June 27th - Port Washington Mooring Fields
George Washington Bridge to Manhasset Bay
6AM, 31 nm, 4 hours
We raise anchor against 3 knot tide and rain but no wind. Zoom down Hudson past Grants Tomb, 79th St Boat Basin, Chelsea Piers. 10 knots at 1200 rpm. Time arrival at Brooklyn bridge to be pushed up the East River at 9 knots. Pass slow tug and barge. Head out past Stepping Stones Lighthouse. Into Manhasset Bay, Get free mooring at Port Washington Take poor doggy ashore after 14 hours without going ashore. She literally leaps and romps when she sees squirrels.
Walked around town, up Main Street. Ate dinner at Finn MacCool. The town is very cruiser friendly. They have mooring balls that are free for two days and two dinghy docks. The town dock is right at the bottom of main street, where there are restaurants, a book store, a deli and a hardware store and nice parks for Abigail's romp. The other dock is to the north and it is brand new and provides access to a grocery store, West Marine, an Ace hardware store, a liquor store and a laundromat.
Needless to say we gave a good workout to the batteries for our Torqeedo electric outboard. We were making four round trips a day. The town dock was a half a mile away; the Port North Pier dock was three quarters of a mile away. We ended up running our generator three to four hours a day, mainly to top off our outboard batteries.
Started working on shower. At Haverstraw, we both took generous showers because we were filling up our water when we refueled. We noticed that the engine bilge and the stringer bilge were heavy with fresh water, which only could have come from our showers. Started working on shower sump. Took it apart. It clearly had been flooding and not pumping. Fiddled with float switch and cleaned it out but it would not stop pumping now unless you aggresively pushed it down. Tried to fiddle it to a better angle, no luck. Went to west marine and replaced float switch and pump with an automatic pump but it would only shut off too late. More bilge flooding. Returned pump and bought an entire new shower sump box with pump and float switch included.
Called it a day and went to La P'tite Framboise for a delightful birthday dinner. We had the Wednesday night special, Cannard a L'Orange. Absolutely delicious.
The next day we finished the installation of the shower sump box. We got some fresh vegetables, walked around town and got some water ice.
Spent a lot of time watching people doing what we called "the mooring dance". There are three mooring balls right behind our mooring ball that are always empty because they do not have any mooring lines. Inevitably, a boat comes in and you can see their joy at being lucky enough that there is a free mooring available. Keep in mind that this in fifteen knot winds at the end of what was surely a long and tiring day. They zoom up and someone, often the wife, tries to reach down for the mooring line. Uh Oh! There is no mooring line. She tries to explain what is going on to someone 40 feet back at the helm, why the boat is not secured. The result . . . sometimes cursing, sometimes bat wings indicating, "Well you try to grab it", sometimes a lost boat pole followed by an extraordinary rescue, sometimes valiant boat-handling and boat pole manipulations that actually end up with a line on the mooring ball. It is all great entertainment for us with a new arrival every fifteen minutes or so.
June 30th - mooring at Seymour's Boat Yard
Port Washington to Northport, NY
7AM, 24 nm, just over three hours.
Mooring field with about 20 $45 moorings. Launch included. Nice town with lots of restaurants with dog-friendly outdoor seating. Nice park for the dog. Very pretty. Brew pub.
July 2nd - Milford Landing Marina
Newport, NY to Milford, CT
8AM, 29 nm, 4 hrs
July 5th - Mystic River Marina
Milford, CT to Mystic River, CT
52 nm, 6AM, 7 hrs
July 6th - Newport Old Town Moorings
Mystic River to Newport, RI
6:30 AM, 37 nm, 7 hours
July 9th - Brewer's Cove Haven Marina
Newport to Barrington, RI
9AM, 18 nm, 2 1/2 hrs
July 12th - Battleship Cove Moorings
Barrington to Falls River, MA
9AM, 16 nm, 2h29m
July 16th - Fort Rachel Marina
Fall River, MA to Mystic, CT
6:30 AM, 53 nm, 7 hr
July 18 - Milford Landing Marina
Mystic, Ct to Milford, CT
6:30 AM, 53 nm, 7h 45m
Run through railroad bridge. Dock at Fort Rachel Marina. Happy hour at Oyster Club Treetop restaurant. Abigail is with us. Beers, clams and oysters. Dinner at Voodoo Grill.
Next morning Jennifer runs and Abigail and I ride the bike. Abigail romps in State Park. Ride bikes 3 miles over hills to Noank. Lunch at Costellos Clam House. Tasty breaded and fried clam strips and oysters. Wash boat. Dinner at Ancient Mariner. Monday night vlues in the park. 16 oz PBRs at John's Irish bar.
Get up early and exit through the Amtrak RR bridge. Four hours of morning fog. Extremely light winds. Stern-to docking. Dinner at Eli's Tavern during restaurant week. Bunker fish still running.
July 19th - Seymour's Mooring Field
Milford, Ct to Northport, NY
8:30 AM, 30 nm, 4 hours
Crossed Long Island Sound
July 20th - Port Washington free moorings
Northport, NY to Port Washington, NY
7:30 AM, 24 nm, 3 1/2 hrs
July 21st - Anchored at Atlantic Highlands Marina
Port Washington, NY to Atlantic Highlands, NJ
8AM, 38 nm, 5 1/4 hours
Dinner with Phil and Penny
July 22nd - Docked at Brewer's Crystal Point Marina
Atlantic Highlands to Point Pleasant, NJ
7:30 AM, 33 nm, 4h15m
Outside, ocean run. No problems. Manasquan inlet the water was a bit out of control. Weekend, crazy boaters: jet skis, speed boats cruisers kayaks drunk boaters. Ate at Harpoon Wilies, a former haunt. Had roasted clams. Road bike to Point Pleasant. Nothing there for the dog. Pretty minimal Brewer's Marina. Pool and boater's lounge coming. Took Lyft to boardwalk: skee ball, pizza, beers at tiki bars.
July 24th - Docked at Morrison's Marina
Point Pleasant, NJ to Beach Haven Nj
6:15AM, 38nm, 5h45m
Inside route, winding, narrow course with most water under 10 feet, some places under 6 feet. Finally, no problem
Tucker's Inn for Shishito peppers and crispy fish Tacos. Tritons craft beer and oyster bar. Rainy.
July 26th - Docked at Kammerman's Marina
Beach Haven, NJ to Atlantic City
9AM, 18 nm, 2h45m
Winding path on the inside route from Beach Haven to Atlantic City. Saw shallow water (<8ft) even though tide was favorable. Went o Back Bay All House on Gardner's Basin. Discussed craft beers and buying boats with locals.
July 26th - Docked at Utsch's Marina
Atlantic City, NJ to Cape May, NJ
7AM, 38 nm, 5 hours
Outside in the ocean. Conditions were fine but lumpy, short waves made it uncomfortable. Very happy to be done with the ocean. Late lunch at CView Inn. Dinner on the boat - chicken in wine with rice and tomatoes and green squash.
Ran and biked in the morning, did some engine room maintenance. Went to the beach - body surfed, saw pod of dolphins, and played SkeeBall.