Poughkeepsie Yacht Club - At our dock

The Poughkeepsie Yacht Club is in a beautiful setting, I think

When the weather is calm the anchorage off Hook Mountain is fine and last night was one of those calm nights, it was still as a lake. Hoolie relief is a short ride to the beach where we try to avoid other dogs at play - Hoolie loves to play to the exclusion of what he's supposed to be doing while on shore!

We had the tide with us going up the river so we were able to cruise at 9 kts but the day was hot. Coming into our slip with 1.5 kts of current behind us was exciting but we made it okay. A trip to the local diner with friends completed the day and we sure enjoyed the sunset on the way back.

This summer's cruise didn't go as well as we had hoped given the genset repairs, having to replace the outboard motor and more work to be done on the freezer but we ought to now be ready for our second cruise down the ICW in September.

 
This ends my blog for the summer. Be sure to join us again on 9/15 - pending the status of hurricanes it might be a few days earlier or later.

Hook Mt - At anchor

Hell Gate - Still there!

We came through Hell Gate with very little traffic, a smooth ride right just before a favorable tide so when we cleared the end of Manhattan, the tide was actually in our favor for several hours. With the heat, we opted for Hook Mt which is open to the breezes (as long they are not too strong).

The wind was predicted to be out of the northwest but when we arrived at Hook Mt it was out of the northeast, not a good direction since it blew directly into the anchorage. However, we had faith in the weatherman (Ha!) that the breezes for the night would moderate and be out of the northwest as predicted... We'll see.

The Freedom Tower is now the tallest building at the end of Manhattan

Meanwhile, we still plan on being back to PYC on Sunday afternoon and will go out for dinner that night at the Eveready Diner to give the cook a break. Off-load time is Monday morning and we start preparing for our one week at Ocean City, NJ with the kids in August. Don't forget to come to our 8/27 (a Saturday night) get together at PYC starting 6:00 pm (bring a small hors d'oeuvre, we'll bring the rest) for a presentation on our trip down the ICW last year.

Manhasset - At a free mooring

Fishing from the town pier

There are 10 free moorings sponsored by the Town of West Hampton, bright yellow in color. We arrived around 5:00 pm in a round about way. In the morning it was raining hard at Port Jefferson so we lazed around waiting for the rain to quit but it took two hours off our start. Then, looking at the clouds on the way to Manhasset, we decided to duck into Northport and drop the hook.

After lunch, thing seemed to brighten up so we pulled anchored and started out once again towards Manhasset. Once safely at one of the free moorings, we quickly got Hoolie ashore at the West Hampton town dock (also free) for his relief and just as we returned to the boat, the heavens opened up and it poured for a couple of hours.

Like many of the towns in the area, West Hampton has town docks where they allow fishing from their pier, it's a nice area, well kept and there are shops in the area for ice and deli sandwiches (up the hill about 1000 ft).  There's no grocery store nearby but the deli has snacks and bread. Many of the yacht clubs are experiencing financial problems and one closed recently (Knickerbocker YC).

 
Our plans are to overnight in Haverstraw Bay on Saturday and arrive at PYC on Sunday afternoon unless the weather has other plans.

Port Jefferson - At anchor

Hey, there's a 5 mph speed limit here!

As it turned out, our freezer wasn't fixed after all. The technician did a recharge but it was no better than before. What's required is a pump down overnight to get rid of all residual moisture and anything else preventing good operation. We'll have that done after we return to PYC and then leave it running for several weeks to be sure it's okay before out trip south in September. Currently it's holding at only 29 F.

We were able to sail over part way to Port Jefferson but the wind was only 6 kts so we motored most of the way. There are twelve boats in the anchorage (to starboard after passing through the inlet) which is not crowded at that number, lots of room. Hoolie relief is nearby so it's a perfect anchorage for us.

Always a nice sunset at PJ

Coming through the inlet, we were chased down by the ferry. There's supposed to be a 5 mph speed limit that applies to ferries too - but he ignored the speed limit as he passed us to port - he's rather large! We got out of his way...

Branford Day 2 - Matthew and family arrive for a day in the pool

Not much to look at from the outside - but great fried seafood!

Bruce and Johnson's Brewers Marina has a wonderful pool so whenever we're there we try to have Matthew and family come down for a visit. Matthew continues to grow but he's still shorter than me! (so far)

We had our freezer repairman drop by today, Jerry Staunton of Thermal Dynamics, and he recharged the freezer, it had lost some refrigerant over the past four years. We'll monitor the temperatures over the next few days. Today was for a quick recharge, if that doesn't do the trick, then a longer vacuum pump down will be needed (overnight) but that can wait until we're back at PYC. The freezer is the last of the to dos to get ready for our trip down the ICW in September.

 
We got our Lenny's fix tonight, none better for fried seafood! On Wednesday we're headed for Port Jefferson and hopefully a sail but you never know - lots of wind today but today we're weren't sailing!

Branford - At a dock

What is that structure at the right - Long Island Sound Stonehenge? (North Dumpling Island)

We had all of 5 kts of wind today but at least the seas were calm so we motored all the way from Stonington. Of all the time we've been on the Sound this summer, we've sailed all of one day! Of course part of the reason was the time getting our genset repaired but still, one day? It's a good thing that Fleetwing motors so well.

A couple of years ago, there were two fuel stations on the Branford river. The one operated by the yacht club lost its license to sell to the general public. The other one went out of business but was later taken over by Bruce and Johnson's Brewers Marina - for which we were grateful at the time - otherwise there would have been no fuel available at all. As it turned out, the yacht club got it's license back and now sells fuel for about $0.40/gal less than the Bruce and Johnson's fuel dock about 100 yards away. Needless to say, the higher priced dock is devoid of customers! Naturally we took advantage of the yacht club prices although it's still not cheap at $4.48/gal!

It was a good weather day until around 5:30 or so when a front came through, disrupting our plans for a dinner at Lenny's! Oh well, we've made good use of flash frozen fish fillets which we use for fish sandwiches, pretty good actually. Wednesday is family day with Matthew and family, then it's off to Port Jefferson on Thursday.

Stonington - At anchor

This guy was headed straight for us! (he missed...)

We didn't have far to go for Stonington from Block Island so we had a lazy morning with a full breakfast. We finally got off around 10:00 or so (being retired is fun!) and headed west. Naturally there was no wind so motoring was the order of the day. We prefer to take Lord's Passage into Fishers Island Sound  instead of the more common Watch Hill Passage since the former is much smoother and has less traffic.

Once again we dropped the hook in the designated anchorage area and aimed for western  extremity of the anchorage, furthest away from the entrance where swells come in. We still rock some but much less so than out by the green buoy where we used to anchor.

Being in Stonington, we took advantage of the wholesale fish market downtown and bought flash frozen sea scallops which were caught locally, excellent dinner! In Stonington, we never miss the fish market!

All the storms seemed to have either passed north or passed south, everything missed us - of course by me saying this, I've guaranteed a dead center hit tonight! Oh well, what comes, will come. We're aiming for Branford on Tuesday for two days. We need to have the freezer recharged for our trip south, there's always something. Meanwhile, the genset is running fine.