Old Saybrook, CT to New York City

Friday July 7

 

We woke to heavy rains so we took our time getting going. The rain slacked a bit so we headed to the fuel dock. We topped up the tanks and began our journey into Long Island sound. The Sound runs along side Long Island and it is about 100 miles. We need to cover 85 miles today and arrive at Hells Gate (the entrance to the East River around 4 pm to travel with the current. 

There was a bit of fog and light rain but the conditions were not too bad. Then around 11 am the conditions got worse with heavy rain and fog. The forecast had changed and they were calling for thunder storms. We needed to find a safe harbour for shelter to wait out the storm. It was a long hour and a half and a very wet one too until we were safely hooked up to a mooring buoy in Northport harbour. 

Lunch time and change our clothes.. Time to regroup. I figured NYC would be out of the question for today. But then an hour and a half later the storm had passed and the sun was peeking out. It was only 230 so we still had time to get to NYC.

We started off ago to head into to the Sound. With the fog lifted we could actually see now. The Sound is about 5 miles wide in this section so we were actually close to land but who would have known earlier in the storm. 

We were on the approach to the East River around 330pm.  We started to see the Manhattan skyscrapers pretty far out. We crossed Hells gate on time and I must say that I am not sure what all the hype is about. It was nothing. I guess everything pales in comparison to Reversing falls and 20 foot tides. 

Noah kept a tally of the bridges we crossed under. There were in 12 in total. We were all pretty excited to be arriving in NYC by boat.

Traffic in the East River was pretty busy with tankers ferries and water taxis. Sterling did a great job maneuvering us through the traffic. We were heading for Liberty Landing marina on the New Jersey side. It's located just past the Statue of Liberty where the East River empties in to the New York harbour. 

We were tied up in our slip by 515. Good job crew. 

The marina is very nice. They also have great dockside staff and the location is perfect right on the edge of Liberty state park. 

We enjoyed a BBQ supper on the boat and then we went for a walk along the sea wall around liberty state park. 

We stopped at the Empty Sky 911 memorial and learned about immigrants arriving from Ellis Island. The night time view of the Manhattan skyline was amazing. 

We are so excited to be here. Woohoo 

Sandwich, MA to Old Saybrook, CT

July 6

We got to enjoy Sandwich Massachusetts this morning before heading into the canal. I had an early morning run along the canal. It is a popular spot for fishing. The banks were lined with people who had biked down to fish for striped bass. 

After breakfast Noah and I went to a playground. 

We left Sandwich around 930am and headed into the Cape Cod Canal. It's about 7 miles long and you can only travel at 9 knots. Noah and I travelled on the bow and enjoyed the scenery. 

There is an interpretation centre that we visited on the Canal.. It is run by US Army Corps of Engineers. Like the Rideau system it was built to provide safe passage and move goods.

We left the canal and entered Buzzard s Bay. The Bay can be gusty and it was busy with lots of recreational boats. 

From their we entered Long Island Sound and cruised at 15 knots up to Old Saybrook Connecticut.  We arrived at the Saybrook Resort and Marina around 330. The dockside staff was amazing.. What service they had us all tied up and shore power hooked up in minutes.

We all went for a swim in the pool and then we headed to the patio restaurant for dinner. We had a delicious dinner. 

 

We met another Meridian 411 out of Newport Connecticut. 

Portsmouth New Hampshire to Sandwich Massachusetts

July 5

Up before 5 am again today.   I got the breakfast and lunch picnics made while Sterling prepared the boat for our departure.

We unhooked from the mooring buoy at 545 am and we were off.  It was smooth sailing all the way to the entrance of the Cape Cod Canal.  Literally smooth sailing, the ocean was like glass.  So calm.

We cruised at 15 knots for 102 miles.  It was a straight line down the coast for 102 nautical miles.  It was another long day but leaving early really helps.  We cruised 10 miles offshore and there were still lobster bobbers, but they were infrequent.  We were also getting into more trawling.

Given that we lost a few days at the beginning due to bad weather we decided to bypass Gloucester and Boston Massachusetts. 

We arrived at Sandwich Marina, the eastern entrance of the Cape Cod Canal at 1230 pm.  We made great time and now we had the afternoon to relax.  It was sunny and hot and we hit the beach.  We found a crab in the water and did some beachcombing and castle building.  So much fun.

After the beach we did our grocery shopping to stock back up the boat.

Then we went out for a nice dinner at the Pilot restaurant.  We had excellent seafood.

Rockland Maine to Portsmouth New Hampshire

Tuesday July 4th

Happy 4th of July. Up at 5 am off the dock by 545 am. This time I have a picnic lunch made for us.

We are heading for Portsmouth New Hampshire.

15 minutes out and we noticed a significant vibration on our port engine. Back to the dock. Great someone has taken our spot so we need to slip in in front of a sailboat. Back on the dock before 7am.

We mounted the Go Pro camera to the boat hook and put it under the boat to film. We discovered that there is a line wrapped around our port engine prop. Great.

We arrange for a diver and he is here is less than 40 minutes. He dives under the boat a cut the line loose. Only $125. Not bad for a National holiday.

So after a later start at 1030 am, we did a 100 nautical mile day and went all the way to Portsmouth New Hampshire.

There is a channel leaving Rockland that was a bit stressful.  It was a fairly high traffic area and it was full of lobster bobbers, so we were back to leap frogging our way through. 

Once out of there it was smooth sailing.  We charted a course offshore that was a straight rip for 80 nm to New Hampshire.

We travelled about 10 miles offshore and cruised at 15 knots.  The ocean was like glass.  We could not have had better conditions.

We arrived at Castle Island at the mouth the Portsmouth Harbour around 630 pm.  We went on a mooring buoy at the Portsmouth Yacht club.  It is a very nice facility and the Island has beautiful historic homes dating back to the 1720s.

There was a 4th of July private party going on at the Yacht Club.  We enjoyed the music while we had a late BBQ dinner on the stern deck.

After dinner, we rowed to shore in the dingy.  It was good to go for a walk and stretch our legs.  We checked out the historic homes.  It was a quaint island community and I expect that the real estate prices would be very high.

Jonesport Maine to Rockland Maine

Monday July 3rd

Up before 5 am. It is a sunny day and the waters are calm.

We slipped the lines at 515 am and headed for Rockland Maine. The winds were moderate and the waves 2 to 4 feet. There was a bit of a swell on. I had to sit up on my perch and watch like a hawk for lobster bobbers. They are everywhere. We have charted a route further offshore to try to avoid them but you can never avoid them. They are just spread out more so that you have better maneuvering.

Noah is such a great traveller. He slept a bit. Played cars and watched a movie.

88 nm and 7.5 hours later we arrived in Rockland and docked at the Landings. While Sterling fuelled the boat Noah and I headed to the restaurant for lunch. We were starving. It was after 1 pm and we still hadn't had lunch.

The weather is great here. Hot and sunny. We had to turn on the AC. After lunch we walked around town. We got ice cream. Went to a puffin preservation centre and a lighthouse museum.

We were at a full service marina so we did some laundry, got water and charged all the electronics. Noah and I even washed the boat while Sterling repaired the dingy. The support for attaching it to the boat has come apart already. Great. Sigh.

Lobster dinner at the Pearl. May as well enjoy Maine's largest export.

Great dinner. Off to bed. Another early rise.

Jonesport to ... Jonesport

Sunday July 2nd

We had a great sleep on the mooring buoy. Woke up to fog. Not any where for a while.

We launched the dingy and rowed to shore. I went for a run while Sterling and Noah walked around the small town. About 750 people live here. It is a lobster fishing community.

Around 2 pm the fog lifted and we decided to head out through Mooseabec reach.   We got in the reach and it was constant lobster pot bouts. What a nightmare. They are everywhere. We got caught up in a bad place close to a navigational aid and there were so many pots we couldn't get out of it. We caught something and our engine was not performing well at 1000 rpms. We had to make our way back through the nightmare reach and back to port.

This was so stressful  

Once we got into the Harbour we did some manoeuvres and everything was working fine. We had however lost our nerve and had to regroup so we tied up to the wharf.

The fog rolled bag in and we decided to wait until the next morning to leave. Better weather is coming.

Sterling did a nice BBQ chicken for us for dinner and the sun finally came out. We ate on the back deck. We fueled up that night at 7 pm. We had to wait for high tide to get to the fuel dock. We went for a little walk before bed and got Noah some ice cream at the corner store. People are very friendly in this town.

We are hoping to leave in the morning. They are calling for good weather. We have charted a route that has us going around an island instead of through the crazy moosabec reach full of lobster pots. The new route adds over an hour to our time but we don't care.

Eastport to Jonesport

Saturday July 1

Happy Canada Day.

It is very foggy here this morning. It was also very cold last night. We needed to bundle up and put the heat on.

We are waiting for the fog to lift so we can head out. We watched a US Navy ship dock as it is in Eastport for July 4th celebrations. It was so foggy that we could barely see the ship and it was only half a km away.

Around 1130 am, we decide that the fog is lifted enough to head out. There is a short cut through Lubec channel but the current is strong there and it has lobster pots in the channel so we decided to go back out around Campobello island. This way is longer and brings us back into Canadian waters for a short time but it is safer to go this way.

Pretty foggy down the coast and there is a lot of current. At one point we crossed over a riptide. It was the strangest thing. I could see a wall of waves like a surf and then after that the water was flat calm. Bizarre.

As we got closer to Jonesport the lobster pots started. Noah and I had to spot them for Sterling. They are everywhere.

We arrived in Jonesport around 430 pm and tied up to a mooring buoy at the Jonesport Shipyard. It was a great mooring it was a small floating dock with a mooring ball. $25 a night.

The owner was a very nice man named Sono. He was originally from Sweden. He and his wife own the shipyard. He was so generous he even brought Sterling a 5 lb bag of mussels.

We put on our Canada Day shirts and got out our basket of decorations. Noah decorated the boat and we had a Canada Party. We played some Great Big Sea and had lots of fun.

The fog rolled in about an hour after we arrived and it is thick.

Very cold tonight. The heat is on and we need to bundle up. They had fire works here tonight but it was too foggy to see them.