New Experiences

June 30, 2011 Matt "talking" to Tomeaka via the iphone creating a Personal Hotspot. It's a great invention and allows me to blog from the boat.

Pt. Washington is located in Manhasset Bay, Long Island. It's only 20 nautical miles from New York City. It's a well protected deep harbor with 14 marinas and 300 moorings and plenty of room for anchoring. We thought it was the perfect spot to work out a crew switch (Matt leaving and Cosgroves arriving) and wait out the 4th of July craziness in Ne w York.

All went according to plan-----Lou, Matt, and I docked and had a chance to give the boat a good wash down to get the salt water off EVERYTHING. We had some great sails with Matt with salt spray crashing over the bow and hitting the dodger "windows." Since we arrived the day before Mike and Marlene were to arrive, we decided to treat ourselves to a restaurant meal. That was a mistake! By the next morning all three of us were sick. We must have gotten food poisoning from the restaurant. Fortunately, it wasn't a long lived illness.

Picture of Lou "ralphing" Omitted

Mike and Marlene arrived without a hitch. They traveled by car from East Lansing, Michigan (2 hour delay crossing from Canada back into the US), taxis, and train to Pt. Washington. But, they made all the connections and arrived in time to witness us "feeding the fish." Lucky them!

So far they have had quiet time on the boat. Well, not totally quiet. We've heard a concert, witnessed a great fireworks, watched lots of harbor activity, seen the local fish jumping, and been boat-bound because of rain. Mike thinks this is a better protected harbor that the national highways: Harbor Police, Bay Police, Harbor Master, and the Nassau County Sheriff with 7 officers, and the Coast Guard.

The good part about being "stuck" is that Mike and Lou have had time to plot our timing through the East River into New York Harbor on the 5th. It's critical to go through Hell Gate at slack tide because the current can be up to 5.2 nm. You don't want to go against the current.

Mike and Marlene got to experience an on-boat shower for the first time in 4 seasons on the boat. (We've always been able to get to a shore shower.) That was a new experience. Four days on a mooring requires showers!!!!!

We're planning to move on to NYC on July 5th and have a couple of days cruising the harbor. It should be in the high 80's while we're there. Whew.