Preparing for the big day

Preparing for the big day   …   Tuesday 2nd October 2012

Today was all about getting into a good position to make the passage through the East River and across New York city tomorrow, so we planned to spend the evening in Port Washington (Manhasset Bay). After a quiet night in Port Jefferson, we pulled up anchor and were under way before 8am. The day was somewhat overcast with very little wind and flat seas. We left the harbor and motored westwards at about 6 knots, picking up an extra 0.5 - 1.0 knot from current in the first few hours. As the morning progressed the sky darkened and by noon we were back in our foul weather gear in the rain. Although you could see both Long Island and Connecticut shores it wasn't a very scenic sail because it was so misty. However, the odd barge added excitement, and as we started to get close to New York it was fun to try and pick out some of the well known towns - Stamford, Greenwich, New Rochelle. We also saw many areas where the sea was dark with schooling fish, their fins clearly visible above the surface. It seems strange to us that the most fish activity that we have seen should be so close the such an urban area. We assume that the bluefish must be running. Our journey was punctuated by a text message from Tasha … "Eggs Benedict with hollandaise sauce in the dining halls! Pomona really is the place for me". It's hard to argue with that - Is she our daughter or what! Although it was raining pretty hard by the time we turned into Manhasset Bay, we could still see the amazing homes of the wealthy that cover the  the shoreline. We anchored at about 1.30 pm having covered the 35 nautical miles from Port Jefferson in 5.5 hours. We are now about 6 miles (1 hour) from Throgs Neck bridge. We need to be there just before noon tomorrow to catch the tide through the East River. I for one am very excited by the prospect - just hope the weather / visibility are good.

Mike

"Freedom Trail" - registered in Boston - seen here off Matinecock Point. 

The light on Execution Rock - a key landmark at the wet end of Long Island Sound

Mike