the VHF radio, advising boaters to seek
immediate shelter. In the event, there wasn't more than about 25 knots of
wind. Yesterday we motored round to Manhasset Bay in almost no wind, and
anchored off Port Washington. Today, however, is a different story: the
forecast is giving winds gusting to 50 knots, so we have moved further into
Manhasset Bay and re-anchored off Plandome, with lots more chain out. So
far, nothing that severe, but it's supposed to pick up later on. We'll
report details in the next installment.
All being well with the weather, tomorrow we will set off towards New York
City, down the East River and then up the Hudson River to anchor off the
West 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan. We have friends in NY to catch up
with, and then Bron flies back to London from JFK next week, and thereafter
we will carry on southwards down the coast of New Jersey, up the Delaware
River, through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and down to Anapolis,
Maryland, on Chesapeake Bay, where we have the next boat show!
Pictures this time show a VOR70 in Newport, Spruce, Lucas at the Seamen's
Church Institute, us in the dinghy, Lorraine, Bron and Sue and then Lucas,
on board Heimkehr, some very tame geese at Port Washington, Andy and Sue
waving goodbye, and the sign at Old Saybrook indicating free moorings for
transients (that means us) - note to American readers, transient means
something different in UK English!
