Port Washington

Refreshed after a day of idleness, we set out on a short trip from Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Port Washington NY. We would enter New York Harbor and be treated to an East River passage of Manhattan.

Beware of Hells Gate, we were warned. So we planned our passage to arrive there at slack tide. Terrible currents at Hells Gate have been known to cause damage, including total destruction, to boats passing through.

We left Atlantic Highlands on a favorable tide at precisely 8:15 EST  to arrive at the slack tide at Hell Gate at 11:24 (We are still not sure if that was EST or EDT).

Never mind! Getting there on time took second place to the fact that, as we pulled out of the harbor, the salon filled with smoke. It was diesel exhaust, not a boat on fire.

"It's probably just wafting in from the open enclosures," I explained.

"No," said Marion, "its real strong in the galley. I think its from the generator." (The GenSet is right by the galley.)

I could smell smoke in the galley, but none in the engine room, so I decided to just shut down the Generator and open all of the ports and hatches and press on. Things got better so we forgot about the smoke.

The trip was magnificent; we went through the Varrazano Narrows Bridge and there she was.. the Statue of Liberty. Next came the Battery, Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations and Roosevelt Island. All of the time we are "Oohing and AHHing" about the sights.

Remember Dorothy's line from the Wizard of OZ , "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas"?  Well that's what Marion quoted for the occasion.  It was on the mark for the excitement we felt.

After that passage Hells Gate was a piece of cake. We were shortly at Capri Marina in Port Washington.

Once in port I was able to test each engine in turn to see what was causing the exhaust to fill the salon. It turns out that a two inch hole had been burned through the exhaust hose in the area where it passes the Air Conditioning system. It fed exhaust into the air intake. That's why we smelled it in the salon and not in the engine room.

The repair would involve replacement of five feet of exhaust hose and splicing into the twelve or so feet of remaining hose. The Marina has a repair yard and everything needed to tackle the job. The afternoon we arrived, Steve, the boss of the operation, sent Jerry, his parts expert, down to the boat to assess the repairs.

Next morning Chris, the mechanic, came down, measured for the needed parts, and they were ordered. It took longer to get the parts than anyone expected. And once the parts came, we found that the rigid hose could not be made to fit without a 45 degree fiberglass elbow to make the turn. The elbow was found at another supplier and retrieved within two hours. A hard days work by Chris and the job was done.

I got to help, and consult, so naturally I was happy with the job.

Steve, the marina boss, was apologetic about the 3 day delay and cut us some slack on the slip rental. I told him not to worry, "We are on vacation 365 days a year." Thanks to Steve, Jerry and Chris we are underway and breathing fresh air again.

We used the extra time in Port Washington to relax, do chores, see the sights, and enjoy the town.
 

Backyard Barbecue Our first night we went to Jim, Lorrie and Billy Kobetish's home for a backyard barbecue. That's something we have not done in over a year.  Real grass, trees, flowers, a house and patio; these are unfamiliar after so many months at sea. Billy has a bike with wheels the same size as mine.  It has the back wheel axle extenders that you can stand on, and do trick riding. He let me try it out. He also had a "Stomp Rocket" that you shot into the air by stomping on a small Air Bag connected to the Launcher.  Because I outweighed everyone, my shots went the highest.  One of the benefits of personal ballast.

Another wonderful evening we went to Salvatore's Pizza on our bikes. They make their own Mozzarella, so we had the Tomato and Mozzarella appetizer, a carafe of their house red, and a pizza with artichokes, black olives, and sausage. It was magnifico! Same league as the Brick Oven Pizza in Baltimore. Rating **** $$

After dinner we stopped by the park and watched a Little League Baseball  game.  It was a hoot... the young boys are all style and light on performance. The parents cheered them on, but did not get into any of the coaches duties. We cheered for the blue team, because we were seated in their bleachers. Our team won.

North Port

The boat ran well with its new clean bottom and the fancy new exhaust hose.  We went 25 miles east on the sound and got our first experience of using a mooring ball.  Northport Yacht club rents them for $30 a night including launch service to and from their dock. The downside is that you need to run the genset for electricity.

We decided to do dinner in town. The launch was prompt picking us up and the mile walk into town, up and down a long hill, was good exercise. We found the Sea Shanty Restaurant and had a great meal for a very reasonable price. Marion's shrimp stuffed with crab dressing were especially good. Rating *** $$

The shoreline road has many large old homes with backyards going all the way down to the water. The hillside is steep and many of the homes are down the slope enough that the sidewalk along the street places you eye level with the second story bedrooms. The homes were late 1800's vintage.

Port Jefferson

The  trip to Port Jefferson was rough with 20 kts. of wind on our quarter.  When we got into port it was still a puffing and made the mooring tough.

"Port Jeff Launch, Port Jeff Launch, this is Remedy." I called on VHF 68.

Immediately I heard, "Remedy this is Port Jeff.  How can we help?"

"We are a 48 foot power boat looking for a mooring for the next three nights." I explained.

"I see you coming keep going straight for the tower in town," he came back. "I will meet you and lead you in."

Marion went down to the bow  bringing along the telescoping boat hook. I circled the mooring to come up from the leeward side.

Most of the mooring balls have a second float attached to the loop of the mooring line. This float supports a long plastic wand weighted at the bottom so the wand stands upright in the water. The idea is to come up to the wand, grab it and pull the wand and the trailing loop onto the boat, secure the loop and you are done.

The problem we have is that our bow is about 7 feet above the water and the top if the wand is usually about 6 feet above the water.  That's fine for sailboats, most have bows less than five feet.

Marion uses the boat hook to snag the line then pull the whole mess aboard. This time things didn't work out well. She snagged it all right but when she tried to pull it aboard it was too heavy for her handle. Actually the wind was driving us away from the mooring and making the line taught.

"Ed, I can't hold it...  come help," she called.

I left the helm and ran down to help. Too late.  The pull was too much and the handle grip came off the boat hook in her hand and the pole went overboard.

I rushed back to the helm. "Port Jeff launch, this is Remedy... get back here....  we need help," I ordered.

"Coming right back," answered the launch.  He saw the pole still floating and retrieved it. Then as I brought the boat up to the mooring, his crewman hoisted the wand high enough for Marion to grab, and perched high on his fore peak, he attached the loop to the bow cleat.

"Tough mooring in all this wind," he called to us, "You'll be all right now... secure the second loop on your port bow cleat, we are supposed to get a blow this afternoon."

Later in the afternoon we "called for a pickup" and went to town to get oriented, and have an early dinner.
SteamRoom is a high volume self serve seafood place with low prices and plentiful helpings of standard fried and steamed seafood.  It was good enough that we would return the following day.

Billy's birthday.

On our next trip in we took the bikes and the cart so we could shop in town.  Town turned out to be in the highlands above the port. It was a 4 mile trip, the first two of which were up hill. We took on a full load of groceries and headed back down.  The trip was much faster going down but the brakes got a good workout all the way.

Back in port the launch was not operating because the owner was at the doctors.  Some kind cruisers from Connecticut gave us, and the groceries, a lift back to the boat.  The Launch service brought our bikes later.

That evening Jim, Lorrie and Billy joined us for three days of cruising the sound. Billy would celebrate his birthday with us the following day.
 

For the special occasion Marion made a breakfast featuring pancakes decorated with M&Ms to make a Happy face. Next we brought out all the toys.  We did sailboat rides on the Sunfish around the harbor. Billy handled the sheet, while his dad was at the helm.  He quickly caught on to how to make the boat go faster.  Later Jim did his first solo sailing and brought her home without a hitch. Next Billy and I took the Dinghy to the Gas dock and filled up for a ride around the harbor.

Then everyone piled into the dinghy and we went into town and had Lobster for Lunch at the Steamroom. It's a wait on yourself kind of restaurant. Good food and economical ($15 for a 1.25# lobster). ***$$

After lunch, the skies to the North grew dark, and a Big Storm was coming. Jim and I took the dinghy to secure Remedy for the storm, and the ladies and Billy went to the local mall to shop and wait it out. Jim and I got to the boat just as the rain started. We went topside and put down all the curtains  before the first gusts hit us. The rain was coming in sheets, and the wind was up to around 40.

We were about 40 yards from a lee shore and I was apprehensive about the mooring. Would it hold?  I started the engines for good measure and steered straight into the wind. By this time the winds were gusting as high as 60 and we could not see past the bow of Remedy. It was frightening for about 30 minutes... Lightning strikes were all around us, hitting two sail boats, the power plant tower, and several strikes into the water nearby.

The sirens in town were screaming, and emergency vehicles were roaring up the hill. The lights in the mall where the ladies were shopping went out and Billy was frightened. Marion reported that Main street was like a tunnel with debris blowing up the street like you see in hurricane news stories.

After the first wave of the storm was over, the launch service brought the ladies and Billy back to the boat. No sooner were they aboard than it started again. The second wave lasted about 15 minutes but no lightning this time.

Huntington Bay

The next morning we went on an uneventful and very pleasant cruise up the sound to Huntington Bay. Its a lovely well sheltered harbor. We checked in to West Shore Marina, and all went ashore to enjoy the swimming pool. Later we all walked to town and had Pizza Terrible.

Port Imperial

The next morning we headed out for Port Imperial in Weehawken, NJ. The trip would take us along the shores of Long Island where Jim grew up and where Lorrie and Jim dated and had their first apartment near the Throgs Neck bridge and the Triborough Bridge. Jim was an excellent tour guide for this section, and he was seeing many of the sights he pointed out to us for the first time from the water side.

We passed through Hells gate aided by a 4.5 Kt current.  It was swirling water but not dangerous. The ride down the East River was quick even at idle engines. I learned that BMW is the memory jogger for the three bridges Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg.

On the way to Port Imperial we passed the Battery, and circled on down to the Varrazano Bridge to inspect the Aircraft Carrier J.F. Kennedy and pass by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island up close.

At the marina our guests disembarked at the fuel dock and we filled the tanks. It was a short but wonderful visit with Jim, Lorrie and Billy. We had a day or two to settle in and clean up the boat before the next wave of guests would arrive.