Author: Hayden

Sat, Sun Aug 25, 26, 2007…We spent $2.40/foot for a 40 foot/night for a slip in Newport Marina in Jersey City only to be tossed and turned as the boat rolls side to side due to the water taxis and ferry wakes. The other marinas in the Manhattan area charge $4.50/foot for a slip per night, but this one was only $2.40/foot/night. Why the DEAL? Well this video shows you why the price is so low.

Video of Newport Marina:

We still had a great time especially since our good friends, Tyler, Anita and Mark made a big effort to drive up to New York and sail Manhattan Harbor with us. We sailed right past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as well as under the Brooklyn Bridge and past Battery Park. What a fantastic sail, exciting, good wind, lots of sights, and MANHATTAN off the BOW! Absolutely incredible. One of the best sailing days of the entire summer. There is nothing like sailing past the Statue of Liberty…..noting beats this…..Welcome to NYC.

Mon, Aug 27, 2007…Sailing New Your Harbor is an Exciting Experience! What a RUSH.

Sat, Aug. 25, 2007…photos, videos & details to follow….

Why move? Why go in cold windy weather? We are staying here in Manhasset Bay, Port Washington NY until the weather improves. We have a great town here with good services, water taxis, city docks, free town morring balls, fantastic town and shops, and the LIRR, Long Island Railroad right in town. LIRR is a 30 min ride to New York City, so yes we are hitting the city from here. Very fun.

Here is the weather report and why we are not heading for Sandy Hook and the ocean.

433 PM EDT TUE AUG 21 2007
MONTAUK POINT NEW YORK TO SANDY HOOK NEW JERSEY OUT 20 NM OFFSHORE
INCLUDING LONG ISLAND SOUND…LONG ISLAND BAYS AND NEW YORK HARBOR

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING

TONIGHT
E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 KT. SEAS 7 TO
9 FT. PERIODS OF RAIN. PATCHY FOG. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.

WED
NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. SEAS 6 TO 9 FT. WHAT!!..
SUBSIDING TO 6 TO 7 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. PATCHY FOG AND PERIODS OF
RAIN AND DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING…WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.

WED NIGHT
E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT…DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KT AFTER
MIDNIGHT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT. PATCHY FOG. VSBY LOCALLY 1 TO 3 NM.

THU
E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT. SEAS 4 TO 6
FT…SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. PATCHY FOG IN THE
MORNING…WITH VSBY LOCALLY 1 TO 3 NM.

THU NIGHT
E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT…BECOMING SE
5 TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 3 TO 4 FT.

FRI
S WINDS 5 TO 10 KT…INCREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE
AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 4 FT.

We are in Manhasset Bay awaiting the tides and weather to make the fast run through Hells Gate on our way to New York City and Sandy Hook, NJ. At first we pulled into City Island and took a mooring ball there only to find the harbor a bit rough with the south winds. So we pulled out and moved over to protected Manhasset Bay and now we are going to explore Port Washington. From the write-up in the cruising guide, this town sounds fantastic! The town has 15 mooring balls and we can stay here for free for 2 nights on the town and after that it is $25.00/night. So for now, we will exlore the town and enjoy the beautiful harbor. This photo is a picture of the chart with Manhasset Bay on the bottom, City Island on the top and the entrance to the east river and Hells Gate on the bottom left. The train ride to Manhattan is only 45 minutes – that is tempting!

We have added 10 videos to YouTube today, attempting to catch up on our blogging. We have been having some really good sailing days as we sail into Long Island Sound from Block Island. We sailed around Shelter Island. We sailed CT river to Milford. We sailed Milford to Port Jefferson. We sailed Port Jeff to Oyster Bay. ALL UP WIND CLOSE HAULED.

These videos show how nice the sailing has been.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=IslandSpirit35

Block Island to New London

We left Block in mostly clear conditions and were hit by fog the whole way to the Thames River. We tied up at IP Dealer Hellier Yachts dock in New London – what a great bunch of people. They made us feel very welcome. Congrats to Vin on his retirement. This was a whirlwind tour with a rental car (upgraded to a Cadillac!) for 24 hours. We shopped Defender and West Marine, where Radeen got a cute red folding bike and got the usual groceries. We saw the Coast Guard Academy museum and toured the beautiful campus by car.

New London to Watch Hill

The anchorage and ocean beach at Watch Hill are so great! The little town is charming, too. We enjoyed seeing the antique carousel and walking out to the Coast Guard Station. Sunday we had fun with Jim and Vanessa from IP-420 Windrunner. They met us for lunch at the Olympia Tea Room where Marilyn Monroe worked as a teenager. The St. Claire Annex has been in business for over 100 years and is fun for breakfast and made on the spot ice cream.

Watch Hill to Block Island

Let a new adventure begin! Radeen has not ridden a bike solo since she was 11, so Payne’s dock early on a weekday morning was a good place to get started. By day four, she rode the rough and hilly road to the Coast Guard Station and the next day we rode into busy Old Harbor and had breakfast at Aldo’s to celebrate. Another celebration was dinner with Craig and Debbie on IP440 Charmed in honor of the start of their southbound cruising adventures.

Fun on Block Island

Friends we met at the public library, Norm and Shelley, invited us to dinner at their beautiful home off Corn Neck Road and then took us to a concert sponsored by the Block Island Residents Association called “Blues on the Beach.” We are starting to feel like locals now! A restored Army vessel named “The General” flying a 4 star flag ,had a ceremony each nite at sunset, complete with 3 progressively louder cannons, a fly-by from some sort of fast airplane, a bugler playing “Taps” and a properly lowered flag. We “dressed” the dinghy in bunting and participated in the air horn salute.

Block Island to Dering Harbor, Long Island

A neighboring local boat shared his freshly caught clams with us and we made New England style chowder which seemed so appropriate for our last night in Block. What a dream to be here from July 4th to August 7th with just a few side trips. We departed on a favorable tide with the new Hylas 49 Black Diamond on her shakedown cruise. She is the beautiful new boat of former IP45 Time Bandit owners, Rich, Bonnie and daughter Alex. The sun turned to fog which made for a somewhat stressful trip across Block Island Sound. It lifted as arrived in Gardiner’s Bay and took a mooring ball in Dering Harbor. Jack’s Marine is a fascinating old hardware store with an amazing toy department – worth a tour!

Dering Harbor to Greenport

After a stormy morning, we crossed to Greenport and took a mooring ball in Stirling Basin. What a charming town! The BLISS Rendezvous will be held here next July and we look forward to exploring it more. Highlights included pizza with Black Diamond, a fascinating old department stored called The Arcade, a visit to a convenient and clean Laundromat and a tour of one of 6 wooden Yard Patrol training vessels on summer cruise with cadets from the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Greenport to Sag Harbor

We had a fabulous sail around the western side of Shelter Island to Sag Harbor. A sudden change in the forecast dictated a mooring ball and then we dashed ashore for the Thursday nite Summer Concert series. When we were here in 2004, the local band played patriotic songs; this year “The Cascades” played 50’s and early 60’s. We admired the mega-mega-yachts “Bad Girl” and “ My Iris. ”The really dreadful weather didn’t arrive until Friday, but that didn’t stop us from sharing a lively hot lunch with Al from IP32 Half Moon aboard Black Diamond.

Sag Harbor to North Cove on the Connecticut River

We had a leisurely sail out of Gardiner’s Bay and enjoyed shooting some beautiful photos of IP 32 Half Moon before exiting at Plum Gut. We were looking forward to meeting our Rock Hall friends, Bob and Kathy of IP380 Drake’s Passage. They are amazing – so much energy! They got to their boat in Oyster Bay, Long Island, at midnite on Friday nite. Till they loaded everything and the 2 girls and the 7 month old baby aboard in the pouring rain and high winds, it was 1:30 a.m. They got up at 6:00, left at 7:00 and sailed against a foul tide for 10. 5 hours to meet us for dinner and mini-golf. We were ashore by 6:00 p.m., seated at 6:30 and dinner didn’t arrive till after 8:00. The children were soooo good! Kathy Ann read a book and Alley drew a nautical chart with grass, water, docks and boats. The round yellow object in the corner we all assumed was the sun, till she informed us that it was the compass rose on her chart! After we ate, we played mini-golf till 10:00 and THEN went for ice cream!! Unbelievable day!

North Cove to Milford, CT

We anchored in the Gulf south of Milford behind a curving, mile long sand bar that is bare at low tide and then covered 6 hours later by a 7 foot tide. It was a great place for a swim, a walk on the bar and a chat with the park ranger who drives out to Charles Island. The long harbor was tight with boats moored on floats in the middle, a fast current and lots of boat traffic on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Milford, CT to Port Jefferson, NY

Another great sailing day, this one across the Sound. Port Jefferson is not a very cruiser-friendly place unless you take a mooring ball and use the launch. The fuel dock claimed to have no water, till we found a faucet and used our own hose. The door to the Harbormaster’s two story office is impossible to find. There is no sign to indicated that you are supposed to enter through the electrical closet! The town dock has no dinghy landing and we nearly got a ticket for tying up there since we couldn’t talk to anyone in the harbormaster’s office. Danford’s marina charges $7, not per day, but every time you come ashore. The best part of Port Jeff was meeting Kiwis, Roy and Doon, aboard Bold Endeavour. See their adventures at www.getjealous.com/gonecruizing

Port Jefferson to Oyster Bay, NY

The best sail of the entire summer! The videos show it all! Now we are In Oyster Bay for several days.

We discovered a new area of Block Island yesterday called Clay Head on the Northeast side of the island. Clay Head has a nature trail that leads to a rocky beach with tall eroding clay cliffs.

To reach this area we took the dinghy to the far NE side of the Great Salt Pond where we could land the dinghy on one of the many sandy beaches that line the pond. After securing the dinghy with an anchor tossed up on the beach we began our 2+ mile hike UPHILL to the clay head trail. We wondered our way through the trail arriving at the beach. Much to our suprise the beach was not a sandy beach but was covered with thousands of satin smooth polished rocks of various colors! These rocks would be rolled uphill onto the slooped beach and then with the receding tide they would tumble down the slope make a really interesting sound.
(see videos to hear this sound)

On the beach there were two other families enjoying the day, one couple with a crazy black lab that loved to chase a tennis ball into the raging surf. He was a fantastic swimmer and would not stop chasing the ball.

We walked the rocky beach and listened to the tumbling rocks and simply enjoyed the day. Here are some photos and two videos of the adventure. Thanks for following our Island Spirit Adventures.

I Love to take photos and Radeen is getting use to me taking tons of photos
This is photo # 4, 350 taken with this Canon A700 and I have only had this camera for 1 yr!

There are benefits to a rain day, you can catch up on your readings, watch a movie and fill your water tanks! Our boat holds 90 gallons of water and the fill point if on the deck about midships on the starborad side. When it rains the water runs right over the deck water fill cap. So all that is needed is a simple way to damn the water and direct it into the water tank. This picture show the water pouring into the tank and actually in this picture the tank is FULL and the water is backing up to the deck! Perfect. Before we take on water in this way, we allow the decks to be washed off first and I will even take a deck brush and scrub the deck during the start of the rain.

If it keeps raining and we have extra, then we pump that into our 5 gallon flexible water jugs to be used later. Sure we could pull up the anchor and move to a fuel dock to take on water, but that is more difficult than this. If we are at a fuel dock we will always take on water, but for the most part we collect water and we carry water back to the boat while at anchor.

SEE Fireworks VIDEO BELOW!

We attended http://sailfest.org/ in New London, CT thanks to the invite from Debbie and Craig owners of IP440 Charmed. We arrived Thursday from Block Island after going through “Lords Passage” and via Fisher’s Island Sound. The harbor mooring field was all full so we dropped our anchor in the harbor and rode out the party for Thur, Fri, and Sat nights rocking and rolling with all the other crazy people who were anchored out as well. SailFest puts on the largest fireworks display in the NE with 22,000 rockets launched from 3 barges in 22 minutes! We were anchored about 150 yards from one of the barges and it was truly spectacular. I will upload a video of the finale and you will see how impressive this was.

Friday IP440 “Team Charmed” invited us over for cocktails and then we strolled around the harbor and to the otherside of the creek to eat at SCOTTs Seafood Place which turned out to have the BEST LOBSTER BISQUE in the state. We enjoyed the sunset and good company and a cool 60 degree evening.

Saturday was the BIG SAILFEST day we invited Craig and Debbie out to Island Spirit in the rocking and rolling harbor for dinner aboard and fireworks from the anchor. After dinner we invited Venessa and Jim out to enjoy oven warmed homemade fresh fruit cobbler before the grand show. Sure enough at 9:25pm the fireworks began and it was absolutely incredible especially being so close AND on the water. (See video below)

Debbie and Craig on their NEW IP440 Charmed The US Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT
we need to return to tour this

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