Back to the Block

Back to the Block

Saturday 31st May to Sunday 1st June

After we arrived at Sag Harbor it blew like stink. We have had so little wind since Rod arrived in Portsmouth it seemed strange to suddenly be bombarded with 20+ knot winds. We felt completely secure aboard Cotinga, with plenty of swinging room and 100 feet of chain out. However, the harbor was so choppy that none of really felt like launching the dinghy and heading into town. It would have been a very wet dinghy ride. So on Saturday we spent the whole day hanging out in the boat, reading books and eating!

We expected the winds and seas to subside on Sunday and envisaged a leisurely downwind sail with ~ 15 knots of westerly winds. Positive tidal currents would either be early in the morning or from mid afternoon onwards, and when conditions didn’t improve as early as we hoped, we decided to split the journey in two. In the morning we would follow a winding route through relatively sheltered waters around the south side of Gardiner Island and then anchor on the east shore for a few hours. We could then complete the remaining 23 miles direct to Block Island later in the afternoon. 

We raised the full main sail and pulled up the anchor (with some difficulty) at around 8am and headed out of Sag Harbor. It turned out to be a wild ride. The winds were still consistently in the low 20s, with gusts up to 32 knots! The navigation through narrow channels and shallow water was tricky and required some exciting gybes. As we turned north, before tucking into the lee of Gardiner Island, we had a lot of spray flying over the deck and cockpit. Once anchored, we were well protected from the waves but still experiencing the gusty winds. We cooked lunch and postponed any decision to go or stay until later in the afternoon. 

By 3 pm it was clear that conditions were improving and we once again set sail with the full main. In contrast to earlier in the day, this turned out to be a leisurely passage. During our lunch stop we had moved the dinghy from the davits to the foredeck in anticipation of rough seas. However, although somewhat rolly, the waves were better than we expected.  Ironically, as we approached Block Island, the winds became so light that we fired up the engine and motor sailed the remaining 6 miles. Once inside the Great Salt Pond we dropped the main sail and picked up a mooring. There have been several occasions when we have arrived at Block Island and there hasn’t been a single mooring available. Today we counted just two other boats on rental moorings! We had Cotinga squared away by 8pm in time for a pretty sunset. We cooked up Pasta al Ametriciani (sp?) and had a cosy night on board.

It’s great to be back at Block Island. It has become something of a tradition for us to stop here at the end of our years afloat. Today we will go ashore and enjoy walking around and tomorrow we plan to complete the final leg of our journey back to East Greenwich.

Mike

41 11.022 N, 71 34.628 W

Powerboat moored at Sag Harbor

Ditto

Sailing to Block Island - 6 x multiple exposure taken with a wide angle lens on a tripod, in an attempt to illustrate the roll. You can get out your protractor and measure the angle!

Late afternoon sun in Block Island Sound

For anyone who knows Block Island, this is a shocking sight ... hardly any boats in the anchorage!

The last of the sunset ... it was still quite cold outside!

Port Jefferson and Sag Harbor

Port Jefferson and Sag Harbor

Thursday 29th and Friday 30th May, 2025

On Thursday morning, a fine mist was blowing across the harbor.  The chill from the previous night was still present.  This didn’t deter us from going to shore to buy some bread.  However,  the wind and waves were enough to make it a damp dinghy ride, especially on the way back.  We thought we would spend another night in Oyster Bay … but after lunch, having consulted the weather forecast, we changed our minds and decided to go back to plan A and move on to Port Jefferson that afternoon.  

The trip northeast up Long Island sound was characterized by about 5 knots of wind coming from north of east (of course).  Strange steep waves were encountered early on, perhaps a consequence of the stronger winds earlier in the morning and an opposing tide. Thankfully, these gave way over time.  We managed to get into the harbor without fighting with the ferry.  We anchored fairly close to the entrance and found only one other vessel anchored in this area.  Adjacent to our anchorage was a huge mooring field with not a single vessel present!  Admittedly, the weather has been cool but to find no boats seemed strange.  We passed a quiet night and most of the morning in this lovely area. We left the harbor with the large ferry in hot pursuit!

To minimize the hours of adverse current, we timed our departure for 10 am.  The trip to Plum Gut was estimated to take seven hours.  By the time we got there, the current would have changed direction and speed our transit through the Gut.  Initially, there was some wind and we sailed for about an hour, but the decline in wind strength finally led us to revert to motoring. Later, the winds picked up a little and with some positive current we were able to sail for another hour. By the time we approached Plum Gut the sails and current were pushing Cotinga along at about 9 knots.  This was not fast enough to outpace the ferry and we were forced to alter course to get out of its path. The ‘rules of the road’ are quite clear and sail has priority over power. Our responsibility is to hold steady and they are required to change course, but some boat captains seem to like to play chicken, so we thought it wise to get out of the way.

Once through the Gut, we turned more south toward Sag Harbor and into the direction of the wind.   Ten knots of true breeze was suddenly more like 15 knots apparent wind, making for a chilly passage.  It already seemed like quite a long day but the presence of pot floats meant we had to keep a sharp lookout for the last 1.5 hours.  Entering the bay we wound our way through islands and shoals to the “anchorage”.  We found a mooring field that was quite widely spaced and slotted Cotinga between some moored boats.  Knowing that the weather was going to become somewhat fierce, we let out plenty of chain and backed hard on the anchor.  We plan to ride out the strong westerlies that are forecast for Saturday in Sag Harbor. If conditions allow, we plan to visit the town.  If not we will hang out on board and get bored! 

Gloria

41 00.524 N, 72 16.867 W

The 'Dainty Dog' high and dry at the dinghy dock Oyster Bay (see previous blog entry)

Rod bursts into giggles after realizing that he is being photographed whilst taking photos himself

Overcast and little wind on route to Port Jefferson

overcast but low sunny lighting up the seas

Ripples on the water

I took this photograph of a pansy in Atlantic Highlands and wanted to post it, but had so many shots from the passage through the east river that it got dropped out.

Transit of the East River

Transit of the East River

Tuesday 28th to Wednesday 29th May, 2025

A passage up the East River of New York City is a memorable experience. If you time it right it can be a blast … if you don’t, I imagine it could be a miserable experience. When we arrived in Atlantic Highlands around 4.30 am on Tuesday, we saw another boat pulling up anchor, presumably to make the journey up to Long Island Sound. For us, departing on Wednesday morning, we figured we need to be up and on the move by 5 am.

After a few hours sleep on Tuesday morning we spent some time cleaning and tidying the boat (and ourselves!) before taking the dinghy into town. We wandered around, had a good lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, seated out in their garden, and did a little food shopping. Back on the boat we rested, ate a light dinner and had an early night as we were all still tired from the passage up from Norfolk. Getting up at 4.30 am the following morning seemed way too early, but we did have the anchor up by 5am and were motoring north across the Bay towards New York City. 

The sunrise was colorful, but unfortunately a layer of low cloud made the rest of the day grey and uninspiring. The light was flat and poor for photography. Rod was at the helm as we passed under the huge Verrazano Narrows bridge and made our way towards the Battery. New York is a very busy harbor and he had to dodge countless tug-barge combos as well as ferries. At one point we had Staten Island ferries approaching us from in front of us and behind, as well as another smaller fast ferry on our side. I think it was a stressful experience for Rod! However, our timing was perfect and we arrived at the Battery just in time to catch a positive current northwards through the East River. We moved briskly past lower Manhattan, the United Nations building and under the Brooklyn Bridge. We saw the damaged Mexican tall ship Cuauhtemoc tied up just north of the bridge - such a tragedy that it crashed under the bridge. As we passed Roosevelt Island things started to get really exciting! We encountered a large tug-barge, thankfully before the Hells Gate S-bend, and our speed surged. The water was swirling all around us and we set a speed record for Cotinga recording 13.5 knots over the ground. Given that we were probably motoring at 6.5 knots it means we had up to 7 knots of positive current. Needless to say our passage through the East River was fast.

Once under Throgs Neck Bridge we turned north into Long Island Sound and motored through glassy waters up to Oyster Bay. The shore line in this area has some of the most incredible stately homes that you can imagine. We dropped anchor off the town, just as it started to rain. In the mid afternoon Rod and I took the dinghy ashore and wandered around whilst Gloria rested on board. Oyster Bay is a pleasant, well-to-do place; a wealthy rail commuter town for New York City. It seems more up-market than Atlantic Highlands, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to us. It also has 8 foot tides and when we returned to the dinghy we found it half out of the water, rocking on the base of the outboard motor and keel … not great planning on our part, but no damage done.

p.s In the evening it felt so cold and damp that we ran the heating system (Espar diesel forced hot air) for the first time since leaving Morehead City in November 2023 !

Mike

40 52.884 N, 73 32.364 W

Tremendous cloud lighting at sunrise ... leaving Atlantic Highlands

Manhattan from across the bay, with the Verrazano Narrows bridge visible on the left

Lower Manhattan with numerous barges in the foreground

A tugboat in a hurry (to get to breakfast?)

Lower Manhattan

I love seeing all the buildings, but the light was poor for photography

The Brooklyn bridge with Manhattan behind and the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtemoc tied up on the north side of the bridge

A horrifying sight ... the ship was swept backwards into the bridge at night shortly after the ceremonial departure. There were more than 200 people on board, with sailors up the masts. At this point it's not public knowledge what went wrong, but two people died and many others were injured. A terrible tragedy that strikes fear into the heart of any boat captain.

Swirling waters in Hell's Gate. We saw sustained speeds of > 12 knots and hit a peak of 13.5 knots!

Dead calm waters as we start making our way out of the East River and up Long Island Sound

Steppingstone Lighthouse, north of Throgs Neck Bridge

Flat seas in Long Island Sound

Passage to New York

Passage to New York

Friday 23rd - Tuesday 26th May

No trip to Portsmouth is complete without a visit to the Biergarten restaurant. On Friday we met up with Charlotte and Klaus, who we hadn’t seen for a number of years, and had an excellent lunch. It was wonderful to see them again. Afterwards we made a start on re-provisioning and preparing the boat for Rod’s arrival on Saturday evening. We decided to stay on anchor at Hospital Point on Friday night and then moved on to a dock at Ocean Yacht Marina on Sunday morning to make life easy. It was here that the 2017 Caribbean 1500 rally started and I spent a couple of weeks at the marina prior to the big passage to Tortola, and we have subsequently stopped here on several occasions. It turned out to be a little less peaceful than we anticipated as their was a live concert taking place in the outdoor auditorium next door. I don’t know which bands was playing in the afternoon but it was loud! Rod arrived around 8.30 pm as ‘Cool and the Gang’ were just getting started.

Other than a brief patch of northerly winds, the weather forecast for a sail up to New York looked promising. To be more precise it predicted there would be so little wind that we would motor the entire way and this turned out to be correct. We left the dock at 9am on Sunday and with the benefit of an ebbing tide, headed down the Elizabeth River and out to the Chesapeake Bay entrance. This area has an astonishing military presence with naval shipyards lining the shore. In total, we counted 5 aircraft carriers within a 2 mile radius of the city. At least 3 of these are in for repairs / major overhauls, whilst the other 2 look like they might simply be in transition. Having dodged a few tugs towing barges, and passed over the Chesapeake Bay tunnel, (it’s weird to think you are sailing over a motorway), we headed north up the DelMarVa peninsula. The seas were a little choppy at first, but settled down after a couple of hours, and the winds were light. Whilst it was bright and sunny, it felt increasingly cold as the day progressed. We all ended up wearing our foul weather gear for the entire trip. At night Gloria and I both ended up wrapping a sleeping bag around us while we were out on watch. Rod apparently is made of tougher stuff! We did a 2 hour ‘on’ / 4 hours ‘off’ schedule from 7pm to 7am and that worked out well. 

From early on in the passage we picked up a ‘boat-load’ of flies. These looked like house-flies, but would bite if you gave them a chance, and there were literally dozens of them. Rod named himself “Lord of the Flies” and went about swatting them with great gusto. Thankfully, with so many clothes on we didn’t get bitten too much, but they certainly were annoying. 

We ate well, as ever. For dinners we had Bouillabaisse on Sunday and ready-made (Kevin’s) coconut chicken and rice on Monday. We had sandwiches for lunch and bagels and eggs for breakfast on Monday, with plenty of fruit and biscuits / cookies for snacks. We drank copious amounts of coffee to help us keep awake through our watches. 

About half way through the trip, whilst off the delightful (not) Delaware Bay entrance, the forecast northerly winds did pipe up to 8-12 knots and we spent a few hours pushing through the resulting chop. Other than that, the seas were about as flat as you can imagine. We rounded the tip of Sandy Hook at ~3.30 am on Tuesday morning and were anchored off Atlantic Highlands an hour later. You could already see the skies to the east were starting to brighten with pre-dawn light. We covered about 260 nautical miles in a little over 40 hours. We all hit he sack to try to get some sleep.

Mike

40 25.014 N, 74 01.201 W

A collage of murals that we came across on "Wall Street' on the outskirts of Portsmouth

Late afternoon clouds off the DelMaVa peninsula

Strange clouds backlit by the sun

Sunrise off the Delaware Bay entrance

Ditto

Rod in the early morning sunshine

Once we passed under this elongated cloud formation the winds veered from north to east

Sunset off New Jersey

A triple exposure (in camera) of the sunset off New Jersey ... and an inverted version of the same image

Gloria sheltering behind the dodger

Mike - A self portrait on Sunday morning (iPhone)

Early morning light from our anchorage in Atlantic Highlands, before going to bed

Albemarle Sound to Portsmouth, VA

Albemarle Sound to Portsmouth, VA

Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd May, 2025

Unlike the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, the Albemarle Sound provides plenty of excitement.  From my perspective, the crossing of the sound was a tad too exciting.  The winds were consistently over 20 knots, most often around 25 knots with some higher gusts.  It might have been a wind over tide situation or it could have just been the wind, either way the seas were steep and short.  We were motoring fairly tight too the wind but put out the genoa for more speed.  The knots meter was often showing more than 8 knots through the water.  I can’t say what we were doing according to the GPS as I was sitting tucked up near the dodger and not moving.  Many a wave splashed up into the cockpit.  The result was that Mike looked like a guy who had walked through a car wash while it was running.  I believe it was only 12 nautical miles but it seemed to go on forever.  Once we had finally crossed the sound we had a more reasonable motor up the ICW to Coinjock, NC.  The weather did continue to be blustery and cloudy until we approached the marina.  Just as we were rearranging our lines and fenders set up for a port-side tie (contrary to what we had been told earlier), the sun popped out and the wind died.  Our “spot” on the dock was fairly tight.  Unfortunately for us, once we were tied up, the dock hands moved the boat at our stern several feet closer.  We immediately started to worry about the undocking in the morning!  We managed to top up our diesel tank and jerry cans.  Then we washed down the deck which was looking a bit the worse for wear due to several anchorages with very thick mud.  After filling up the water tank and jerries, we investigated the showers and went to dinner.  Would you believe me if I claimed we ate a light dinner? Well we didn’t! Mike had the signature prime rib and I had New York strip steak … delicious and huge!

We departed the dock at Coinjock with the help of the dock master, for which we were quite grateful.  We managed to get out of our teeny, tiny space without contacting either of the adjacent boats. We powering ‘forward’ with a spring-line still attached, which pushed out our stern, the dock master released the line and we backed out.  Then we made the u-turn and headed north, along with a veritable armada of boats departing the marina.  The Currituck Sound was cold and choppy with overcast skies.  Before long the captain was in full foul-weather gear.  The first thirty miles are fairly straightforward, although, the boats traffic was impressive.  Then come the bridges. There are three bridges and a lock in a sequence.  The first two open on the hour  and the half hour.  The third only opens on the hour and is sort of coordinated with the lock.  This sounds easy until you realize that there is distance to be covered between each bridge.  Ideally you’d like to arrive at each bridge just as the opening begins.  That would be a miracle of timing that, at least so far, we are not able to execute.  The amazing thing was that all the Coinjock boats wound up at the bridge before the lock in time for the one o’clock opening.  So even though we had been going slow, it all came out in the wash. There was one further bridge to be negotiated by 3:30 pm at which point it would be closed for three hours!  That one turned out to be easy!

Perhaps the most astonishing happening of the day was that at the first bridge, the sailboat behind us was Makarios with our friends Debbie and Benge (from Samana, Great Inagua, the Ragged Islands and Georgetown). They had been making their way to the Chesapeake from Beaufort over last few days, covering 60-70 miles each day!  By comparison, we have been taking it easy!  All the more so when you consider that today we stopped at Portsmouth and they carried on to make some distance up the bay toward Solomon’s Island!  Wow, that’s determination.  We were shattered by the time we were anchored in Portsmouth!  

Gloria

36 50.689 N, 76 18.003 W

Threatening clouds from the South Lake anchorage before heading out into Albemarle Sound. We were worried about T-storms but in reality it was only the wind (up to 27 knots) and associated waves that gave us a challenge.

Cold and windy in Currituck Sound. The weather forecast predicted west winds at 2 - 16 mph gusting to 30 mph ... and that's a pretty accurate summary of what we encountered!

Distant lightening from our anchorage off Hospital Point, Portsmouth VA

It would have been cool to be on land and get a stable picture of the aircraft carrier that is being worked on at the opposite side of the Elizabeth River, with the lightening behind. However, the motion of the boat makes it all blurry.

Creeks , Canals and Rivers

Creeks , Canals and Rivers

Monday 19th too Tuesday 20th May, 2025

We have travelled this particular section of the ICW from Beaufort, NC to Norfolk, VA many times in both directions. In fact, we have never sailed this section offshore, partly because we are intimidated by the prospect of rounding the infamous Cape Hatteras. In truth, I’m sure it’s fine if you pick a good weather window. Despite our familiarity with the area, we have really enjoyed the last few days. 

The route covers quite a variety of locations. There are narrow windy creeks, lined with marsh grasses and trees, as well as wide rivers like the Neuse River and Pamlico River, with 50 miles or more of open water to the east. The winds have been quite light and so conditions in the big rivers have been mild, but in some conditions they can be really miserable, with steep, short-period waves. 

Last night we anchored a half mile off the ICW in the Pungo River. It was quite beautiful and we experienced the most fantastic sunset. We made an early start because we had close to 50 miles to go to our next stop. The first 20 miles were along the Alligator River - Pungo River canal, dead straight for 20 miles except for one bend. Nonetheless it is beautiful and we saw several bald eagles. The south end of the Alligator River is also attractive, but once you turn northwards it opens up into a wide and featureless expanse of water. It’s not my favorite spot and today, with winds of 10-15 knots from the north east, we just bashed our way northwards for 20 miles.

The only real excitement to a trip up the Alligator River is the swing bridge at the northern end. On many occasions we have been forced to motor in circles, waiting for the bridge tender to relent. We thought we were going to be golden today as we listened to several boats requesting openings and seeing the bridge tender cooperate rapidly.  Sadly, there was a “shift change” just as we neared the bridge!  Once again it was trying to keep the boat in place while we waited for seven other vessels that were following us to close the gap.  Evidently, eight was the magic number for the bridge tender!

After clearing the Alligator River Swing Bridge we cut out of the ICW to anchor about 4 miles to the east in “South Lake". We stayed here in 2018 and got caught in some of the worst thunderstorms we have ever experienced! We had forgotten just how wild and beautiful the anchorage is. Once again there are T-storms forecast for tomorrow morning, but hopefully they don’t materialize to much. Our plan is to cross Albermarle Sound and that would not be fun in a thunderstorm.

Mike

35 55.153 N, 75 54.729 W

Sunset in the Pungo River

Early morning in the Pungo River

Approaching the start of the Alligator River - Pungo River canal

There was a lot of traffic today - most of it going a similar speed to us, but some power boats going a lot faster. This boat was doing 20 knots as it came up on our stern, but we communicated by VHF radio and the captain, who was charming, slowed down and gave us a comfortable slow pass.

As well as all the pleasure boat traffic, many commercial barges frequent the route

A solitary tug heading south in the Alligator River