September 23rd. Port Washington, NY

We continued on down Long Island Sound yesterday, the hazy NYC skyline off in the distance. As we get closer it’s starting to feel like the Empire State. Planes everywhere (LaGuardia is only a few miles away). We probably saw more boats out yesterday than we did the whole summer.

We went for a long walk around much of the Port Washington waterfront. Had a good bagel and coffee for breakfast. Ollie got some frisbee time in and some doggy socialization. We’re living it up a little. We payed for our first mooring on the trip and have launch service in to town. It really feels like NY around here.

This is Execution Rock lighthouse (just outside of Manhasset Bay). Great name. We’re also not far from Hell Gate so we’ll be traveling from Execution through Hell. You can see New York City off to the left.

Hell Gate and the East River have a lot of current which reverses with the tide. Our stop here was to get ready for that passage as we can’t go against the current. While I planned for that, what I didn’t plan for is THE UNITED NATIONS. I’ve been avoiding the news in general. The UN is in session. The UN building is right on the river. There are all kinds of security restrictions. Many roads and bridges are shut down. The East River is completely shut down on certain days. Other days it’s partially closed. So now I have to plan for the wind, weather, tidal current, and government. We’re going to remain here for a few days and see if we can’t sneak through towards the end of the week. Maybe Mar-a-Lago will be occupied later in the week.

Port Washington

Ollie has been missing his Sunday Funday pals. He tried to drag us into this restaurant.

September 20th Port Jefferson, NY

We spent the day in Port Jefferson for some R and R. I consider myself a New Englander but am a native of New Jersey. I have a confession to make. I prefer Manhattan Clam Chowder over New England Clam Chowder (ducks head when some swamp Yankee throws a Sam Adams at his head). I plan on having several more bowls before I’m out of the tri-state area.

Had an enjoyable day in town. Oliver’s got some frisbee time in. It’s a pretty dog friendly port.

I guess PT Barnham lived here.

September 21st Oyster Bay, NY

We sailed from Port Jefferson to Oyster Bay, NY. Sailing down Long Island Sound we could see NYC off in the distance. Stamford CT was also close by. Long Island in comparison, is very rural with a seemingly unspoiled coast line. Sandy beaches and trees (and mansions). We’re anchored in a secluded cove far from town for the night. Onward to Port Washington tomorrow.

Did I mention, I caught my first fish in about 35 years today?

In my last post I mentioned Niantic. While hauling up the anchor in Block Island, I had a brief conversation with another cruiser (also heading south), they mentioned a nice harbor called North Cove in Old Saybrook, CT. We pulled out the chart and changed plans. It is on the Connecticut river and is relatively easy to navigate into.

The ride across Block Island sound and Long Island sound was a turbulent one. The wind was behind us again. Catalpa was surfing down the backs of waves at 7+ knots. We made great time. Captain and crew were a little tired but North Cove is a beautiful spot to rest.

This forbidding structure is Race rock light house, at the entrance to LI Sound

These 2 lighthouses are at the entrance to Saybrook (The purpose of this blog is Not to document every lighthouse we see!)

Here a couple shots of the happy crew at North Cove.

Today (September 19th) we sailed on to Port Jefferson, Long Island NY. It’s been a pretty long day due to a lack of wind. We anchored in a quiet spot away from town. Tomorrow we plan on staying here for an extra day to rest and explore.

Sailed from Cuttyhunk to Block Island (RI) today. Pretty strong north east winds driving us down into Block Island sound. We’ve been to Block one other time. I’d like to stay here for a few days but I think we’re going to push on tomorrow due to a favorable wind. We were last here in July. Much more room in the harbor today. Ollie had a nice game of catch and a swim at the beach.

Tomorrow we’ll be jumping into “uncharted” territory. We’ll be passing through The Race into Long Island Sound. The rest of the adventure is all new to us as we’ve not been west of Rhode Island (by boat). We should be anchored in the Niantic River (CT) tomorrow night.

All’s well. Catalpa held up well in a little open ocean sailing today with some big following seas. The spare doggy antibiotics have been located and I have a pretty good idea where the lost snap kit might be located.

We passed through the Padanaram bridge at 10am this morning. We decided on a short trip over to Cuttyhunk (one of our favorite places in the world). Catalpa is so loaded with stuff, we just wanted to see how she’d handle. Shakedown cruise. Two hours later and all is well. Anchored in Cuttyhunk harbor. Can’t find the snap kit or Oliver’s spare antibiotics. I’m sure they’ll show up when I least expect it.

We’re both still tired from getting ready. We’ve been preparing the boat for the last 6 months. Probably loading for 2 weeks. Yesterday we spent all day shutting down the house.

Onward to Block Island, RI tomorrow (probably).

Hurricane Dorian has passed by. Hopefully that’s it for giant storms. We have around a week left until departure.

The outboard motor is back in working order. I recently had some riggers (Rigging Solutions) up the mast to fix our main VHF radio. All systems go.

Catalpa is sitting low on her waterline due to all the canned food and other various sundries I loaded in. I know we’ll have access to plenty of grocery stores along the route but we figured it would make life easier.It’s been a lot of work getting ready for this trip. It will be a relief to actually cast off the lines and head out of Padanaram. The temps have been dropping around here in the evening.

To quote Bones from Star Trek, “I’m a doctor not a mechanic.” I am neither a doctor nor a mechanic but I am getting better with the mechanical part.

Our dinghy motor is aging but still running well. I recently noticed oil leaking out of the bottom of the motor case. Upon further inspection, I found the valve cover seemed to be very rusted and was possibly the culprit. The proper way to fix this is to pull the engine and replace the cover. Unfortunately 2 of the 4 bolts that hold the engine in are rusted beyond recognition and I can’t get the engine out. Eventually I was able to cut some of the plastic case away and remove the cover. A new one is on order. Hopefully I can get this thing working again. The alternative is a new outboard motor which is not in the current “budget plan”.

September 15th is our supposed departure date. So much to do. Tough to leave home for many months when you’ve been there for most of the last 20 years.

To get ready for the trip I’ve been reading about WWII submarines. Haven’t figured out how to fit torpedoes in Catalpa yet. Doesn’t stop me from telling Ollie, “flood tubes 1 and 3, fire on my mark,” or “CRASH DIVE!!”.

Run Silent Run Deep (middle book) is probably one of the best naval books I’ve read.

So I haven’t updated this blog in a few years. I actually got to the point that I could not remember how to do it. Since we have a big trip coming up, I thought it might be a good idea to get this thing working again so my family can keep an eye on us and I have a place to deposit some pictures. My goal here was to take a picture with my tablet and upload it with the WordPress app.

We took a three week trip this summer. We had a great time but we mostly motored from port to port as there wasn’t much wind (not counting thunder storms and water spouts). Last Sunday had a nice SW breeze so we decided to sail out to Cuttyhunk. A great sail out there and back. Coming home we had some rain but the wind was off the beam and we surfed home at max speed. Lots of fun.

There were a few schooners around and this one was tied up near where we were anchored.