On to Long Island

On Saturday, July 26th we began our first side trip off the official Loop trip. We were told Long Island Sound was a neat place to explore and do some sailing and when I (Em) heard it would be cooler and less humid than the Chesapeake Bay area, I was all for it.

We headed north up the East River and made our way through the commercial and Saturday boat traffic. Here’s one of the four waterfalls that are on display in NY until mid-October.

It was very cool to see the famed Brooklyn Bridge from the water.


In this picture you can see the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge and another one of the waterfalls.



We went past the Empire State Building, the United Nations, near La Guardia Airport and under the Queensborough and Triborough Bridges. Next was the notorious Hell Gate. It can be quite treacherous if you don’t time it right to be going with the tide, then the currents can run up to 5 knots. Aided by the current, we were motoring along at 11.5 knots at one point. The underwater terrain is very uneven with depths from 34 to 107 ft.; Mill Rock and two islands in the East River contribute to the turbulence and whirlpools. This old R.R. bridge really WAS a “bridge over troubled water!”

After passing under the Throggs Neck Bridge (love these names), we were in Long Island Sound. The Sound is 90 nautical miles long and 20 miles wide at the widest point. At the western end there is an 8 to 10 ft. tidal exchange but less than 3 feet as you travel east. There were an amazing number of sailboats out on this breezy Saturday afternoon. Usually we feel like we’re outnumbered by powerboats but definitely not in this area.


We came into Manhasset Bay near Port Washington. We were able to hook onto one of the town’s mooring balls which is free the first two nights and $25 thereafter. There isn’t a dinghy dock that you can use for more than 15 minutes so the mode of transportation to shore is the water taxi. There are public restrooms but no shower or laundry facilities.

Kyle and Lizzie drove out on Sunday to take a sail but it was a rainy day so that didn’t happen. We took advantage of having a car and did errands and some grocery shopping. There was a hot and heavy game of UNO before dinner onboard. (I don’t have a shot of Kyle sans cap but you might notice he got a major haircut since we saw him a week earlier).

The next day we ended up anchoring in Oyster Bay. It was a motor day as the winds were calm until mid-afternoon when we were nearly at our destination. This seems to be the pattern around here. This was the sunset from our anchor spot.


This is one of the oyster boats we saw in Oyster Bay (imagine that) and a closer view of the workers harvesting the oysters.


We also spent 3 nights on the Connecticut side but more on that later. All for now from the Free Library in Port Jefferson, NY. (that really is the name of the library!)